Today we will look at a new offering from the Paddington Bears titled Pandemonium and numbered PBP18. This scenario comes to us from none other than Critical Hit and is released as Paddington Bears pack II.
My good friend Will Fleming and I are on a mission, me to beat him and he to roll up so many AREA points that Russ Gifford will have to create a new category for him. Will took me down in Tasimboko Raid two weeks ago and he was not feeling like letting up on me today. As I has chosen all the games we`ve played I decided to offer him the chance today. He deferred to me and we selected the above mentioned scenario. Will diced for sides and got the British leaving me with the Japanese and the boards to set up on.
Pandemonium takes place in March 43 in the Arakan, Burma. The British are tasked with removing the Japanese from a series of hills in a six turn barn burner. My Japanese are forced to set up in a little island sort of area, surrounded by streams on three sides, on the flanks of and on top of the board 36 hill. The British attack from essentially three sides of my area and I find that to win this scenario I must use every thing the good book gives me to use as the Japanese. To win the British must control five of the seven level three hill hexes in my setup area.
My setup was done to deny Will my flanks expecting that he would not attack though the center(though swamp and light jungle). I HIPed one 1/2 squad on the other side of my east stream boundary in the hopes that he would quickly grab those two hill points and then leave to bring the fight to my stalwarts. Of course Will chooses as his point of attack the center with flanking forces to impose their will on my defenders.For the first two turns I played the classic skulking game, denying him shots and making him eat up time trying to outflank me. Will, clever fellow that he is,deploys as many squads as he can and uses them as scouts and concealment strippers. My carefully crafted defence was working, I was causing him to waist time and I began to get cocky.
Some where around turn three I made the first of two serious mistakes. I sent what I thought was a full squad and leader forward to plug a hole only to realize that I had sent a crew and MMG instead. When Will fired and stripped their concealment was when I found out my mistake. The resulting C/C was not pretty and I had to scratch one MMG from my line. This left me defending with my 10-1 and 4-4-8 squad armed with a LMG on what was then my front line. I still felt somewhat confident that they would withstand the British fire phase and then dish out some much needed punishment. Little could I for see that in Will`s next attack (8+1 I think) that my 10-1 would roll eyes. I leave to your imagination what then happened. First Will fires off a couple of smoke rounds into theirs and the adjacent hex. My now berserk fellows can do nothing but await the inevitable British run into their location. I hoped for a good ambush roll but did not get it. Thus died a glorious 10-1 and squad who had never fired a shot in anger. Will at this point has in his possession four hill tops(enough to conclude with a draw). I still had sufficient troops to deny him the last three hills and my trump 1/2 squad over on the other side of the stream. We spent turn five moving into the last ditch effort positions. Will, moving first, sends several 1/2 squads into one of my concealed stacks and in doing so C/X`s the whole of them. We roll for ambush and we have none. I attack at 1-2 and roll a casualty reduction. Will rolls and we end up in melee. It is now my turn six. To draw all I have to do is win a 1-1 c/c that will go to HtH. To win I have to have my HIP 1/2 squad take back a hill occupied by a concealed Brit 1/2. Good odds for the Japanese you`d say. Not when I roll the dice. I sent my HIPster into the hex and failed the ambush die roll. Will finished him off with a roll of four. Now I`m playing for the draw, our melee`d soldiers have the whole war on their shoulders. The melee converts to HtH, I need an eight to force the issue. I roll a ten. Will then rolls the coup d`grasse, a three for the game.
This is the second of the Paddington Bears scenarios that I`ve played where the game came down to the last dice rolls. If this is any indication of how well they all play, you, fellow listers could not do better than to buy what they offer. A good tight match that comes down to who rolls lowest. I`m still shaking. When Will and I shook hands after this match his hands were cold as ice, such were the effects on him.
Scott Picardat
by Jim Torkelson, Japanese
4/4/98, Jim Torkelson vs Scott Romanowski
British company attacking up onto two tall, jungle-covered hills, separated and ditched with deep dry gullies around and between. Defended by two reinforced platoons of Japanese, mixed elite and first line, with some MMG support.
Much use of Advance vs Difficult Terrain, Abrupt Elevation changes, Japanese Stealth, jungle Ambush penalties, and Japanese HIP in jungle.
VCs are for the British at Game End [Japs get one last attempt to take them back] to hold five of the seven Level Three hill hexes, which are broken up into one group of three, and two pairs of two.
This was a very intense game, and the nature of the terrain creates a chess-like mindset, where moving one hex in one direction means often that you cannot go back in the other direction. Tricky...
Jap Setup: Primary defense is of the K2-M8 hill/jungle complex. One HS HIP on each hill to try to set up some counterattack possibilities. One MMG on the southern end of each hill, with good LOS. One full squad in D2. Rest of the units were defending the gully approach from the west, the land bridge at N1, and the steep face at K2. One two-counter dummy stack at the landbridge. The 9- 0 leader is in the east with the MMG, the 9-1 is with the central MMG, and the 10-1 is in the west with an lmg squad.
