Carefully a column of Japanese soldiers moved silently through the blackness of the Philippines night. Not a word, not a sound broke the stillness except for the controlled breathing of the soldiers and the crashing and and hysterical cursing as Lieutenant Koda Bushido tripped over his sword yet again and fell sprawling into the bushes. The first five times it had happened the men had been amused but now they were approaching the American positions and secrecy was essential.
The darkness seemed to press in on them. The only light came from the full moon shining over a cloudless sky. And the from tips of the American's cigarettes ahead of them. And a bunch of fireflies that happened to be buzzing around. And the luminescence of a rotting log. And the lights of Dumalaan village in the distance. One of the soldiers was actually managing to read a book as he advanced.
There was one other source of light,
"Bushido, put your damn phone away," snarled the major as he attempted to deploy his troops.
"Sorry," muttered Bushido, "but there's a pokemon around here somewhere."
The major grasped the hilt of his own sword, "I'll pokemon you if you're not careful."
Hidden in foxholes along the ridge the Americans dozed, blissfully unaware of the grim fate sneaking up on them. Suddenly a bloodcurdling scream split the tropical night.
"My bad," said Lieutenant Bushido, "there was a spider on my leg."
To make up for some non-existent feelings of guilt over skipping the night scenario in the Provence Pack Dave Wilson and I pulled out Scenario 61 - Shoestring Ridge and decided to give it a go. Here I shall command a batch of reasonably high quality Japanese soldiers trying to use their stealth advantages and the darkness of the night to get past Dave's American defenders. The Japanese enter from the north and win immediately if they get 20VP off the southern board edge. Between them and this objective are a bunch of hills, a bunch of American soldiers and a single US marine.
I have seventeen squads, four elite and thirteen first line encouraged into battle by four officers headed by an inspirational 10-1 (no he didn't die although he was wounded). Four crews man three medium machine guns and one heavy. The soldiers are toting another five lmgs and four knee mortars between them. Quite an impressive force, it would take a high degree of mismanagement to fail with this bunch.
Dave has ten US squads, six elite and four first line plus four more half squads. He too has four officers led by an inspirational 9-2. These guys have four mmgs, a 37mm gun and a radio connecting them to a battery of 60mm mortars. Seventeen foxholes, ten wire counters and fifteen trip flares make up his fortifications. Finally, proudly alone in a foxhole of his very own is a single hero manning a .50cal machine gun.
According to the set up instructions I had to enter at least eight squad equivalents and two leaders on each board. Nevertheless as far as I was able I set up weighted to the top board (board 2). My intention was to set up a powerful firebase on the hills in the centre and then hopefully swing a significant force around the hills at the top and race for the exit while the rest of my boys hopefully prevented the Americans from shooting the crap out of them. I allocated a distinctly secondary force to the board 25 defenders as the terrain just seemed like too much effort.
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| At start. I tossed a couple of dummy cloaking counters into the mix just for giggles |
With sacrificial half squads leading the way I pushed forward, eating up the unoccupied ground and probing for his defences (ie walking straight into them). My first turn went as well as I could hope. A few cloaking counters lost as some of his troops opened fire at the top of board two but no casualties and a very neat line of Japanese cloaking counters stretched out across the map. In the centre I had "discovered" a couple of wire entanglements but all in all it was quite a low key beginning. Starting with Dave's turn starshells would light up the night.
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| End Japanese turn 1, so far so good |
In Dave's turn my newly positioned kill stack managed to break a squad in a foxhole but one of my mortars discovered that it had left both its smoke and WP shells behind. Unable to bear the disgrace that mortar committed suicide in the next fire phase. Fortunately the halfsquad manning it had already been broken. Some units are just cursed.
Turn two was the moment when I discovered the major flaw in my plan. My troops moved forward at the top of board 2 and ran into a line of wire and trip flares that Dave had strung to block egress (and Japanese). This effectively stymied me for several turns as my guys proved utterly incapable of getting off the wire once on. My over commitment in this area meant I was ill placed to reinforce my centre where the small forces allocated were making genuine gains. His troops in the valley were wiped out in CC and some bold Japanese had sprinted in the direction of his main defensive line in the hopes that their death would reveal the American positions to their comrades. On board 25 fortunes were mixed as I lost another halfsquad but a squad made it all the way forward and snatched an American foxhole for itself (it was unoccupied but still).
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| Breakthrough in the centre. Unfortunately most of my troops are at the top |
Dave complained that he didn't get much value from his OBA and this was true in terms of harm inflicted (although it did manage to stripe a pair of crews with mmgs) but it was certainly an irritant. The injury to the mmg crews came as I attempted to move them towards the centre to support my unexpected success there. For the rest I stuck stubbornly to my original plan, surely to god my troops would get off the wire eventually.
On the lighter side of the news Dave revealed his 37mm and promptly went on a rate tear. Sadly for him the only result was a berserk Japanese unit. I doubled down on the berserkers when my 9-0 on hill 25 also went berserk and took his troops with him. Meanwhile in the thinly populated but disturbingly successful centre the point force (a half squad and a dummy cloaking counter) closed in on the marine hero in his foxhole.
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| Success in the centre and bottom. Still stuck on the wire at the top |
My berserkers died in a welter of blood spattered close combat their American foes taken into the afterlife with them. Casualties were actually getting a little shocking for both sides but strangely I was the most concerned. The Japanese need to exit 20VP, a little difficult to do if there aren't 20VP left whereas it doesn't matter if there are no Americans left on the board at all as long as the Japanese don't get off. Which was convenient for Dave as his troops were dropping like flies.
I managed to take out his .50cal hero in CC (with a second line Japanese halfsquad just for extra flourish). I broke his gun crew and smothered the location in WP just for good measure and broke his leader/mmg stack as well. In an act of staggering stupidity which I cannot believe even now I moved a stack of two mmg crews opposite one of his foxholes still containing a squads worth of infantry. These guys would deservedly die the next turn and rob me of vital firepower. Finally, halle-bloody-llulah my troops at the top finally managed to worm their way under the wire.
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| I should have raced my guys in the centre for the exit. Instead I swung around to take out his foxhole line |
Yes I was under the wire at last but the delay had allowed Dave to move troops to block their immediate path forward. Reinvigorated my troops pushed forward, seeking close combat at every opportunity. Dave's men died left and right which left the survivors of my force with a pretty clear run to the exit. And not enough time left to get there. I did the maths and calculated that at best I could exit 19VP, one less than I needed in the time remaining. Dave's wire and self sacrificing troops had pipped me at the post. I gave the concession at a time when there were barely any American troops left on the board.
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| It's appropriate that the scenario end with yet more of my troops hung up on the bloody wire |
Neither of us normally play night scenarios and we had to do this one with the rule book in our hands at all times. Still it was fun slowly watching my hope of victory drain away like water through a bucket with a hole in it. Thanks to Dave for the game. Having satiated our desire for night games Dave wanted to play Clash Along the Psel. Half way through he apologised for this choice and we mutually agreed not to mention it again so the next AAR will be for Khamsin. Desert, wind, dust what could possibly go wrong?
"All right," said the major with a heavy sigh. "Pull back."
A corporal stared in astonishment.
"Pull back? The Americans are broken and the exit is directly ahead!"
"Yes," replied the major, "but it will soon be dawn."
"So what? We're not vampires are we?"
Lieutenant Bushido rose from a foxhole, blood dripping from his fangs.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me."
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