Malaya Madmen AAR Part 2

Day two was a day of Mikes.  First off I was pitted against Mike Sexton in FrF 98 - Amerikanskaya Suka.  In this scenario both sides have the opportunity to do a little attacking and a little defending.  I had the Germans trying to cling on to a batch of multihex buildings with a mediocre force until their definitely first rate reinforcements could arrive.  If the Soviets take and hold just one such building the game is theirs, as long as they also continue to hold the multihex building in their at start set up area.

The Soviets start of with five elite squads, a 9-1 and five T-34/85 tanks.  The Germans start with six second line squads, a panzerscheck and a pair of JgPzIVs plus some concealment counters to add a little doubt in the Soviet player's mind.  On turn one the Soviets receive another seven squads plus for lend lease M-10s.  The Germans receive six extra squads (including four elite) a flame thrower and not one, not two but three whole Panther tanks.  Panther tanks don't have a very good history under my command, now was the time for them to redeem themselves.

Mike allocated his onboard forces on the (his) left with the intention of ploughing through the woods and seizing the closest multihex building which would put me on the back foot.  Unfortunately he lost an entire squad in a reconnaissance in force and took a turn to push through the woods while I moved more troops into the threatened building.  In turn two he jumped into a close combat with the defenders which lasted the rest of the game.  A T-34 that wandered into the line of sight of one of my PzJgs died a lingering death starting with a possible shock that finally resulted in the tank's destruction a couple of turns later a process which kept us both entertained.

Meanwhile back at the war Mike brought on his reinforcements but kept them in the backfield where they could protect his at start building.  Possibly he feared a full blooded, Panther led German counterattack. In Mike's defence he hadn't seen what usually happens to Panthers under my command.  As it was I took advantage of the absence of Soviet pressure at the front to bolster my defences and hide my Panthers behind walls and hedges and essentially invited Mike to come and push me out.

This Mike was now ill placed to do.  Over on the left my second line boys still bravely defending the forward multihex building were reinforced by elite troops carrying a flamethrower.  I kept them handy just in case the CC didn't go my way.  With his reinforcing infantry now plodding towards the front line (the trucks that brought them having miraculously vanished into thin air the moment they unloaded) it was up to the T-34s and M-10s to place some pressure on the German line.  I had five 75mm guns waiting for them to try.  Try they did and the carnage was dreadful.  A PzJgIV did go down to an M-10 and another M-10 sneaked up behind a Panther to menace it with a rear shot but the cost was severely high in wrecked Soviet tanks.  With time pressing and most of his armour destroyed Mike conceded.  I do actually think I had this one in the bag but if not for time constraints I would happily have played another turn or two to see if Mike could pull it off.  2-1

Mike needn't have been too discouraged for Mike Reed was about to gain vengeance in the name of Mikes everywhere.  We played scenario OB 114 - Pursuing Kobayashi.  I was the eponymous Kobayashi and I can't say I enjoyed the experience overly much.  I had a distinctly second rate force alternately attempting to defend against and run away from a powerful American force ploughing through the kunai and light jungle.  Victory points were awarded for casualties inflicted and also for units exited off the north edge.  However you couldn't exit until your last player turn which means the Japanese have to hold the Americans off, fall back and finally exit while preventing the Americans from doing the same.

I had seven Japanese squads (including two conscripts) a 10-1 leader, an mmg and the usual 50mm mortar. On turn 2 I received four squads of reinforcements.  Mike had eight squads of Americans (including two elite) and four half squads with their own mortar (60mm ten more than the Japanese) a mmg and an hmg plus three officers and a DC.

Possibly I just didn't set up very well (very likely given past experience) but what with the kunai, palm trees and jungle I found it very difficult for my low firepower Japanese to inflict any casualties.  I gained precisely three casualty VP throughout the course of the game.  One when Mike boxcarred a morale check and two when he boxcarred rally attempts.  My guys were dying like flies which at least was historically correct.  I attempted a fallback defence and indeed some of my guys fell back.  The rest fell down dead.

I did manage to maintain some sort of front for a few turns as I fell back, not so much through my own efforts as because Mike carefully and skillfully manoeuvred his troops into position before blasting my guys out of their new homes.  The one area where Mike had cause for justifiable irritation was with his leadership.  I managed to wound two of his officers and break the third.  Fortunately for him his troops proved to be self starters.

Finally when my 10-1 died in a hail of bullets I realised that if I exited enough off to counter the casualty VPs Mike had amassed there would be nothing to stop his entire force exiting off in the next turn so I conceded.

On day three we had our final scenario and I was tagged to play Dave Wilson.  By Australian standards Dave and I live close enough to each other to be considered near neighbours but by Singapore standards we're so far apart that you'd need a visa in order to drop around for tea.  I approached the days gaming with eagerness.  My score was 50/50 so far, if I could beat Dave I would be into credit.  I looked at the scenario we were about to play and the grim name "Kobayashi" leapt out at me.  Oh dear Christ, again?  I think this scenario was entitled Eviscerating Kobayashi and Then Running Down His Kids With Your Car or something similar (Mopping Up Kobayashi - OB115) .  It involved a powerful American force taking on a Japanese outfit that if anything was even more wretched than the previous scenario.

I started with what I thought was a winning tactical move, I picked the Americans.  Scuttlebutt said that the game was heavily favourable to the Americans so we agreed that the printed Japanese balance (swapping out their lone mmg for an hmg) would apply.  You already know this is going to end badly for me don't you?

The Japanese can win the game automatically if they amass sixteen CVP.  The only way this will happen is if the Americans commit suicide.  Otherwise the Americans win by both capturing a village of huts on the left side of the board and clearing the Japanese away from a road on the right.

My plan was to deploy as many units as possible and essentially push forward behind a skirmish screen.  I had a 60mm mortar to drop some WP on any defenders who seemed inclined to hang around.  OK so I didn't manage to deploy any squads and it turned out that the Americans had left their WP shells back in Hawaii.  Still one has to persevere.  Casualties were high as I had to use full squads for fire drawing purposes and my attack along the road went nowhere fast.

Over on the left it was a different story.  I had committed a lot of troops (too many actually) to capturing the village and aided by a flamethrower I not only captured the village but set it on fire which certainly made counterattacks problematic.  Unfortunately this left a lot of my force stuck over on the left side of the board with a pond, marsh and swamp making it difficult for them to get across to the road.  I was reduced to attempting to filter troops through a narrow neck of jungle that Dave was cheerfully defending the crap out of.  Over on the right I did recover from my early losses and managed to push forward but with limited troops I was advancing at a rate comfortable to Dave rather than myself.  His 50mm mortar seemed to have plenty of WP (presumably they were making it from harvested bat guano) which slowed me down somewhat as did the hmg I had given him in what in retrospect seems like a fit of insane generosity.

Finally with the last turn approaching and a good third of the road out of my reach I had to concede.  Dave's motley collection fought bravely and the lack of deployment and WP hurt me but really it was loading myself up so heavily on the left which lost me the game and for that I can blame noone but myself (although I will try).  From across the empty blackness of eternity I could hear Kobayashi's ghost laughing at me.  2-3

So that was the end of it.  I'm not actually too disappointed, for someone with my win/loss record 2-3 is a pretty good result.  Definitely worthy of a participation award.  Aaron Cleavin won the tournament and I actually got a prize myself as the team I was part of won the teams portion of the competition.  I can only assume one of my teammates must have been doing the heavy lifting.

Thanks to Jackson Kwan (who couldn't be present but did a lot of the arranging of prizes and organisation) and Will Fleming who ran the tournament on the ground.  It was great to play some ASL in a new city against some people I hadn't met before.