As a warm-up for my match next week with Mike (the Balrog) Licari, I played the Seaborne Assault scenario in the new Leatherneck pack: 'White Beach 1.'
The scenario began inauspiciously; the overlay placement instructions are incorrect (presumably!). If the Beach and Ocean overlays are placed as described, there will be no beach! [For you overlay experts, the SSR states: "Place Overlays as follows; Be401-402 on 40G4-H3; Oc1040- 1053 on 4001-40N1; and Oc2001-2002 on 40A6-B5."] Our fix was to place Oc1040-1053 on 40O2-N1.
This scenario uses A-Q on board 40, with the overlays covering the river. The four-hex Moderate Beach is 3 hexes west of a level-2 light jungle covered hill, with a 2-by-6 hex patch of kunai between. On either side of the hill are masses of palm trees, and a dry stream runs inland on the south side of the beach. There is a Mild Breeze towards the beach.
The VC require the USMC to Control 2 of 4 Caves, and exit 2 of 15 squads off the far (east) mapedge, between H10 & J10, within 9 game turns.
The Japanese set up first; their entire OB is HIP. They have 8 447, 2 crews, an MMG, two LtMtrs (3 w/Balance, in our playing), a 20L ATR, a 9-1, 6 A-P and 2 AB mines, 4 Caves (Cave Complexes NA) w/1 tunnel, and 3 Trench. The Caves must set up with a LOS to an Ocean hex; this allows for about 20 possible sites.
My opponent, Kurt Litscher (a fine Titan player, but new to PTO), set up several illegal positions. Primarily these consisted of HIP units in Open Ground, but I chose to overlook his errors in the interest of playing rather than restarting. His defense, then, was to place his anti-armor weapons in trenches at level 1, and scatter the Caves about the hill.
The USMC enter the (southern) west edge; they consist of 15 768 (3 as HS), 2 MMG(dm), 2 LtMtr(dm), BAZ44, 2 DC, FT, 9-2 and 8-1, packed into 6 LVT4, with 2 LVT(A)4 as fire support. The LVTs may not cross water-hinterland, and must unload within 2 hexes of Beach/Ocean. One module of 120+ NOBA is available, HE only, with shipboard observer.
I concentrated my MMGs with the 9-2 in one track, and put the DC/FT in another, with the MTR in a third.
The first 3 turns zipped by, as the US swam up. On turn 4 I unloaded one track in the shallows south of the beach, in the blind hex of the hinterland/water crestline. the second track came up the beach and headed north through the kunai field, but didn't unload. Two more drove straight up the beach and into the kunai, then unloaded. The last two tracks parked in the shallows, next to the "floating Scotts."
The Japs held fire until DFPh. First off, a MTR targeted the track in the north end of the kunai field, scoring a hit. The IFT DR was '3', -2 for AF 4 and OT... Fwoosh! Burning, with 2½ squads and an 8-0 crisping. Well, the other Jap weapons start cracking at the tracks, and I'm saying "D'Oh! These amtracs are floating M3s! Yikes!" No other casualties are suffered, and the 3 PLTs that unloaded creep towards the hill.
The Marines were driven back by Japs in Caves, whose 6fp attacks proved terrifying to them. About five squads failed NMC or 1MC; the poor guys with the FT never did rally. In the Marines' DFPh, the first WP came in from the LVT(A)4s; one went IN a Cave, another on the trench containing the ATR. The initial shots from the amtracs' MGs were mistakenly combined as one 14fp attack: we did not have the vehicle notes handy to double- check, and didn't want to suspend play. This illegal fp was used to remove a T-H hero, who had survived several infantry DFFs. However, he did draw enough Marine attention to keep the rest of the Japs from being shot at effectively.
The US turn 5 began with the Guns acquiring trenches. Then the Marines again crept towards the hill, and moved a PLT around its south flank. At this point the game reduced to a basic firefight. Three of the Jap Caves had been revealed by the occupants' firing, and the trenches were being reduced systematically. The Jap turn 5 saw a 237 HS go beserk; still alive on his turn 6, the Jap Prep Fire caused their charge target (a 768) to become beserk as well. Each unit KIA'd the other in CC.
Meanwhile, the burning wreck in the kunai had started a wildfire, which threatened to engulf the Entrance Hex of one Cave.
By the end of game turn 7, the Japs had lost the firefight. They were down to 2 wounded leaders, a conscript HS, and a HS with a MTR, and 2 broken HS - one in a Cave, with a tunnel connected to another Cave. The US had lost seven squads, three to CC, 2½ in the wreck, and the others to fp. The only question was whether 2 Caves could be Controlled. I knew the location of three; the fourth was illegally placed, but in any case out of harm's way (its Entrance Hex was the bamboo in 40H6). The Flame in the Entrance Hex of the non-tunnel Cave refused to become a Blaze, and with US squads in the Entrance Hexes of the two remaining Caves, the Japs needed to rally the DM HS inside to win; the US had no opposition to its exit requirement. The HS never rallied, and the Marines triumphed.
Kurt and I agreed that the Japs have it tough. The Marines have a load of firepower - I never bothered with the NOBA, nor did I assemble any MMGs or MTRs. The FT never fired, and I made only 1 attempt to place a DC. The "waterScotts" were plenty, along with the inherent fp of the squads. A CH in a Cave by the BAZ caused no casualties; the Japs melted quickly before the US fire.
Kurt's early exposure of his Caves made my task much easier; their location, three at level 0, was also less than optimal. A Jap set-up that forces the US to search for the Caves, and defends the exit area with a line of trenches, should give the powerful US more time-stress. The ace in the hole, so to speak, is the Japs' ability to hide a MMC at a tunnel entrance that connects to a Cave. With their last move, the Japs can reclaim Control of a Cave, and steal a victory. This means the US must locate all ten MMC by the end of turn 7, and smash them to broken HS.
Although I initially thought this scenario heavily weighted to the US, it looks like a cunning Japanese player can sit and moan and whine all game, then declare a win - if the US isn't thorough. And, it is a small, reasonably uncomplicated Beach Landing/Cave exercise; a good introduction to these key PTO rules.
Tom Mueller