Saipan- Sugar Rush (6)

Thursday night, we had our 6th turn on the campaign clock in the Saipan campaign turn. This was again "The Probe" scenario from the main rulebook and the Marines second attempt to take the table.

I felt that P-Y got the better of me in the Patrol Phase, he got far up the terrain with his JOP's, but I have to say again he got 4 free moves before the Patrol Phase actually started. I was able, however, to get a good spread on my JOP's and but them all up against the hedge a major obstacle. 

USMC (FM 10) (+4 on FM roll)

6th Marine Regiment

Type F USMC Platoon #1 (2 men missing)

2SL

3 Infantry Squads with Sup JL and 12 men

Supports (13)

M4A2 Sherman (7)

Pregame Barrage (5)

? (1)

Japanese (FM 11) (+3 on FM roll)

136th Infantry Regiment

Type B Infantry Platoon #1 (12 men missing)

2 SL

3 Infantry Sections with Jl and 12 men

Grenadier Section with JL and 12 men and 3 50mm Mortars

extra fortification due to consolidation.

Supports (7)

Type 97 Khi Shinhoto Chi-Ha Tank (6)

Fortification 1)

So on to the game:

Again, I was confident that P-Y would take a tank, but was not sure how many. I decided to change things up to see how one of my supports that I had yet to take in the campaign would function so I went with my most expensive support a Kai Shinhoto Chi- Ha tank.

I thought I would post this photo that Eero took that is actually a screenshot from Discord.  The quality is really quite good on Discord with the Boost, over 6000km distance!

So the game started. I was fortunate as I got an 11 on my FM roll, while P-Y ended up with 10, rolling a 1! The Marines got a double phase on their first roll and soon after got another double phase, so before I had placed any troops they had the Sherman down and advanced towards the hedge as well as a squad behind the rock as well as one in the field on their right flank. I wanted to hold off my deployment until I could see the Marine path of advance. Soon it was obvious that on their left flank they were going to advance the tank supported by a squad of marines while on their right flank they placed another squad to cover the advance in the field in light cover. I decided it was time to play my cards so I brought on 2 squads both entrenched, one off my northern JOP and one off the southern one. I had a double phase so they both came down on overwatch. P-Y plopped down a FO with the covering squad, which I had not really expected. Before I knew it Mortars were falling down on my positions with extreme accuracy. I should note that we use the TT modifications for mortars and this was really the first time they got a good test. They work quite well, but they caused a fairly spirited discussion on the CoC FB site!

Now it was getting tricky, I was getting a fair number of shots off at the Marines but was not that successful with shocking and killing them, the Mortars were also giving me a lot of trouble. The game really turned into a cat and mouse affaire at this point with me moving my troops back and forth off the hedge to keep them out of LOS while I was trying to jockey the Kai ShinHoTo in a good position to take on the approaching Sherman. The Marines continued their advance with the Sherman and P-Y was able to get a shot off first at the Japanese tank, 1 net hit but I threw a 6 so 2 shock and I ended up reversing almost off the table. At this point I could not get a 3 to save my life but I was getting a lot of 5's so had almost 3 CoC dice in hand.

Finally I was able to advance my tank and remove a shock, the Sherman had now burst through the hedge. The Sherman fired but my armour held up. I was then able to fire back, the Sherman's armour failed, 3 net hits, the tank was knocked out. The Marines withdrew to try another day.

It was a long game, maybe around 3 hours. I felt that P-Y should of won, he was quite unlucky with his dice throws especially the last one.

Butcher's Bill

USMC

Final FM 7

6 figures killed

3 dead+ 2 missing (2 previously dead)

7 down for next game (platoon 1)

CO +1

MO +5 (+1 on FM roll)

Platoon Leaders Outlook Thoughtful

IJA

Final FM 9

4 figures killed + JL 

2 dead+1 missing (12 previously dead)

0 dead for next game (platoon 2)

15 dead for next game (platoon 1) + 1CI JL

CO +2

MO +2

Platoon Leaders Outlook Gregarious (+1 FM)

On to some terrific photos from the camera of P-Y....

Marines covering the left flank advance

The Sherman advances

Infantry supporting the Sherman

The Sherman moves out

The IJA defensive line

The Mortars rain down

Staying out of LOS

The Kai Shinhoto moves into position

Tank Battle

Kaboom!, the Marines withdraw