American Plan: Hit Japanese entrenchment with artillery and combined fire while advancing through the jungle south of the hill.

0900 – OPEN FIRE!!! Japanese infantry disrupted as American infantry advances.

0915 – Fire is exchanged and Japanese HMG demoralized.

0930 – Japanese HMG reduced by American HMG fire. Artillery strike hits hard (2X)!!! Japanese reinforce the entrenchment as Americans successfully assault (2X! again)

0945 – I and L Companies advance as infantry assaulting the entrenchment waits for HMG back-up.

Comment – Thirst from lack of water pushes the Americans to go for a swift victory.

1000 - Japanese direct fire is ineffective as Americans assault from the north.

Assaulting the Dug-in Japanese: Americans lose half a platoon! (1) Assaulting the Entrenchment: Americans lose half a platoon! (2) Japanese unaffected.

Gameplay note: Japanese rolled two sixes in their first fire. Americans rolled a one against the entrenchment. Perhaps the Americans should have fired instead of assaulted, as this would spare them from the risk of casualties

1015 – Americans reinforce the assaults and inflict some Japanese losses.

1030 – Final Assaults

Assaulting the Dug-in Japanese: Half Japanese HMG holds on. M2 on “18” column! Assaulting the Entrenchment: Japanese inflict casualties (3) and are unaffected by American fire. rolled another six. Americans roll an M2

Exhausted and thirsty, the Americans are called off.

JAPANESE VICTORY!!!

Aftermath

The Americans came really close to taking the objectives. Unfortunately for the Americans they took too many losses from the great Japanese defenders.

Suffering too many casualties and unable to make significant headway, regimental staff called off the attack and call up the 2nd Battalion to finish off Hill 53 the next day.

And they were so close too!

This scenario was played as a rare solo play for me. On a 4 day holiday weekend this week here and only managing 1 x PG session with an opponent, I was a bit hungry for a game. Talking of hungry, I went with "A Battle Without Water" as it had a simple attack defence theme to it therefore discounting any chances of over-playing one side.

SET-UP: This is pretty restricted and does mean that initially in one hex, the Japanese have to set up with 3 x units. This battle is about the 27th US Infantry trying to take point 0416 on a hilltop. Therefore, with the 1 x Japanese entrenchment available, that is exactly where it went, defended by an HMG and INF unit, along with a '10' CAPT with a +1 morale. The other units dug-in around this in the 2 hexes designated by the scenario. The Americans, seeing this trench as a bit too strong to attack would try to winkle out the weaker dug-in positions. They therefore set up a 3 hex firegroup consisting of MG's and commanded by a CAPT with a '2' hex FG control. He was also the only one with a morale benefit (+1) whereas all other US and Japanese officers had no morale bonus.

0900 (T1) It was a tied initiative so the US go first. As planned, the fire-group let loose with its 45col shot but only on the 22col due to the entrenchment bonus. This was the only chance of a really big hit as artillery would be reduced to the 21col on this target, negating any chance of a 2X. Being well dug in as they were the Japanese were pretty much unbothered by it all, holding on to the ground as is their way. OBA and MTR fire was thrown at the Japs with no effect at all and again, the entrenchments shielded the defenders. They returned fire with the same results.

0915 (T2) With only a short time frame, the US Inf need to go forward here and there. After watching their artillery once again cause little or no effect, the infantry clambered along the hill top. Their plan was to try and nullify the trench by putting a minimum amount of assaulters in there whilst using the rest of the force to mop up the easier dug-in positions. However, with little in the way of quality leaders, Japanese fire disrupted and demoralised many of those going forward thus breaking the attack down early on. Not a good 15 minutes for the Americans.

0930 (T3) The entrenchment had been bravely engaged by the GI's, but the disorder amongst their other troops meant that no headway was made on the dug-ins. In fact, fire from these positions simply continued to tie down the US troops as did the small quantity of Japanese OBA.

0945 (T4) BANG ! US OBA finally gets a direct hit on the dug-in troops to the south of the entrenchments. A reduced INF step is lost along with a LT. The remaining step bravely stays put. American infantry jump into assault here, but have to await their MG's to get into the action. A second assault is formed. Meanwhile in the entrenchments, the confident Japanese troops here begin counter-attacking the fragile GI's. The US officer here feeds out one of his platoons to assist in the breakthrough attempt to the south of his position.

1000 (T5) Another Japanese officer slinks into the second assault location and this reduced platoon continues to hold out and disrupt some of the GI's with its first fire dug-in bonus. Other Americans on the perimeter of the area are frantically trying to gather themselves together in good order so as to advance in to the close combat battle. The struggle on the hilltop entrenchment continues to be a see-saw morale affair. US Naval planes now swoop in to start work on the 3rd dug-in posotion but cause little problems at all.

1015 (T6) Again, little in the way of casualties inflicted (in fact - none) and although Americans get more men into the dug-in assault, they still fail to dislodge the half-platoon enemy unit there, BUT it IS demoralised now. One more sortie from the F4F's demoralise ALL the Japanese infantry in the untouched 3rd defensive position. An amazing effort but desprately just too late !

