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Long Campaign - Japanese
Game 1
1931 China Hills Meeting Engagement scattered VH's Japan vs AI Chinese Nationalists Japanese Forces: Infantry Coy Tank platoon All mule-born: Weapons Platoon - I am enamoured of those little French 37mm trench guns 70mm mortar platoon - 2 tubes 70mm inf gun platoon - 2 guns HMG section - 2 guns AOP on horseback Support: Motorcyclists and trucks for the squaddies. Terrain: Fairly open hills with n/s ridge about map centre 2 East-west roads each with a few huts about map centre I looked at the map and found a large clearing just behind the central ridge and south of the centre line. I decided to push two platoons of infantry and armour up to the clearing to await the oncoming Chinese - thus the trucks. Right - so the starters gun goes off and my gunjin are away. The motorcyclists tear off in a cloud of dust hell bent on glory like their bosozuko descendants. One and two platoons mount up and head down the south road heading for the clearing followed by the tanks. Three platoon's Isuzus charge up the north road to establish a blocking postion just north of the central clearing. Francis-san and the rest of the mule-borne support platoon plod up the southern road, my precious Model 11 37mms firmly strapped to their backs. The company commander and batallion commander sit down for a quiet game of shogi. The passage of a few turns sees one and two platoons set up at the clearing edge well supported by tanks, HMGs and my AOP. Three platoon has gone to ground as flank security. Their trucks have all retired smartly to concealed lagers, their drivers looking forward to an extended tea break. In the south, the two wheeled speed demons have avoided any opposition and are fast approaching a VH deep in the enemy rear. In the north, their brothers have tagged a couple of VHs forward of three platoon and run smack into a platoon of angry natives - naught remains but smoke and the echo of their motors. Seeing the smoke up north, one and two platoons are chafing at the bit. The scout sections tread with some trepidation into the clearing for a peek about - nothing happens. Meanwhile, back with the mules ... ah the mules I have no luck with these four legged warriors ... Chinese mortar fire has caught the support platoon moving at speed up an open road - a classic interdiction strike. However - it appears that hanging a 37mm bore shiny infantry gun and the associated crew off one of these poor creatures turns them into medeival destriers - all but one of the mules survived - not so the IGs.... Next turn, the VHs tagged by the late motorcycles in the north are reclaimed - three platoon braces for impact. In the centre, one and two platoons wait impatiently - again they push forward. One particularily naive gunjin stands up and yells "Hey look - there they are!" Three Chinese sections open up in response - the one remaining squad member decides to have a nice quiet sit-down. The other recce section decides that now would be a good time to make a verbal report to the platoon commander in the rear - and also opts for quiet moment as it too is reduce to but a single member. One and two platoons, unimpressed with the fireworks show get down to the business of making sausage. The AOP pulls out his plotting table and prepares to unleash a divine wind. Deep in the enemy end zone the remaining two motorcycles spot some suspicious looking smoke. Zipping in to investigate, they over-run a mortar position putting it out of action. Looking around they see another suspicious cloud a bit to the north. Over the next few turns. The Chinese advance into the clearing. Japanese rifle, MG and tank fire take care of the troops in the open while mortar and howitzers beat the treeline behind. Routers stream back up the southern road. To the north, three platoon bloodies the noses of the first few troops coming up the road but soon find themselves under increasing pressure but holding firm. The motorcyclists take out another mortar pit and spot the prize of prizes - the Chinese HQ - they decide a stationary attack might be wise and open up on the command group. It would appear that this particular Warlord is an experienced big game hunter - the motorcycles are destroyed without inflicting lasting damage. The Warlord generously credits the two AAMGs positioned near him with an assist. Another few turns pass to find three platoon's flank security position in serious trouble. It is facing about three companies of determined Chinese infantry and some desultory mortar fire. Three platoon is forced to fall back as the Chinese bunch up in front. One and two platoons crush the centre attack and advance across the clearing and into the woods. The plan is to flank the infantry threatening three platoon. The COs finish their game and head off up the north road to lend some samurai steel to three platoons holding action. The AOP, accompanied by the HMG groups moves into the north end of the clearing to get a better sight picture on the enemy. The tanks charge north and engage the enemy, careful to stay just out of assault reach. One and two platoons set up along the north road taking care of a number of routers in the process. The AOP starts dropping mortar and shell fire into the bunched up Chinese while the tanks shoot the lands out of their guns and are forced to rely on MG fire only. The COs arrive and sucessfuly bolster three platoon's morale. The HMGs open up with effective flanking fire. Once the arty is dropping where it should be, the AOP decides that a few potshots into the crowd would be just the thing and promptly gets destroyed for its arrogance. Meanwhile, the south road is quiet but an awful lot of routers went that way so a couple of lads from the motor pool are given the honour of trying out for a combat arms role and up the road they go. Nothing for the first bit then they run bang into a decidedly un-routed Chinese grenadier group. The motor pool boys out survive their transport and through their prodigious lung capacity are able to keep their commander informed of developments. Ulitmately, they too will have their ashes sent to Yasukuni. About 20 turns in the artillery and tank fire prove too much for the Chinese and they stream back along the north road to into a gauntlet of fire from two and three platoon that none survive. A quick push along the north road and a hook south through the rear areas and the annihilation is complete - even the CO managed to pickup a couple of kills. Promotions all round including a couple to the support platoon mules. One and two platoons all get multiple kills with one particularily energetic group racking up 16. Lessons Learned:
Next scenario - into the mountains. |
Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
Good Day,
Interesting AAR Pat, during a part of the war I've never gamed yet. But, you've stirred some interest, I may step into that part of history. Keep us abreast with more SITREP's Cheers, Bob |
Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
Game 2
