American Marine Victory
Japanese Defeat
OK, now a few general observations. Somebody reported that this scenario was about 65% pro-American, and I must concur with that observation, except I would rate it 75-85% pro-American. Simply put, the Marines just have so much firepower and virtually invulnerable armour unless they do something really stupid.
When I read the previous report I had already commited to play this scenario, one of the smallest of the Leatherneck pack. We played without any balance provision, but I had plenty of time to plan my set-up. I set up 2 HS in forward positions, with my main defence line behind the first road, and then a fortified position at the building (aJ1) itself. Things started well with a US HS dying from Search casualties as a result of booby traps, but went down hill from there. The first two turns past quickly as the US reinforcements came on and the US probed forward. The US have so many leaders that the 8-0 leaders were used as scouts. The US tanks also all fired WP into various locations to scout those buildings. Since the Japs are not in Jungle/Kunai/Bamboo, they can't stay hidden if their location is entered. No kills on the scouts as they crossed the road (usually as Assault or Advance Movement)
Good news for the Japs was the complete failure of the US Flamethrowers. The at start POA tanks got off two shots before disabling it's MA, the US Heroheld FT went on the first shot, as did the reinforcing POA tank. Since these tanks were the main reason we played this scenario, that was kind of disappointing in retrospect, but I was happy enough at the time. The Japs also managed to Deliberately Immobilize an M4A1 with the 47L ATG, with the crew promptly abandoning the vehicle, and then advancing into CC. Despite a fair few shots (but not much ROF), this was the only result for the AT Guns, the frontal armour is simply too good, and the Smoke Mortars/Smoke ammo soon made deliberate Immobilization impossible.
The Bad news for the Japs was CC. The simple reason for this is that 7 FP troops are hard to match. The best CC attack I ever got was 2:1 against the crew from Hell, but usually it was 1:2 or 1:4. The Japanese didn't kill anything in CC during the entire scenario, and were frequently ambushed. US Assault Fire was regularly in the 24-36 FP range, routinely breaking of pinning Jap defenders so that concealed well-lead Marines could ambush them. All the Guns quickly fell to CC, and the first line of defence went down virtually to the last man, the Japs simply couldn't withdraw quick enough because the Ambushing Marines would advance behind other Jap positions.
The Marines then surged onto the Victory building, which put up a bit of a struggle, primarily with thrown DC. TH Heros also advanced out, but using TH Heros during MPh was hopeless due to the US Firepower. By US Turn 8 it was all over, Japs virtually wiped out to a man. There was still the 10-1 and a 2-2-8 Crew in CC with a 7-6-8, but that was ooutside the Victory building.
So whilst I can't say I played a great game ( I made a few mistakes that hurt), I also can't say the US player was lucky, particularly about the FT. Although I didn't keep exact track, the Japs probably killed about 3-4 US Squads, mostly by the HS. 2 POA tanks were recalled and one M4A1 immobilized.
Scenario fixes:
Mark McGilchrist