PBI for VJ Day. Just a little late.

Things have got beyond me over the last few weeks, for reasons that will become apparent in the near future. I was thinking of marking the 80th anniversary of VJ Day by rolling out my XIVth army and their Japanese opponents but what with one thing and another it ended up being a little late. These two armies were bought to play PBI2 back in 2003. My, how time flies. My history with these guys is a litany of broken promises. The last game with them was back in 2016, and I've never got the whole jungle fighting with them completely sorted out. The Japanese have seen more play, having been repeatedly mauled by Phil's Manchurian Russians, an army stuffed full of every piece of armour you can imagine against a force that doesn't pack a decent platoon level anti tank weapon. I won't play them anymore.

Setting up the game didn't go as smoothly as expected. I'd forgotten I loaned my copy of PBI2 to Phil, so I used BAIT to sort out some odds and ends, and to use as a fall back if Phil failed to bring the rules back (he didn't). Plus it's been 9 years since we last did a jungle game, so there may be elements of rust. As repeatedly advertised on this blog I've never liked any of the pre-game sequences in PBI, mainly because they're fiddly and result in large amount of kit not making it to the table top. Where's the fun in that?

So I put out two full strength companies of infantry with HMG support platoons and no armour. Each side had two platoons on the table, together with the heavy weapons, with the rest as reinforcements. They were both tasked with capturing the village.

The river is a dried river bed. It's partial terrain crossing it, and open terrain moving along it. We play an SHQ house rule that if moving from the same type of closed to closed terrain then the exit cost is as for partial. Squares with big round tree bases in them are closed, as are those with buildings. Those with smaller tree bases are partial.

I was expecting just Phil & Tim, so I shunted the game up one end of the table. As it was, Chris was back from his travels early, and Steve was fit enough to come out. It was a bit cosy. Still, I'd bought a cake because it had just been Tim's birthday, and it is soon to be Phil's, so everyone was happy.

Phil & Chris got the Japanese, on the right. Steve and Tim took the XIVth army to the left. I won't call them Brits, as the figures represent the West African Rifles.

The Japanese got to go first. Phil had a slow start as he failed a Motivation roll for one of his sections. Still, they got their HMG platoon in the river bed, with one gun covering the centre of the table, and the other the river bed itself. Chris started to infiltrate up this end of the board, bayonets fixed.

Steve pushed up towards the village. He was a bit tentative. His previous experience with PBI wasn't good, leaving him a little bewildered. This is understandable as some parts of the way the game is played aren't intuitive. Tim hasn't played at all, I think. So I took my time to manage them through the game turn. Phil calls it "coaching" and doesn't approve. I call it giving the newbies a chance so it isn't a walk over. Tim has got most of his platoon into the river bed, and they've set up the Support platoon centre of the table edge. It's in the open, so a little exposed.

A few turns on and Phil has got into the village. To the upper left of it you can see one of his sections advancing into a square which used to contain one of Steve's sections. They are all casualty counters now. Steve has hit back and shot up a few bases, and the yellow counter in the top centre represents a morale failure by a Japanese section. Steve has got himself a bit spread out here, with his Platoon Commander centre left, and one of his sections top left. This means he needs a 5 or more to activate it.

Near this end of the table things have got a bit cagey. Tim is reluctant to break cover, which means his lead section is a bit isolated. Chris is moving his chaps up to close range so he can get on with the serious business of getting stuck in with the bayonet.

Chris now has two sections in a position to launch close range assaults, with one in close support. His preparation is always meticulous.

In they come. This could be nasty. 

Although Chris rolled the most dice, both sides only inflicted one hit. That's a win for the defenders. The Japanese are repulsed and lose another base.

The Japanese HMGs in the river bed have caused all sorts of problems for Tim & Steve, but they finally find the range with the medium mortar in their support platoon. Both the HMGs are knocked out. 

A quick burst of fire kills the last base in the assault section, and Tim occupies the square, but only with one base. He looks vulnerable.

Phil is clinging on to the village. Steve has got the hang of opportunity fire, but there's basically a lot of dice rolled to little effect.

Phil's Japanese push up their Platoon Commander to consolidate the hold on the village. Phil has been slowed by having to replace his PC as the original one was killed in a light mortar strike.

Tim sticks in a round of effective fire, causing heavy casualties. Chris has been halted in his tracks. In the centre Steve has overrun the village square closest to him, but Phil is clinging on to the other. Both sides have got some reinforcements on the board, but the Japanese are definitely on the back foot.

That went really well. Turns started to go much more quickly as the game went on as everyone got familiar with how things work. Phil is of the view that the Japanese are useless and don't have enough firepower. Well, as noted, they certainly suffer against armour, and they don't have any SMGs. However they have a fair few knee mortars, which were never really deployed to any effect. Their ability to bayonet charge on 3 rather than 5 APs is a real advantage in closed terrain, as you can get close without incurring a lot of casualties. Chris was unlucky and should have overrun Tim's lead section. As it was, he got bounced, then shot up at close range. Both sides had some activation roll issues, but nothing too asymmetric.

Anyway, that was fun, and hopefully it won't be another nine years before they're back on the table.