Alan Snider - Nov 4, 2006 1:12 pm (#16029 Total: 16078) Just dying to play S&T #238 Marlborough again... First Blood: Guadalcanal (S&T #178) GAMENIGHT, Nov 3/2006: I sat down with Brent Louie last night and we had an asssortment of titles that we might try. We emerged from the pile with Chester Hendrix' "First Blood: Guadalcanal" (S&T #178). Brent took the Japs and I took the Americans. The scenario is thus: The Americans occupy the area around Henderson Field.and must hold it until the end of the game. They cannot be allowed to occupy the airfield at the end of ANY turn, otherwise the Japs get 10 VP. The Japs also get 1 VP for every US unit eliminated. The US player gets 10 VP by eliminating all the Japanese units from the board at the end of any turn. 9 VP or less results in a US minor Victory, and 10 or more result in a Japanese minor victory. We quickly discovered there are some really unusual mechanics as well as a VERY unforgiving CRT. The fact that one cannot retreat into a hex with an enemy ZoC even if there is a friendly unit present really screwed things up for the Yanks. It was clear that this would be a bloody battle. The CRT is littered with results of step loss and retreat, or EX results. It takes a 3-1 attack to have a half a chance of a DE result. However, the Americans are so few, to maintain a decent line to protect one's flanks it is necessary to have few hexes which have more than one unit. The first part of the game (turns 1-6), the task of the American is to chase down Japanese units in the jungle to try for the 10 VP for eliminating all on board Japanese units. The Japanese want to remain elusive (few attacks themselves), but keep at least one unit within a 6 hex range of Henderson Field so they can keep it in artillery range. This allows them to limit/eliminate the US air points. The US player can respond by stationing the engineer units on a Henderson Field hex to repair an amount of damage equal to the combat strength at turns' end. I believe it was about turn 5 that the American must decide whether going for the 10 VP for eliminating the Japs onboard is within reach. They must finish the task by turn 6, but if they fail to do so they should expect the Japanese player to take a whack fo variable reinforcements and begin an over the top counterattack in the attempt to capture the airfield for 10 VP. If the US player figure this cannot happen, they should pull back and ready the defences of Henderson Field. A failure to do so, could result in too many US units being eliminated (caught too far out and vulnerable) and the defence of the airfield will be in jeopardy. I judged by turn 5 this was not looking good... but I did not anticipate the vast amount of units the Japs brought in paying the requisite VP penalties. This allowed the Japs to launch a furious counterattack.There was some desperate fighting in the jungle as the US player tried to disengage and pull back across the river for the superior defence. Unfortunately, 2 US units got trapped behind the Japanese lines and chose to head into the Southern Island holding box, the plan was that they would re-emerge behind the Japs making the approach to Bloody Ridge. The Japanese appeared to make all the right moves in taking the reinforcements in spite of the VP penalties. They pushed hard at the barely serviceable American defence and after a few critical battles and fortiutous dierolls managed to capture one hex of Henderson Field. The Americans were unable to recapture it prior to the end of that turn giving the Japanese player 10 VP's. This bumped up the Japanese lead to 21 VPs. It was also critical that the Japanese stockpiled artillery points., as this allowed them to maximize their artillery support when they made a high artillery availability roll right when they needed it. We were able to project forward at this point (turn 10?), and were able to determine that since the Japanese had no further possible reinforcements coming (without penalty), that the best the Americans could likely do was to eliminate all the Japanese units off the board for the 10 VPs (which is probable); but that would still leave them short for even a minor victory. We decided to call the session as minor Japanese victory. The part I really like about this game was that the mechanics/VPs/reinforcement and mechanics fit together in a simple way such that it drove each side to persue certain tasks ie. to get the VPs they must chase down and eliminate Japanese units while keeping a mind on the defence of the airfield. The Japanese are driven to capture the airfield while risking complete elimination. Seeing how the game unfolded, it sure made me appreciate how the CRT fit into the mix as well. There is a beautiful simplicity to it all. I add this to the list of good simple games to play in 3-4 hours.