1931 China Mountains Meeting Engagement 38 turns - see later Japan vs AI Chinese Nationalists Japanese Forces: Infantry Coy Tank platoon All mule-born: Weapons Platoon - Trying again with the trench guns 70mm mortar platoon - 2 tubes 70mm inf gun platoon - 2 guns HMG section - 2 guns AOP on horseback 4 Motorcyclists 2 ammo wagons Support: Spotter plane 3 Aichi with 250 kg bombs Terrain: Mud, trees, mud and bush, and some more mud, rising out of the mud is a large moutain covered with - mud. Fortunately, the top is relatively mud free. The Chinese side has less mud but is fairly heavily treed. There are two large clearings one south of the centre line and one on the north west side of the mountain. Three VH clusters - two at the base of the Chinese side of the mountain, one higher up near the north board edge. A map recce showed a relatively clear path (as in only 2 mud slopes to pass over) path in the north leading to the northern VH cluster. The Plan: Send the Motorcycles up the flanks. The northern pair is to clear the way for the tank platoon. Tank platoon to advance along the northern route and be ready to take the northern VHs. Southern pair to wreak havok in the enemy rear as required. HQ, support platoon and 70mm guns to move to the mountain top and set up a fire support base covering the southern clearing and providing fire support into the woods below. One, two and three platoons are to move into the rough on the north side of the mountain and cover the northern clearing. The Attack: At the starters gun, the company began its slow slog uphill through the mud. The motorcycles ripped up the flanks and the tank platoon carefully picked its way through the north edge muck. The Aichi D3 took a spin around the mountain top and composed a haiku on the loneliness of the muddy mountain top. About 10 turns in, the northern motorcycles have by-passed the northern VH cluster and are moving deep into the enemies rear area. The southern motorcycle pair have come under fire from a concealed AAMG. The infantry are still slogging up the hill and the tankers are clearing the last of the mud from their running gear. Then things get interesting. The FO is still math impaired so artillery plotting is slow at best - another D3 flight over the mountain finally arrives and spots the Chinese hordes about to hit the VHs at the base of the mountain. The FO decides they would be a good target for some birds eggs so plots the 3 bomb armed Aichi to strike. Unfortunately, my infantry is about a turn too late to get into ideal firing position but dig into the rough and prepare to receive charges. A few turns back, the ammo carts got bogged so the 70mm mortars decided to set up shop next to them. The rest of the fire support group is also a bit late but all dismount and begin to push forward into position on foot. I decide the 70mm infantry guns would be better deployed indirect so set them up back of the crest line. The southern motorcycles are holding out of sight of the AAMG - it's just out of 70mm mortar range of course. The northern motorcycle boys are cautiously moving into the enemies rear are and preparing to sweep south. Having a clear run, the tanks head off to threaten the northern VH cluster and run smack into a 75mm barrage. One tank is immobilized right behind a clump of bushes - 50 metres further north and it would have had line of fire over the central north edge of the map. As it stands: The remainder of the tank platoon is heading toward the Northern VHs, The infantry company is settled into adequate if not ideal postions and will receive the Chinese onslaught from static positions. The support platoon is slowly consolidating the fire base on the mountain top and the Imperial eagles are preparing to drop some hurt on the enemy below. On MC group is keeping an eye on an MG while the other prepares to wreak havoc on any onboard arty that shows up. At this point, the game goes into its usual wash-rinse-repeat cycle. The Chinese attack en masse. The bombers go in pasting the densely packed enemy and the arty opens up as well. My Gunjin open up and the Chinese get pinned/retreat/routed. The Chinese flee and another wave arrives. In the rear, my motorcycles chew up the Chinese artillery completely removing them from the map. Sadly they run afoul of another AAMG group and over several turns are destroyed as they retreat under fire. The Chinese wave attacks go on without apparent end. While the match up says I'm fighting Nationalist Chinese - I suspect I'm up against Mao himself! Lowly Militia squads are fighting like Stormtroopers! I'm doing a lot of damage to the Chinese but attrition starts to grind down my boys. I send in the tanks to grab the northern VHs to relieve some of the pressure - risky un-escorted but I have to get a break to re-group my infantry. After a turn or two, the infantry hordes turn on my tanks who blissfully send round after round of 57mm HE into their ranks. Several crunchies get close enough to assault but all but one group gets tank terror and runs off. The surving group manages to stuff a grenade into one of the main guns and I'm now reduced to one Gun armed tank - the other only having MGs to play with. In the south, a group of militia shows up to harass my observing Motorcycles - killing one and driving off the other. The fire base is working hard but the infernal AAMG just won't die. That is untill one of my beloved Type 11 pop-guns works it over in partnership with an HMG - just like it was designed to do. Despite the efforts of the armour, the waves keep coming. So much so, that by turn 30 I decide to cut my losses and pull back. I switch the arty to smoke for a round and pull back. and so it goes Turn 31, 32, 33 ... 35, 36, 38, 40, 42 - Hey wait a second - the Chinese supermen have all the VHs yet we're 4 turns over the game end ... I check the clock - It's not 38 turns - it's 58 turns! The withdrawal continues. My 70mm mortars keep up a hail of fire just barely keeping the enemy at bay. The tanks pull back fighting - even the immobilized Type 89 tags a couple of infitrators. My 70mm howitzers shoot their lands out and pull back only to get flanked and destroyed by an infiltrating militia squad. Two platoon on the north edge gets ground into mochi paste while the HQ group, the support platoon and the other two infantry platoons play at being Spartans and form an ever-shrinking defensive perimeter under a hail of Chinese fire. The HMGs and 37mm popguns are reduced to rifle fire only and my knee mortar groups have long since shot off their basic load. Finally night falls with turn 58 and my much battered troops withdraw under the cover of darkness. I end up with a marginal defeat losing about a third of my troops while destroying about half of the enemy. Lessons Learned:
Next game - back onto the plains. |
Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
PatG,
Great battle report. I look foward to the next one. Those infantry "horde" armies can sure be a tough nut to crack. Those 20 man Polish Squads are a real nightmare for the early war Germans. Regards |
Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
Game 3
