From: "David S. Bieksza" Subject: Red Beach One I played this twice previously, and both times the Marines won in turn 14. So this time I used all the optional rules. Favoring the Marines were: - improved pre-game naval bombardment - improved pre-game aerial bombardment - air strikes never miss - double the number of AmTracs available Favoring the Japanese were: - reinforced garrison (JRL of 550 rather than 400) - reinforcements from US at-sea reserve dependent on die roll The game started out a real bummer: I rolled "1" for *both* improved bombardments! Then I was unsuccessful in rolling for reinforcements during the entire first day. That really made a change in Marine strategy. Previously all reinforcements landed at Red One and pushed south in order to open Beach Green; when a safe landing was assured the artillery would come ashore and bunker-busting would begin in earnest. This time, lacking manpower, the Marines worked to link Red One and Red Two. Early on the second day, all forts facing these two beaches were destroyed and reinforcements began to arrive. (The last group to face coastal defense fire included the 8th Marines HQ. It became disrupted during the landing procedure . . . and failed to rally for the rest of the game -- eight die rolls without a "1" or "2" coming up!) Troops and artillery began building up, mostly on Red Two. A battalion of the 6th Marines worked southwest and cleared out the forts in that part of the island. Then everyone hunkered down for the night attacks. I was real lucky in the nighttime turns of both the first and second days -- there were no assaults, no rerolls for additional attacks, and one turn even had no attacks whatsoever. On the third day, with plenty of tanks and artilery on hand, the Marines attacked relentlessly. The biggest hurdle was crossing the clear terrain to reach the eastern part of the island. Again I was lucky: two regimental headquarters and five battalion HQ's made it without disruption. (A six HQ was removed when its last company was eliminated en route.) That meant the Marines were unstoppable. The JRL reached zero and then the last fort was destroyed before nightfall. Surprisingly, the end came on Game-Turn 15, just one turn later than the previous two games. The key to the Marines' success was the optional rule for air strikes. Since air strikes no longer had a chance to miss the target, they could be used freely. Used freely they gave the Marines first fire in nearly all situations. And with first fire the Marines could roll up an entire line of forts with small chance of suffering return fire. ------- Dave Bieksza bieksza@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu ------- "Comet Hale-Bopp" is an anagram for "HTML be poop, Ace." -------