Howdy Guys,
Darrell Wright and I are working on our PTO understanding, so we played Cibik's Ridge yesterday. Darrell had the scoundrels while I had the Marines. My Marines, who all get to setup HIP, had an ambush set for the central path where it divides (P5). One HS on the path in Q6 with an 8-1, squad w MMG and HS across the pond in R4 boresighted on P5. A 9-2 and squad w MMG were in the bamboo on my left flank (R9) to stop any column coming down that path. All of the Japanese came down the central path, so the leading squads were bounced back into P5 with overstacking, boresighting, hazardous movement, and a -1 leader against a +2 TEM. I was off to a good start, wounding one leader and killing another through his wound severity. I also reduced and broke a squad with a MTR. Later my sniper finished him off and the MTR was never recovered, much to my relief.
My HSs continued to pull back just out of sight and block the path. The leaders and MMGs pulled back onto the ridge. By slowly pulling back and making the Japanese come to me, the Japanese would unexpectly find the rest of my force. My rolls were generally good. No malfunctions of any of the SW.
The highlight of the game had a HIP HS in V3 spotting for a MTR in W3 against a large concealed Japanese T2's light jungle. I had a +5 DRM but kept my rate with DRs of 3 and 4 before rolling a CH for my third shot in DF. KIAed one squad with random selection on the CH and rolled a 3 for the effects DR, which with airburst also a K/2 which wounded the other Japanese leader. He failed his wound severity too. By turn 4(?), the Japanese had no remaining leaders so the Marines did not need to worry about any banzai attacks, which were my greatest fear. My second greatest fear was smoke, but their knee MTR did not have any. (Probably it was on the bodies of the other MTR squad.) The Japanese sniper certainly did plenty of damage (with a SAN of 5) by KIAing my 9-2, which then caused the squad with my remaining HMG to break. But all in all, the Marines avoided CC, breaking if necessary, and steadily fell back to hold enough hill hexes to win while constantly whittling the Japanese down.
The balance would not have made any difference, as the Marines won by inflicting > 24CVP. The Japanese have very tough terrain to work through with a lot of minimum advances. They also lost their leaders early, but I don't know that they ever were positioned for the overwhelming banzai attack I kept waiting for. Overall, despite the American advantages I think it is a fun scenario. I'd play either side in a non-tournament game.
Regards,
Chuck Payne