Hi,
Last week I and Roderick Molenaars played J17 Clearing Kakazu. We played Turning of the
Spigot the week before and felt that the Kakazu map offers some nice scenarios and
immediately after playing TotS decided to play another scenario on this map. Clearing
Kakazu became our choice because it looked like a one-night- playing-scenario. As we would
be playing at my house I would take the defending Japanese (and prepare a setup
beforehand) and Roderick would play the attacking Americans.
For those who don’t know the scenario: The Japanese have to defend Kakazu, the
village on the southern part of the Kakazu map. The Americans have to take 22 of the 25
(or 26) building (huts) and rubble hexes and have to do this in 6 ½ turns. The Japanese
can setup completely HIP with two MMGs and one HMG, some mines and two DCs. The Americans
have two M4A1s and one POA-CWS- H1 (FT-tank) coupled with two FTs a HMG, a .50, a couple
of MMGs and mister nice guy 9-2 and 100mm OBA (HE and Smoke). As it’s raining during
the start of the scenario no Smoke can be placed (either by the OBA or infantry Smoke).
The main force of the Americans were 666. Coupled with a SAN of 5 this would mean on a
normal MC: break on 7 or more, pinned on a 6, SAN on a 5 and OK on a 4 or less. I could
live with that.
After selecting a scenario I always look at the ROAR rating and found out it’s rating
was 7-1 pro-American. Although this doesn’t mean anything it could be that the
scenario might be a little out of balance. Needless to say that because of this rating I
spend more time on my setup than I normally do. Therefore I also include my setup to give
anyone playing this scenario some thoughts on how to prepare for the Americans.
The American tanks must enter from the east side of the board. Therefore I protected this
flank heavily with 3 HIP Tank Hunter Hero’s. As the scenario takes place in 1945 the
Japanese could generate two more THH during play. After a lot of time my setup looked like
this:
T20 AT Mine 4 factor (all mines exchanged for AT Mines)
U18 Set AT-DC (with the detonating THH in T19)
T17 Tank Hunter Hero
V21 Tank Hunter Hero
By using the anti-tank units this way I took care of the most southern approach by any AFV
(V21 and T20). The other anti-tank units had to cover the roads surrounding T17 as I
didn’t think any AFV would enter through the Bamboo around W14-W16.
J16 447
K19 447
L16 447
These were the units that had to hurt the American on the first turn, covering the I14/J14
approach.
L19 447
This unit had to remain HIP as long as possible and, depending on the situation, had to
advance concealed into CC during the final turns of the scenario.
M18 228/MMG, Bore-Sighted J16
N17 228/MMG, BS J17
Remember that the palm trees in K16 and M16 block LOS towards the I14/J14 approach.
Therefore these units Bore-Sighted J16 and J16. The unit in N17 could also see most of the
1st level M15-S17 approach to the village.
N18 9-0
O18 447/LMG
O19 447/LMG
The 9-0 had one task: stay alive and eventually try to rally some squads and stay out of
any fire. Maybe one of the LMG guys had to be positioned somewhere else but I think this
is a good position to protect the American left flank (= Japanese right flank) and stay
out of CC with 666s for some turns.
Q20 Cave CA Q19 (and a Tunnel to N18)
S19 Cave CA R18 (and a Tunnel to S22)
I think the only place to put the Caves in this scenario (note that you couldn’t set
them up across the road as the Japanese had to setup south of the road …) as a
Japanese squad can enter a victory location (the rubble in Q19 and R18) on the last
advance phase (hoping to stay there during the last American turn). No need to setup units
in the Caves as, per B8.6, you can exchange Fortified Locations for tunnels! So in turn
six I planned to enter the Japanese into the tunnels and advance them out into one of the
victory locations. Tricky, but maybe it works.
O21 228/HMG, BS W17
This unit had to control the road to W17. It can either lay a fire-lane to V17 or shoot at
W17 but use Bore-Sighting there. BUT, writing this AAR I see that, due to the Palm Trees
in V17, it can’t see W17. Fortunately it hadn’t any impact on our game.
R21 8+1
What to do with this leader? I used it to remain HIP as long as possible and, if it stayed
that way, pass the American attackers and run up to the U20 (and surrounding) huts.
R18 228/MMG, BS I14
This unit had to lay a fire-lane upto I14 to hit any Americans that tried to either cross
the road or enter around I14 and J14. I14 and J14 are great entry-points as they have a
little cover from the Shellholes and, as discussed before, have LOS blocked due to the
Palm Trees from Level 1 positions.