1931 China Meeting Engagement 36 turns Japan vs AI Chinese Nationalists Japanese Forces: I decided to simply reconstitute my forces after the debacle of the previous game. Infantry Coy Tank platoon All mule-born: Weapons Platoon - Trying again with the trench guns 70mm mortar platoon - 2 tubes 70mm inf gun platoon - 2 guns HMG section - 2 guns AOP on horseback 4 Motorcyclists 2 ammo wagons Support: Trucks for all non-mule borne infantry. Terrain: Fairly flat overall with moderate woods. North/South creek in small valley with village at map centre. East/west road through village crossing north south road paralleling the creek. VHs - two clusters just on the Chinese side of the village, one near north map edge just to my side of map centre. The Plan: One and three platoons to move rapidly into the village and set up a reverse slope position in the gully. Tank platoon and two platoon to advance along North flank and take upper cluster. Support platoon to set up on high ground on the East side of the village and provide fire support over the heads of the main force. Motorcycles up the flanks to create havoc as usual. The Attack: Pretty much text book. With the speed of the trucks I was able to set up the village position and get decent interlocking fields of fire before the Chinese arrived. The tankers in the north, supported by truck borne gunjin moved on the northern VH cluster unopposed. The motorcycles managed to by-pass any opposition and went sniffing for the artillery's cooking fires. The FO got into a good position to observe the probable line of advance. The support platoon was slow in moving up - as expected due to their equine mounts so were a little out of position when the Chinese hit the village. Mid-game was almost boring - The Chinese came over the ridge line smack into my waiting infantry. The FO rained HE death on their heads, the 37mm and HMGs fired into the densely pack troops and - wash - rinse - repeat. In the North, my Type 89's ran into some moderate opposition but by reverting to the infantry support role helped two platoon crush the opposition and take the northern cluster. The tanks and infantry then turned south to flank the Chinese main body. In the enemy rear, the bosozuko were back in fine form eliminating the enemy artillery. The Kami smiled on the steel samurai and they over-ran the Chinese HQ eliminating it without casualty - obviously Mao Zhe Dong was elsewhere for this battle. The end game was predictable. With their HQ eliminated, the Chinese broke en-masse and all that was left was the mopping up. There was a very brief moment of tension when one group of militia managed to take a couple of potshots at my HQ only to be annihilated. Next mission: China 1932 |
Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
Excellent, eagerly await your next engagement.
PanzerBob, out. |
Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
Game 4
1932 China Meeting Engagement 39 turns Japan vs AI Chinese Nationalists Japanese Forces: I neglected to mention that before the last battle, the support platoon was changed to all 37mm Type 11 giving me 4 of the little HE chuckers in total. Given my previous successful integration of armour and infantry I was allowed to upgrade my motorcycles to Type 91 So-Mo armoured cars. The loss of speed will be offset by greater staying power. The endless waves of Chinese triggered a request for some dedicated artillery support. HQ replied with a 75mm battery and another observer team. Some replacement gunjin were brought in to offset my minimal casualties. For support, I purchased a motorcycle group for fast recce and an Aichi D3 scout plane for some eyes in the sky. Terrain: Low partially wooded hills. Two East-West roads with a North-South cross road about map centre. Moderate hill map South of centre overlooking a clearing to the north with two VH clusters. To the West of map centre along the bottom edge, a paddy field constricts movement. To the East of map centre one row South of the north map edge is a rectangular clearing surrounded by a low hill wall containing the last set of VHs. The Plan: Two pairs of motorcycles will charge up the two roads until they find something interesting then report back. Mortars to set-up along forward edge of set-up line along with one ammo wagon. Lead by the tank platoon, the infantry company will advance in column on the south side of the map skirting the rice paddy and staying screened by the central hill. Infantry guns and support platoon supporting. The company will advance past the central hill then turn north by platoons and hit the enemy rear. One FO to advance to the hill to call fire on the VH clusters there from a covered position. The armoured car platoon will take their shining steeds along the north map edge and advance past the walled field and into the enemy rear area. At the opportune time they will take the northern VH cluster. The Attack The attack went in pretty much as planned. The motorcycles advanced to contact and confirmed that the main enemy advance was toward the central VH cluster. The Chinese advance was monitored by the D3 until it was driven off by AAMG fire. As expected , the motorcycles were driven off by the advancing infantry but three of the four were able to rally and took up flank watch positions north of my mortar group. The amoured cars raced along the north map edge until they found themselves deep in the enemy rear area completely screen from any Chinese forces. One FO raced up the hill, left it's horses back of the ridge line and crept into position in a cluster of trees. Careful to ensure all safeties were on, they surveyed the mass of infantry below. Plotting boards came out, radios were warmed up and the tekkokaze began. Meanwhile the main force trudged through the woods reaching about board centre as the FO got into place. The FO reported Chinese troops advancing on a line high up the hillside so the HMGs and Type 11s were deployed as flank security. Unfortunately, there was a small dead space just beneath the FO position and the FO was surprised and wiped out by a Chinese grenadier group. The second FO dismounted and took up direction duties. The armoured cars rampaged through the rear areas chewing up artillery then advanced on the northern VH cluster in the enclosed field. As the infantry moved through the bush, the tank platoon moved onto the hilltop and engaged the Chinese troops below who were already suffering under the artillery. A few sections were seen heading east toward my now very obvious mortar positions so the motorcycles were told to keep an eye out and get into mutual support positions. Over the next few turns, a platoon of Chinese cavalry with some assorted infantry battered themselves to pieces on the MGs of the motorcycle troops. While I had moved the ammo wagon feeding the mortars to safety, the heroic efforts of the motorcycles let me bring it back into service position. Note to self: Do Not Charge Concentrated MGs with cavalry! While the horse slaughter was underway, the HMGs and type 11s moved into over watch positions and added their fire to the tanks and artillery and the Chinese infantry caught in the cauldron began to route. Safe from close assaulters, the tank platoon swept in, tagged the VH clusters and returned to the hilltop. This drew out fresh Chinese forces from the north and pulled a few battered infantry away from the savage fire of the motorcycles. By this time, one platoon of infantry had worked its way into the bush on the Chinese edge of the central clearing while the other two platoons had set up a gauntlet of fire along the obvious Chinese retreat road. Up in the field, the So-Mo crews were having a tea break, admiring nature and picking off the odd router. They mounted up and tagged the last cluster leaving only a couple of hexes in the cauldron under Chinese control. As the last of the Chinese troops trickled in from the north, they were split between the So-Mo group and the cauldron - despite their dedication they perished. The infantry company made short work of the routers and annihilated a few Chinese AAMG groups who dared to move up. With nothing left of the Chinese force, I tagged the last few hexes and the game was over. Observations I've now completed my 4th meeting engagement and my tactics really aren't changing much: recce forces to the enemy rear, commit main body to a flank attack and let the artillery hammer on the Chinese hordes. While I'm looking forward to getting my first elites in the next game, a bit more variety would be nice. I may restart the end game until I get something other than a meeting engagement. |
Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
Excellent
PanzerBob |
Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
Battle 5 - Be careful what you wish for
May 1932 Chinese Communists China - City Mission: defend Map: A big city. Two VH clusters my side of the centre line about mid-board, one further into my zone and North of the centre line. Three roads run east-west near board centre and one other further south. Finally not meeting the Chinese - though a defend means I'll be facing even greater hordes than usual. Only 500 support points and the engineers at this date have no flamethrowers. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif So trying to be realistic - I am probably in a rest area when attacked by Chicom guerrillas. VH and map arrangement does not justify fortifications. However I have 3 airstrikes so I purchase a recce ship and 2 strike shotai to represent fast reaction support from an airfield in the city. This uses most of my points. Acutely aware that every point I spend only increases the hordes, I refrain from using repair points and purchase a pair of HMGs. I setup back of the two central VH clusters hoping to stay clear of any artillery. There are fingers of high ground on the three central roads so I set up a mix of HMG, 37mm and 70mm inf guns to cover the roads in depth. Two platoons are back of the central VHs and the third platoon covers the north flank in between the main position and the northern VH cluster. The northern cluster is left undefended - defend everything and defend nothing. Turn 1 So-Mo ACs drive out along the south flank road. The main force sits tight - catching a few long rounds but out of the main artillery. Aichis scout overhead finding nothing. Tanks move forward to take up positions supporting the infantry Chinese send cavalry against my So-Mos supported by a couple of armoured trucks Turn 2 My tanks change course to support the armoured cars which have routed a Chinese cavalry platoon. Covering smoke lines appear on the Chinese side so I assign my mortars morts to hit one and 2 Aichi to hit another. Turn 3 the So-Mos keep working over the cav. The Chinese just armoured trucks sit there doing nothing. My tanks are still moving up � BT�s these ain�t In the Chinese phase, the armoured trucks decide to push forward � good the sooner they will be under the guns of my 98s. Turn 4 the eagles come in but with no effect other than to spot a few more trucks. Somewhere around I have some further notes but I just don't have the heart to look for them. The Good: The armoured cars supported by the tanks thoroughly worked over the Chinese rear area eliminating a cavalry company and about 6 75mm guns, 2 Stokes mortars, a pair of infantry guns and once again the Chinese HQ. The armoured trucks gave a bit of trouble since my 57mm tank guns would only fire AP at 0 hex range and the HE just bounced off. One tank was skewered by a 37mm ATG in the end zone - have to have a word with the Germans about their sales policies - but those are the breaks. The Not So Good: The Chinese seem to have Russian advisors. Apart from the small stuff mentioned above, I was facing multiple off-board batteries in the 100mm class. Over time the Chinese FOs got on target and started hitting my positions. I had to withdraw a couple of sections - they were so chewed up by the arty that I decided it was safer to let the rest ride it out. The Chinese advanced in what seemed to be a continuous wave. Pure and simple - I was swamped. For every people's militia squad I routed or pinned, six more seemed to open up with reaction fire. The Aichis and artillery swept over the Chinese advance - about the only good they did was to kill a few more of those damned trucks. My line held for quite a while but began to crumble under the intense artillery fire and mass of infantry. When Chinese started molesting the pack mules well behind my main line of resistance, I lost heart and flipped the game to automatic. As I watched the AI beat itself up, all I could see was hordes of little Chicom flags. At a rough guess I was looking at a couple of battalions of infantry supported by a company of armoured trucks, a couple of companies of cavalry and as mentioned a shedload of medium-heavy artillery. I minimized the game and went for a cup of tea expecting the campaign to be over. On my return I found that the CO, my tanks and ACs and about a platoon of infantry survived. Observations: I won't blame the game but I didn't have a chance. Static positions against that many infantry just don't work. Perhaps if I had spent support points for mines, wire and fortifications, I might have made a better run of it. On reflection, a mobile defence would be more effective - sadly the Japanese are not particularily well equipped for mechanized warfare. The obvious thing to do is set up a couple of practice defence games to work out where I went wrong and how to fix it. One final strange point - I saved the end game and resumed the campaign under human control. I was surprised to see I received a "decisive victory" - my propaganda troops must be working overtime. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/redface.gif |
Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
Interesting, I think, Pat, you are seeing one of the strengths of the game, and from what I know of the time and place you were fighting in and how you were trying to defend, the game portrayed your situation well. (imagine the Germans uber advertising something)http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif Given the day, you were in, I certainly would have had some engineering points, mines and wire, especially, with hordes hitting you. Excellent AAR,Pat, hope you are going to continue kicking around in China.
Eternal War(gaming) PanzerBob http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/skull.gif |
Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
Just a side note on my last debacle. I found a late game save file and let the computer play out the end game again. Final score was Japan: 1134 China 4249 for a marginal defeat (annihilation doesn't seem quite so bad now). Casualties: Japan 225, China 709. In an odd bit of statistics, even with two near wipe-outs my total casualties are 702. To get a rough picture of the forces involved, in the player one / player two view screens: Japan had 3 pages of units, China 12 pages.
