In this battle, a battalion of Japanese infantry have to hold back a reinforced Chinese battalion. The Chinese objectives are inflicting casualties, clearing the main east-west road, and exiting units. Overconfident from their prior victories, the Japanese decided to defend the whole length of the single map, in three company-sized forces, each with additional fire support from HMGs, infantry guns or mortars. The Chinese split their force in three, a company-sized pinning force on the north and south flanks, and a 3-company assault force in the center. The plan was to use local superiority in the center to smash the Japanese there and secure the road as well as have the available troops to exit eventually. It just required the flanks to sell themselves dearly to keep the Japanese flanks occupied.

The battles on the flanks went very badly for the Chinese, their forces melted away due to losses and demoralization in short order. But the attack in the center overwhelmed the Japanese and left the Chinese in a very strong position to weather attacks from the Japanese flanking forces as they charged into the center to try to stop the Chinese juggernaut there. Massed Chinese HMGs and well-organized company attacks were able to defeat the Japanese in detail, and their force was largely wiped out after three hours. The Chinese achieved all their objectives for a major victory.

The Chinese are on the attack they must control the E-W road, exit eight good ordered units off the east edge and have a 3 to 2 advantage in steps lost by end of play, terrain on this map favors the defender.

The Japanese dug in on both sides of the E-W road in a natural choke point on the map and waited for the Chinese to attack. There was little room to maneuver for the Chinese so they tried several frontal assaults while a reinforced company tried to out flank the Japanese position, but that took too much time. By the end of the game the Japanese were in control of the road and had eliminated more Chinese steps than they lost.

Author	treadasaurusrex (Japan)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	China
Participants	PANISTA
Play Date	2023-09-17
Language	English
Scenario	ChOp007

This was a 5-session battle, with me leading a battalion of Japanese infantry that must hold in the face of a well-led attack by a larger force of determined Chinese led by the relentless & clever, PANISTA. The Chinese side prevailed in this costly, movement-to-contact-with-a-vengeance, scenario with a minor victory, although for most of our play-through it looked like this would be a draw.

Others have described this scenario in some detail and our play-through mirrored what has been previously reported. We played with the FOW (after game turn 12) consolidation, smoke/illum and excess initiative optional rules. The Chinese side drew slightly better leaders than the Japanese, which really helped when the close assaults began.

There was a 3-pronged Chinese attack, with the central prong coming straight down the road, before the Japanese side could be properly established to defend the turf assigned. While the two flanking Chinese attacks were bloodily repulsed, both sides lost 6 leaders in this longish fight and the Sons of Nippon lost their senior leader & their momentum on the 17th game turn. There were 6 FOW-shortened turns as the Japanese slowly ran out of troops to cover the front. The Chinese were able to push 8 units across the board to a safe exit as the Japanese were not able to maintain control the east-west road in spite of inflicting 21 step losses on the surging Chinese side. Japanese losses totaled a bloody 14 steps including all 4 steps of HMGs.

This scenario was fun to play with a challenging & resolute opponent, but was slightly unbalanced in favor of the 2-battalion plus Chinese force. I give this one a 3m and recommend it for both shared and solo play. It makes a decent infantry training scenario as well.