The Wakamatsu Unit left Soebang at 1100hrs on March 5. With the tasks of penetrating the Dutch defense positions south of Tjiater and advancing immediately to the plains of Bandoeng. At 1730hrs, they attacked the 2nd (European) Company of the 1st KNIL Infantry Battalion. They managed to destroy some of the vehicles and tanks of the Wakamatsu Unit, using a 5cm naval gun.
Attacker: Japanese (230th Infantry Regiment, Shoji Detachment (Wakamatsu Unit))
Fun little scenario with an interesting Dutch vs. Japanese match-up. Good for working on PTO and small enough to be played in one FtF sitting. Japanese need to capture all buildings but the one in the far back corner, so I based my defense on the C1 building, wrapping it in wire and putting four squads and a leader in it from the get-go. Because it could only really be assaulted from one side, I hoped the wire would offer enough resistance to hold this building. Go into the scenario, I thought it would be pretty hard for the Japanese, but Jeff performed admirably on the attack, including a couple of nice banzais that carried the Japanese to the foot of the building. My brokies were piling up in the building and I couldn't get a half-squad rallied despite two turns of un-DM'ed rally attempts with a 9-1 leader. Eventually, enough Japanese got under the wire and into the building and pushed my last surviving unit (a concealed HS) to the upper level on my last half-turn (all the brokies eventually died due to FtR). The HS survives the final Japanese DFPh and the Dutch win, he breaks and the Japanese win. He stood up to the first shot, but a PTC result stripped his concealment and then a 24(+3) from a FG hung up on the wire rolled poorly (a 5,4) but still managed an NMC. This broke the HS who rolled exactly a 7, which, thanks to the fact that he was encircled, was enough to provide the win to the Japanese.
2021-12-27
(A) Jeff B
vs
Scott Sherer
Japanese win
8.75 hrs
As Scott said, very enjoyable PTO scenario. And you can't get more balanced than coming down to the last roll of the game to determine the outcome. Dutch opted to heavily protect the north and only leave one squad stationed in the east. This drastically changed my expected plans of electing to delay my full 8 units to enter in the north. As it was I just charged everyone in on or alongside the road. The poor lone guard was eliminated by the end of the turn. I saw a bunch of wire in the south and a bunch of trenches along the road in the chokepoint in the middle. This meant I would have no risk-free entry zone for my tanks. And of course the gun was also a factor in protecting the middle, showing its face right away on Turn 1 to gain a double acq on my lead tank. I was able to smoke it in with my mortar on Turn 2, and with 1 ROF and a B11 it couldn't risk doing much more after whiffing its first shot. I was a bit too aggressive continuing to push up the middle, losing a 9-0 and 1.5 squads, but was able to evict the 9-1 and MMG squad in the middle (turning the leader heroic). Next turn I lost my first tank, but was able to continue pushing forward and captured the trench line. I also cleaned up the straggling Dutch defenders in the north, with only a sole berserk HS left to be dealt with. Turn 4 was brutally deadly, as the close quarter fighting saw a lot of HtH CC. The berserk HS managed to knock out another tank when it bogged crashing into the jungle, while the gun immobilized another before breaking. With only three turns left, only one mobile tank, and a fully stocked two-story building surrounded by wire, I felt my chances were slim. Turn 5 saw another banzai take care of the remaining Dutch defenders in the west, while one of the two Dutch leaders in the big building was eliminated. By this time the Japanese noose was starting to tighten, and any Dutch that happened to break had little chance of coming back. The last Dutch units outside the building were eliminated (yet another berserk HS and a wounded leader), and the Dutch were down to a squad and 9-1 on the ground, and a concealed HS on the first floor. The lone Japanese tank bogged trying to provide infantry cover while they risked crossing the wire. But there were just too many Japanese left. The squad and leader broke during the top of Turn 7, while the HS survived until the very last shot of the game, only failing it's MC due to encirclement. Great game!
