RS KNIL Molukken scenario designer coherent thoughts and reasoning

[Jeepster777]

Just wish to express to all my fellow Blitz warriors some of
the ideas of what I look for when I design a scenario..
and how to play to win in one of them....

First, many of you may notice that the scale I used when
making the map for RS KNIL "Molukken" was much smaller then
the actual island size. This is on purpose, as I wanted to give
the player a feeling of how quick and aggresive the initial
Japanese attack on the island was.
The Japanese must move fast and quick, or the best they can hope
for is a draw. Players must use the Banzi tactic to win this game.
Some Blitz members may disagree with me on the use of the Banzi as being "unhistoric" but I find it adds flavor to the game...and remember this is a game. IMHO truly historic scenarios can be one sided and rather boring to play.(with the rare exception for the magical scenarios that Huib makes)

The whole idea behind playing as the defensive Dutch "Molukken" Regiment and Aussie "Gull Force" is to get that feeling of impending doom. The Japanese are expected to steamroll through the island. Just as it happened 65 years ago.

What kind of a fight can the defenders come up with and how can they slow down the Japanese before the end of eleven turns is what the Allied commander should concentrate on.
Winning may depend on how few Allied troops the Japanese can capture.

As safegaurd against those Allied players who believe that making a straight beeline to the protecive jungle is the best course of action, the way the VP points are set up it may be easy for the Japanse to come out with a Minor Victory....

All the Allied leaders names are accurate and to my knowledge
the names of all the locations are correct.
Altough RS ME KNIL "Molukken" has been tweaked for better
gameplay, I hope that it gives a good historic impression of the battle
that took place on the island of Ambon that morning in January, 1942.

Cheers,

Eddie
Jeepster777

[junk2drive]

Thanks for making fresh material.

[Mr. Guberman]

Jeep,

Take a look at this. Asiaticus has been helping me translate old scen protos into ME compatible scens. This one is going through a major rework...as I just recently stumbled upon the Australian Official Account which answers some questions where I had used poetic liscence to make work. Nevertheless the 3 days of fighting will have to be compressed into one. Just happened to be working on it all day, today. The map is completely revised as is the OOB, thus so te scen...none of which is included here, but I will copy you upon completion ASAP. Se la vie.

Cheers
Curt

[Mr. Guberman]

Jeep,

Here's the revised map for Ambon...and I do agree with your philosophy. Sheesh...I was taking three days and compressing them into one. Maybe there will be enough interest for both kinds...the quick and deadly; and the slow and know you are going to die anyway...kind.

Cheers
Curt

[Hawk Kriegsman]

The Japanese must move fast and quick, or the best they can hope
for is a draw. Players must use the Banzi tactic to win this game.
Some Blitz members may disagree with me on the use of the Banzi as being "unhistoric" but I find it adds flavor to the game...and remember this is a game.

Sorry but allowing the Japanese to use the Banzai tactic this way makes for an unplayable match that is not fun. It does not add flavor to the early war scenarios at all. It asdds additional a$$ kicking power against Allied forces that absolutely suck! The Japanese did not use the Banzai tactic against the Dutch....period end of story. The Dutch lack of fire power and lack of assault factor means the Japanese can just banzai and overun undirstupted platoons.

IMHO truly historic scenarios can be one sided and rather boring to play.

Tell me about it I am playing pantherbait in RS scenarios in date order as the Allies. I am kicking my a$$ kicked. It is not boring, it is frustrating as the majority of the scenarios are poorly designed from a points standpoint. The Japanese have too much time in the scenarios and / or need to few points. So no matter how well I am do I am getting a minor loss at best.

Don't give the Japanese more tools in the early years, but design the scenario correctly and assign points accordingly!

Doing otherwise is the sign of a poorly designed scenario.

Thanx!

Hawk

[Hawk Kriegsman]

How about this for a suggestion.

How about making the map size the proper size in Molukken and creating Japanese units with superior jungle movement capability.
If they could move two jungle hexes per turn and 3 per turn if double timed then I think your infiltration and lighting advance issues would be solved!

This would be a far better option than using non-historical banzai charges.

Thanx!

Hawk

[Asiaticus]

To make a change to the Japanese infantry movement on the platoon21.oob would be not be difficult. Most partisan and commando type units have a higher movement rate (11 or 12) than regular infantry (9-10)because they are traveling lighter and know or are trained to cope with the country. Question is were the Japanese traveling lighter and all that much better than the allies could do? Or were these units deliberately stripped down[/u] to do these raids and movements thru the bush? They seem to have had the advantage of local help in a lot of cases in the DEI with finding pathways thru the bush and geting intel on the allied forces. Also were the allies beacuse of motorization not acustomed to marching and coping with the terrain and climate more the problem.

Need better info on the nature of the Japanese advantage before we go making these changes.

[Jeepster777]

Hawk....

A quote from you

" The Japanese have too much time in the scenarios and / or need to few points. So no matter how well I am do I am getting a minor loss at best."

That is why I made RS "KNIL Molukken" only 11 turn long.
The Japanese must be quick and overwhelming in their victory
to have any chance of getting anything better then a draw.
...and I do believe "Gull Force" can give the Japanse a good fight.

I just wish you would not imply that the scenario is poorly designed,
as I have spent 25 hours plus on it......

Cheers,

Eddie
Jeepster777

[Hawk Kriegsman]

I just wish you would not imply that the scenario is poorly designed,
as I have spent 25 hours plus on it......

Jeep,

If you have to use an un-historical item (Banzai Tactics) to make the scenario work then it is a poor design IMO. That does not mean it you did not work hard on it and that does not mean it will not be fun.

A very fun scenario is EF2 "A Complete Surprise" however to get better balance for the Russians the designer took out a company of T26C tanks and replaced them with T34/M40's. Not accurate at all. That is poor designing.

I would urge to relook at the scenario and make it work with the Japanese not being able to use Banzai tactics.

Thanx!

Hawk

[Mr. Guberman]

George,

Regarding Japanese infantry: though they were not any more specifically trained for "jungle" fighting than any of their adversaries...they were, in fact, "light infantry" ("the split toed boot", comes to mind), in every aspect, across the board (Slim's autobio...describes them pretty well, vis a vis the Allies...as one example, only)...and they operated at full strength, "out of supply" better than, most, if not all of their contemporaries. Their rifles, the Arisaka, was only 6.5mm even, knee mortars and etc. I think Hawk's suggestion deserves some consideration...even if only applied to "elite" and "1st line" Japanese infantry...which brings to mind: I think "grenade launchers" (knee mortars) should move as regular infantry...otherwise they cannot keep up...and were integral parts of the Japanese infantry unit...

Cheers
Curt