Saipan, scenario #13: The Marines Try Aslito Airfield

Errata:

First let me state; the scenario should be 20 turns long not 10 as when I designed it, it was a length wise scenario a far as the map setup but after development the map was re-configures the other direction not giving the Americans a chance to win. Even with the development, I should have had more turns, for this my apologies!

I setup the Japanese with one 75/88 gun, one SER unit and one leader forward to slow the Marines down and the rest of the Japanese scattered way back in the jungle and hills. The American wasted a lot of valuable time forward and when they hit the Japanese in the rear area the 10 turns had run out, so I extended the scenario to what it should be, 20 turns and as luck would have it, one of the reduced step SER units recovered from demoralized and I never assigned a unit to chase it down after it became demoralized, so even with a 20 turn scenario, the Americans still lost but a much closer contest!

This scenario pits a very small number of Japanese troops with a 75/88 and a 37mm AA gun against 2 companies of Marines supported by mortars, an LVT-4A1 and an LVT-4A4. I placed the Japanese AA gun with an infantry platoon and LT on the western side of the small hill on the east side of the board giving him a good field of fire covering much of the edge that the Marines had to enter from. The second stack of Japanese had 2 Service platoons and another LT set up to the south and in the jungle edge so he could open fire at anything that came through the light jungle in front of him, and the last stack had the Japanese Major, the 75/88, a Service platoon and the HMG platoon. The Marines came in with the group of two stacks lead by the Major with a good LT, both leading stacks of 2 Marine infantry units. The third stack came in towards the south end of the west edge to work his way through the jungle and try to take out the units on that part of the board. The LVTs split up, one coming in next to the Marine Sgt who lead the two Mortar units, and the other coming in at the north end. As the first LVT stopped in the light woods where he could look for the enemy, the Japanese AA gun opened up an accurate AT fire and took out the only step lost by the Marines in this game. The Major and LT in the north moved through the light woods to flank the hill, with the plan of softening up the defenders there while the mortars dropped rounds on to try to do as much damage as possible before a Marine assault. The LT to the south with two Infantry platoons slogged through the jungle and the other LVT moved forward but didn't stick his nose out too far after seeing what happened to his partner. The command group with the Major succeeded in getting adjacent to the Japanese AA gun and defenders while the Mortars managed by turn 3 to roll a 2, and randomly rolling to see which piece in the hex took the loss, the hit took out the AA gun and demoralized the infantry. The Japanese quickly rallied and offered week resistance but lost everything in the ensuing assault, with even the LT succumbing to wounds. While all this happened, the Marines in the south had finally managed to get close to the defending Service platoons there, while the LVT single step moved to where he could shoot without drawing fire from the yet to be found 75/88, and the southern defense crumbled, again complete with leader. With confidence up, the northern force and LVT moved forward, the infantry finding the gun, Service and HMG platoons with the Major and closing to adjacent, while an LVT stuck it's nose out to try to draw fire, all the while letting the mortars pound the final stack of defenders. This time, mortars did some friendly fire damage, and just as that got straightened out, point blank fire hit the same stack of Marines and demoralized them, but mortar fire and now combined direct fire from just about everything else was taking it's toll. The 75/88 was the next loss, and a demoralized HMG platoon tried to flee but only got itself into a position to be wiped out next turn. The Japanese Major and the final Service platoon held the middle for another two turns until Marines finally finished off the Service platoon in assault. The Major managed to evade and escape, but by this point on turn 15, there were no more Japanese units, demoralized or otherwise, so the game ended in a US victory.

Bruce and I did not have the errata. We played 10 turns. I set up on the east side of the map. Bruce had bad rolling dice. I would have with drawn into the jungle on the east edge of the map. Trust to the 50 - 50 chance that the Marines get lucky following me. Keep 2 hexes from enemy units.

The Japanes just need one unit Disrupted or Good Order to win. Those Marine leaders are awesome.

The Marines Advanced up the board on the west side of the board to flank the Japanese on the hill. A section broke off and took the middle road to attack a small force of Japanese in the east. The going was easy and the marines advanced to within spitting distance of the enemy. The Japanese starting firing at the marines but did no damage. Two platoons assaulted a dug-in Japanese platoon with a gun. The Japanese defense was tough and disrupted the marines. The other platoons advanced up the hill toward the other dug-in Japanese position. Mean while the LTVA-4's advanced to the east to attack the enemy in two villages. As one of the LTV's advanced toward the ville a Japanese gun opened fire from the hill. Oh God it is an 88. The first shots took out an LTV (12 rolled. Assault continued with the Japanese attacking the Marines, but they held tough and disorganized the Japanese platoon. The Lt. ordered his Sgt to take his platoon and assault a unit in the jungle while He takes his Platoon into the assault. Shots were traded back and and forth with no results on either side. When we played this we did not see the errata that increased the turns. So the marines kept attacking and finally managed to disorganize most of the Japanese units but just could not break the last one. So the Japanese won the day.

Used this scenario to introduce an experienced gamer to PG (he had tried it once before but found it less than he wanted). Used this to focus on infantry attacks and little ranged weaponry.

The Japanese set up on the 40 meter ridge with supporting positions and although they nearly all died there were two units remaining, one in good order and one disrupted that managed to survive thus "winning" the scenario.

For the chosen purpose, the scenario worked well. It was highly focused (only 10 turns) and avoided most of the more intricate tactical decisions and permitted us to focus on activation, direct fire and assault, although my opponent did have some issues with friendly fire when he shot his mortars. The play was engaging running through the 10th turn with both players having a reasonable chance to win.

Author	treadasaurusrex (United States)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Japan
Participants	bugmaster@aol.com
Play Date	2022-05-21
Language	English
Scenario	Saip013

A disappointing 1-session play-through with the bugmaster ably-leading the determined Japanese side. My Marines entered from the NW corner of the map and proceeded directly east through mixed jungle terrain to attack the dug-in, Japanese guns and troops on the northern hill. A pair of Marine 81mm mortars platoons setup to provide suppression fire in a suitable jungle hex on the western margin of the map, and waited for their comrades to make contact with the Japanese in three adjoining light jungle hexes on the hill. A contested movement-to-contact ensued and a great deal American firepower and eventually a series of bloody close assaults were required to clear the westernmost two hexes of the original Japanese position. By the end of play, both sides had 5 step losses and zero initiative, with a disrupted, half-strength Japanese SER platoon, and the heavy-hitting, 75/88 AA gun still in-place and dug in atop the 40-meter hilltop.

There is virtually no way for the American side to win this one, as all Japanese units must be eliminated for a win! The Japanese player may simply hide the Emperor's troops in the jungle as far away from the Marine entry hexes as possible and hold out for a win.

While this was fun for us to play, we both give this terminally flawed, one-sided scenario a rating of 1.