After Action Report: On the Kokoda Trail
I've recently had a hankering to learn the PTO better, so I asked Jack O'Quin"Awa", one of my regular opponents, if we could concentrate on that area for a while. He agreed, and we settled on the scenario On the Kokoda Trail to start. Boards 37 and 34 are butted together with the board numbers at the north, and a hut village overlay (Deniki) is in the southeast corner. The northeast quarter is mostly jungle, while a variety of PTO terrain exists on most of the rest of the board. Dense jungle is in effect for this scenario. To win, the Japanese must have at least 23 points of infantry on the hut overlay at the end of any game turn. They must split up their force upon entry, predesignating 3 of 4 possible entry points: one in the north, one in the northeast, and two in the west. They must so predesignate before the Australians set up. The Japanese get a mixed bag of infantry, including 6x448, 2x228, 2xMMG, a bunch of 447s, 6xLMG and a few knee mortars, plus a 10-1, 10-0, 9-1, 9-0, and an 8-0. The Aussies get 2x648, and a mix of 457s and 447s, a 9-2, 8-1, 8-0, MMG, 3xLMG, a light mortar, and a papuan 337. Also available are 15 foxholes and numerous dummy counters. They also have another assortment of infantry scheduled to arrive on turn 5. Jack wanted the Japs, and being the nice guy that I am, I let him have them and commenced setup.
I didn't have any great plan for this scenario, having never played it before, but it sure looked like the Aussies should fight a delaying action and hope that the reinforcements would be enough to prevent a Japanese victory. I put the Papuan squad in the heavily jungled northern area, along with many dummy stacks and a few other infantry units. One of my HIP squads with an LMG went near the extreme eastern edge in the north part of my setup area, near one of the Japanese entry points. Most of the rest of the Australians went to the west of the village, near the closest Japanese entry point. The 9-2, MMG, 457 went in this area, supported by a few squads. A trap was laid in the bamboo, right where the path goes through it. There sat a 648 and LMG HIP. I like bamboo for hidden units in the PTO, since it is a little harder for the opponent to advance into CC, and they are somewhat less likely to be entered by moving units, though in this case the path made that benefit unimportant. The last HIP was used for the other 648 and LMG, also in bamboo in the middle of a large kunai area near the extreme southwest of the Australian setup area, but fairly close to the village overlay. As it turns out, this was not such a great spot. I didn't know how to use the foxholes effectively, so I didn't set up any.
It may be that my northern force was too heavy, for Jack entered one group in the north and two in the west. The northern group entered in column, but quickly disbanded on the first turn. Therefore I started shifting some of my northern delaying force toward the southwest as quickly as possible, leaving only about a squad and a half, plus several dummy stacks, to delay the northern Japanese group. This turned out to be enough, for all the dense jungle makes movement slow, and there is only one path. Jack's Japs seemed to guess wrong quite frequently about which stacks were dummies and which were real. Little did he know how weak I left that area, or maybe he was just too cautious. At any rate, he kept advancing but slowly, and lost some troops here and there to CC.
Meanwhile the southwestern area was the most interesting. The Australians didn't stay to fight, but kept pulling back. It was relatively easy to do so and retain concealment due to the very limited lines of sight when dense jungle is in effect. They could only withdraw so far, however, before they had to do some fighting. On the extreme southern flank, a half squad with a mortar opened up on a Japanese concealed stack in the jungle. ROF was maintained long enough to casualty reduce the squad, but the 10-0 with him went berserk. (I was enjoying calling this 10-0 "Lt. Wannabe" but it's really Watanabe.) On the next turn they charged the poor Australian half squad, who wounded the leader with point blank fire. A melee ensued between the two half squads, only to have other Japanese units fire into the melee, killing both. Meanwhile, in the "middle" of the southwestern thrust, the HIP 648 with LMG caused much consternation. He waited until a squad tried to enter the bamboo and blasted it with point blank fire, reducing it to a half squad. This half squad later advanced into CC with the 648, and the melee lasted long enough to watch all the Japs bypass the position. Later when the 648 killed the half squad and a reinforcing half squad, he found himself behind the enemy! Other Japanese troops were also having problems in the area. Besides the delay caused by the HIP squad, several Japanese squads were either step reduced or casualty reduced. The 10-1 successfully led a 448 or two through some small residual, but when others tried it without the benefit of great leadership, they CR'd and broke. I perhaps made my first big mistake of the game (besides setup) when an Australian squad had a final fire opportunity at an adjacent stack of three broken half squads. Instead he chose to fire at a group of adjacent unbroken units, doing nothing. I thought I had accounted for all the Japanese leaders at that point, but the 8-0 was in good position to rally these troops, and they came back shortly. As usual, close combats went against expectations and the 10-1 was lost. Despite all the losses, the Japanese had the Australians backed up, and they had quite a bit of force left.
