End of turn 3 assault. Sherman to fatal hit from Jap armor and failed to score a hit in retaliation, but Marine was there to finish of Jap armor with a close assault. Jap commander ALMOST escaped, He managed to evade gun fire, until Ranger moved within LOS and called in mortar fire on his head, He did return the favor, with combined MG fire and a fatal mortar attack Ranger was removed from play. Without Jap sergeant, things are going downhill for the empire.
Turn 5. The JAPS won inish and tried to get a little clever. Their plan was to let the US move first, then pull back as many Arisaka as possible and LMG behind cover and allow the 2 remaining mortars, MG and sniper to inflict as much damage on the US as possible.
end assault 5. Well the plan didn't work well. The US cut down both mortars, sniper and a Arisaka. Fortunately it took all available firepower to do it, so the US wasn't tempted to move any remaining units into the objective. The Japs return fire was dismal. The sniper failed to take out RDC, The mortar dice were so bad, I think they hit each other. It took combined shots from MG and AC just to take out the RDC. Since the AC had to use guns to at least take out one US unit. It was unable to rush back in and get adjacent to the objective. The Jap woes will continue into the next turn as you can see they lost the inish roll for turn 6
Actually I had two proxy pieces in there, the HO-NI for the CHI-NU and the MARMON HERRINGTON MK II AC for the DINGO. The stat cards I used were correct per the build, just not the piece.
I found this scenario to be extremely fun to play, and with some outside help to make a few command decisions for the US, easy to play out.
For this game, I think the Japs had a tough time of it right from the start. The US landed at the least defended beach, and was extremely close to the HQ. The US was able to organize after the landing and quickly brought forward the Flamethowers. I think they made the most impact on the game. Every time they attacked they cooked their opponent with no chance to counter. As terrible of dice I usually throw, there was always enough 6's in ten dice. Even if they were not in position to attack, their presence was enough to discourage any Jap advance. The Ranger ability to spot for the both mortar teams was a terrible threat and demoralized the Japs, but it wasn't as devastating as it could have been (poor dice rolls). I think the most destructive SA was the RDC pinpointer. There was numerous times that came in to play and Japs were removed from play rather than disrupted. All in all the US had the upper hand with really good attack dice rolls, and the Japs, not so much. The Japs just never had the numbers to really get in a good assault, they would have been cut down like wheat out in the open. Had the Jap sniper been able to take out the RDC early on, it may have been a different outcome.
I would highly recommend for someone looking for a solitaire game. If you can get someone else to take some decisions out of your hands, even better.
It plays a lot differently when the US deploys on either end of the short side of the map. It gives time for the Japanese to consolidate back at the objective. IMO, the Japanese should allow the US to get in close to the objective before hitting them with a Banzai attack(s). So keep the commander, fanatic and Ariskas hidden and use mortars, MG teams and snipers to harass US forces and hopefully get the RD Captain and any other key pieces as they move in to the objective