Now my ego is soothed a bit, it's back to yet another meeting engagement. |
Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
Battle 6
This one was played out over 11 days and I neglected to keep detailed notes. Yet another meeting engagement so it was back to the move to the centre, set up over-watch positions and slaughter the incoming hordes. Again, the So-Mos managed to punch a hole through the Chinese flank, move into the rear and chew up the artillery park. The Aichi recce birds helped spot 1 37mm ATG but towards game end two So-Mos ran into another and were shot to pieces. I need to get my recce boys some infantry cover but without turning them into a full fledge combined arms unit. Points of interest: The Type 89B has a much better AP round so the Chinese armoured trucks were dispatched out of hand. I had a scout unit that wouldn't fire despite being fully rallied and with a full complement of shots. I checked its stats and found it had fired off its entire basic load down to the last grenade - I've not seen that before. The Chinese seem to have the biggest artillery park outside of the Soviets about 6 75mm on board with a couple of mortars thrown in and two off board platoons as backup. Next game I advance. |
Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
[img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Hammer.gif[/img]Em, Pat, Banzai!! [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Flag_Japan.gif[/img]
PanzerBob |
Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
Battle 7
1932 Chinese Communist delay Not much to say here. I purchased more mortars, a security platoon to watch over the arty park, and some snipers for foot recce. Support troops were the usual mix of recce and strike The Chinese were deployed in a thin line across the board. I easily penetrated it on both flanks - in the south with my tanks and in the north with my recce. The main body moved up between the southern edge and a large rice paddy executing a text book flank attack. The recce and tanks shot up the Chinese arty a usual but this time I didn't get the Chinese HQ. Air recce spotted a couple of ATGs so none of my armour got spiked though a couple did investigate the new rice crop a little too closely and got bogged. Actual combat was pretty much as expected with the artillery suppressing the Chinese as they ran to re-take the VHs while my infantry shot them to pieces. Post game: The 37mm have proven far too vulnerable to artillery - two died this game under mortar fire while their mules survived unharmed - so they were all exchanged for AAMG. I added a 150mm off board platoon to be reserved for counter battery. The R&D boys have finally come up with some locally produced tankettes so the large So-Mos were traded in for lighter smaller Type 92s. Next game: 1933 - Delay. |
Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
Great stuff Pat
Just read the whole post in one go and was grinning the whole time. You have the game well under control bro...you should be playing PBEM, if you already aren't, and trying your skills on some human opponents....there's never a dull game against A Blitzer. www.theblitz.org Good luck for the next battles |
A little R&R - Research and Reading
A little perplexed at walking over the Chinese when advancing and getting my backside handed to me when defending, I decided to do a little reading up on the IJA. Contrary to the Kangaroo riding Canuck heavy infantry I'm used too, the IJA is almost entirely light infantry! Yes, blindingly obvious in retrospect.
My tactics in advance and meeting engagements have been pretty much spot on for light infantry. It is in the defense that I have mishandled my gunjin. In the straight up defense, I set my troops up as a "shield" to block the Chinese advance rather than use them as a "main-gauche" to deflect and redirect the attack. My superior troop quality allowed me to get away with using a local static defense in advancing and meeting engagements. I won't be able to get away with this went facing Marines. When I tried to do the same on Mud Mountain, complacency lead me to think that the lack of supporting fields of fire would not be a problem - after all it had worked before. My failure in the city defense was an out-right misunderstanding of my force structure and capabilities. Thank the Kami that I'm only sending virtual gunjin to a virtual Yasukuni - and that I don't have to engage in virtual sepukku to atone for my disgraces. So - many lessons learned and much fun had. The Chinese are advancing in the next battle - let's see if I can put all my reading to work. |
Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
Thanks Sgt. - though I'm going to have to get my sh*t together before I run into any diggers. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif Matilda Frogs are a bit unpleasant. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif
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Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
Battle 8
1933 China Hills Chinese Communist Delay I'm going to update this one post as I go along. The Battalion Intelligence officer reveals that the Chinese will outnumber me about 4 to 1 in bodies on the ground. Specialist anti-armour troops have been raised on the Chinese side but should be readily identifiable by their new uniforms (PLA grenadiers vs grenadiers). He also tells me that recently captured documents show that Chinese platoon commanders usually command one of the rifle sections so any rifle group I see has a 50-50 chance of being the command group. Further, company commanders have an attached cavalry group for communication and local recce so an infantry group next to a horse is also good target. All of this I will pass on to my sniper groups. A section has just returned from advanced sniper training so I now have four two man groups to deploy. For my core forces, I exchanged the 37mms for AAMG after the last battle. The So-Mos have been swapped out for type 92 tankettes with 6.5 TMGs and 13.2 BMG they are as fast as the So-Mo and while not as well armoured, are much smaller and more flexibly armed. I have added a 150mm type 89 platoon for counter battery. It is my intent that the type 89s represent air power suppressing the Chinese batteries. I will have to resist the temptation to use them against ground troops. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif The terrain is quite rough with multiple rows of hills running north-south. There is a crest line just forward of my setup line with a valley behind then a crescent of 3 high hills - the open end facing towards the enemy. The victory hexes are scattered over the north and south arms - all are weighted the same. For support I purchased four groups of four marksman to act as small patrols and an Aichi recce bird. The Plan: My artillery will set up behind the crest of the hill at the base of the crescent. Well away from any VHs they should be clear of any artillery until they open up. A pair of mortars and the AAMGs have been positioned to fire into the crescent proper. Two groups of marksman are set up in the mouth of the crescent in mutually supporting positions and with cover they can retreat into if needed. The other two sniper groups start on on the deployment line crest and will advance over the central ridge onto the forward slope. The intent is that the marksman will slowly give way delaying the Chinese advance. The main body lead by all my armour will advance along the southern flank. I will crush the Chinese right wing then roll up his lines by advancing north flanking the Chinese advance. My new sniper groups will provide flank support and engage high value targets. As always the bosozuko in their new tin cans will go looking for tubes to squash. I hate mud. With the armour leading, my gunjin headed up the south flank. The marksman groups also pushed forward and took up fire positions. A massive Chinese bombardment fell on the empty VHs. By turn 5 the tell-tale lines of screening smoke appeared - with my marksman groups on the enemies side http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif. For the next 5 turns, the main force picked its way forward unopposed. The Aichi spotter bird picked up a few infantry and quite a few armoured trucks and a couple of borrowed Russian amphib tanks - so much for the encyclopedia test saying the Chi-Coms didn't have armour - they have more than I do! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif My marksman began to engage scouting elements - taking no more than three shots then pulling back. Around turn 10, my main force ran into the first opposition in the south. About halfway across the board, the tanks shot up some cavalry. The flanking sniper groups saw a few infantry toward board centre and began suppression operations. By turn 20, it was obvious I was going to be crushed - again. Faced with the usual mass of infantry, my attack stalled and began to be enveloped. A couple of snipers shot off their basic load and had to pull back. The Chinese artillery didn't get into the game but got enough rounds on target to be annoying. I used smoke and area fire extensively which proved moderately effective but still the Chinese waves crashed against my lines. Up north the marksman were performing very well, stalling the whole Chinese attack with minimal losses to themselves. So again I flipped to auto-pilot. The Chinese were a solid bar of yellow 2-300 metres deep except for a small strip along the north edge. Multiple gun positions were scattered across his rear area like cherry blossoms in Spring. At his point, I was not having fun and not learning anything so I terminated the game. |
Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
Interesting, awaiting your SITREP
Eternal War(gaming) PanzerBob |
Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
So here's the problem: In the advance or meeting engagements, I have no problem beating the Chinese so infantry toughness etc is not a problem - in fact it may be too low at my current ability. However I cannot defend against the sheer mass of infantry and artillery the Chinese can put into their attacks.
