Another fast playing scenario, where the Americans must takeout the big 120/10 Gun and at least five other steps, and in 14 turns, anything less is a Japanese victory. The Japanese setup way up north, on or around the small hill there. The big gun is dug-in there surround by other Japanese INF, HMG & SER units also dug-in or in heavy Jungle. The Marines waste about 6 turns getting up there but after that and three turns with some nice dice rolls of the 3 x 10 off board artillery they start to take control taking out 6 Japanese steps plus the 120/10 gun winning the scenario but still losing 3 of their own steps. The time limit was close but this makes it a more tense of a scenario.

If ever there was a scenario that needed hidden units and face to face play it is this one. The Japanese are tasked with protecting a 120/10 dual purpose gun against a couple of companies of Marines with flamethrowers, off board artillery and really nasty dispositions. To fight this the Japanese had a company of infantry with some service troops and some extra HMG support. The Marines, as is their wont, have to kill the Japanese and silence the gun.

Without any hidden units the Marines have a decent idea where the gun is. As a result they can make a bee line for the one or two locations where it might be. Daniel and I play a version of fog of war in that stacks cannot be investigated until you are in an assault or the particular unit fires. Even with this help Daniel was able to identify the two possible locations for the gun and to hone in. As he got closer I finally needed to fire and the resulting artillery strike made short work of the gun (a "3" on the 30 column!).

On the other hand, the Japanese do have sufficient firepower in this scenario to cause some Marine casualties.

We felt that two hidden units and one hidden leader for the Japanese would provide this one with all the balance it needed. As it was, we both rolled incredibly well on the fire tables and the issue was in some doubt until turn 9 of 14. With the hidden units the suspense would continue. I give this one a "4" on the potential.

Marines enter with a little more than double the number of Japanese defenders, and need to eliminate a Japanese heavy AA gun as well as at least 5 steps of troops. I used the town hexes to place 2 of the defending stacks, with an INF and Ser in the southern-most town hex, an INF and HMG in a town 4 hexes back but on the beach side, to keep Marines from just advancing up the beach, and another stack in the jungle to the east near the hill, that any Marines that enter the village hex there would be within range to fire. Marines came in with 2-unit stacks, 3 with an INF and an HMG, another with the mortar, the ENG and the FLM elements. Marines advanced well until one CPT with an INF and the FLM assaulted the southern-most town hex, where things got bogged down and the only loss, 2 steps of Marine INF were lost, while another INF platoon moved in from an adjacent hex to keep up the fight. The assault continued for some time while other Marines bypassed the combat. To the east, the firepower of two stacks of Marines finally wore down and eliminated the Japanese holding the flank, but this just gave the Japanese AA gun a target. Die rolls for the most part were mediocre, but a few 2s and a 12 played a large part in eliminating Japanese troops. The Marines called in all 3 of the 10 arty each turn on the Japanese AA guns, but only on turn 14, as troops were maneuvering around and working to eliminate more Japanese troops did the Marine arty get the range. Snake-eyes eliminated the gun while the sergeant at the gun shrugged off the morale check. By this time, the only surviving Japanese troop unit on the table was the HMG, which was working it's way over to the jungle hex where the AA gun and Sergeant had been. The game ended on turn 13, with the Japanese having already lost 11 steps including the gun, and having left only the HMG and SGT. Another Marine victory.