I played Maggot Hill in the final in our local club-tournament, against Bjarne Hansen, a very sharp and experienced player.
We were using an ABS made by the manager of tournament, I bid American 0, while my opponent bid American 2, so I got to play the Japanese with an extra 448 with a DC, and the ability to enter my troops in turn 1.
Bjarne's set up was concentrated on the East Hill (EH). There were stacks of 7+ counters beneath 3S Foxholes in both J6 and I7, the stack in I7 was dominating the approch from the North, and the stack in J6 was covering the top of the west hill and the south end of EH, these stacks would also make it VERY diffficult to assault the hill from the east. There were manned 1S foxholes in J7 & I8, covering the clearing between the hills, and a foxhole in L6 with 3+ counters making up the defense of the south of the hill.
The defense of the West Hill (WH) was set up H12, I12 and J12, with only one stack showing any real strength. There wasn't any troops on the top of WH, thus no Foxholes would be available to me when I cleared WH, making the assault on EH harder.
To the south were 1S foxholes in Q8 & Q7 each with 2 counters covering the direct approach to EH. This turned out to be a trap, when i got closer the foxholes turned out to be 2S, and the 4 squads were all 747's!
After looking at the set up, my Plan was to assault WH head on from the north, with 7 squads from the northern Japanese group, supported by 2*HMG, and a couple of squads from the southern group, moving into position around M13/M14. My other major effort was an attack on EH, by approximatley 15 squads from the southern group, entering from the east board edge. I also wanted to appply pressure on the american from all sides in order to make it difficult for him to rout, so I positioned squads all around the edge of the clearing between the hills. To the north 3 full squads with mtr's would take up position in E10, E9, E7 hopefully these guys could smoke the killer stacks in. I also positioned a HMG and a 9-1 in E5, these guys could cover the top of WH, and at the same time defend against an american breakout attempt. Finally HIP squads and A-T heroes were positioned in C14 & C8 as a defense against a break-out. To the south 10-1 and 2*.50 cal would go into O10 to prevent movement between the two hills. A couple of squads with mtr's were supposed to take up position in around M11/M10/O9/P10 to smoke in EH. 2 squads applied pressure on the GI's in Q8/Q7. Finally I kept 3*447 and a 8+1 from the north group, of the board as a reserve.
Play then commenced, with the bombardment doing nothing.
Not much happened in turn 1, I moved forward, and he repositioned his troops to meet my attack. An 81mm mtr showed itself in L8, and started shooting at my HMG/10-1 stack in P10. 2 Spotting Rounds were put on the board, one to the north and one to the south, fortunatley Bjarne's first draw for both OBA's were red, maybe te OBA's wouldn't last!
In turn 2 things started to heat up. I advanced my guys into position at the north end of the clearing, and advanced on his defense on WH, my HMG's and squads moving towards M12, had to detour because of the SR. Bjarne reavealed the stack in I7, it turned out to be 2*667 w/MMG, 1*667 w/HMG, and a -1 leader, they wasted my concealed MMG+leader in E11. He also showed an 81mm mtr in I8 covering the north, and one in J9 covering the south. The 81's pointing south really made it difficult for my guys there, he had all te wood hexes at te edge of te clearing covered by either an mtr or SR. One of the crews manning the .50 cal in O10 rolled a 12 on a NMC, this allowed a 747 to move adjacent to my 10-1, fortunatley for me te squad was broken the sniper!
In the turns 3 & 4 the battle got really hot. The assault on WH got really close and nasty. I attacked head on from the north, but Bjarne had assembled a "Kill"-stack in G11, with 2½ squad and a 8-1. I sent a couple of squads in to draw his fire, and ended up with CX'ing a 448 w/DC into F11, threatning to place the DC in his hex. He couldn't nail the squad and took a FPF shoot and rolled a 9, breaking his entire stack. The stack routed to J11, but didn't rally, and died in the next RtPh for failure to rout, because of a tight loss from J11 to E5. I also got a break at the south end of the hill, where 1 one my squads took out 2 of his, one for failure to rout and one 1 CC, and at the same time held his defense up. At the end of turn 4 WH was cleared, with only one defending crew and an 8-0 surviving!
The attack on EH was also going quite well, I had I7 smoked in, He broke the mtr in L8, and my 10-1 and the .50's broke the crew manning the mtr in I8. But the most important thing was the CC's though. I attacked his squads at the south end of EH VERY agressivley, and it payed of. I wasted at least 5 of his squads around K5/L5/M6 in CC, at the cost of 3 or 4 of my squads, this allowed me to take posession of the south part of EH, with suads in L6 & L7. The bad thing was that the J6 stack turned out to consist of 3*667 each with a HMG and a 9-2! These guys were very hard to get at, I wasn't in position to smoke them in, and the few hexes with los to J6 are either adjacent or on top of WH, with only minimal cover - a tough nut to crack!
