KG Erwin battles Afrika Korp!! PBEM!!

[Cyanide]

This looks like it's going to be a battle for the ages, although I'm not really a fan of the North Africa setting, I'm more of a Normandy/Bastogne kind of guy.

I know it's not a good idea to put up pictures now, but possibly after the battle?

[Goblin]

This battle is a Pacific Marine Assault versus the Japanese, September, 1944.


Goblin

[Afrika Korps]

ORIGINAL: Cyanide

This looks like it's going to be a battle for the ages, although I'm not really a fan of the North Africa setting, I'm more of a Normandy/Bastogne kind of guy.

I know it's not a good idea to put up pictures now, but possibly after the battle?

Don't let my screen name fool you. I play more IJA now than I have North African battles. I enjoy the underdog challenge. Like Gunny, I like the close combat more than tanks dueling at range (which is still very cool)...something more primative and visceral that I like and can safely enjoy in a game. [;)]

[chief]

Darn it......now I have to look up "visceral"........[:@][:-][8D]

[KG Erwin]

ORIGINAL: Afrika Korps

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin

ORIGINAL: Riun T

So gunny, Africa are u guys gonna incorporte pictures for us inprogress.RT

Sure, why not?

Not sure how we can include pics...if I see pics of his force deployment, or he sees mine, it won't be much fun for either of us. [:-]

Oh, you meant in-game battle maps-- no, not during the game itself. I'll save a few for an AAR. As for right now, we can give you scenes like this:

"The weather has cleared, and the order to 'land the landing force' has been given. The initial naval bombardment has ceased, and we are heading towards the beaches."

[Afrika Korps]

<The shelling has ceased...through the smoke I can see them coming.> Thought Col. Afrikamoto.

Unsheathing his sword, carried by his father, his fathers father, his, his and his, Afrikamoto swore on the blade to earn his place by their side in the world beyond this one. If necessary, he would die for the glory of the Emperor without hesitation.

BANZAI! He screamed, as loud as he could, thrusting his sword in the air.

The cry was picked up by all his men throughout the jungle.

BANZAI! BANZAI! They repeated with equal enthusiasm.

Col. Afrikamoto sheathed his sword and nodded curtly, a deep look of satisfaction in his eyes.

Yosh.

[KG Erwin]

Radio transmission received: "We're coming under fire. Tell the navy that they need to bone up on their targeting schemes."

[Goblin]

Brock Ironchest reporting from the pitching deck of a Marine landing craft, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. As the Marine landing force approaches the shore, weapons begin to speak up, answering any question on whether the Japanese will attempt to hold the island. I can see tracer fire, and the occasional sharp flash of a larger weapon hidden amongst the beach's jumbled terrain. The Marine ships and tanks return fire immediately, but I am too far out to see the effect, if any. Just off in front of me, six Marines die as some Japanese gun crew scores a hit on their amphibious tank. The 75mm howitzer armed vehicle will be sorely missed when these Marines go ashore, but not nearly as much as those six brave men. Their deaths do not appear to have discouraged the Marines any, but rather have galvanized their resolve to conquer a currently faceless, hidden enemy. More later...

[Major_Mess]

For your viewing pleasure - a map of the battle.




MM

[Cyanide]

I've got a nasty feeling Hill 217 is going to be a hard grind. Just a feeling.

[Goblin]

Mess, thanks for the map!

Cyanide, love the Avatar!


Goblin

[Goblin]

Kagawa Kiyoshi squeezed the trigger of the 6.5mm machine gun again as his loader, Nakamura Haru, finished reloading the weapon. He watched his tracer rounds walk out to sea as the rest of the men in his cave fired their weapons at the landing craft looming out of the predawn light. Enemy bullets slapped all around the cave entrance, and the occasional shell (75mm, he guessed) exploded nearby with no effect.

His machine gun was having an equal lack of effect on the Marine landing vehicle that he was raking with fire. That would change soon, as the Marines would have to negotiate the cliffs surrounding his small hill (122), and the much larger one jutting up from the beach to his north (300). Then he would be able to strike them, and do his duty to the Empire, and the Emperor. He shouted for more ammo, and helped Haru reload.


Goblin

[KG Erwin]

Report from the beachhead to Col. Higginbotham :

"All hell is breaking loose, sir. We gotta get the tanks forward. We've taken out a couple of bunkers, but as soon as one gets destroyed, another one opens up on us."

Higginbotham thinks to himself: "Where's the air support that Geiger promised us? That damn Halsey is somewhere out there, chasing what's left of the Jap navy."

[Goblin]

....the noise is incredible here on the beach. Reports are in of several lost LVT 3's near the Junkyard, with the Marines killed before they could fire a shot. A massive explosion to the north of Hill 300 means a Japanese gun casement has ceased to be a problem. From my vantage, I can see Marines being cut down by fire from a cave near the center of the hill. Wait! A Marine assault team has manuevered close enough to turn a flamethrower on the cave! Yes! Japanese are bursting out of the cave, burning from the jet of fuel. They are quickly put down by the Marines, and there is one less obstacle in their path.

South of me, I see Marine armor coming ashore at the wharf. A Marine halftrack armed with a 75mm gun is firing almost before it is off the landing craft. The gun manages to knock out an enemy rifle position, but not before more Marines are slain, their bravery no shield from Japanese bullets.

Reports from senior officers indicate that Marine air cover is busy with the sector to the north of this battalion's beaches! Air support is not likely due to this. A blow to the morale of these Marines, but the constant blasts from Sigourney and Portland are reassuring to this writer. More from Brock Ironchest, Red Beach Two, later....

[KG Erwin]

Col. Higginbotham has established HQ onshore, and has received a report of a dug-in Jap tank on the reverse slope of Hill 300 -- it's wreaking havoc on the left flank. Progress is being made on Hill 122 -- two more emplacements have been silenced. On the right, that Gun Casement at the junkyard, which overlooks Red Three, is proving to be a very tough nut to crack.

"How much armor does Afrikamoto have? Is there a mobile counterstrike force just waiting to ambush me?"

He reaches for his canteen, which contains a mix of water and rum, takes a quick swig, grimaces for a second, and ponders his next move.

[KG Erwin]

These are the types of defenses we are encountering-- you don't see them until they open up on you. The Japanese have shifted their strategy -- no more suicidal banzai charges -- they simply dig-in, deeply, and wait for us. Their intent is only to kill Marines, and delay us as long as possible.

[Riun T]

How about posting the map of your finished turn ?? and with only catching areas where the action has passed so to say, on the smallest magnification of hexes. The screen capture program must have a sizer for such things?
RT And I forgot to ask how many points did each side get to purchase with ??

[Goblin]

Murakuma Yukio slapped another round into the Marine LVT that had already taken a hit from the 47mm gun on his Type 3 Ka-Chi tank. This time, the enemy vehicle came apart in a shower of small explosions, and rapid pop-pop-pops as the round detonated its store of machine gun ammunition, then fuel. A crew member managed to drag himself out of the wreckage, but Yukio held his fire, waiting for another enemy vehicle to crawl its way through the deep sand into his line of sight. The Americans had no chance! He would never give up, never surrender, and was confident that his comrades would fight to the last man also. Against the soft American Marines, how could they be defeated? He smiled and the turret slid to the left a few degrees as another Marine LVT churned its way into his view...

[Mau Fox]

Guys, this is better than a movie!

Goblin you are a writer! [;)]

Gunny, those pics are great!

I need a few more popcorns!

Mau Fox. [:)]

[Afrika Korps]

[:D]