This is really a precursor to Tarawa (which will be a mega campaign involving offshore naval clashes as well as an invasion of the island - with the former very much influencing the latter as to how many planes, ships, troops and supplies will be available to both sides.
The campaign we played is a smaller affair - the Battle of Milne Bay - where green Australian troops battled elite Japanese Marines to protect their base and the airfields.
We had some limited air resources - Kittyhawks and a Hudson - to spot and attack both sea and land targets. These were used to spot and attack the fleet brining the marines in. The Japanese deployed smoke so the transports were masked - so we attacked the lead cruiser and sank her! Later that afternoon we flew over again (the other remaining cruiser had moved to the front of the fleet to mask the transports) and sank that as well! Two main ships for a couple of planes - a good trade for us (especially as the cruiser's guns will not provide support artillery for the Japanese land forces). Much better than the real battle where all ships got through unscathed.
Unfortunately we got greedy and attacked again - this time the destroyers (the only fighting ships left) got up some good AA and we got no hits in and lost planes and crew.
The campaign map provided the Japanese with 5 different landing areas (and we only had 3 battalions to defend the area). I can't say where our chaps are - as this will give Mark an advantage - but suffice to say our remaining planes spotted the Japanese fleet in Milne Bay and - during two subsequent recon missions - found the main Japanese arms and supply dumps at K.B.Mission and blew them to bits! This mirrors what happened in the real battle. All we need to do now is sink his barges.
We have just contacted a Japanese ground force by Rabi and are due to do the land fighting (using Spearhead) next week. Hopefully the lack of ammo and supplies will hamper their activity.
Also last night Martin brought another load of goodies down - he's cleaning out his garage of loads of wargaming stuff (from 15mm Napoleonic armies, 28mm scenery and loads of other bits). Fair do's, he's selling all at 1/2 price and giving club members first refusal before the remaining stuff goes on E-bay. I was going to buy some 6mm buildings from him but realised I need 10mm for ancients and didn't really need the war-damaged WW2 houses.
So instead I bought some 6mm scenery from him. La Haye Sainte, the Belle Alliance and 24 trees for £15. Pretty good value (unpainted, the buildings would be around £9 and the trees much more expensive).
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| Trees, La Haye Sainte, the Belle Alliance and some 6mm figs for scale. |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Milne_Bay