After the successful capture of the Shing Mum Redoubt, the Japanese 38th Division began operations to clear the remaining positions of the Gin Drinker’s Line. Once this line was successfully cleared, Hong Kong proper would be open for invasion and capture. The men of the Japanese 38th Division were veterans of the fighting in China and attacked the Gin Drinker’s Line with zeal.
Attacker: Japanese (Elements of the 38th Division)
Defender: British (Elements of the 5th Battalion, 7th Rajput Regiment)
4.5 turns
Players: 2 OBA: None Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:17.0 D:13.5
AFVs: A:0
AFVs: D:0
Guns: A:0
Type 89 Heavy Grenade-Launcher x 2
D:0
OML 2-in. Mortar
Misc Rules:
Grain and Orchard in season, all buildings considered Huts.
John and I are fans of larger scenarios, but due to work we'll be playing some shorter ones for the next couple months. This one obviously has banzai written all over it, so I set up to at least deny him one to kick off the action., Some lucky long-range shooting on a stack move killed a precious Jap leader and HS, broke the remaining three HS, and busted one of his two mortars. My wire made him re-route his western attack. John got revenge the bottom of the turn when I tried a stack move of my own and his MMG had a deceptively clear shot to them. Three dead HS, one broken, and a HOB heroic 8-1 later things knocked me back down to size. Neither of us are prone to mistakes of this nature, but this scenario is so short on time we had to press. I had covered both areas of entry well I thought, but was relieved when he chose the Turn 2 entry area. Both because it allowed my western force a turn to reposition, and because I thought the terrain would be too restrictive for him to move very far each turn in the east. What I didn't count on was the nice overwatch position his MMG was allowed at the lip of the valley. Even though I knew PTO was not in effect, I had a hard time grasping the nature of the board's LOS over the valley woods. Thankfully for me my sniper brained another leader in the east (9-1), but he'd still have two there, and that'd be enough. Once again I did what I could to prohibit a banzai in the east, though I knew that'd be the last reprieve I'd have. Turn 3 was very good for him, as he busted up my wall of Brits in the west by catching me off guard with a DC Hero. The full squad target survived the DC pinned but was lost in CC, while a HS went down in an existing melee. In the west some strong AF busted up a squad and my 9-1. The routing options on this board were abysmal, many times only allowing a step back of one hex, or even away from the desired direction entirely. My Turn 3 saw my western boys regroup in the woods, while my eastern boys did their best to skulk and avoid too much fire. Turn 4 saw the first banzai of course, and he grabbed his first hut. The other hut stood tall however, when the squad defending it survived heavy fire. With nowhere to hide he proceeded to break 3/4 of the HS next door to him, who had nowhere good to rout, and then once again survived heavy fire. This would make for a difficult decision for John on his last turn. Did he sit and shoot? And if so with how much? He chose not to, and kicked things off with a DC delivery from his 8+1, but I of course ignored this as I knew the position was lost anyway. So then he launched the first banzai of the turn and tied me up that way. His next banzai made what I consider an error in target, limiting his access to one of the needed hut hexes. This allowed me to focus on the one stack of units that could reach it, and they were whittled down and eventually eliminated. A rather hollow feeling victory as this one felt way too predictable and scripted at the end, and started growing tedious around Turn 3.
2023-11-04
(A) Will Willow
vs
Alexandre Rousse-Lacordaire
D
British win
Grenadier 2023
2023-09-30
(A) Eric Partizan Eric
vs
Japanese win
2023-01-22
(D) Shane Pask
vs
Steve Lessing
Japanese win
Cancon 2023 Wire was placed well and held up the Japs but not long enough. One of my Squads went berserk then managed to ambush the Japs but died anyway. Reinforcements entered turn 2. I was never going to win the kill ratio but almost held on to the village.
