Deadly Diversion fight commentary

[PimpYourAFV]

This thread is open for everyone to record their experiences of tangling with the IJA in the jungle. Lets compare our adventures. Its probably better not to post pictures or mention enemy positions cause that would spoil it for people who haven't played this campaign yet.

[PimpYourAFV]

Isn't anyone playing this campaign? I just did the second battle and it was very fun. I think the multimod changes the machinegun attached to the + platoons with a choice of raiders/sniper team. I got the raiders but they failed their infiltration both battles. In the second battle, Haig tactics awarded me with a decisive victory with 44 marines dead vs 221 IJA dead.

[JVega]

I'm playing the game, but I think I'm doing the other campaign (Not the northern) first.

I beat the first mission easily enough, with my indigenous squad of 4 (with small arms) fighting off two Japanese squads on its own, and only lost two men itself. I was very impressed.

The second mission is much more harder. At first, I screwed up badly and ended up with half of my forces in close combat with the Japanese, and the rest either out of range or out of sight. I played the second mission again, but this time made the mistake of chatting on AIM as well. So after every turn, I'd alt+tab, reply, and get back into the game. I was kicking their butts without mercy, until I alt+tabbed and the game crashed. Oops. I was about to play it for the third time, but my 3D card died and my desktop (with the saves) wont turn on. I think I'm not meant to win that war.


Edit: typo's.

[Wild Bill]

LEt's hope that they are, TokyoBoy.

There are two campaigns, a southern and a northern. The first is led by Colonel Krulak and the second by Major Bigger.

Both are quite different from each other.

Keep us posted on your progress as you go, guys. I find it good reading!

WB

[Wild Bill]

First Battle with Krulak Force

I've chosen an E-Platoon, a platoon of recon and a recon team as my core force.

My platoon is sent south to reconnoiter. We find a group of natives (not all are friendly) and some Japanese unloading a barge. I decide to skirt the unloading area, sending the bigger part above the area.

A smaller force, including some engineers that are aux forces move straight toward the camp, using trees and the building for cover. I move fast.

Opposition is encountered first from the native bearers but they are no threat. I dispatch them. Immediately the Japanese open up from the beach area. My force to the north is looking down on them. I have my .30 cal machine gun strategically placed for maximum fire.

I take two objectives and destroy to of the piles of ammo.

Now the fighting gets intense. A counterattack of sorts is hitting my northern flank force. We engage in hard fighting for the northern objective. I win that tug of war.

Slowly, almost too slowly I move across the beach area. The main supply dump is finally within reach and goes up from a demo charge with a mighty BOOM.

By battle's end, I have suffered light losses without losing a whole unit. Even my scours are intact. I have a few notches in my belt (kills) to gain some experience for the coming raid on Sangigai.

WB

[PimpYourAFV]

Wild Bill, thanks for your story.

I will repost my original story which I deleted from my first post cause I think its a little poorly written but here it is anyways again [:o] ...

There's a well-written historical document included with the campaign in the zip which is loaded with lots of juicy details about the tactics and combat. I chose the Krulak campaign first so I can follow the story in the same order as it went historically. Next will be Major Bigger's campaign. [:)]

I purchased a marine infantry platoon E- (shotgun version) with a raiders squad attached and marine HQ. I also picked up a sniper recon squad to provide extra targets to entertain the Japanese with.

My raiders squad attempted an infiltration patrol while 3 squads headed north and the rest went south. On route my platoon HQ following behind was singled out for some rough treatment by the bad guys and it dodged into a coconut tree grove for cover. An enemy sniper in the grove melee attacked the frustrated HQ and 'covering fire' from the marines killed everyone on both sides involved.

After having a good laugh, the marines continued on and started trading fire with the enemy guarding the supply area with members on both sides dropping here and there. The US engineer auxiliaries moved up to snuff out the supplies but the enemy must have reckoned it needed those supplies. Scratch one engineer squad and the other received flesh wounds.

Marines continued the firefight and one squad was down to half so it went back to the bench. It spent its idle time wandering down the wharf and skipping grenades along the water at the boat docked there. The tide slopped the ship around and the marines' grenades mostly landed in the drink with no positive results. After the fight, them boys were slapped around by Krulak 'the Brute' for their poor show.

A marine platoon and sniper recon rushed down from the north and were shot up by an enemy squad parked off on route. A fair fight was had and lots of members on both sides dropped in the exchange.

In the last moments of the fight it seemed we couldn't get to the last objective with everyone under fire and losing men, so the brave native team and surviving engineer squad rushed for it under cover fire from marines. The natives were repelled losing a man and the engineers also filled out a casualty report for nothing achieved. An IJA sniper well protected in a grove was particularly effective in picking off our men one here and another there. Marines hosed down the grove in traditional spray-and-pray style but the sniper only continued with more 'picking-offs'. The enemy soldiers defending the rear area were given an extra sake ration that night for holding their positions and killing off our blokes with no losses of their own.

