New Team Game--Tarawa (Proud and Few)

TheBigRedOne · 08-06-2012, 11:37 PM,

Gents,

Marc has completed his massive Tarawa scenario and has given me the chance to offer it up exclusively to the Blitz members as a team competition. You must have Proud and Few in order to play.

Marc feels that we'll need at 3 US players and 2 Japanese players to make this team game work. Any and all interested parties please post here and after a couple of days we'll see where we are. Hopefully we'll have enough for 2 full team games. In the event that we have an odd number of players, I will pull names out of a hat to determine who gets to play. Let me know if you have a preference of sides

The scenario will *not* be revealed until the sides have been set and the game is ready to go! I will release the scenario to the general public the next day. You guys get an exclusive glimpse at this baby.

Marc will be acting as the over-all facilitator/guru/referee of the scenario, since it is his baby and he does have some specific house rules in place. He will be taking over things from here. All I can say, anyone who is adverse to seeing large numbers of his men getting killed need not apply!

Both sides also need to be willing to send Marc your bte files with your passwords as necessary if there are issues that arise during the game play.

Thanks to Marc for his hard work and for giving first crack at this scenario to the members of the Blitz.

Have at it gentlemen.

**Compass Rose** · 08-06-2012, 11:54 PM,

Has there been any discussion as to which optional rules will be used?

Also, is there any chance that the house rules and/or a sample of the house rules can be advertised? It would be nice to see what we are possibly getting into, before we commit.

TheBigRedOne · 08-07-2012, 12:05 AM,

20 Nov 1943, BETIO ISLAND, TARAWA ATOLL, OPERATION: GALVANIC

Size: Massive Playtime: Several hours

As part of Admiral Nimitz's 'Island Hopping' Campaign, Tarawa Atoll was selected as the first location to be re-taken.
The small Island of Betio (pronounced Bay-shio) was chosen as the target. OPERATION: GALVANIC would include many other
'firsts'; this would be the first time making an 'opposed' amphibious assault; the first time the USMC commander would have his command center onboard a Navy Battleship, the first time AMTRACs would be used to conduct the landing. The coordination of all elements of such an operation rivalled the complexity of the Moon landings conducted 25 years later. Mistakes would be made and lessons would be learned, but at great cost.

The Japanese had fortified the island into one giant pillbox. The IJA Commander boasted that 'a million men would take a
hundred years to conquer this island.' The USMC would take the island in 3 days, but the cost was horrific; casualty rates in the combat battalions ran from 30% to 90%. Uncensored footage of the invasion was shown in theaters in America
and the public was outraged at the cost in lives - yet grimly determined to see the war through. In retrospect, the
operation's name was somewhat fitting; OPERATION: GALVANIC galvanized the US public into unquestioned support of the war
effort, and galvanized the Navy & Marines to do their best to not let the mistakes made here be repeated elsewhere, ever again.

Design notes: This is the historical set-up. Optional rules upon mutual agreement of players. An extremely low tide resulted
in shallow water (3 foot depth) inside the reef-line; portions of the reef itself became exposed, with the coral drying in the
sunlight and air. The LCVPs were unable to cross the reef and so the Marines were dropped along the reef-line and had to wade 300 to 700 yards to the beach. This is where the majority of the casualties occured; unable to do anything but hold their
rifles over their head and slowly trudge through the water, the Marines were cut down by the Japanese.

To reflect the low tide, only the LVT 'amtracs' are allowed to freely cross the reef into the shallow area; the LCVP Higgins
Boats & LCMs could not cross the reef; however for some reason the LCVP Higgins Boats are able to cross the reef in the game, so the USMC player must drop all boat carried reinforcements at the reef edge: do not proceed to the beaches with the LCVPs.

