The Amphibious Assault

A scenario playtest for Chain of Command, by Too Fat Lardies

As a long time miniature wargamer I had always avoided World War II for various reasons. But, I did remember one good game was  I Ain't Been Shot Mum by Too Fat Lardies,  So when I began researching my grandfather's experience in World War II I naturally began to look at miniature wargames and particular Too Fat Lardies new skirmish game Chain of Command.  I finally made the plunge into WWII but so far have been successful in limiting myself to the Pacific where my Grandfather fought.

So I built up a platoon and supports for US Marines and Japanese forces mostly of 15mm Eureka, but also some Command Decision vehicles and Battlefront vehicles and guns.  As I researched my Grandfather's path through the war (2nd battalion, 2 Marines) from Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian, Okinawa (I don't think he saw action there though), and ending at Nagasaki.

I hope to put together a historical scenario or campaign on one of those battles, in particular I'm drawn to Saipan due to the variety of actions there from amphibious assault, the largest tank battle in the Pacific, Japanese dug in cave defenses, urban fighting, the largest banzai attack, etc.  After conducting several playtests to familiarize myself with the rules and my Marine and Japanese platoons I felt something was missing, an amphibious landing scenario.

So why not make one?  I drew up a scenario based on those provided in Chain of Command.  Like the scenarios in the rules this is to be a generic scenario to be used for any contested amphibious landing during World War II.  I posted it on the Too Fat Lardies Forum: Amphibious Assault.  Take a look.

So here's the playtest I conducted over the past week or so.  Due to a busy schedule I will often play a solo game over several days or weeks.  For me the results were surprising and I will post a lessons learned later on along with planned changes on the Too Fat Lardies Forum.

Thanks to Teufelhunden  for researching the Marine F and G army list and advise from Richard Clarke in how to operate the Marine 3 team squads.

Enjoy

Here is the set up.  I borrowed from the "Attack on an Objective" scenario.  One third (2 feet) of the board is water (16") and beach (8").  I think the beach may need to be extended to about 12"

Here you can see the 3 Japanese Jump of Points (JOP)  markers all pushed up as far as possible.  This will cover the whole beach but leaves them without a place to deploy reserves.  Maybe defenders should get a fourth JOP for reserves.

Here are the Marines with their supports.  They get 2 LVT's free and a pre-bombardment.  I rolled a 6 so I added a LVT (A) 4 and a medical Corpsman.  Based on the updated Marine F list I added a Flamethrower to each squad since assault troops would  have those.  The Marines were rated Elite.  This rating really helped them as it was hard for the Japanese defenders to get a lot of hits or shock. 

Here's the Marines senior leaders.  I base senior leaders with a second figure (runner) to easily distinguish from Junior leaders.  The guy on the left is the corpsman.  He was huge in keeping the Marines moving.

Here's one of the Marine squads.  I base my figures on US pennies and Junior leaders on Nickles.  I put a yellow dot on BAR men and a white dot on Corporal team leaders.  

LVT supports from Command Decision. I hadn't finished passengers for the LVT 4's yet. 

Japanese Senior Leaders.  I need to give the one guy  a flag. 

Japanese Platoon and supports.  I used the 'Island Defense' list on the TFL Yahoo page.  They have small squads which  really hurt them.  They got 21 support points though with plenty of entrenchments a MMG, 70mm gun, and Chi Ha tank and a sniper.  

Japanese entrenchments.  They should've ditched the tank and added Bunkers, but I haven't finished those up yet. 

Marines move on board.  They focused on the right side of the table to concentrate forces on one Japanese flank. 

Japanese began deploying.  The 70mm gun did so directly in from of the coming assault.  This was a big mistake because once the Marines got ashore they were too close for the gun to hit.  It focused on the LVT A(4) but couldn't hit a thing.  A small Japanese squad deploys to cover the left flank. 

MMG deploy in the center, I should've but the 70mm gun here.  

The Japanese left, the LVT A(4) really pummeled the 70mm gun.

1st LVT ashore facing a small Japanese squad and a weakened 70mm gun.  I use white dice to measure shock. Yellow markers on a squad/team= pinned, green= tactical, and red=broken.  Yellow markers on leaders mark wounded or light wounds use a white die.

First marines deploy.  I planned to use the LVT as mobile JOP but since the Marines were Elite they could deploy 9" and the defenders were only 5-6" away.  I scraped that plan and used the Armored Personnel carrier rules instead, so as units are activated they can disembark with a 1D6 which seems more realistic.  It also forces the LVT to sit for a turn taking hits while they deploy.   

I allowed the Marines to deploy in Tactical stance. There is 1 Marine squad and a bazooka team here.  The deployed flame throwers really took it to the Japanese infantry. 

US Marines ashore.  I had to stop the LVT right at the beach's edge to keep the Marines further than 4" from the Japanese to prevent an immediate Close Combat situation.  I'm thinking the beach has to be widened.  Also, I should've had the Japanese throw grenades into the LVT. 

Marines in the center deploy also in tactical.  This LVT has 2 squads aboard.  

Small Japanese squads take heavy fire from LVT's 50 cal. 

Japanese pour fire into deployed Marines.  Several Marine leaders take hits.  Japanese rolled 4 6's which ended the turn.  They then rolled 2 6's the next two phases giving them 4 consecutive phases.  The Marine's 'Elite' status allowed them to just shrug off any hits.  

Marines responded by moving 2 teams to assault the  weakened 70mm gun which pulled in the neighboring Japanese squad.  The Japanese had a good advantage due to the Marine movement and the Japanese rated as aggressive and that LMG with the bayonet that acts as a SMG in Close combat. 

The Japanese only rolled 4 kills and the Marines with less dice 8 kills.  With a Marine leader suffering a light wound meant only 3 Marines Killed.  The Japanese lost their 70mm gun the attached Senior leader and the remains of the Squad.  The entire Japaneses left flank just disintegrated. 

The Japanese Force Morale is now at 2.  Most Japanese arrived fine, except the Mortar squad which could not get deployed to the the Marines Pre-game bombardment.  They finally got in on Turn 2 but it was too late.  The Chi Ha took too long to get across the board.  The Japanese squad in the center was obliterated by the LVT (A) 4 firing at point blank range. 

The Chi Ha finally got forward and briefly put the hurt into some Marine infantry until a bazooka was brought forward.  BAM! He's toast.  The Japanese squad on the right by the MMG routs after a Flamethrower hit.  Now do I bother mopping up the MMG and  Mortar squad?

Marines only suffered seven dead with several leaders wounded  who were patched up by the Corpsman.

I will post a lessons learned  as well as some changes to the scenario later.

Oh and I finished my first batch of LVT passengers.  They are a mix of Command Decision half-track passengers and US tank crewmen painted as US Marines.  Since the passengers are seated I needed a thick sabot to glue them onto.   

You can see how they are constructed here.  Looks pretty cheesy but once they are placed in  the LVT I think they look pretty sharp.

Thanks for looking.