Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
 

iam playing a germna long campaign know and i face some serious trouble against the french tank force. But i used much bigger maps then you, at least 100x100.

what i did were guerillia tactics.i started with a defense line and retreated behind the vh when the french monstertanks came slowly taking them out.When a vh is taken i countrattack and so the ai runs back and forth between the vhs. i know it is unrealistic but it works somehow.

so bigger map is defintively better and far more interesting imo.

Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
 

A quick update: I ran two Japanese delaying actions on a 80x40 map using roughly the same forces I have been using. Both 1942 AI vs AI. The first against the British was a marginal Japanese victory the second agains Chinese communists was a complete Japanese defeat. I will try again on a larger map but it looks like the Chinese hordes are an edge case on small maps.

Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
 

Thanks for the advice - it's good to know I'm not alone. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Long Campaign - Japanese
 

So another 80x40 test:
1942: Germany delaying against Chinese hordes. Falschirmjager moderately supported by Pz III managed a draw. However, the VH's were clustered well back against the German edge so the Chinese had to advance the whole board.

Ran the same setup - this time the Germans chose Landsers well supported by armour but with the VH's spread out along the setup line. Result: Marginal Defeat.

One more test - 1942 Chicom advance against Japanese delay but on an 80x80 map - result: Marginal Japanese defeat. However, the AI chose to defend all across the map rather than concentrating its forces so I'm not displeased. The Chinese hordes were distributed much more realistically. It looks like I just need to move to a bigger map.

Final test
80x40 1942 Marines vs Chicom advance.
Marines had moderate armour support - 6xM3
Result: Marginal Chicom victory

Conclusions:
So it would appear that the pick lists are not too far out of line especially when the opposing force has armour. Armour is a big help in general but a larger map allows for more realistic Chinese deployment.

Battle 8 The Mulligan
 

After my first aborted Japanese campaign, I always keep 3 save games as I go through a campaign. The first is the deploy phase, the second is where I save the game as I play through and the third is the end game. So to take a mulligan, I loaded up the end game save of game 7 and rebuilt my forces. Despite setting preferences to an 80x80 map, I was given a 40x80 so I selected the custom map button and loaded an 80x80 European villages map then regenerated it to get a valid 80x80 China map.

My opponents this time are Nationalist Chinese though I don't expect much difference in kit from the communists.

The terrain:
Open country with some woods and moderate hills. A road and railway run north south board centre with another road road running east west about a quarter way down from the north edge. On cluster of VHs is at the cross roads, a second on the road/railway about mid-map and the third about 1/4 up from the south edge and closer to the Chinese lines. I like this configuration as it echoes some the fighting over the South Manchurian Railway.

Forces:
As detailed earlier but given the amount of Chinese light armour this time I chose to retain the Type 11s as I have no better AT at the moment. I added 4 AAMG teams and the requisite mules to carry them. For support, I have taken and observation plane, two strike shotai and two groups of motorcycles.

The Plan:
The main body supported by the tank platoon will advance along the north flank. Artillery smoke will be pre-registered to cover an gap in concealment. Once they are past map centre, they will turn and advance south rolling up the Nationalists.

The recce group - now equipped with type 92s will advance along the south flank seeking to get into the rear area. The two motorcycle groups will rush the two rail VHs hopefully keeping the Chinese attention away from the main attack.

Chu-sa Gyuba awoke in a sweat - the endless waves of Chinese slowly cleared from his head - that was a dream this was another day. "Hatano!" he yelled to his company commander "Get the officers together, we have work to do!" Gyuba shook off the dream but couldn't quite clear the copper taste of blood in his mouth.

Battle 8 to turn 13
 

Three flares shot into the air like chrysanthemum blossoms. Engines revved, web gear was tightened and the advance began.
In map centre the two motorcycle groups shot forward at full throttle. The southern most quartet grabbed the central VH cluster on turn 1. Pushing forward on subsequent turns, they encountered a group of Chinese cavalry supported by armoured trucks. In a swirl of light horse action, the intrepid samurai dashed in and out of cover blunting the Chinese advance and drawing them into a mortar kill zone over the VH cluster. Supported by a firebase built around the 70mm IGs and the artillery protection platoon, this group is battered but still in the fight conducting pop up attacks over a ridge line to harrass the Chines horse.

The northern quartet ran full out for the northern cluster of VHs, stopping just short on the first turn. They tagged the hexes on turn two and were beginning to spread out to find the Chines main body when they encountered a group of trucks. Between the MGs on the motorcycles and the superior math skills of Sho-i Bunchiki the current number 2FO, a platoon+ of truck borne Chinese were routed and a larger body given a bloody nose. Withdrawing under pressure, they lost the VHs but with support from the sniper group have maintained the line against the Chinese advance.