The judges at ringside, Wild Bill and Bruce, awarded us a minor victory for taking out 2 supply cabins and one ammo dump. Losses were 44 dudes for Japan vs 23 brave marines and auxiliaries. A good little fight it was and all the marines still standing said they had fun except for the raiders squad which got lost on route cause its map was inaccurate so it missed out on the show. They got badly ribbed by the marines when everyone was winding down around the campfire that night.

This campaign is great if you like minimal micromanagement and lots of tactical decisions in a fair fight situation. [8D]

[IBTyrone]

Thanks for reposting, Tokyoboy! Your flip, off-hand style cracks me up! [:D]

[PimpYourAFV]

Thanks IBTyrone. I have the next two battles being inked now.

[PimpYourAFV]

Second Krulak Battle

We are assigned to cut off the retreat of the Japanese from the beach town. I used the support points to purchase 2 howitzers and an ammo crate. The HQ will call for fire.

Paratroopers are already halfway there so they rush to the ambush area. While the marines hump along trying to catch up. Once we are all together, I form my troops into 3 battlegroups. Army Group South is assigned to just hold onto the bottom objective our side of the river while Army Group Center sprints to the trees along the riverbank and try to ambush incoming rice pounders. Army Group North is to sneak around the top and grab objectives on the other side of the river.

Everything goes as planned which is an extremely rare experience for me. Army Group Center lines up in the trees and pours lead into the Japanese now stampeding over the top of a big, gravel covered hill fringed in palm trees. The 2 howitzers add their sprinkle of ordinance to spice up the stew. The herd of Japanese keep coming and dying in scores. After awhile the stampede starts to dwindle but a few squads still crawl along the bullet whipped gravel on their bellies, faces etched in pain, taking their losses like real men. Rounds snapping through the air peel flesh from bone causing one after another to roll about on the gravel in agony until finally finished off. As for the marines in the trees along the riverbank, they fire away at the hilltop despite the constant rain of incoming rounds and every few seconds one of them drops out of line and flops over into the water making a plunk.

In the south, the Japanese are slower and get stopped at the river by concentrated fire from paratroopers, recon patrols and two heavy machineguns. Backed up by their own HMG in the back, the Japanese who are supposedly retreating push forward using excellent combined arms tactics. The southern paratroopers are suppressed and shot-up fairly badly. After the surviving Americans run screaming like schoolgirls into a pineapple grove, the Japanese follow-up with a flanking attack around to the side of the grove and pour pointblank gunfire and grenades in the frazzled defenders who only manage to get off a few shots. The screaming marines dying among the palmtrees create a human carpet which helps the attacking Japanese to keep from sinking into the marshy wet ground as they advance. One particularly motivated IJA officer is seen riding a bicycle over the dead marines while waving a pistol about and yelling in a shrill, high pitched voice. He lasted until a marksman, irritated by the yelling, slapped him on the forehead with a Garand rifleshot. I remember seeing that abandoned bicycle lying amongst the grass when the marines were first taking up defensive positions.

A somewhat fresh marine squad is sent south from the solid central position to shore up the defenses around the southernmost objective. The squad positions itself in a quiet grove of their own just southwest of the objective to stop the flanking Japanese with an ambush. They wait patiently doing nothing while listening to the continuous screams of their friends being machinegunned to death in the next grove. They giggle and swap jokes about what's happening until IJA heads poke through the palm branches in their faces and get shotgun rounds blasted straight down their gaping gullets. The battle is brief and at least a few enemy squads are butchered to the last man with no marines and only one recon trooper dying in the slaughter.

Army Group North has its own zesty shootout which does a good job of pruning their squads of excess members. At first all is quiet with only a few IJA squads seen shuffling around far across the river. Marines and paratroopers take up positions in good cover along the riverbank while a brave recon patrol goes across to grab a nearby objective. Ironically it is the chaps holding the riverbank who get shot to bits while the recon patrol repulses repeated enemy attacks while only filling two bodybags of its own. The heavy jungle vegetation is what saves the patrol squad from being wiped out. With heavy losses, the survivors of the riverbank crew advance across the river to join the recon patrol right near the enemy assembling area where it oddly seems to be safer. The Japanese attack with a human wave assault through the thick green foilage and are given the good news by the grouped up marines. Few enemy survive the hell of shotguns and grenades slung into the IJA infested jungle growth at face slapping range.

The centre and south simmer down to only the occasional bark of riflefire followed by a cry of affliction indicating a well placed shot, but in the north the Japanese bombard the huddled up marines with concentrated mortarfire. Suppressed and hiding behind various thick plantlife, the Americans are easy prey for the furious Japanese who break through finally and kick everyone back into the river leaving lots of dead and wounded behind. At first the sounds of the wounded being bayoneted by the enemy are hard to endure for the paratroopers, recon patrolmen and marines left treading water in the river. Fortunately a team of large, hungry alligators distracts them from the grim sounds of the bayonet work being done by the Japanese, and the gators start to lunch on the hapless Americans unable to use their rifles while swimming. One gator dies from knife wounds but the others are too fast and lunch is had. I daydreamed for awhile about whether it would be better to die from being shot and bayoneted to death, or to be eaten alive by a gator.