By the end of turn 4 Bjarne's defense was reduced to:
Both the OBA's were out, one drawing a second red, and the other being out of action because the leader w/ the radio was busy leaving WH. I still had plenty of Squads, app. 9 directly east and south of EH, and 10 or so spread out across the rest of the board. Mtr's in K12 and E9 still had smoke, 2*MMG was in I5, 2*.50 cal in N9, and I had 2 HMG's moving towards H11 or I11.
I moved very agressivly forwards in turn 5, knowing he had to hold his fire, in order to be able to stop a Banzai attack. All my guys moved closer, including my HIP squads, the reserves, the HMG guys from E5, My 10-1 moved into K9, battle-hardened into a 10-2, and promptly got wounded by the sniper! In my turn Bjarne routed his broken guys into his killer-stacks, and both stacks became overstacked by 2 squads, I took this opportunity to advance my concealed guys adjacent to him, and bring the HMG guys on WH into position in I11.
His Prep Fire didn't do that much to me, a squad in K6 went berserk, but nobody was killed! My Defensive Fire wasn't impressive either, J6 was overstacked, got encircled and the 9-2 pinned, and still the 2 of the squads wouldn't break, passing a 2MC - one even produced a hero and became fanatic! He advanced 1 squad w/MMg from I7 into J6 to fill up the stack, and the crew and leader from I9 advanced to I8 - more bodies in my way!
In my turn 6 I fired everybody with LOS to J6 in Prep Fire, but didn't do anything to him! My berserk Squad then charged J6 an was wasted with a 36 -4 shot!! I then Banzai'ed a hs into J7 and a squad into I8, and got squads in position to CC J6. I advanced 4 squads (major bummer) into J6 and 2 squads into J7, I8 only got one squid, but since his guys was shot up in AF it didn't matter. Despite my error in J6 i managed to kill 1 squad and both his leader and hero in CC, at the price of 3 full squads and 2 hs. In J7 I killed his squad, while he CR'ed one of my squads, leaving 1½ squad of mine and a crew of his! I8 died for failure to rout!
I also advanced concealed 2 MMG's adjacent to J6, and established a Multi-location FG with 30+ FP directed at I7.
In his turn 6, Bjarne tried to shoot up my guys in K6 from J6, but only managed to flip one of the crews over, he didn't do any better with his I7 guys who tried to take out my HMG's in I11, they both flipped but didn't break! My Defensive Fire Broke 1 of his squads in J6, who died for failure to rout. But the 2 other only pinned! Bjarne advanced 1 squad w/ yet another HMG and an 8-0 into J6 to make his last stand there, and after considering reinforcing the h-t-h Melee in J7, his final squad goes CX in order to advances into I6. In CC I wasted the crew in J7.
My turn 7, and only 4 american squads left. In the Rally Phase his 8-0 armed himself with an MMG. I have a lot of toys pointing at J6; 12+2 w/ ROF 3 from the HMG's in I11, 16+3 w/ ROF 2 from the MMG's in K6, and a single 16+2 from the guys in J7. I shot the 12+2 from the HMG's in I11 first, and roll 2, and all his squads break - AT LAST, his leader only pins though! Now all i gotta do is take care of the squad in I6. I have got a squad in H6 and leader+crew in G7, they Banzai, the squad enters his hex and gets wasted, then the crew and leader enters and lives. Then a yellow swarm comes charging across the hill in order to get a piece of the last GI's. They don't get him though, since I finally gets to place my DC and roll 3 on the resolution. Then only the poor pinned, encirled and surrounded 8-0 in J6 remain, I go 6-1 in h-t-t CC and he's gone!
So I won with 1 whole turn remaining, and at least 10 squad equivalents left, against a guy i consider a better player than myself, is the scenario unbalanced?? I think not, every break in the game was mine:
I will play this scenario again as either side!
Finally some thought on the strategy and tactics of both sides:
Japanese:
Cause failure to rout. By far the largest amount of casualties I
inflicted, was caused by Failure to rout. The japanese player should do his
outmost to infiltrate the American position, to get in position to do this! Be
agressive, you win when you get in close, either in CC or when the American
Squads breaks. Don't shoot it out with the GI's!
American:
Move out in time. Know when to abandon a position, its
important to keep your distance, the japanese are dangerous when they get close.
But be carefull not to let the Japanese infiltrate! SHOOT, the american's
biggest advantage is the firepower of his squads and MG's, most of the
casualties inflicted came from the IIFT! Don't slug it out in CC! Convert mtr's
to OBA, OBA covers a large area, and you don't need squads to man them! Find
places to rally, (the hard one!) J6, H11 & I12 are good spots! Protect your
rally points!
Mikael Siemsen
Japanese: Jim Brackin
American: Steve Kyle
Dr. Phil has given his impressions of this scenario, but I had started this AAR already so I might as well post it. This is mostly from the American side, so I hope others will add their comments.
Result: The Japanese attack was repelled with heavy losses from American FP and CC attacks, and Jim conceded on turn 4. The Japanese attacked the western hill from the north, and were reduced to about two squads, with six US squads and two HMGs still defending. Some of the northern force reached the level-3 hexes to the northeast of the eastern hill. Their southern units had reached the edge of the jungle to the south. The defense was still strong and likely to cause heavy losses if the game had continued.
