I gave this scenario a variable. I rolled the dice to see if the Japanese found the trail. They didn’t, and rolled a 6 for six hexes away. Most of the scenario involved the Japanese mired in the muskeg, only getting close to the hill in the final three turns. The US by then had LOS and brought fire on the slowed Japanese. The Japanese suffered several disruptions and were unable to even disrupt a single US unit. US victory.

The Japanese, in my second play of this scenario, did find and advance down the track to the hill. The US got some fortunate rolls, disrupting a couple Japanese platoons as they made up the hill. The Japanese high morale enable them to recover and then assault the US units. The crazy Japanese Assault values made the rest a forgone conclusion. The US did recover several demoralized units on the last turn, but not near enough to get victory. Japanese win.

Following Yamasaki’s failed attempt to break through US lines and capture their artillery, survivors of the Japanese Attu-Adak Occupation Force moved west in the darkness of the early morning on May 30, 1943. Engineers from the 50th Combat Engineer Battalion were positioned on a hilltop and spotted them coming up the hill from the east at 0415. Having heard the gunfire from the earlier assault, the engineers had grouped together and dug in to prepare for a possible assault, which happened on the east end of the hilltop at 0445 hours. By 0545, the remaining American engineers had huddled in an area on the west end of the hilltop, which they held until 0745. However, the Japanese controlled the east and center of the hilltop and were considered victorious.

This is a fun, small scenario and a great one to teach someone the nuances of assault tactics in the game. The outcome of this scenario is determined by step losses, with a wrinkle that Japanese leaders eliminated during an assault are also counted for a VP. If the US is to have any chance at success, the engineers that begin in separate hexes must group together to present maximum strength to the Japanese banzai assaulters. There are also enough turns to dig in before the Japanese can spot them, and this is also highly recommended in order to get that valuable first fire when assaulted. However, even with that strategy in place, the Americans did not win this scenario, as the Japanese only lost four steps to eight for the Americans. That VP differential was kept close since no US units were off the hilltop and none were DM at game end. It was also evident that this scenario could be won by the US, since they seemed to be rolling “7’s” on most of the assault rolls negating the value of their first fire in assault.

American engineers set up on high ground, but dispersed to individual hexes. The Japanese come roaring up a trail through the muskeg in the early arctic dawn trying to fight themselves to death.

Oddly, and awesomely, the JPN player scores a VP if he loses a leader during an assault!

Fight!

In my game I played the Japanese and stayed on the track through the muskeg as long as possible, then assaulted up the hill from the flank.

My trusty opponent, Liverpool Dave, was slow to consolidate his engineer platoons from the initial setup's dispersal and was never able to present a cohesive front.

In assault after assault I tore right through him.

Typical Assault:

• 2 Japanese platoons and a leader
• +1 shift for higher morale
• +1 shift for good order leader
• +1 shift for being Japanese
• +1 shift for being Japanese & particularly psychotic today (scenario special rule)

So, with an almost certain +4 column shift for every single assault, you can see how the Japanese will just blow through the engineers unless they run into a 3 platoon stack & leader that's dug-in and has first fire... something my opponent failed to organize before it was too late.

Japanese Steplosses - 1

American Steplosses - 11

Absolute Japanese Victory!

I can’t get enough of this supplement. I know either you love this one or hate but I love the big open spaces with low unit counts, lots of movement and I can really imagine those desert maps as Alaska’s Aleutian Island terrain. When I saw this scenario, I thought it would be an easy American victory but reading the scenario special rules I said maybe not.

Visibility is very low so the Japanese closed the Americans until the last two hexes. When they are adjacent, they must assault per special rule #5 and they get additional modifier for Banzai attach in assaults, plus higher morale, plus Japanese nationality, plus having leader, plus Engineer if it’s include in the assault. The Americans must blast them before they assault but even when this happens they recover fast with a 9/8 morale. But sides took high casualties for the amount of units involved but the Japanese came out on top with the victory. This one surprised me.

The Allies set up on the east slope of the hill and dig in as the Axis approach from the east across the muskeg. The Axis suffer a number of units becoming mired and several more failing their forced march die rolls. This disjointed the Axis advance. Only one Axis stack was able to reach the now dug in Engineers. When it got there it assaulted at first opportunity. This assault was successful in eliminating four Allied steps over several turns as the Allies fed units in to replace those lost and demoralized. Eventually time ran out. At that point the Allies had lost four steps and the Axis only one. Game over. Axis victory despite the fact that only this one Axis stack had reached the hill. The rest were still struggling to come up through the muskeg. But it didn't matter the Axis had scored enough to win. A little had gone a long way.

This completes the Alaska's War scenario set. The arctic conditions were terrible. They were as much an enemy as the opposing forces were to each other. You don't hear about any veterans' tours going back to Attu. They're not going back and neither am I!

Americans set up in semi-circle facing road. Japanese advanced along road until parallel with US lines. Japanese then advanced adjacent to Americans and withstood the very inaccurate fire. Japanese then systematically assaulted each hex and eliminated all opposition and easily won the scenario. Although this turned out to be a major Japanese victory, it would be worth trying again to see if the Japanese can win it again so easily.