During the initial invasion into Burma, the Japanese first struck airfields, oil and gasoline depots, and communication assets with their air power. Then the ground units of the Japanese 55th Division crossed into Burma from Thailand and took Victoria Point, Bokpyin, Mergui and Tavoy with little or no opposition. The Burma Frontier Force, tasked with protecting the Burma/Thai border, were poorly trained and massively outnumbered by the Japanese. One of the few accounts of gallantry by the Frontier Force was a counter attack to retake the well-defended police post in Bokpyin captured by the Japanese.
Attacker: Commonwealth (Frontier Force Column 2)
Defender: Japanese (55th Division, III/112th Battalion)
6 turns
Players: 2 OBA: None Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:14.0 D:12.0
AFVs: A:0
AFVs: D:0
Guns: A:0 D:0
Type 89 Heavy Grenade-Launcher x 2
Misc Rules:
PTO, LJ (Exc: roads exist). A: Fanatic as long as 9-2 leader is alive/uncaptured
The play area is as indicated by the text, not the map image depiction. The Commonwealth 4-3-6 counter image should have a G on it to indicate Green units, not a C.
Jagersoft website
Players wanting to play this game/Request a match:
My opponent largely attacked from the onboard setup area with a flanking platoon entering along the East edge. The latter were soon repulsed and as the main force pushed in their attack, reasonable Japanese shooting and high rolls on the British MCs saw the majority of the British force broken mid game and which point be called it. Oh for some smoke capability for the Brits given they must cross OG to get into the village and the IJA have 7x MGs that can lay FLs
2022-11-17
(A) Jeff B
vs
Elmo Menon
Japanese win
Elmo wanted to play some scenarios from the CBI pack and, having played none myself, I was game. I figured this one would be tough for the Burmese and I was right, as they would have to take three buildings while mostly either crossing OG or relying on zero-TEM cover. One building is all but given to them, but the rest they would have to work hard for. Especially since the Japs were mostly just content to sit concealed in their +2 TEM. So the first task would be stripping some of their cover. This was done by a combination of some nice 9-2 directed MMG fire, as well as sending a few HS scouting. I honestly do not see how the 6-building VC can be accomplished. On Turn 2 I grabbed my second building, with another being fought over in CC, and a fourth a stone's throw away. This would be pretty much how the rest of the game would be, and from here it just felt like a RB battle or a SK game (no shocker since it's played on one of its boards), with a bunch of shooting back and forth to see who would be the luckiest. The Japs made things a bit more interesting in Turn 4 when they conducted a banzai to repel my encroaching force in the east, but mostly it was a very static and boring game. The Japs' edge in CC and the fact that they moved last were big advantages, and the game was not surprisingly decided on the last roll of the CC dice, with the Japs eliminating the sole Burmese squad clinging to the 3rd building.
2022-06-04
(A) Rich Weiley
vs
Mark McGilchrist
Japanese win
Had the attacking Burmese (?) in this one. Went into this one without much of a plan. Setup about half the force on the North side of the village, the 9-1 and most of the remainder entered on the east edge and attacked across the hill which the defender had left ungarrisoned. Two green squads entered on the X hexrow on a forlorn hope to take the single building in X2 and more importantly to distract the Japanese for long enough for the attack on the village to succeed. At the beginning of my turn 2 I did a quick assessment of my opponent's disposition and decided that with a bit of luck I could take the six buildings to satisfy the sudden death victory conditions. Well I did get a bit of luck. By the end of the turn I had just fallen short, having taken five buildings but being unable to win Close Combats in two others. Needless to say I was somewhat deflated when my opponent pointed out to me that I had completely forgotten about the undefended building in H2 which I could have strolled through in my first turn. In my opponent's turn he was successful in two of the close combats reducing me to four buildings but with heavy casualties on both sides including the British 9-2. Turn 3 came around and I realised I still had a chance of victory as I could send a just rallied squad to take the H2 building and my opponent had left the O7 building unoccupied. I still had squads capable of reaching it in N5, L7 and N8. However a leader directed MMG stack in P5 put paid to the attempts from L7 and N5 and the last squad went down to a six flat in O8. I had about two good order squads left at that stage so I conceded.
2020-07-02
(D) Rob MacGinley
vs
Ian Willey
Commonwealth win
I though this was a bit static for a game in this theatre - I know my opponent has reported that he would have seen me better react to his push by moving to counter his push and not giving a free building away - I thought the plan A was decent that I have a defence in depth and make him pay for each building dearly - you can do that successfully with the IJA - they have the better morale and can place a few good FP shots into the mix but alas not if you roll my rolls - so he was right this time but I am not so sure - with little more than simple terrain and very few SSR's this is an average Japanese game