This is difficult terrain for the attack. In almost every ambush situation, the Japanese added the +1 CX drm for Advance vs. Difficult Terrain since the defenders were set up on jungle-crest hexes whenever possible. Most ambush die rolls favored the US with -1 Stealthy for them and +1 CX plus +1 attacker in jungle for the Japanese. In some cases the defenders also got -2 for concealment. The Japanese can counter the ambush threat with Banzai charges, but they will almost always have to adjacent for that since LOS is so limited.
Even without stacking, the US can get 12-, 20-, and 24-FP attacks against adjacent hexes and the dense terrain will allow plenty of opportunity for PBF attacks. With 3 81mm mortars, 6 60mm mortars, and 4 HMGs the US player has between 7 and 13 ROF 3 weapons, depending on how he uses the 60mm OBA option. I used one 60mm battery, leaving 3 light mortars on the board. The OBA never got into action because the 8-0 carrying the radio broke in the pre-game bombardment and didn't rally until about turn 3. I like the option of having a 60mm FFE available, but I wouldn't go for two batteries and give up all direct-fire options from the light mortars. Keeping 3 light mortars on board gives the Americans some flexibility in Defensive Fire, since the OBA can't be placed or corrected during Defensive First Fire. One other benefit of the OBA option is that it will free up 3 half-squads or crews for other duties. US Ordnance Note 1, allowing removal of three mortars from the OB to get a 60mm OBA module, doesn't require removal of manning infantry as well. I think CG rules do require the mortar crews to be removed, but as far as we could tell non-CG scenarios do not.
The four 747 Assault Engineer squads seem to be a little out of place in a defensive situation, but they bring some subtle advantages to the Americans (and one not so subtle one - the demo charge). One vital capability is the 5 smoke exponent, 4 for WP grenades. WP is handy to strip concealment on Japanese units. This evens up the ambush drms should the Americans decide to go into CC, but even if there is no CC in the US turn the Japanese will not regain concealment for their turn. Smoke is also very handy for retreating out of foxholes. An engineer squad next to a foxhole can put normal smoke in the hex most of the time, allowing an entrenched squad to assault move to an adjacent hex with at least +2 TEM. These squads need to be around at the end of the game to defend the last hill hexes or lead the counter-attack.
One last thing the American player has to keep in mind is that there are no CVP limits on either side, and the Americans get last licks. The Japanese could win a pure battle of attrition, but the terrain and defensive firepower of the US would make a straight 1 to 1 casualty trade-off difficult. If the Americans retreat off the hills with sufficient strength, they just need to re-take one of the level-4 or 5 hexes on the last turn for a pyrrhic victory.
This scenario is not just fun and games for the Americans, though. The Japanese pre-game bombardment can cause holes in any defensive set up. In this game, the bombardment spared three hexrows in the American set up area. Damage was light on the east side, but the western side was hit pretty hard with two leaders and several squads breaking. No Casualty MC results at least, and the Japanese did not press their advantage on the western hill since they held no units in reserve. All the Americans were in foxholes, including the mortar crews, so the bombardment-induced 2MCs had a -3 DRM in the jungle, -4 in the open. I wasn't sure if the 81mm mortars and crews could set up in foxholes instead of being emplaced; the SSR says all MMCs and SW/SMC with them can set up entrenched. The 81's aren't SW's, but can be set up in foxholes normally, so we decided it was allowed. Foxholes can become traps when its time to pull out, but their +4 TEM is vital to survive the bombardment.
The Japanese should use the option to hold some units off board until turn 2. The ability to hit the flanks of the American positions gives them some added leverage when the Americans start to break and rout. I wasn't convinced of this before we played, but after playing the game I think the two turn delay is worth it. It will take at least that long for the Japanese to get around the flank moving from the south on turn 1, and the delayed entry has no risk from straying or US fire. I think the relatively open terrain to the west offers the Japanese good ground for the flanking move.
Once the Japanese get close, they can use Banzai charges to avoid ambush. Banzais are costly, but used carefully they will soak off US defensive fire and whittle down the defender's strength. As Phil mentioned, deploying squads is a good idea. Even 238 half-squads will give the US player something to worry about; 1-4 Hand-to-Hand attacks will inflict losses with a "7", with the Japanese -2 DRM. The Americans cannot afford to lose many squads to kill half-squads. Get some WP from the grenade launchers, banzai some half-squads, back them up with some squads and MGs, and the Japanese will be busting open the American positions.
This is a real in-your-face kind of scenario. Obviously too long for tournament play, but not unreasonable when you've got time. Infantry-only, eight turns, and the map area is not as large as it appears since the hexes are larger than the standard ASL board. Its quite reasonable even for players who haven't done a lot of PTO scenarios. The large OB's, pre-game bombardment, and Japanese attack options should produce a good variety of replay results. And, despite the two American wins at EPGS (see Phil's AAR), I think its a balanced scenario.
Steve Kyle