Silly After Action Report - Always Ready

 Lieutenant Ren Tenten peered at the bunker that the captain was enthusiastically displaying with a certain amount of concern.

"We'll have a medium machine gun in here of course," droned the captain.  "When the Americans come they will be cut to pieces on our magnificent bunker line."

"Unless they go around it," muttered Tenten.

"What was that?" demanded the captain, he was getting more than a little sick of his eager young lieutenant with his enthusiasm for tactics and his reluctance to bludgeon soldiers to death for insubordination.  

"The bunker is excellent and will no doubt slaughter any Americans who charge directly for it.  But what happens if they go around it?"

The captain honestly couldn't understand why you wouldn't charge headlong at a bunker and get slaughtered.  He did however, notice that more than one soldier seemed to be paying attention to the lieutenants words.  It was time for a little morale boosting and reassurance.

"Damn your eyes you worthless bastard!  If I say the Americans will charge the bunker and get slaughtered that's what they'll do."  A sudden bright thought occurred to him, "but since you have this ridiculous concern for the flanks why don't you take the punishment platoon and sit out there yourself far from the honour of battle and reflect on the shame you've brought on your family."

A burly corporal was waiting for Lieutenant Tenten when he left the bunker.

"Did you persuade the captain to mount a flank guard?"

"In a manner of speaking", replied Tenten.  "Fetch the punishment platoon and let's go."

Dave had recently acquired Action Pack XVII and wanted to try out one of the scenarios.  We settled on this one as it didn't involve the Korean War.  Here I shall command a batch of Japanese soldiers attempting to persuade the 1st US cavalry division to find somewhere else to exit the board.  Victory points are awarded to the American for exiting units but also 1 point for each 1-3-5 pillbox captured/eliminated, a mighty 3 points for each 2-3-5 pillbox and three points if there are no good order Japanese MMC in non hut buildings (the flank Lt. Tenten was so concerned about).

My defending force consists of seven squads (four first line and three second), four crews and two leaders, an awesome 10-1 and a none too shabby 9-0.  Support weapons consist of a hmg, two mmgs and two light machine guns plus a 50mm mortar, a 75mm artillery piece and four concealment counters.  To protect my troops I have four trenches and six pillboxes; two 2-3-5 and four 1-3-5.  On turn three reinforcements turn up in the form of a pair of first line squads commanded by two more 9-0s (it's feast or famine with the Japanese command structure for some reason).  They are carrying an lmg and a DC.  Dave's Americans consist of eight elite 7-4-7 squads carrying an mmg and a DC guided by an 8-1 and an 8-0.  On turn three he gets another seven elite squads led by a 9-1 and a 7-0 with a dismantled mmg and a DC.

I set the bulk of my forces up in the patch of kunai in the centre of the playing area where the pillboxes and gun could be hidden.  A pair of pillboxes (one with an lmg the other with an mmg) set up in the open to stop a simple rush southward and I set a final pillbox up HIP just outside the village.  I also had a halfsquad HIP behind it ready to sneak back into the village towards the end and hopefully deny those three VP to the Americans.  A single second line squad set up in the village itself.

Dave, of course outflanked me as I hadn't paid enough attention and set up his entire force to overwhelm the single unit I had in the village and outflank my entire pillbox line.  Below is the at start position.  I cursed my idiocy and wondered if turn one wasn't too early to concede.

That's a lot for a single 347 to stop

Things went better than I had a right to expect in the first round.  I had a halfsquad with the knee mortar hidden in the kunai who managed to inflict some pain on Dave's troops as they attempted to sweep around the light jungle.  A halfsquad ambled into my firing line and was swiftly broken but with a large number of Americans heading straight for him my boys in the village wouldn't be around much longer.  My attempts to stage a fighting withdrawal were stymied by my squad's insistence on getting pinned at every opportunity.

End US turn 1

At the end of my first turn only my squad in the village and my mortar halfsquad had revealed themselves not so much out of a desire to maintain secrecy as because they were the only ones with halfway decent firing opportunities.

