Got a chance to play some squid! Played a Japanese Cave defense against an awesome looking Marine Raider attack. (Hi John!)
TAMING TULAGI, August, 1942
An excellent force of Marine Raiders (9x558s, 8 DCs, 2MMGs, 60 mm OBA)
attacks a hill containing a small (4 caves) cave complex with elite Japanese
(5x448, 3x238, 3xMMG). Marines must control or destroy all of the caves or
control all of the upper hill hexes in play.
The ASL Record gave this one as 4 Jap wins to 0 Yank wins, so my opponent and I gave the Yanks the J2 balance (2 DCs, but kept HIP to 2 additional Jap squads). This was more of a learning experience for both of us as it was our first cave venture. Caves are 1-4-6 terrain features with some unusual exit/entry, and LOS rules. Caves and cave complexes are the ultimate skulking terrain. Only Japs can use them, and they can enter a complex from a cave and advance back to the cave using HIP! Ugly! This scenario was played on a half board with 7.5 game turns.
Turn 1 started out poorly for the sons of Nippon. I'd placed 2 HIP squads right up front to slow the Yank advance. They were discovered too quickly and both were dispatched with relative ease although my son came in and rolled a low CC to wax two yank half squads. They were carrying 2 DCs which were destroyed by the CC! So much for the balance provision, and too bad the Japs didn't get 'em!!
Turns 2 through 4 saw the Yank jockeying for position by climbing up the hill, and searching locations to ward against ambushes. A small firefight erupted on the Jap left flank that eventualy resulted in a KIAd Yank half squad and some broken units to slow the attack.
The Jap right didn't do much until Turn 4 & 5. Then a ground level cave (MMG) fought off several attempts to plaster it, and even survived a well thrown DC. While the MG eventually broke, it in turn had broken a DC carrying squad. They were ambushed in CC by a HIP squad that grabbed the DC and threw it the next turn on the Marines trying to destroy the cave. The result was a very satisfying broken Marine, but the DC killed off the Jap thrower. That cave survived to game end. Another one got wiped out by a climber throwing in a DC and getting a SNAKE result (only needed a 5). Another cave MMG broke a stackload of GIs. The leader went heroic but he couldn't keep the men from routing, lucky for the Yank he didn't rout to the same hex that got CCd by the HIPster.
Turns 6 through 8 saw some more jockeying with the Japs skulking big time to totally avoid any Defensive Fire. All of the Jap 558s had been wiped out and the defense consisted of 3 MMG-manned crews. Two of the MMGs broke but they fixed on the last turn. The Yank ran out of steam when another well thrown DC boxcar'd its way to dudsville, and the remaining DC could only have eliminated 1 of the 2 caves needed, both of which were blocked by a MMG/crew who'd advanced out of a cave to stop any funny business.
RETROSPECT:
This is an excellent scenario for Cave-busting 101, but it's
definitely not balanced. To win the Japs can set up a screening force of HIP
squads, and place all of their caves to the rear. I choose a hybrid position
with my caves mostly in the middle of the hill. A more interesting position,
tactically, is to place the caves forward with overlocking fields of fire, but
the Yanks would then have lots of time to isolate and destroy each cave. Fun
to try, though, and quite possibly very bloody for the Raiders.
This is one of those few scenarios where you actually get to use those DCs! Now if only there was a reason for the 60 mm OBA (4 FP, HE only)... Another balance provision would be to extend the game 1-2 turns.
Jeff