In hindsight, it might have been better to open several holes in the wire at roughly the same time and then storm the middle field bunker with several units on the subsequent turn. I removed the wire with one of the groups and then let the others through in a drip-feed. The Japanese were impeded by the wire that spans the board. It took them a few goes because the Americans used a well-timed Medics and Mechanics card and recharged to full strength. My Japanese infantry worked hard to take out the central field bunker. Their single artillery unit is very nicely placed for them because it straddles the right and central sections, and is close enough from the onset that it can cause real damage. In fact, there was very little American movement until the latter stages. The Americans were cutting down the Japanese from their strong bases. As play continued, my American turn seemed to speed up and the game was played through in about twenty minutes- much faster than I was playing when I was trying to do both sides at once. My Japanese side had a nice choice of cards, I elected to move three groups out of the sea on the left flank to approach the field bunker that is a little isolated from the others. The Americans start this particular scenario and it was fairly easy to choose their first move- I used their artillery to take two Japanese infantrymen down. I play late at night, so my brain couldn’t always work it out easily, as silly as that may sound. I had previously had them sitting in racks and got confused because I was flipping the sides in my mind. This really helped me in being able to play quite quickly. As I drew them, I deliberately drew and help them upside-down. The American cards didn’t need holding, I was simply drawing them from the pile each time. As I was only playing with one side, I arranged my five Japanese cards on the back row just behind the medals. This made it much more easily to manage everything. I note this because when I played the rematch, I turned the board around so that I had the Americans directly in front of me and the Japanese at the other side. I decided it would be easiest if I played with the board set so that I had the Japanese just in front of me, and the Americans were yonder, as shown in the booklet. I wanted to try these out, so I decided to play with the Japanese this time. They don’t retreat easily because they ignore first flags by default, and they have a very interesting special attack- if they are still fully staffed they battle with an extra die at close quarters. I was very interested in the Japanese infantry because of their in-built character. This time, the beach is being attacked by the Japanese in great number, and being defended by a very small but well positioned group of Americans, so there is a little bit of role reversal. If you are accustomed to playing Normandy scenarios, all of the beaches are being guarded by the Axis (Germans) and being assaulted by the Allies (usually Americans). It worked well for a number of reasons- the layout is very simple, there are almost no fiddly, complicated special units or unusual terrain tiles, and most importantly, because I have had the expansion for over a year and had never played it until this point. The team being played properly can choose from four, five, six or even more cards depending on the scenario, so wouldn’t they have an advantage?įor my first scenario using this system I chose Wake Island, the second scenario from the Pacific Expansion. I was a little concerned that because the opposition only had a choice of two cards each time, there may be mismatch. This means there is still some logic on their side, but the choice is much easier. On the opposition’s turn, I draw two fresh cards, choose what would be the best for them, then return both cards to the back of the pile. To summarize the recommended system, one of the sides is played as normal, with a full hand. This presented various problems, the main being that I easily became confused and I was quitting in mid-session because I no longer knew what I was doing! I mainly play solitaire, but until now I had rather awkwardly attempted to play both sides as usual. This week I played my first round of solitaire play and on the urging of several members, I now offer you a short battle report with thoughts of my experiences of playing using the recommended solo system.
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