One of the more entertaining moments came when a Japanese HS moved through a jungle path containing an Australian ? counter, thinking it was a dummy. It turned out to be the 8-0, Sgt. Ellis. (Even I thought it was a squad; had I known I would have shuffled my units a little differently in the last advance phase. It's difficult to keep track sometimes with all that concealment.) The Japs decided it would be easy to take him out, since it was 5 or 6 men to one, so they tried an infantry overrun. Ellis elected to stayand duke it out. He managed to get them all! But alas, he was also killed. He'll be recommended for a medal, if any Aussies survive to tell the tale. Right next to this area a concealed Japanese crew with a MMG moved adjacent to one of the blocking Aussie squads. They fired (snakes!). But this only lit a fire under the Japs (another snakes!) who went berserk and charged into the hex. Final protective fire (the snakes cowered the 447) was ineffective, but it only pinned the Aussies. Figuring they were goners unless he did something, Mishcon (the 9-2), who was adjacent to the potential melee, directed his mates to fire everything they had including the MMG at the Jap crew (another snakes! Three (almost) in a row! When was the last time you saw that?) and cut them down. Mishcon's mates had just previously KIA'd an entire squad that tried to move adjacent, so the bodies were piling up. Still, the Japanese were infiltrating and starting to reach the village area. Mishcon's position was threatened, and enemy fire caused him and a squad of his to take cover. They decided to try to fall back, to prepare the way for the MMG and last squad, but the Japs could interdict his rout path, and both he and the squad were lost (boxcars on interdiction; ouch!).
Meanwhile on the extreme southern flank the other HIP squad was discovering that he was out of position. If he had set up in the kunai he would have had some point blank fire opportunities, but he had to settle for a few 8+1s and 8+0s, which were ineffective. The Aussies were now hurting. They had taken casualties and were pushed back to the edge of the village. Their two best squads were essentially behind the Japanese advance. Only one squad, still manning the MMG, held the middle of the western approach, and he is bound to go down soon. The northern Japanese group was being held much better, and the Aussies had managed a fairly good blocking line at the edge of the jungle. The reinforcements arrived just in Deniki time. Given that the northern blocking force looked okay, the majority of them headed for the patch of jungle at the southern edge of the village, hoping to eliminate the 2 or 3 Japanese squads that had started to push through into that area, and then perhaps move on to other concerns. It was at this point that we stopped due to the late hour.
When we left our intrepid heroes, they were hacking their way through the dense jungle of Papua New Guinea, On the Kokoda Trail. The Japanese had started to break through the Australian perimeter and enter the village, while the Aussie reinforcements had just arrived. It was Japanese turn 6.
The turn started off well for the Aussies, as the LMG, 648 in the bamboo on the southern flank managed to break the wounded Lt. "Wannabe's" half squad as it tried to infiltrate toward the stretch of jungle south of the village. Lt. "Wannabe," unperturbed, continued on and reached the jungle. Another Japanese half squad in the southwest area of the village overlay was also broken by fire. In addition, the Japanese prep fire had not gone well, as the reduced crew manning an MMG adjacent to the Aussie MMG squad failed to get a result (and in fact jammed the MMG for the second time). Other Japanese started cautiously advancing onto the village overlay in the western sector. It was then that the northern Japanese force, bottled up until this time, launched a devastating and timely banzai charge against Sgt. Troha's (an 8-1) blocking platoon. They held their nerve and fired well, but to no effect against the soldiers of the emperor, the dense jungle providing too much cover. Though the Japanese advancing fire was also ineffective, the ensuing hand to hand close combat crushed the Australians. They lost a total of 3 squads in 4 melees, without inflicting any damage whatsoever on the Nipponese. (Four consecutive CC rolls of no less than ten caused me to fall off the wagon and indulge in some whine and cheese.) The only Aussie victory in the whole northern area was in a preexisting melee between two half squads, who eliminated each other. With this brilliant maneuver the Japs had almost crushed the spirit of the Aussies, and appeared to be in good position to go for a win soon.