Possible answers: 1) I suck at defense. This is the most likely my source of problems yet I can play a fair defensive game in other match-ups. I may not have learned to use this particular force in the defense properly. 2) My map is too small. I am currently using a 80 hex long by 40 hex high map. While more than adequate in the advance, it may be forcing the Chinese to unrealistically bunch up. Both times I flipped to AI control to look at the Chinese forces - all I saw were ranks of infantry shoulder to shoulder and many hexes deep. 3) The pick lists are "broken". I am reluctant to suggest this but based on the large amount of artillery and armoured trucks the Chinese are getting on top of the infantry hordes, they may be running out of options at the points level I'm playing at. Further investigations: 1) Take the same Japanese force and put it up against 1940's Marines or Brits. This will test my ability to defend against a qualitatively similar enemy and help highlight any pick list problems. 2) Increase the map to 80x80. This will give my smaller force more room to maneuver and allow Mao's juggernaut to spread out. If defending against the Chinese on 80x80 proves as easy as advancing, then reduce the map to 80x60. |
Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
iam playing a germna long campaign know and i face some serious trouble against the french tank force. But i used much bigger maps then you, at least 100x100.
what i did were guerillia tactics.i started with a defense line and retreated behind the vh when the french monstertanks came slowly taking them out.When a vh is taken i countrattack and so the ai runs back and forth between the vhs. i know it is unrealistic but it works somehow. so bigger map is defintively better and far more interesting imo. |
Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
A quick update: I ran two Japanese delaying actions on a 80x40 map using roughly the same forces I have been using. Both 1942 AI vs AI. The first against the British was a marginal Japanese victory the second agains Chinese communists was a complete Japanese defeat. I will try again on a larger map but it looks like the Chinese hordes are an edge case on small maps.
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Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
Thanks for the advice - it's good to know I'm not alone. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
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Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
So another 80x40 test:
1942: Germany delaying against Chinese hordes. Falschirmjager moderately supported by Pz III managed a draw. However, the VH's were clustered well back against the German edge so the Chinese had to advance the whole board. Ran the same setup - this time the Germans chose Landsers well supported by armour but with the VH's spread out along the setup line. Result: Marginal Defeat. One more test - 1942 Chicom advance against Japanese delay but on an 80x80 map - result: Marginal Japanese defeat. However, the AI chose to defend all across the map rather than concentrating its forces so I'm not displeased. The Chinese hordes were distributed much more realistically. It looks like I just need to move to a bigger map. Final test 80x40 1942 Marines vs Chicom advance. Marines had moderate armour support - 6xM3 Result: Marginal Chicom victory Conclusions: So it would appear that the pick lists are not too far out of line especially when the opposing force has armour. Armour is a big help in general but a larger map allows for more realistic Chinese deployment. |
Battle 8 The Mulligan
After my first aborted Japanese campaign, I always keep 3 save games as I go through a campaign. The first is the deploy phase, the second is where I save the game as I play through and the third is the end game. So to take a mulligan, I loaded up the end game save of game 7 and rebuilt my forces. Despite setting preferences to an 80x80 map, I was given a 40x80 so I selected the custom map button and loaded an 80x80 European villages map then regenerated it to get a valid 80x80 China map.
My opponents this time are Nationalist Chinese though I don't expect much difference in kit from the communists. The terrain: Open country with some woods and moderate hills. A road and railway run north south board centre with another road road running east west about a quarter way down from the north edge. On cluster of VHs is at the cross roads, a second on the road/railway about mid-map and the third about 1/4 up from the south edge and closer to the Chinese lines. I like this configuration as it echoes some the fighting over the South Manchurian Railway. Forces: As detailed earlier but given the amount of Chinese light armour this time I chose to retain the Type 11s as I have no better AT at the moment. I added 4 AAMG teams and the requisite mules to carry them. For support, I have taken and observation plane, two strike shotai and two groups of motorcycles. The Plan: The main body supported by the tank platoon will advance along the north flank. Artillery smoke will be pre-registered to cover an gap in concealment. Once they are past map centre, they will turn and advance south rolling up the Nationalists. The recce group - now equipped with type 92s will advance along the south flank seeking to get into the rear area. The two motorcycle groups will rush the two rail VHs hopefully keeping the Chinese attention away from the main attack. Chu-sa Gyuba awoke in a sweat - the endless waves of Chinese slowly cleared from his head - that was a dream this was another day. "Hatano!" he yelled to his company commander "Get the officers together, we have work to do!" Gyuba shook off the dream but couldn't quite clear the copper taste of blood in his mouth. |
Battle 8 to turn 13
Three flares shot into the air like chrysanthemum blossoms. Engines revved, web gear was tightened and the advance began.
