The Japanese invasion had been underway for several days with the Dutch intelligence telling their Commonwealth allies that there were no Japanese landings on the island. Despite this report, Dutch generals blew the bridge at the Tjianten River against the Australians wishes, forcing them into static positions along the river instead of aggressively counterattacking when possible. Intel proved wrong as five Japanese tanks appeared in a rush to attempt to seize the bridge only to find its rubbled remains. Temporary Brigadier Arthur Blackburn, promoted to command of the entire Australian force on jave ("Blackforce") sent a well-supplied company of his old battalion down the north-south road running along the river to defend the perimeter.
Attacker: Japanese (Sato Detachment, 29th Infantry Regiment)
Defender: Australian (2/3 Machine Gun Battalion, “Blackforce”)
6.5 turns
Players: 2 OBA: None Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:12.5 D:8.0
AFVs: A:0
AFVs: D:0
Guns: A:0
Type 89 Heavy Grenade-Launcher
D:0
Misc Rules:
Buildings at Level 0 are huts; at Level 1 they are palm trees
My British opponent's average roll was a 4. He kept rate of fire with 2 out of every three shots. He snaked me at least three times. And yet...my Japanese kept coming and wrested the hill from the British on Turn 6 and beat back the counter-attacks for the win. I had only four squads left at the end. The British devastated me in close combat as well. Very bloody game, but made for the Japanese.
2021-04-24
(D) Eric Topp
vs
Mark Dennehy
Australian win
The Aussie MMG did nothing much for the first four turns with no ROF let alone Japanese MC. The Japanese "sporadic artillery fire" (SSR 2) K-ed a crew to add injury to insult. The Aussies retreated to the north-east corner of the hill. When the Japanese launched several Banzai charges, the Aussies inflicted heavy casualties. In the end, the Japanese forces had dwindled to two Step-Reduced squads.
2020-10-23
(A) O Ramaille
vs
Australian win
After killing some Australian soldiers sheltered from the rain in the huts, the Japanese launched a first banzai charge in the mud that wiped away the first MMG nests on the hill. The Australian gathered and defend succesfuly against several charges. Yet their number was reducing slowly but the same applied to the Japanese. A last banzai charge nearly provided them victory. But alas, a single Australian MMC was still good order by the end of the battle. A very good scenario.
2020-10-18
(A) M T
vs
N.N.
Japanese win
I played the Japanese. My plan was to establish a firebase for the MMG and Mortar, trying to shoot up the hill with them and deploy smoke with the mortar. Meanwhile, my infantry would close in on the hill in the cover of the palm trees and Banzai charge the Australian position. The Australian setup concentrated the MGs on the hill and placed some infantry in the woods of the northern part of the map.
For the most part the plan worked quite well. My MG position was a little risky, taking heavy fire from the opposing MGs, which in the end wounded my 10-1 but left the crew intact. In return, I had some good rolls with them, despite running out of smoke without getting to deploy any. I took a calculated risk with the Banzai charge which paid off, allowing me to gain an important foothold on the hill and work from there. After losing three MGs out of the four provided my opponent called it quits after turn 3.