Dave pushed forward and trapped my village squad but these guys survived the melee (for now) while the rest of Dave's force fondly imagining it was flanking my pillbox line pushed towards the hidden one which was the extent of my defences.  Apart from a single halfsquad who were apparently so annoyed by my mortar team that they made the extermination of said team their sole mission.

End US turn 2

In my second turn my village dwelling squad shrugged off its pin marker and slaughtered the Americans in CC.  A squad and an lmg guided by my 10-1 did the same to the halfsquad that had dared threaten my mortar team.  I was starting to get a little more hopeful.  The game is only six and a half turns long and while it is true that the bulk of my forces were out of position flanking them was definitely taking the long way round.  My forces wouldn't be out of position for long.  On turn three Dave brought his reinforcements on and eschewed subtlety for a more direct approach.  The bulk of his reinforcements edged cautiously towards the kunai but a force attempted to circle around it to the west and encountered my 75mm gun with distinctly messy consequences.

This was useful for my personal morale as my village heroes finally succumbed to overwhelming force and my hidden pillbox turned out to be a damp squib which was overrun and captured in very short order.  Dave ran troops through the village ensuring that no hidden units remained but by a miracle didn't move into the hex directly behind the pillbox where my halfsquad lurked waiting for its chance.

End of US turn 3 and the flanking maneuvre gathers pace

My meagre reinforcements arrived and I raced one squad with a leader due east to act as a block against the swelling American tide while the other moved (unnecessarily as it turned out) towards his reinforcements.

Two distinct battles emerged.  In the northwest I was cheerfully carving up his reinforcements until the remnants slunk away to rally themselves for a final push.  In the southeast Dave was hopping from pillbox to pillbox happily butchering the occupants and garnering himself victory points.  By this stage my hopes were pinned on my HIP halfsquad (which Dave walked all around but not over) and having sufficient of my centre forces left to prevent his exit.

My centre holds firm, unfortunately my rear is collapsing

By the end of American turn 5 all four of my rear pillboxes had been taken and he was eyeing the exit.  He had slowly patched his reinforcements back together and was ready for a final charge for victory.  As for me, a good chunk of my forces remained intact.  Now was the time to position myself to cover the exit location while simultaneously holding my remaining pillboxes.  Ah, it seems I didn't quite have enough forces to do both.  That could be a little awkward.  I abandoned my northernmost pillbox which turned out to be a little silly as Dave's surviving reinforcements barrelled straight towards it.

End of Japanese turn 5 the endgame begins

Things didn't turn out quite as planned.  The hmg crew which had recently abandoned the northern pillbox had to stop a couple of hexes away and frantically shoot and the reinforcements making their way towards it.  Between the hmg and the 75mm I just managed to keep them out but while a little patch of the battlefield remained forever Japanese things weren't working too well in the south.

My HIP halfsquad did indeed reveal itself and snatch a village building back, unfortunately a late running 747 was close enough to detour and slaughter them.  The Dave had to run the gauntlet for the exit.  I hurt him but not enough.  With the assistance of some well placed infantry smoke Dave managed to exit just enough troops to gain the win on the very last turn.

My halfsquad waited the entire game for this tiny moment of relevance.  It would die soon after

 

This was a very enjoyable game.  After a number of encounters that didn't stretch past the first couple of turns due to a combination of bad luck and appalling incompetence (perhaps a little more of the latter than the former) taking a game to the final turn seemed almost like a win to me.  It is amazing how low my standards are.

"The Americans went behind our pillboxes rather charging directly at them," noted Lieutenant Tenten with just a hint of smugness.

"They charged that one," replied the captain pointing angrily.

"There was no one in it."

"Well there should have been.  And weren't you supposed to be guarding the flank?" 

Lieutenant Tenten became very interested in picking a piece of fluff off his uniform.  He saw no reason to tell the captain the real reason his men had been too late to the battle.  As the captain stomped off the corporal approached and saluted a little nervously.

"Did you mention to the captain that we were too busy looking for pokemon to notice the Americans?"

"You know, the opportunity didn't arise."