British Setup: Gets to place two shellhole markers. We screw up and one gets placed in the jungle at K3 (counter to SSR), the other is in J3. Pinning force of 1 1/2 squads in the west. Minor attack force of 3 squads in the east, including both mortars where they will have some LOS. Rest of the troops heading for the landbridge.
B T1 Prep: Get one round of Smoke, landing on the MMG on the crest at K3. Uses up the only round he had. Place some area acq. Everyone else moves up, moving in the gullies in the middle. The MMG in the west (E2) gets a CR on a moving squad, but this attracts the Brit sniper who step-reduces the critical squad at the landbridge. Squad/lmg at K2 breaks two squads, one of whom rolls boxcars on the MC. Advances forwards, into Crest status in the gully positions so he does not have to pay double costs for entering higher terrain next movement phase.
J T1 The squad/lmg at K2 shoots because he is in a foxhole, and cannot freely skulk. Break a HS! Most Japs skulk, except for the 10-1/lmg/448 now in the west, who sprints towards the Brit schwerpunkt in the south. Defensive fire stepreduces the squad at K2. So much for foxholes. Advance the two reduced squads to the jungle crest line at L1/M2. Gain concealment.
B T2. No one rallies. Mortars prepfire, for no effect. Swarm of brits approaches the crest line at L1/M2. I take the shot from M2 at the NAM brits, pin one squad. Attract the Jap sniper who breaks a squad and pins another! At L1 where both he and I are concealed, no shots. A number of HS are moving forward slowly in the east. Advancing fire has no effect. Advance into CC in both jungle crest hexes. He goes CX for advance vs difficult terrain, I am stealthy, and this is jungle. Despite his 8-1 leader in L1, I get the ambush. Vs the 8-1/458, my 347 has a 1:2, -3 DRM. With HtH, I need an 8. I get the kill. The other ambush situation is yes, another ambush. I roll an 11! My 347 dies in the counterstrike.
J T2 Prep fire from my MMG in the east. Good shot! Break a HS. Maintain ROF and shoot again, at a concealed target. Malfunction! Pull back in the center. Between the 347 and the 10-1/lmg/448, plus the MMG/crew, the center seems okay. Worry about the gully between the hills as a possible infiltration route. Move the 10-1 stack into a nice blocking position. Mortar fire hits the MMG in the smoke, stepreducing the crew and wounding the 9-1 leader, who survives the wound roll. Advance the leader out of the hex to the north, conserve my assets. Advance the 10-1 stack to L3. Let 'em come...
B T3 Try to fix my MMG. Break. Rally some of the broken british half-squads. One Mortar prepfires, wounding the OTHER MMG crew and its leader. The other mortar is ready to move, up to the jungle at 32F9. Sneak a HS along the far left flank to B4. Other HSs were closing in on the point of the eastern hill. Assault move forward in the center. Advances forward up to the level two hills of L2 and K2. Advance that HS up to C5, threatening to envelop the hill.
J T3 Decide to Prepfire rather than skulk from K3 and L3. Have the MMG in K3, and the 10-1/lmg/448 in L3. Gak both rolls, with a 10 and an 11! Malf the lmg! DANGER WILL ROBINSON! DANGER DANGER. Why do I do this to myself? In preparation for the debacle to come, move from the west inwards. In the Defensive fire Phase, the MMG crew gets CR'd, and the 10-1 stack gets a K/2! The squad gets the K, and is broken. The 10-1 is wounded, and fails the wound check! So much for the center! And he keeps rolling UNDER my sniper number! The wounded leader, a concealed 8-0, is guarding the path at J5 all by himself.
B T4 Rally the broken HS. Limited prep fire, because the targets are mostly dead. Movement. Scott sends a squad to SMC overrun [when was the last time you used THAT rule?] the leader on the path at J5. The squad fails the 1TC, and stops. Another squad tries to do the same thing, and fails the 1TC as well! Finally, an 8-0 led squad passes the 1TC, and kills the sergeant in quickie CC. The imagery of one man, holding his bayonet while bleeding profusely in the center of the path against all comers... Anyway, the doubled MF he costs the Brits is critical. The central hill is swarming with Brits. They take control of the two Level Three hexes at K3 and K4. The MMCs in the west are following the contracting Japs up to the base of the hill, in the N5 area. In the east those pesky HS have gone around my left flank and are approaching the point of the hill. The lead one is stopped by the wounded 8+1 leader in D5, because the HS is already CX and cannot pay the doubled MF cost to SMC overrun. Advance into CC with the SR'd crew at E3, who promptly die. The British replacement on a DR of 9 or more in PBF/CC is really coming into play, with the first instance of a unit having been replaced twice (Green). VC: Two British hill hexes... threatening several more
J T4 I have MMCs at the crest line at M7 and L6, plus the trump HIP HS at M8 in the trench...