In map centre the two motorcycle groups shot forward at full throttle. The southern most quartet grabbed the central VH cluster on turn 1. Pushing forward on subsequent turns, they encountered a group of Chinese cavalry supported by armoured trucks. In a swirl of light horse action, the intrepid samurai dashed in and out of cover blunting the Chinese advance and drawing them into a mortar kill zone over the VH cluster. Supported by a firebase built around the 70mm IGs and the artillery protection platoon, this group is battered but still in the fight conducting pop up attacks over a ridge line to harrass the Chines horse. The northern quartet ran full out for the northern cluster of VHs, stopping just short on the first turn. They tagged the hexes on turn two and were beginning to spread out to find the Chines main body when they encountered a group of trucks. Between the MGs on the motorcycles and the superior math skills of Sho-i Bunchiki the current number 2FO, a platoon+ of truck borne Chinese were routed and a larger body given a bloody nose. Withdrawing under pressure, they lost the VHs but with support from the sniper group have maintained the line against the Chinese advance. In the north, the infantry company advanced under the watchful eye of the armour. Go-cho Gushi, the other FO pushed forward a little too quickly to the point where I planned to turn the company south and found himself under desultory rifle fire. With skillful use of smoke and covered by the rifle fire of his transport group Gushi was able to withdraw into cover. The company mortars were set to screen a gap in the tree line behind which I was going to form up the company for the advance south. Fortunately, the smoke was plotted to land near the Chinese Gushi evaded. While the mortars pinned the Chinese, I was able to execute a classic deployment from column to line, advance over a covering ridge line and crush a company of Chinese. While this was happening, the sniper section was detached from flank security detail and moved to support the motorcycle group. Their long range rifle fire has allowed very light forces to stand up against superior odds. In the south, the recce group pushed forward encountering some of the armoured trucks harassing the southern motorcycle group. In a bizarre comedy, the trucks and type 92s could only scratch each others paint so decided to ignore each other and move on. Sadly Gun-so Michiro with 18 kills ran into something in the woods and was destroyed in a blaze of fire. So at turn 13, my motorcycles are holding the line with sniper and IG support, the recce group is huddled in the woods worried about exploding Panda bears and my gunjin are cleaning up a few loose ends before sweeping south. The situation looks good. |
Re: Battle 8 to turn 13
why are your FOs so wide in front? You can use them from far behind and readjust the fire with the units that are in front.
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Re: Battle 8 to turn 13
OMG, Pat!! Your're not killing cute ol'panda bears are you, just wait until PETA shows up...........SHAKING HEAD...oh ya, this a the 30's.......Great SITREP.
Eternal War(gaming) PanzerBob |
Re: Battle 8 to turn 13
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Re: Battle 8 turn 13 to 55
In the south the recce group crept forward. No more exploding bears but a few puffs of telltale arty smoke lured the type 92s forward. Nosing forward out of the tree line, the remaining three tanks were greeted by two loud cracks as two more fell to a concealed 37mm ATG sold to the Chinese by mercenary hakugin devils. The crews did not survive. Gunso Anabaki managed to evade the gun and escape back into the trees. Over the next several turns he worked around the enemy rear looking for the artillery park until his mount was shot out from underneath him. Anabaki however did survive and decided to meditate for a while.
Up north, the MG armed motorcycles and snipers pinned down the Chinese around the northern VH cluster while the artillery was adjusted and the main force regrouped. Further south, The fire base protecting my mortars came under attack but acquitted itself well chewing up cavalry and infantry but unable to dent the infernal Chinese armoured units. Of the 6+ units in the area, my 70mm IGs did manage to bag 2 open topped armoured trucks the Russian provided ambib tanks were unstoppable. As part of the plan and to relieve the fire base, my main body started the attack south, retook the northern VHs, crushed more infantry and moved south along the central road rail line. What should have been a knockout punch to the head of the remaining Chinese forces was more like the splat of a bug on the windshield of a Kuomintang truck as my main body slowly evaporated under the ferocious Chinese counter attack. The Type 89Bs performed brilliantly - having shot off their basic load of HE and in two cases all of their MG ammo, the 89B's put their AP to work slaughtering the Chinese armour - I need to talk to the R&D boys about some ground mount AT. However this did not prevent the decimation of my infantry forces. Who needs MG42s when you have a thousand rifles? While the main force was being crushed, the sniper group was down to grenades and decided to withdraw. My 2 HMGs had to resort to rifles and also decided to withdraw. So too the Type 11 trench guns did their best but running out of HE also pulled back. In the south, the fire base also slowly evaporated under Chinese pressure. However thanks to the main body's sacrifice in the north, they too were able to withdraw. Now back to Gunso Anabaki. Having taken a nice long rest, Anabaki-san realized that things were not going well for the rest of the company. He grabbed as many MG rounds as he could and stocked up on grenades. Heading off through the bush, he made for the southern most objective as yet untouched by Japanese troops. Once there, he used his ad hoc pyrotechnics to create the impression that an Japanese force was deep behind the Chinese lines. (In game terms - he snagged a VH cluster) Gunso Anabaki's actions caused a general Chinese pullback which allowed a significant portion of my forces to withdraw - battered but ready for the next battle. I am happy to report that he survived the action an as the sole survivor was given command of the recce group. In the end - I pulled out a draw. I am still frustrated by the large amounts of Chinese artillery as well as the over effectiveness of their "makeshift" armour. I was also annoyed that the 150mms I bought for counter battery just sat there doing nothing - I reluctantly used them in the end game to cover my withdrawal. However, historically the Japanese were bled white in China. Their troop losses there are thought by some to be part of the reason they engaged in acts of criminal brutality - substituting terror for troops. A final note - it was during this game that I noticed my support were not firing their GLs. I put this down to suppression but post game tests revealed this was not the case. Andy says all is good on his end so something may be broken on my end which might be affecting the campaign in other ways. I may have to reinstall and restart. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif |
Re: Battle 8 turn 13 to 55
"Nosing forward out of the tree line, the remaining three tanks were greeted by two loud cracks as two more fell to a concealed 37mm ATG sold to the Chinese by mercenary hakugin devils"
Thoose AT's in the back somehow take the fun of "exploiting breakthroughs with your mobile forces" somehow there is always an AT gun somewhere. Cavalry might actualy be a better unit to use after breakthrough??? |
Re: Battle 8 turn 13 to 55
[img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Bullets.gif[/img] [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Grenade.gif[/img][img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Bullets.gif[/img][img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Grenade.gif[/img] [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Bullets.gif[/img] [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Grenade.gif[/img][img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Bullets.gif[/img] [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Grenade.gif[/img] [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Bullets.gif[/img][img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Grenade.gif[/img] [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Bullets.gif[/img][img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Grenade.gif[/img][img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Bullets.gif[/img]
AT Guns (and anything else small and AT capable), ahh the Bain of Tankmen the world over. If you even slightly suspect their presence, then suppress the freakin' crap out of the area with anything you have. I've been known to keep a running barrage of Lt Arty moving forward with my Panzers if the objective is important enough. (Crude active armour, if you will.) |
Re: Battle 8 turn 13 to 55
Agreed. AT guns lurking in the rear.. ouch. Bunched up groups of Flak guns seem to be the Russians favourite and will mince recon/m'cycle units trying to rampage around. Does the AI do that with other nationalities too ?? The trouble they sometimes deploy in weird places so they can be tricky to detect/predict until it's several kebab'd armoured cars too late.