In the north, the infantry company advanced under the watchful eye of the armour. Go-cho Gushi, the other FO pushed forward a little too quickly to the point where I planned to turn the company south and found himself under desultory rifle fire. With skillful use of smoke and covered by the rifle fire of his transport group Gushi was able to withdraw into cover. The company mortars were set to screen a gap in the tree line behind which I was going to form up the company for the advance south. Fortunately, the smoke was plotted to land near the Chinese Gushi evaded. While the mortars pinned the Chinese, I was able to execute a classic deployment from column to line, advance over a covering ridge line and crush a company of Chinese.

While this was happening, the sniper section was detached from flank security detail and moved to support the motorcycle group. Their long range rifle fire has allowed very light forces to stand up against superior odds.

In the south, the recce group pushed forward encountering some of the armoured trucks harassing the southern motorcycle group. In a bizarre comedy, the trucks and type 92s could only scratch each others paint so decided to ignore each other and move on. Sadly Gun-so Michiro with 18 kills ran into something in the woods and was destroyed in a blaze of fire.

So at turn 13, my motorcycles are holding the line with sniper and IG support, the recce group is huddled in the woods worried about exploding Panda bears and my gunjin are cleaning up a few loose ends before sweeping south. The situation looks good.

Re: Battle 8 to turn 13
 

why are your FOs so wide in front? You can use them from far behind and readjust the fire with the units that are in front.

Re: Battle 8 to turn 13
 

OMG, Pat!! Your're not killing cute ol'panda bears are you, just wait until PETA shows up...........SHAKING HEAD...oh ya, this a the 30's.......Great SITREP.

Eternal War(gaming) PanzerBob

Re: Battle 8 to turn 13
 

I keep the FOs up front because they should be able to adjust better than non-specialist troops (if this is not the case - someone please let me know). Being close to the enemy is usually not a problem as long as I remember to turn off their guns.

Re: Battle 8 turn 13 to 55
 

In the south the recce group crept forward. No more exploding bears but a few puffs of telltale arty smoke lured the type 92s forward. Nosing forward out of the tree line, the remaining three tanks were greeted by two loud cracks as two more fell to a concealed 37mm ATG sold to the Chinese by mercenary hakugin devils. The crews did not survive. Gunso Anabaki managed to evade the gun and escape back into the trees. Over the next several turns he worked around the enemy rear looking for the artillery park until his mount was shot out from underneath him. Anabaki however did survive and decided to meditate for a while.

Up north, the MG armed motorcycles and snipers pinned down the Chinese around the northern VH cluster while the artillery was adjusted and the main force regrouped.

Further south, The fire base protecting my mortars came under attack but acquitted itself well chewing up cavalry and infantry but unable to dent the infernal Chinese armoured units. Of the 6+ units in the area, my 70mm IGs did manage to bag 2 open topped armoured trucks the Russian provided ambib tanks were unstoppable.

As part of the plan and to relieve the fire base, my main body started the attack south, retook the northern VHs, crushed more infantry and moved south along the central road rail line. What should have been a knockout punch to the head of the remaining Chinese forces was more like the splat of a bug on the windshield of a Kuomintang truck as my main body slowly evaporated under the ferocious Chinese counter attack.

The Type 89Bs performed brilliantly - having shot off their basic load of HE and in two cases all of their MG ammo, the 89B's put their AP to work slaughtering the Chinese armour - I need to talk to the R&D boys about some ground mount AT.

However this did not prevent the decimation of my infantry forces. Who needs MG42s when you have a thousand rifles? While the main force was being crushed, the sniper group was down to grenades and decided to withdraw. My 2 HMGs had to resort to rifles and also decided to withdraw. So too the Type 11 trench guns did their best but running out of HE also pulled back.

In the south, the fire base also slowly evaporated under Chinese pressure. However thanks to the main body's sacrifice in the north, they too were able to withdraw.

Now back to Gunso Anabaki. Having taken a nice long rest, Anabaki-san realized that things were not going well for the rest of the company. He grabbed as many MG rounds as he could and stocked up on grenades. Heading off through the bush, he made for the southern most objective as yet untouched by Japanese troops. Once there, he used his ad hoc pyrotechnics to create the impression that an Japanese force was deep behind the Chinese lines. (In game terms - he snagged a VH cluster) Gunso Anabaki's actions caused a general Chinese pullback which allowed a significant portion of my forces to withdraw - battered but ready for the next battle. I am happy to report that he survived the action an as the sole survivor was given command of the recce group.

In the end - I pulled out a draw. I am still frustrated by the large amounts of Chinese artillery as well as the over effectiveness of their "makeshift" armour. I was also annoyed that the 150mms I bought for counter battery just sat there doing nothing - I reluctantly used them in the end game to cover my withdrawal.

However, historically the Japanese were bled white in China. Their troop losses there are thought by some to be part of the reason they engaged in acts of criminal brutality - substituting terror for troops.

A final note - it was during this game that I noticed my support were not firing their GLs. I put this down to suppression but post game tests revealed this was not the case. Andy says all is good on his end so something may be broken on my end which might be affecting the campaign in other ways. I may have to reinstall and restart. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif