 asl crossroads :
aar central — a b : bush : The Bushmasters - ASL
66 Americans: My plan was to push up the avenue of good cover that extends across the board junction between 35 and 37, attacking the village from the south and clearing board 37 only as far south as the road. A small diversionary force on the southern part of board 37 would attract the attention of the Japanese and also provide flanking machinegun fire if the Banzai charge came from that direction. On turns one and two, we advanced steadily into the southeastern fringe of the village. A Japanese strongpoint in h1, supported by HMG fire from a cleverly placed crew and high-minus leader in the bamboo in m7 caused significant casualties and made me realize how short the Americans are of numbers! I was able to blast the HMG out finally, using my AFV smoke mortars to cover the advance of infantry into good firing positions in the huts near k5. Another machinegun, this time a light, in a pillbox in k9 proved to be less of a problem. Two M4A1's and one of the assault engineer squads with FT cleared him out fairly easily. On board 37, we pressed forward along the "highway" of kunai between the two clusters of small jungles, and were up to the line n9-m8-i7 by turn 5, when the banzai charge appeared. It grew in the jungle around n1, so I had one turn to get set up for it. I was able to catch them crossing the road and although the Japanese had broken two of my three MMG-wielding flanking squads with fire from their second HMG, I was still able to butcher the reinforcements without much loss. On the critical turn, the Japanese player sent his banzai squads across the road one by one instead of in a combined single charge, and so my residual fp and fire lane placement was critical. The Japanese player had clearly prepared a killing zone around the crossroads at p5 for my tanks, but I went around, sending the AFV's down the stream s10, v9, u6, and my infantry through the small woods around s7. One of my AFV's, the one with the armor leader, got immobilized by a lucky ATR shot, another was recalled, and a third was destroyed by a T-H hero in the area.east of the woods However, once across the stream, my troubles only grew. Losses had been heavy already, and a well-placed mortar shot took out two of my assault engineer squads and their 9-1 leader. Two Japanese squads and a crew with a HMG were dug in with foxholes in w4 and v3 and a pillbox in u4. I attempted a desperation charge on turns 9 and 10, but ended up getting one of my remaining tanks knocked out by a T-H hero and the other immobilized. This left me with insufficient CVP to win the scenario, even though I had a respectable chance of taking all the victory hexes on turn 11. The scenario is not wildly unbalanced, though. The Japanese played their defense well, given that the elected to go for a dispersed defense to cover all the potential Victory sites. Their strategy of attrition across the entire board paid off in the end, since while I took the territory I didn't have enough troops left to win. The Japanese also made some crucial dice rolls, helped along by foolish decisions on my part. If I hadn't been moving my assault engineers together, they couldn't all have been wiped out with one critical hit. Getting that critical hit made a big difference. I also was a little cavalier about buttoning up my tanks -- I like that AAMG a little too much! Three of my tanks were stunned, and this reduces their efficiency a lot with the +1, and then another +1 TH for buttoned up. It really did come down almost to the final dice roll. An exciting scenario, please don't let the 1 - 12 record scare you off. The Americans need more infantry, though. Japanese: The defense was spread out across board 35 and 37 but with the main part of the forces in the village and in front of the bridge. The plan was to meet the americans early and then slowly pull back hopefully in good order -- a tactic that suits the japanese well. The village was to be defended and that to the last man. Let the Americans pay for the village and make sure he has to use a considerable force to take it. Every squad the american must have staying there an extra turn will reach the bridge one turn later which in this game became crucial. The American player got there late and had to rush for it exposing his forces too much during the last two turns. The plan was not to hold the village, but justdefend it as long as possible. With a few HIP units and and a pillbox (more HIP units) perhaps you could even hold it IF the american player sent too few units there. The Banzai charge was not used very well and would probably have been better coming from the west, where it could have intercepted the Americans comming from the village. Instead it went for the units on board 37 where I already had sufficient units to defend with. This way I ended up with my forces on board 37 too far forward and it was only by a small margin I managed to get them back to the area around the bridge in time to meet the bulk of the American troops coming from the village. With the Americans having to rush forward the few squads left (with a HMG with LOTS of ammo) managed to hold the Americans off. The T-H heros did a good job and were aided by the Americans sometimes sending their AFV's out alone into unknown territory. It's important to have infantry suport for the AFV's or they could easily be the target of a HIP T-H hero. If you keep them BU too they get very hard to knock out for the Japanese player. This is a scenario I enjoyed very much to play. It is perhaps balanced a litle in favor of the Japaneese but not as much as the record suggests, and with all those scenarios out there the record of a few must be misleading. If if you think it's necessary you can always use some balance provision. This scenario is too good and exiting not to be played. Recommended Australian balancing provisions: A3. Change the American OBA batteries to 81mm battalion mortars
that can fire WP. J1. Remove the OBA from the American order of battle. Stewart King and Pedro Faria |