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Re: Battle 8 turn 13 to 55
Brilliant AAR's - Anabaki-san, what a dude! :-) Hmmm, those Chinese hordes sound scary, (and I thought the Russian infantry waves were tough), but I think you have a good point about the map size, even at 80x80 (all relative to your force value of course). I havent tried a Far East campaign, tho Im now tempted, I will have to give it a go and see if I get creamed (highly likely). Great Reading :-)
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Re: Battle 8 turn 13 to 55
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Re: Battle 8 turn 13 to 55
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Re: Battle 8 turn 13 to 55
Just an idea, and you probably tried something like it already so excuse me if this is old hat, but what happens if you drop smoke on them so they can't all return op fire at you? - ideally so you only "see" the first wave. Throw in a bit of arty as well to keep the rear waves pinned down. That way your guys should get surpressed less and be more effective shooting back. Maybe I'm under estimating the sheer quantity youre talking about.
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Re: Battle 8 turn 13 to 55
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A sit down and re-think.
Since this is as much a chronicle of how I play the game as what happened in each battle, I thought I would share a few thoughts I had this morning while switching my Support squad GLs to type 89 mortar units.
Many years ago (like 30), I read an Airfix book on ancients tabletop wargaming. In it, the author said that you need to learn how to use the units you have, not run around buying whatever beat you in the last game. Sadly that is what I have been doing in this campaign. I get hit with artillery - - I buy counter battery rather than learn to avoid the artillery, my mortars get over-run - so I buy a infantry platoon to protect them rather than learn how to move them and so forth. What began as a rifle company with a few supporting arms has mutated into a monster. I now have more points and more units outside of the core rifle company I began with. This in part has been the cause of my failures in the defense because while I have good support, the poor gunjin holding the line are spread very thin indeed. What should have been a light infantry force as become very heavy indeed. So, my plan is to strip back to a rifle company with 2 mortars, 2 IGs, 2 HMGs supported by a tank platoon. Since I'm reluctant to lose Anabaki, the recce tanks will stay too along with the 37mm popguns. I will say that if I had to buy and paint each one of these support troops, I would have figured this out a long time ago http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif. But - Hats off to the icon makers anyway http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif. |
Battle 8
Battle 8 was yet another fiasco with the sole highlight being Anabuki-sans promotion and run through the enemy rear chewing up artillery. I inflicted 3-1 casualties but again my main force evaporated under the Chinese onslaught. I was particularly ticked off when one of my 89B's with an elite crew was nearly taken out by a Chi-com 89B! Mao's boys nmust have stole it right off the boat the paint was so fresh. The traitorous tank was taken out but my brave tankers were later immobilized and fell beneath the waves of infantry.
After this latest defeat, Chu-sa Gyuba was pulled back to battle school to help develop tactics to counter the Chinese wave attacks. He was given a platoon supported by an HMG and a mortar section. Using careful map recce, Gyuba set out a number of lines of resistance backed by terrain suitable to local withdrawals. The scout section was tasked with avoiding contact at all costs to act as a stay behind force. The plan was to allow the Chinese force to hit the static Japanese line, inflict casualties at short range then withdraw through cover to the next line. The mortar team was to provide pinning fire as required In execution this process worked remarkably well but required a lot of concentration to get it right. In several cases, the gunjin withdrew quickly enough to draw the Chinese into their own artillery. The Japanese line was pushed back as expected but the Chinese suffered from the many short fire fights. With the gunjin refusing to hold ground, the Chinese could not bring their massed rifles to bear. A couple of Chinese tanks were taken out by massed close assaults. The mortar section was deployed along the map center line and unfortunately was over run. With the gunjin approaching the rear map edge, the recce section went into action tagging a couple of VHs behind the Chinese line. This proved more difficult than expected since the recce sectionwas out of contact and had to be rallied to get and keep it moving. The recce section too fell afoul of the Chinese superior numbers and was destroyed but still caused the Nationalist troops to pull back to address the threat in the rear. This sacrifice allowed the Japanese platoon to advance, destryoing the Chinese forces piecemeal and recapturing all the VHs for a decisive victory. An effective set of tactics at least at the platoon levle this was a nerve wracking fight all the way through. I expect that Gyuba will spend some more time working out platoon tactics before returning to command his company in China. |
Re: Battle 8
What a great report! From battle 1 thru 8. It sure doe's look like I have a lot of great gaming in my future. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif
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