Q20 447/MTR
This unit was positioned in the Shellholes but didn’t fire in the entire game!
S21 447/DC
This unit either had to create a DC-Tank Hunter Hero or, if some Americans tried to pass
it, especially if there was some big stack around, had to drop the DC into that hex.
V20 237
S22 237
These units had only one task: stay HIP as long as possible and try to take some building
/ rubble hexes on the last turns (especially with a tunnel in S22) this could work. The
V20 unit could stay HIP till the end of the game as V20 is just out of the normal approach
of any attacking Americans and can only be revealed by Searching. These units could also
try to create THH if the first batch of THH / Minefields and AT Set-DC wouldn’t work.
So far for the setup, let’s play ASL.
Play started with the Americans splitting it’s forces. On the American left flank
first a 346 ran down the building in T17. As I expected this to be the only squad in sight
(and I already give up HIP status to lose this squads concealment) I fired with the LMG of
the squad in O19. The result was a PTC which the squad survived with a 5 (did I tell you
about the SAN …). Of course the Sniper was activated with a ‘1’ and, as the
HS was the only unit onboard, it was broken. Great way to start a scenario, but there was
a lot more to come. The rest of the American right flank entered as concealed units and
moved carefully, most of them using assault moving, trying to get into good position for
some shot at any Japanese that would pop up. The 9-2 and both HMGs entered on the left
flank. Another HS ran to T17 and ended it’s MPh adjacend to it.
On the American right flank a HS tried to run through J14 but a Japanese crew with a MMG
popped up in R18 and lay down a fire- lane upto I14. As the HS survived, the HIP squad in
J16 fired it’s FP and broke the HS, also causing another 2RFP in J14. The Japanese
purpose was to fire at every Japanese squad within a two-hex range of J16 and L16. This
would mean 4FP on two hex range, if the squad came nearby another 4FP (using PBF) and
eventually using FPF (hey, these guys don’t break, just reduce). This way I hoped to
hurt the 666 a lot and coupled with the high SAN I think I could break some of them on the
first turn. The rest of the units on the American right moved into the shellholes in J14
(spending two MF to get the +1) but the fire-lane from the MMG was quite effective and
caused a two HS and a full squad to break (one HS in J15, the rest of the units in J14).
At the end of the turn there were two 666s and a leader in I15 and the broken squads, a
crew/MMG, and a leader in J14. The two 666s maneged to reduce the Japanese squad in J16
which, in it’s turn advanced back to J17 and gained concealment.
The tanks entered slowly and used their MMGs to search U18, V18 and T17 for any HIP units.
They only found one of the Tank Hunter Heros in T17 which survived the fire. The HIP HMG
in O21 fired it’s MG at the tank in W17 (which was blocked after all) which it
suspected to be the CE FT Tank (which it was). Unfortunate it didn’t roll low enough
to hurt the CE tank commander. In response, one of the M4A1s (in V17) fired for
Acquisition on the HMG crew.
The HS in T16 advanced into T17 and went into CC with the THH. We played that the THH
would stayed alive until it would run up to one of the tanks, but reviewing the rules
later it turned out it would’ve been eliminated at the end of the CCPh because it
lost HIP status. Anyway, the 346 (CX) got ambushed by the THH and, after rolling snake
eyes, the THH was able to kill the 346.
The Japanese turn one didn’t saw much action. The only noticeable thing was the
DM-ing of the broken squads and a broken MMG in R18 (no more fire-lane).
Turn two saw the same situation on the left flank. The only shot the Americans made was
against the still on board THH (see before) and resulting in snake-eyes. Well, better
losing a THH to snake-eyes than a full squad. The other concealed American units slowly
made their way into firing positions keeping their concealment. Not much happened with
these units. Still a lot of HIP units on this flank. The tank in V17 tried to hit the crew
in O21 but didn’t succeed. Then hell break lose. First off, the tank in W18 started
and drove V17, U17 and U18 right into the set AT-DC hex. The THH who had to detonate it
(in T19) passed it’s PTC and managed to detonate the DC resulting in a burning wreck
in U18. One tank down, two to go. Afraid of those THH the FT Tank started and drove like
Michael Schumacher towards O15.