The Australians at that point did the only thing they could do, which was to inflict whatever damage they could on the Japs. Things looked most promising on the southern front, where the reinforcing 9-1, papuan 337, LMG, 648, and 3x457 attempted to clear the jungle area. They had local superiority, but had to brave some fire to close with the enemy. A few sprints across open ground and a few moves through the edge of the jungle resulted only in the 648 being broken. Although advancing fire was ineffective, the 9-1, 337, and a 457 advanced onto a pinned 447, while the rest of the group took up blocking positions. To the southwest, the LMG, 648 that had hidden in the bamboo rushed a Japanese half squad with an MMG, only to break under point blank fire. The other LMG, 648 (still alive) in the western sector double-timed toward the village through the jungle, to get adjacent to a 137 and broken half squad. In prep fire the Aussie MMG squad nearby had eliminated another point or two of Japs on the village overlay. In the north Troha directed some useless fire from the green half squad with him (all that survived the banzai), while two reinforcing 457s moved into closer position. The Aussies continued to show no skill in close combat, so the 9-1 on the southern flank was locked in melee, while the CX 648 in the western area was ambushed by the 137, who withdrew.
The Japs continued their inexorable advance into the village on the next turn, breaking Troha's green half squad in the process, and keeping out of the line of sight of much fire. On the southern flank, "Wannabe" had rallied the broken half squad by now, and moved off into the swamp by himself, hoping to draw the fire of the adjacent 457. Then the half squad moved off in the other direction, double-timing in order to get next to the village and also DM the broken 648 in the area. In the southwest, the MMG 237 moved into some jungle, not realizing that the sharpshooting Aussie MMG squad could draw a bead on them. They broke under the fire, which turned out to be costly. The northern group advanced into the village, while the Japanese leaders that were left tried to get in position to rally some broken half squads. In close combat, the 9-1 and cohorts finally scored a crucial victory, as they elimated the Nipponese 447 with no loss to themselves. By now, virtually all the Japs were in the village, but some were broken, others concealed. Did they have enough points for the victory? There was no way of telling.
During the Aussie half of turn 7, they continued to try to whittle the Japanese away. The 9-1, 337, and 457 pursued "Wannabe's" half squad, who fired, but could not break them. A 457 attempted to overrun "Wannabe", and succeeded in killing him. Another 457 crept adjacent to a 237 and broken 237, but broke under the Japanese fire. The Aussie MMG squad, now out of targets, crept into the jungle adjacent to yet another Japanese squad. The 648 in the area joined him later, while two squads did what they could on the northern flank. Japanese fire did not do much else, and in close combat "Wannabe's" half squad was dispatched, while elsewhere a melee ensued between a Japanese 447 and a 457, 648. As the turn ended, the Japanese did not have enough points on the village overlay for the win, but had a very slim chance still. One last banzai over some open ground in the village by Lt. Yamada (9-1), a 126, and a 447 only resulted in more casualties as the Aussie 9-1 directed some quality fire, wounding Yamada and killing about half of the full squad (a K/2 and a tie on the selection roll). That sealed the game.
Conclusions: Wow, what a scenario! Despite some frustration on my part (close combats just have me WAY psyched out right now), this was an outstanding scenario, and reasonably well played by both sides. What did Jack and I learn? First, beware the banzai charge. When done right, it can be absolutely devastating, and Jack executed it with great skill. Across open ground it might not be so hot, but with the cover of dense jungle, and no huge firegroups for the Aussies, it was perfect for the occasion. He had wimpy 237s in the first wave, so they would take the brunt of the TPBF first fire, while the quality units followed on later. It nearly broke my spirit and won the game for him. Second, the Japanese definitely do have a tendency to wear down and melt away as a scenario progresses. Jack is not rash by any means, and yet he couldn't help but take some losses virtually every turn. In only 7 turns or so the Japanese force was whittled down to about half strength. Third, CC against the Japanese is very tricky and dangerous. It is very easy to get ambushed by the Japs, since they are often stealthy. Being CX is very dangerous therefore, and it is good to try to have a concealed unit involved. I don't know what else to say, since it has really gotten to me lately.
Some picky points: You can't fire a mortar from dense jungle. In this scenario, that meant that we almost never fired them. We didn't know about this rule until after we had broken it a couple of times. Second, the banzai (human wave) rules are somewhat ambiguous about what direction the wave must move. The examples in the rulebook only serve to confuse the issue. I won't go into the details, but if you look it over yourself, you'll see what I mean. We did what felt right in this regard.
I hope you have enjoyed reading my after action reports as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
Cheers,
Mattsuo Shostakiro