To the Poha Jungle Fighting #32 |
||
---|---|---|
(Defender) Japan | vs | United States (Attacker) |
Formations Involved | ||
---|---|---|
Japan | 2nd "Courageous" Infantry Division | |
United States | 147th "Gypsies of the Pacific" Infantry Regiment | |
United States | 6th Marine Regiment | |
United States | Marine Corps |
|
Overall Rating, 3 votes |
---|
2.67
|
Scenario Rank: --- of 940 |
Parent Game | Jungle Fighting |
---|---|
Historicity | Historical |
Date | 1943-01-23 |
Start Time | 07:45 |
Turn Count | 17 |
Visibility | Day |
Counters | 115 |
Net Morale | 0 |
Net Initiative | 3 |
Maps | 1: Guad-ME |
Layout Dimensions | 84 x 55 cm 33 x 22 in |
Play Bounty | 159 |
AAR Bounty | 165 |
Total Plays | 3 |
Total AARs | 2 |
Battle Types |
---|
Inflict Enemy Casualties |
Rear Guard |
Conditions |
---|
Naval Bombardment |
Off-board Artillery |
Scenario Requirements & Playability | |
---|---|
Battle of the Bulge | Counters |
Guadalcanal | Maps + Counters |
Jungle Fighting | Base Game |
Introduction |
---|
The American attack continued on the 23rd as the 27th Regiment's advance inland gained momentum and threatened to surround the Japanese defenders along the coast. Unknown to the Americans, the Japanese had resolved to evacuate the island on the 16th, but had been fighting hard to prevent the Americans from overrunning the many weakened defenders as they drew back on Cape Esperance. |
Conclusion |
---|
The Japanese were again driven west beyond the Poha River (off the map edge) except for a large force surrounded near the coast by the 6th Marines and the 27th Infantry. The back of the Japanese defense was broken and only the pocketed force remained to prevent an American drive on Cape Esperance. |
Additional Notes |
---|
Elsenborn Ridge or Cassino '44 may be used for the U.S. Army units. |
1 Errata Item | |
---|---|
Scen 32 |
There is not enough space for the Americans to fully set up within the confines of the in play zone. I allowed them to set up partially OOB after fully stacking the in play areas, only allowing those units OOB to walk in bounds by a direct route. (triangular_cube
on 2023 Feb 24)
|
Close, But Not Quite |
---|
When I first looked at this one, I almost picked another scenario. The Americans have to fight their way through heavy jungle and then accomplish victory conditions that seem nearly impossible. But, it fit the time and space I had and I decided to give it a try. It took some time to get the Americans through the jungle. They have a large force and with the jungle rules they could often activate only one stack at a time. Several times Fog-of-War rolls stopped them from activating a good portion of the force. Once they got through the jungle to the Japanese, they had to make it past Japanese Opportunity Fire to assault them. The Japanese set up in the jungle with clear hexes in front of them for maximum protection and fields of fire. At the half-way point in the scenario, the Americans had lost three steps of infantry in the approach. When the 8-0-1 Marine Captain rolled 12 on a recovery roll and deserted, I figured one more turn and I'd be writing up an AAR for an unbalanced scenario rated '2.' By then, though, the Americans were adjacent to the Japanese all along the line. They assaulted and American firepower quickly evened things up. They quickly reduced and then eliminated platoon after platoon of Japanese defenders. In the end, the Americans did not lose another step (although it was pretty close at times), and the game came down almost to the final turn. One and one-half Japanese platoons held on in a single assault hex for a surprisingly close win. This one is probably best played solo, since there is not much for the Japanese to do once they set up. It's still pretty tough for the Americans, but with patience and good planning they should be able to make it close, and can certainly win with just a little luck. |
0 Comments |
Jungle Fighting #32 | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
This is going to be a very tough go for the Americans, as they have to essentially boardwipe the Japanese with a short turn count and limiting casualties. Its probably basically impossible but not to my standard to get a "1" so its a very low "2". I suspect the American setup info is wrong, in that they do not have space to fully set up, and they are quite a distance from the Japanese. So much so that they will spend a third of their turns just crossing the map to engage the Japanese. They do so without much trouble, maximizing the open/grass terrain to get in more activations while moving forward against FOW. The Japanese intended to limit the impact of the road, and American DD (although these are fairly useless in actuality) while also increasing their chances of causing casualties against the weaker Army morale by setting up densely in the south. The USMC in the north does speed along the road and swing south while the Army has a more direct route to contact. Battle ensues once the Americans break the jungle line, but there are just simply too many Japanese and not enough time. Japan wins easily. Probably aided by a broken setup instruction. |
||||||||||||
0 Comments |