The gong is struck and the battle ends. Wild Bill at ringside calls out a decisive victory and the scoreboard shows 44 marines dead vs 221 Japanese dead. After the battle, in typical Marine Corp tradition, the Japanese wounded are treated with the same medical attention the marines themselves receive, along with rations and water. It is hoped they will come to learn there is a better way to treat POWs than beheadings, daily beatings, starvation, and forced labor. Only Krulak 'the Brute' is seen working over some wretched IJA chaps with a rifle butt behind the mess tent.

*******************************


I will write about the third battle next. [:)]

[IBTyrone]

Thanks TokyoBoy! The IJA officer on the bicycle was a brave sort. [;)]

You and WB have motivated me to shelve Das Reich for the time being and try this one out.

I'm having a lot of fun deciding what core to get and still haven't got to the fighting yet. Maybe today.

[PimpYourAFV]

Just grab a marine platoon and you're ready. Platoon E or E- are best because there are no tanks so no need for satchel charges or AT weapons.

Wild Bill the legend, not sure if you will be reading this, but is it possible to extract your fantastic maps used in this campaign to be available as a custom map for PBEM? Your maps are beautiful artwork compared to the ugly rectangular lump of jungle the random generator comes up with. I'm trying to learn how to use the editor and got some of it figured out but still can't find delete terrain button, delete objective button or a 'save map' function. There seems to only be a 'save scenario' button.

[FlashfyreSP]

ORIGINAL: TokyoBoyTensai


Just grab a marine platoon and you're ready. Platoon E or E- are best because there are no tanks so no need for satchel charges or AT weapons.

Wild Bill the legend, not sure if you will be reading this, but is it possible to extract your fantastic maps used in this campaign to be available as a custom map for PBEM? Your maps are beautiful artwork compared to the ugly rectangular lump of jungle the random generator comes up with. I'm trying to learn how to use the editor and got some of it figured out but still can't find delete terrain button, delete objective button or a 'save map' function. There seems to only be a 'save scenario' button.

To save a map, when in the Map Editor section, look for the 'diskette' icon in the buttons on the right panel. Click this button, select an empty slot from the list that appears, and enter the new name of the map. Only saves the map part of the scenario.

To extract a map, open the scenario in the Editor, choose the Map Edit button, then click on the Save Map button.
You can't 'delete' terrain...all you can do is replace existing terrain with something else. If you make a mistake and place something that looks bad, using the 'Add Clear Terrain' button will remove any previous terrain aspect and set the hex to Level 0 Mixed.

You also can't delete Objective hexes. You can, however, change their Value to 0, which will make them invisible during the game. They will still appear in the Scenario Editor section, though.

Hope this helps.

[PimpYourAFV]

Thank you FlashfyreSP.

[Wild Bill]

Tokyo Boy, write me and I'll send you any maps you wish. Most of these maps were the original design of Ken Orzel Bialy Baran. Ken is a real master at map design!

Bruce Hodgman and I adapted these to our particular scenarios to have consistency.

Only the 2nd Krulak battle, the map of the Sangigai area is mine and I'll share any you want with you. Just drop me a note. Thanks for the appreciation of the work.

WB

[Wild Bill]

What rather surprises me is that all the Marine lovers around here have not posted to this thread. Strange. This is definitely Marine territory! Semper Fi!

WB

[GaryG48]

I have never played marines before and I love it! Short, tight, tactical scen's with just enough story to hold them together.

I played straight through both campaigns with a core of one recon platoon (minus the MG) and one sniper. I booked one draw and two DVs on the southern campaign and three draws on the norther campaign.

I played them both again just to see if I could learn from my mistakes. I improved a bit but I have more learning to do.

Thank you, Wild Bill, for another good game.

--Gary

[PimpYourAFV]

Thanks Wild Bill for your help.

GaryG48, I agree this campaign has a lot of replay value to it. I'll be going on a second tour of duty as well. Especially after watching the movie 'Jarhead' last night, the lack of any combat in it is making me antsy for some marine battles.

[Wild Bill]

These are great replies and quite helpful. You did well, Gary! The northern campaign is very tough. And you do learn by playing. Real tactical doctrine comes very much into play in this game. Its more than shoot and kill. It is also, plan, strategize, think, consider contingencies, move, ...and pray! [&o]

I guess a lot of combat veterans in leadership have sealed their choices with a plea to the Almighty.

Jumping in my mind is the picture (and it is a picture) of Danzel Washington praying with the commanders of his company of Abrams tanks during Desert Storm. After his "amen," his succinct word to his men is "Kill 'em all!"

Good hunting to the rest of you...WB

[PimpYourAFV]

A cautionary note for those about to start the Deadly Diversion campaign... use straight unmodded Steel Panthers. I started with the multimod 2.0 installed and it gave me an extra squad over what the vanilla version allows so I switched to unmodded for the campaign cause that's what the wild one designed it for.

[forgorin]

Did it. Loved it. Did it again. Loved it again. I'm in love.

What else can a man say?![:D]
You go Wild Bill