There's already been one good AAR of this scenario posted to the ASLML. I thought I'd add another, since Jeff Taylor and I played this nailbiter last Saturday and had a good time.

I didn't realize how interesting this scenario was until I actually had the boards out and read through the victory conditions and SSRs. The Japanese can win one of two ways: clear the board 35 road, which pretty much runs at ground level through the middle of the playing area, or take the fortified buildings atop the hill on board 2, which is to the Japanese left. The French are allowed to set up most of their units on board 2, and a small number on the other side of the playing area on board 15, but no one on board 35. The Japanese enter on board 35, right in the middle. At first glance, it seems that clearing the road is the easy way to go because there are no French there to start. However, the terrain of board 35 is pretty open. There is no SSR saying PTO terrain is in effect, so despite this being set in Indochina, it's not PTO terrain (except for Palm Trees). Board 35 is the valley, and the French are on the hills, with good vision of Japanese movement. Moreover, the French have a 9-2 to direct fire and several potent weapons. The suffer from ammo shortage though.

I had the Japanese, and wasn't really sure what to do. Sure, clearing the road looked like the way to go, but I feared that it wouldn't be that easy. I decided to send the bulk of the Japanese forces on the left of board 35, so they could retain the flexibility of going for either of the victory conditions, depending on what opportunities presented themselves. A smaller screening force went on the right of board 35 to keep Lieutenant Seguin's platoon honest up there on the board 15 hill.

The game had some wild events, mainly because the dice hit the extremes fairly often, or so it seemed to us (we didn't keep track). There were lots of snake eyes and threes, but also many boxcars.

After my first move, the French 9-2 directed some MMG fire at a stack of 2x447, 8-0 in some palm trees. I shouldn't have stacked them; a point Jeff drove home by adroitly rolling a 3 for a 1KIA and rate. Both squads tied on random selection and were removed from the board, but the 8-0 gritted it out, receiving only a flesh wound. Ouch.

The French then sent quite a few units from the board 2 hill on my left toward the valley of board 35. Somebody had to keep the Japanese honest and contest the road. Several French squads were in the vicinity of the woods where the 2 boards join.

It looked like my best chance to get my men across the relatively open terrain quickly and with least damage was to banzai, so the wounded 8-0 led a charge that included the majority of the Japanese squads, after the knee mortars had done their job by smoking in Lieutenant Seguin on the right side hill, and also putting one smoke round on the banzai target. Still, I think the dreaded French 9-2 managed to vaporize someone else.

Much of the mid-game is a blur to me now. The first banzai was very successful, and it was followed by another one on the next turn. Quite a few French squads were broken and subsequently killed for failure to rout. The real blessing though was that 3 of the 4 key French weapons malfunctioned and disabled early in the game. All but one MMG were gone, and that MMG was at the front of the hill, and the 9-2 had to relocate to direct it, which took him away from the victory building. Moreover, several French squads managed to roll boxcars on fire attacks. This seemed to happen mostly to Green units, breaking and disrupting them. That hurt the French cause quite a bit.

Since so many French squads had abandoned the hill, it looked like storming the fortified buildings was the way to victory, so the Japanese redirected their assault up the slopes. It seemed that each move in the open resulted in casualties for the Japanese. The 9-2 was especially effective for the French. The lone French squad in the victory building looked like he could be swarmed. Also, the Japanese needed to get some units in position to interdict the 9-2, should he try to relocate to the victory building. As one full squad ran up the hill, the French squad took a 4 minus 2 at it, rolled a 3, and wiped them out. Ouch. Yet another Japanese squad completely KIA. I had lost count by now. Figuring Jeff couldn't stay hot forever, I sent another squad up, braving SFF from that same squad. Jeff rolled another 3 on this 4 minus 2 for another KIA. Aaaarggh! My personal morale almost broke. I was forced to send another one CX, giving him an FPF opportunity, just so I could advance to a position to interdict his 9-2. Jeff declined the FPF. What looked like a sure thing at the beginning of the turn now looked like it was going to swing the French way. I was running out of units, and if the 9-2, squad, and MMG could get back to the fortified building, I didn't think these IJA soldiers would able to take it.

Despite having several better shots at the 9-2 throughout the game, what finally stopped him was a 2+1 shot, the last one I had available, as he was adjacent to the victory building. I rolled a 3 for a 1MC, and the 9-2 and squad broke. In my next Prep Fire, the knee mortar dropped a critical hit on the squad in the fortified building and knocked him out of the game. It was over.

Wow.

It never rained the whole time, which probably helped the French a bit, especially early. I don't think either of us played a perfect game, but I think we gave it a pretty good shot. It was fun and unique. I recommend this scenario because both sides have interesting things to do. The lack of most PTO terrain should make this rather accessible as a starting point for learning the PTO as well. Thanks to Jeff for yet another great game.

Cheers,

Matt