As the AMTRACs approached their respective beaches a smoke barrage was laid on Red 1,2 & 3 - one barrage per beach - with the fourth smoke barrage targeted at the base of the Ocean Pier (vic hex 72, 25). The USMC has at start four 10x round 5" fire missions; these at start 'Available' fire missions are for the smoke screen only; do not use High Explosive with them. If they are not used on turn 1, they will become unavailable the rest of the game. There are 2 x Naval Gunfire Support Observers in an assault boat located near the map-edge North of Red Beach 3. They are provided so the USMC player can use
his turn 1 support; the boat & officers are withdrawn on turn 2.
Historically the Navy ceased high explosive gunfire along the western part of Betio 20 minutes prior to troops landing.
Destroyers continued to fire at the eastern half of the island to include behind Red Beach 3. This pause allowed the Japanese
to come out of their shelters and re-occupy their defensive positions on the west part of Betio. Japanese disrupted and pinned units represent the soldiers still feeling the after-effects of the Naval bombardment (shell-shock). The USMC player should take the empty LCVPs & LCMs to the north map edge and remove them from the map to prevent the Japanese from gaining excess VPs.

Blue 'ocean' hexes inside the reef-line represent deep spots & sand hexes represent exposed reef. The wire & tetrahedrons are shown as 'American' because the US had complete recon of the island and knew where every pillbox and obstacle was located. Mines are shown as Japanese, as these would be harder to spot.

Player Strategy:

USMC-
The Marine player needs to keep his own 'personal morale' level up; the casualties his forces will incur are gut-wrenching and could easily cause a player to forfeit; stay the course, eventually your forces will get to shore and then the tide starts to turn. Keep moving towards the beaches no matter what. Even demoralized units can work their way back and forth slowly towards the beaches. Have your follow-on leaders rally your broken units and always keep pushing forward. The victory conditions are such that even with heavy losses the US player can still get a win.

Use your smoke - you have 160 rounds - it can make the difference between a massacre and victory. Call for all your support on turn 1; the delays are so short that if you do not use it when it is available, you can always re-call it again later. The USMC has a lot of support firepower; this will disrupt, pin and demoralize the Japanese & cut down on the wholesale slaughter they inflict upon the USMC units; your support will really help take some of the pressure off your men and dropping fire missions and air strikes behind the front lines will interdict any Japanese attempts to shift forces to block your penetrations or counter-attack. When the USMC tanks arrive, the balance will start to shift to the American player. While the USMC waves of reinforcements will arrive in their respective beach zones, they are not required to stay there or land at a particular beach. Historically the fire from the cove at Red Beach 1 was so intense that the 3/2 Battalion shifted to their left to land on the 'point' between Red Beach 1 and Green Beach and avoided the cove altogether. Just remember that the VP hexes are located around each Beach area, so you will have to fight for each zone eventually.

The Amtracs are magnets for Japanese fire, but it may be worth while after they drop the first wave to head back out and collect some of the follow on waves that are walking to shore; they will not last long, however, as the Japanese player (and AI) do their best to destroy the Amtracs. Units inside the Amtrac when it is destroyed suffer heavy casualties - usually around 20%-80%; consider dropping the units immediately if it appears that your Amtrac is heavily damaged (when it gets to 25% efficiency). Also, if the enemy is focusing a lot of fire on a particular Amtrac, drop some or all of the men out - they will not suffer the kind of losses they would if they stayed inside and the Amtrac is destroyed. The Japanese do not have strong reinforcements; once a beach head is made and the Marines
break through the defenses, the Japanese start to crumble.

Japanese-
The Japanese player needs to hammer the Marines non-stop every turn for as long as he can. Concentrate on leaders; units cannot advance closer to your lines if they are demoralized and no leaders are alive to rally them; they will just sit there in the water while you continue to pummel them. Once your guns start to reach 50-60% effectiveness, put a portion of them on "Hold Fire" and let them re-energize or you will find all your firepower diluted and unable to kill anything anymore. You have a very limited number of forces and leaders; try to anticipate where the USMC will make a break-through and go there early - once the American air-strikes and 8" guns start to wreak havoc behind your lines, moving forces will become very costly and you will lose a lot of men. Do not get ver-confident; the slaughter you dish out starting around turn 2 is short lived once the US player gets a foothold; it is better to shoot at a vehicle til it 'immobilizes' and then move on to the next vehicle, instead of trying to blow every one of them up. Men in immobilized vehicles have to wade to shore and you can pick them off with MG's and rifleman; save your cannons for killing big stuff. Make sure you use the right ammo for the right target.