B T5 Move forwards to attack the three hex hilltop cluster. Defensive fire pins a squad, and draws a sniper attack to break another squad. Advancing fire breaks my HS in the 2S foxhole in K6, who dies from failure to rout. AdvPh: British units advance into K6 and K7 for control of two more VC hexes. A Brit HS that flanked my defenders and lost concealment climbs the hill into M8, becoming CX. I reveal the trench and the concealed first line HS, for a perfect ambush situation. Nice and simple, for a quick kill. I take the ambush withdrawal up into the other trench into L7. I had hoped to save that for an endgame counterattack, but sometimes things don't work out that way... VC: Four British hill hexes...
J T5 In the DefFPh, the Brits in the east fire some probing shots into the jungle to search for my HIP units. One HS, who had dropped the mortar to run forwards, takes a 2FP+1 shot into F3, and finds my HIP HS with a 1MC. My HS breaks! I had planned on staying HIP until the Advance phase, then climbing up the crest of the hill for the total surprise. Rout north to the other hill crest at F5. In the Advance Phase the wounded leader goes CX to advance up and join him. Advance the concealed HS into K7, take back a VC hex, but leaving nothing behind him. The last crew MMC advances into K6 for CC, but fails to ambush and is killed. I try to resign at this point, seeing things to be totally hopeless. I have three MMCs, one of which is broken. I think it was because I could not count past four... Brits had three VC hill hexes at this point, with another one for sure plus another possible. Scott in a very gentlemenly fashion (and because we had plenty of time) persuades me to play it out.
B T6 Rally Phase: The commissar effect of a Japanese leader rallies up the HS at F5. British able to move much more straightforward now that he knows where the HIP units were. MMCs move from K3/K4 area towards K6. Rather than go after the full squad on the VC hill at E4, all units in the area run adjacent to F5. Defensive fire pins one unit in F4, but rest get adjacent. In the AdvancingFire Phase, they hit F5 with multiple shots and break the HS. He dies for failure to rout. Advance into the hex with the wounded leader, and he gets killed easily. Green squad advances into trench at L7 for control of VC hex. A squad advances into CC with my still concealed HS at K7, but gets ambushed and killed in my HtH attack (love that -3 for ambush, jap HtH, and CX opponent). Withdraw downhill to K8 out of LOF of that killstack at K6. VC: Five British hill hexes... enough to win, provided Japs do not take one back.
J T6 No Prep Fire. The concealed HS at K8 sits tight. Assault move the squad in the east from E4 to E5. Pass the Defensive fire 4FP+2 shot. In the Advancing Fire Phase the squad in the east did a 4FP+1 attack onto the 8-0/squad on the hill, rolled a three, and the resulting 1MC broke both defenders. Sniper had no effect, and the game was over. Defenders had to rout away, giving the Jap squad free access in the advance phase to the key fifth hill crest hex. I also had a CC threat against the Lax Green squad in L7, by my concealed HS which did not have to be resolved, but could have been.
All the Japs had left at this point was a squad and a half squad. Everyone else had died...
Dice & Luck: What a strange mix of dice rolls... I ambushed the Brits in the vast majority of the CCs, easily 8 out of 10. However, Scott rolled snakes at least 8 times on IFT rolls, but I rolled them exactly once. Neither side had any HOB situations. None. Weird...
Japanese Final Comments: My leaders disappeared way too quickly. I would not start them again with the MMG crews, but instead somewhere in the rear. Losing them quickly removed the possibility of any Banzai charges. I should have tried to deploy one of the squads in the west, and defended the path with a HS and the mortar crew. I never did fire the mortar, only the crew's inherent FP. Waste of a capability. I knew the force opposing me there was small, but the least I could defend with was 1 1/2 squad equivalents. A victory for the Brits, distracting one fifth of my force with one tenth of his, and still getting to the VC objective despite that. CC, with Ambush and HtH is a chancy thing, and it helped my greatly this game. The final counterattack is a necessary thing. I like using the trenches together to make advancing across the crest line into the jungle doable with going CX. Holding the two HIP HS hidden for as long as possible can drive the brits crazy. There are many hexes from which a HS can dash towards a hill hex and advance in on the last turn.
The British attack along the landbridge was well planned. Using the Crest status to save MF was a nice touch. Provided they can get past that first jungle/crest choke point, then that opens up access from along the gully to K2 and J2. Being on both sides on the spine of the hill lets the brits use their firepower and numbers. The key decision is how much strength to use for the eastern hill, and how much to follow the path from the west.
Recommendation: This scenario is fun. Definitely difficult for the Brits, considering how far they to go in this dense terrain. The last turn counterattack threat can raise the Brit's blood pressure.