In preparation for Recon 2022 in Orlando, FL, in April, I have been play testing a scenario set in the Philippines prior to the surrender. I have tweaked the scenario after each instance, and I think it will make a good fight at the convention.
I have been interested in this period for a while. Pulp Figures makes between-the-wars Americans, and Brigade Games makes Philippine scouts. I (and a couple of others) commissioned several different poses from Steve Barber Miniatures. Together, these give me all the figures I need to game this period.
The scenario involves an American infantry platoon defending a bridge across a stream. The Japanese are advancing. The Americans initially have three under-strength squads, an anti-tank gun, two .30 cal. water-cooled machine-guns, and a command element. A fourth squad and an M3 Stuart arrive as reinforcements. The Japanese have four full-strength squads, two Type 95 Ha-Go tanks, and a command element.
The Japanese start 18″ from their table edge. For every 18″ that they advance across the table, the Japanese receive five victory points. The tanks do not accrue these points, only the infantry. It is only necessary for one infantryman to advance 18″ to get the five victory points, but this is measured at the end of the game. They cannot dash forward, get points, and then get killed. They have to be alive at the end of the game. The Americans receive five points for knocking out a tank. Both sides receive one victory point for each enemy soldier who is incapacitated. The thought is that giving the Japanese points for ground will encourage them to advance. The game ends after three hours of play, which can be a variable number of turns.
The first time I ran the scenario it was a blowout for the Japanese. I thought that was because I didn’t leave enough fields of fire for the Americans. In the second running, I added a couple more hills to enable the Americans to fire over the foliage at the stream. I also broke up the foliage on the American right to give them fields of fire. The second instance was closer, but still a decisive American victory. I want it to be more of a nail biter. For Recon, I will add a fourth American squad that enters the table and let the Stuart enter earlier.
When the Americans lose five figures, the fourth squad enters from their rear table edge. This should enforce some level of defense in depth. When ten figures are killed, the Stuart enters the table. In both instances of the scenario the Americans defended far forward and had no reserve, so it felt very much like a hard crust and a soft interior. I had envisioned the Americans firing from advanced positions to disrupt the Japanese and then withdrawing to a second line of defense. Retrograde operations are difficult to conduct in real life and also hard on the tabletop.
Below are some pictures from the play tests.
I am pretty happy with the look of the table. The roads are from Battlefield Terrain Concepts (BTC). The stream is from Deep Cut Studios and is made of mouse mat material. The bridge is an old Hovels model, I think. The trees are a mix of BTC, flea market finds, cake decorating trees, and bamboo from Amazon. The cloth is a fleece blanket I had printed with a high-resolution image I purchased on DriveThru.
The stream is fordable as rough terrain. You can’t really tell in these pictures, but there are a lot of hills under the fleece.
If you live near Florida, come to Recon and give this scenario a try.