Then came the left flank. Again the broken squads in J14 (nobody rallied) where put under
DM by the repaired MMG in R18. Unfortunate the MMG rolled 2,2 so no fire-lane this turn.
The Good Order squads on this side of the board tried to move to the cover of the rubble
in J16. The first 666 reached J16, surviving fire from the 447 in L16 but was broken by
the crew/MMG that popped up in M18 that bore-sighted this location. The other 666 used
assault movement and advanced into J16 at the end of it’s turn. The crew/MMG used the
APh to move to J15. J16 became the first location the Americans reached, still 21 to go.
During the Japanese turn two the HIP THH in T19 (that detonated the AT-DC) popped up and
started to run towards V17. Coupled with some cover of the burning wreck it caused a turn
earlier it managed to reach V17, found an ATMM and killed the second M4A1. We didn’t
know for sure if this was allowed (first detonating an AT-DC and later on killing another
AFV) so we decided that this didn’t happened. A message to the mailing list got the
answer from Scott Jackson saying it was indeed possible to kill two AFVs by the same THH
using this method.
The Japanese fire kept the broken squads (346, 346 and 546 in J14 DM (they had nowhere to
go so had to be lucky to come back to life). The concealed 347 in J17 hoped to stay alive
against the fire of the 666 in J16 and planned on advancing in J16 to try a possible HtH
against the 666. It wasn’t to be. The 666 fired a 6FP +1 shot and stripped
concealment and reduced the 347 to a 237. In the AFPh the 237 took a desperation shot
against the 666 with a 2FP +2. Guess what? Snake-eyes, a MC and the 666 rolling a 7. I
think that at that time Roderick failed his Personal MC and started to rush things (and
making a couple of mistakes this way). For instance: he made a shot at units (with his FT)
which we had seen the LOS was blocked earlier on, etc.
This turn also so the OBA coming in. It landed right on target (N17) to reveal (and
reduce) a couple of HIP units. No KIAs so nothing was lost for the Japanese so far. They
regained J16 (an advance by the 237 in J17, only to lose T17 and the Americans still had
to control a lot more locations while the Japanese had still some surprises.
Turn three became important for the American because he had to start running for some
buildings / rubble locations.
During the Rally Phase only the 546 in J14 managed to rally while the other squads
remained broken. First some squads tried to cross the S19 – V17 street but were
halted by fire from the O19 squad with LMG and the O21 HMG dude. This resulted in some
squads being broken (including mister 747/FT) and still no American units across this
street. The other 747 assault moved to M15 but was broken by fire from the N17 MMG. Then
came the big hit. First the FT tank started moving from O15 to N15. I decided to create a
THH from the squad in O18 and succeeded in doing so. However, I was forgotten about the
OBA and the THH had to take a 20FP attack and was flipped to it’s wounded side. He
did reach O16 but couldn’t move any further. The FT tank wasn’t aware of this
and changed it’s VCA one hexspine and fired: double six and a recalled FT Tank.
That’s the moment the American concede. With all FT squads broken or recalled it
would still take at least a turn to get them back into position. The killer stack of two
HMGs (including the .50) and 9-2 in U16 was good, but could only see a small portion of
the battlefield. As there were no units in the U19 (and surrounding) huts it was tough on
the American left flank. Coupled with a almost completely broken right flank (ready for a
Japanese counterattack) it looked like a real disaster.
I have to admit I was a little bit lucky at the first two turns as the MMG in R18 broke a
lot of units around I14/J14 but the Americans also had a lot of 5-rolls on NMCs, which in
turn gave me about 10 changes for a Sniper Check. As only 2 Sniper Checks were
successfull, it could’ve been much worse.
Did we have fun: yes. Would I play it again: sure, anytime, any side, anywhere. I can
recommend this scenario completely as it is a very fun one with lot’s of possibilitys
for both sides. At first I was afraid for the American FT capability but (one FT Tank and
two FTs) was able to take them out before the started hurting me. IMO that’s also the
object of the the scenario: take out the FTs, break a lot of Americans in the beginning
and keep them DM. This way, coupled with all the nasty Japanese tricks (Tank Hunter Heros,
HIP even when an enemy enters your hex (in some terrain), tunnels and Caves) and the
Americans can have a hard time. Therefore the 7-1 ROAR record (now 7-2) is something I
can’t place. Maybe some other guys have opinions about this scenario or could give
the AAR from those games.
Hennie