1030 (T7) At last, the Americans clear out the southern dug-outs, inflicting another step loss and killing the LT. But it is all just going through the motions now. They have nobody available to assault the demoralised 3rd position. Moreover, the Japanese on point 0416 inflict a step loss on the US infantry there.

The Japanese win by dint of only losing one of the three prepared positions. I see this now makes it a 3-0 win/loss advantage to the Japanese. But, the US had such poor leaders and just one more with a '1' morale bonus would have prevented some of the untimely disruptions before attacks/assaults went in. This in turn would have made the US attacks far more potent. I enjoyed this particular game unlike my last solo effort and will move onto the next scenario following this ... a much longer 37 turn game. That one looks like the US boys will have time to capture 0416 on the Matanikau map.

Looking for a quick game to fill in a couple of hours I rolled this one up one my own random tables. This would be my first foray into the Pacific campaign with PG and I was not sure what to expect. The first thing to realize is you need to have the Guadalcanal rule book out as well as all special rule apply to both game sets. Annoying but not a deal breaker, it took me a while also to work out the map configuration but that possibly more down to the half bottle of wine consumed prior to the game than any flaw with the scenario.Once I was sorted this prove a good little time filler. The US have to take three prepared positions and not lose more than 2 steps. The US have excellent OBA and air support, the sons of Nippon have better morale and in my game better leaders. Both side start very close to each other so there was little room for any great strategic moves this would be a firefight at close quarters followed by bloody hand to hand fighting. I resolved as the US to spend 2 turns out of the 7 softening up the Japanese positions then wade in to assault the Japanese player has little to do after his set but reinforce threatened positions and make minor tactical decisions during the game. In my playing the US force quickly took the first set of dug outs but the second assault was a disaster after a counter attack by the defending forces demoralized the entire attacking force including the Major who had led the assault. With the Japanese forces wining the next initiative a further counterattack took three steps of the US forces and by GT 5 it was all over. *As a quick solo game this was an excellent little scenario as an introduction to Pacific PG I will reserve judgement. *

This is the first of three scenarios depicting American attempts to dislodge a Japanese defensive emplacement. Since it is the first one has to assume that in reality the Americans were not able to take the position in either this or the following scenario. Unfortunately, despite the history the Americans basically have to eliminate the defenders without losing more than two steps. Give that the Japanese have higher morale and reasonable firepower, especially for assault combat this is a very difficult assignment.

In addition, there is really no opportunity to maneuver as the playing space is very tightly defined around the emplacement.

My Americans caused one step loss on the Japanese by the time they had taken three (by the fourth turn) so the scenario stopped quickly. While mathematically possible, an American victory in this scenario is highly unlikely. Yet I would suggest playing it and its two compatriot scenarios to get a feel for these incredibly close in small unit engagements and see how the Japanese were very tough to root out.

Having said that, however, the saving grace of this scenario is that it is short. It is not one to play ftf against anyone, but it worth while, especially to get a feel for the map, the jungle and the forces. I give it a "2"

This was a 2-session play-through with a PG newbie like me, using the awful fog of war (FOW) rule. I was the Japanese side in this one. The basic drill in this short saga, is all about an understrength American effort to take and hold a well-defended Japanese position. It is completely unrealistic to expect the US side to eliminate the dug in defenders without losing more than 2 steps. There is virtually no way to overcome the Japanese advantages of higher morale, good position and decent firepower. To take the place by close assault is a very tall order, indeed, for the American Commander, especially given the decoded lack of maneuver space!

The Japanese lost only a single infantry step and the loss of a leader, primarily due to my inept morale check die rolls. I had significantly better luck with initiative and combat die throws. US combat, morale, and initiative die rolls were uniformly poor in this play-through, as well. I agree with other reviewers that an American victory in this scenario is very unlikely. We experienced 2 FOW-shortened turns, out of the alloted seven!

Again, as others have reported, this unbalanced scenario is not really a good fit to play with others. It is short and to the point, though, and useful as a learning experience with a historically-accurate map to help acquaint one with fighting in a jungle environment like Guadalcanal. I doubt that this scenario was play-tested, and the victory conditions are fatally flawed, and as such I rate it as barely a 2.

Author	triangular_cube
Method	Solo
Victor	Japan
Play Date	2023-02-13
Language	English
Scenario	JuFi016

This is a very small, and very limited scenario that is very imbalanced towards the Japanese. They really just need to sit tight in their entrenchments/dug in hill line and let the Americans fail to take the hill and they will win. Seeing the W/L record on this one pretty much confirms it.

Seeing as thats less fun, I played an active Japanese defense and used my 2 xINF as a counterattack stack which moved north of my forward trench and hit the American HMGs which were firing for no effect at the trenches. An artillery duel resulted in dem'd HMGs and no damage to the morale 9 INF who swept them off and hit the kill count limit by turn 3. Seeing as its only 7 turns, that wasnt THAT early.

Not much to see or say here. 7 turn micro scenario that forces the Americans to get on with it taking a hill, but the Japanese can counterattack and knock them off balance even quicker.