One note:

• Scenario #12: Aslito Airfield: The Army Arrives

Shows a Marines symbol but should be and Army symbol in setup.

Interesting when I designed this scenario I wasn’t sure where the main hill would be on the finished map and wouldn’t you know it, there are two large hills but it actually made the scenario work better, as one side couldn’t just defend one hill area with all of their forces, now both sides have to look at how to control the most hill hexes, which depending on your strategy usually means spreading out your forces. This can be done in so many ways, so figuring out the best way might take a few game plays.

I won’t go into too much detail with this one but in some areas it turned into a slugfest and others a maneuver strategy in terrain that is a puzzle to solve the best approaches. It was much more, bloody then the real battle, as the U.S. Army didn’t pull back in this contest. Steps were lost on both sides but in the end the Americans controlled 8 hill hexes, the Japanese controlled 6 hill hexes and one was in an assault dispute. The Americans won this scenario but it didn’t feel like a victory as they lot 8 steps vs. the Japanese 7 steps.

Played face-to-face with Matt W in about 90 minutes.

An interesting situation. The Americans set up first on the hills and then the Japanese set up within two hexes of the Americans. Whoever control the most hill hexes wins.

You can see pictures of our setup in Post #4 of this thread

I set up my American troops in good defensible positions on both hills, with the assumption I am defending. Matt set up all his troops on the big hill.

This was short, brutal battle with ineffective Japanese assaults from the offset. The Japanese tried again the next turn and lost two steps. That was bad enough but it seems to me they lost morale because Matt kept rolling double-digits for morale checks. My Americans counter-attacked, eliminated a couple more steps and the Japanese were now in a very precarious position.

It did not help the Japanese that two isolated platoons resisted a number if turns before they were driven off the hill.

The next few turns were spent containing the Japanese to prevent them from accessing more hill hexes. The Japanese gave up after two hours.

American victory!

I gave this scenario a “4” for a few reasons. It’s an unusual setup and it plays quickly. Both sides will have a chance to attack and counter-attack (and maybe maneuver if one side wants to focus wants to threaten to retake some hexes behind enemy lines). High replay value (a good scenario to learn about fighting in the jungle). I suspect it plays well solitaire and face-to-face.

US Army for a change, holding as many hexes as possible on the two hills. I put the LTs each with a single platoon of infantry, CPTs with infantry and HMGs, the Major with another infantry and HMG, the COL with the last infantry, the engineer unit and the mortar, and placed the COL and his entourage at the middle of the larger hill top on the big northern hill, building a command group around him, placed a single Cpt with his stack on the northwest 2nd level hill, then the rest holding the southern hill with the Maj holding the hights. Japanese attackers were set up in infantry companies, 2 full and one single step platoons with each LT, the Cpts getting the HMGs, with the 2 HMGs going to the Captain on the northern hill and the single one on the southern hill. I planned for each infantry stack to go into assault as soon as possible, and with the Japanese getting the initiative early they did pretty well, but not well enough to do any damage. HMGs fired first and failed to do any damage, then assault stacks went in and also failed to do damage, while Army defenders rolled several X results. The Japanese finally lost the last of their troops at the northern hill mass but were intent on trying to get as much of the southern hill as possible, and at the bitter end, found themselves not even being able to control a single hex there. If given credit as control for being the last unit to have been present in a hex, then they controlled 2 hexes at the end, but were not present on the hill at all. Big win for the Army.

In this scenario the Americans get to set up first on the two hills. Victory is determined through control of hill hexes. There are not enough American units to cover all the hill hexes so the Japanese, who must set up within two hexes of an American unit will be on the hill(s) with the Americans. This gives the Japanese, who are outnumbered and outgunned) a chance to have a turn or two of offensive punch before the inevitable counterattack. It is crucially important for the Japanese to win these early attacks decisively.

As the American Daniel set up on both hills, denying me the chance to get some easy controlled hexes by leaving the smaller hill ungarrisoned - not that I expected anything different. His set up used the heavy jungle as cover, leaving my men in light jungle, or open hill terrain.

I was heavily intermingled with two of his emplacements one on a 40 meter hill and the other next to a 40 meter ridge. I expected to have some success against them in the first 2-3 turns and then use the force thus freed to continue on to contain the Americans on the ridge. My initial attacks were, however, contained, (low assault rolls on both sides). Daniel took the opportunity to advance his troops off the ridge to support some of these battles.

Seeing an opportunity to use another Japanese infantry bonus I counterattacked with 3 full strength infantry platoons and watched as, within a single turn, I lost 5 steps and two leaders (losses and demoralization on the original attack and subsequent losses on the couterattack). I had planned to infiltrate from the assault hex onto the ridge and force him to split his forces. The losses pinned me in and I was incapable of moving forward. I ultimately (turn 8) did win the first two assaults but it really was a question of two little too late. I simply had taken too many losses to have any punch left and the terrain with lots of heavy jungle, made any sort of movement questionable.

If you have gotten used to the fanatical Japanese of earlier games and supplements, with their 9/8 morale, the change to 8/7 must change your thinking. Many of the tactics used in those battles no longer work here. More importantly, your troops are simply not as dependable and are materially less capable than those on the Kokoda Trail, for example. Granted, they are still more dependable than most but their lack of firepower makes it hard to compensate for a merely "good" morale. In the absence of firepower, the attacker must rely on morale advantage. In the absence of morale advantage, the attacker must rely on numbers. In the abasence of numbers the attacker will usually fail.

While I failed in this one there is a real Japanese chance for victory. This is worth a replay to tease that out. I give it a "3" but think there is a "4" hiding in there somewhere.