Hello and welcome back.
As mentioned in the previous "chapter" I purchased "Flight School". That is reported on the top left corner of Figure 1 and also on the Turn Overview window (bottom left corner) to which I added for the first time in this blog the tooltips for the specialisations.
The mission introductory "teaser" and the briefing take the top right corner of Figure 1. The gist of the message here (at least in my reading of it) is that the mission will be a defensive one where conservation of force is paramount. This is reinforced by the indication that the Japanese will have the initiative (the red arrow).
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| Figure 1 - Campaign screen and briefing |
Analyzing the Turn Overview window and the bits from the status bar we are:
a) introduced to the concept of a separate allied force with its own pool of resources - the Philippine Army, with $40 initial funds and $2/turn income but no additional Command Points; to be fair we're thrown into the deep end of the pool because there's no explanation on its mechanics;
b) informed that there will be 15 turns in this scenario, that we start with $450 with $10/turn income and that we may deploy up to 25 LandCP and 6 AirCP;
c) advised that we must hold all Secondary VPs for 10 turns and all Primary VPs for 15 turns to win the mission; there will also be additional resources in a following mission (Bataan, actually the very next mission) if we hold San Fernando for 5 turns and/or all Secondary VPs for 15 turns.
This leads us onto Figure 2 where we'll take a look at the (strategic) map.
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| Figure 2 - Strategic map |
It is a narrow-looking map, 18 tiles across and 28 tiles deep. The Japanese lay claim to the northern edge, about 15% of the total area.
The VPs are arrayed in two East-West lines not very distant from each other with the Secondary VP line (white doughnuts) roughly equidistant from the North and South edges. The Primary VPs (yellow/gold doughnuts) are about 5 tiles further South. All the VPs are "Town" tiles as are a number of other locations (grey doughnuts), particularly San Fernando (the "dog-bone").
There's a number of blobs of jungle terrain scattered all over the map, two blobs of "Difficult Terrain" (aka Hills) mostly out of the way, a strip of "Swamp" tiles along the northwestern "corner" of (what is meant to depict) Manila Bay on the bottom right of the map (these will prove immaterial) and, most relevant to our purposes, a vast network of river tiles breaking the map into a patchwork of smaller zones. There's also a number of bridges that will become instrumental to my plan of action.
Ten "Bunkers" are deployed. One of these is under the control of the "Blue" player (Allied AI US), six of them are "assigned" one each to the six VPs and the three further North will serve mostly as a speed bump to the Japanese advance.
Already deployed can be found three "Philippino Recruit" infantry belonging to the Philippino Army, one 37mm M3 AT Gun auxiliary and one core M3 Stuart (light) tank. All these are on or North of the Porac-San Fernando line. Two infantry units can be seen on the road that runs East-West closest to Manila Bay, those belong to the "Blue" player.
The above introduces the terrain over which the mission will be fought and some of the units that will fight it. I don't think it is too much of a stretch of the player's imagination to deduce that if he/she is given an Anti-Tank unit there will be tanks on the Japanese side. Same with the AirCP, there will be Japanese aircraft. I would add that as we're told it is a fighting "retreat" the Japanese will be more aggressive than the OPFOR during the tutorial and that there will be many more of them than there are available on the player's roster. I would also add that expecting the Japanese to bring artillery is quite prudent, and I hope I've already demonstrated how scary artillery can be particularly if one is on the defensive.
What I've described so far is, in my opinion, within the reach of an intelligent and attentive blind player. What might not be so evident is the fulcrum of my plan of action. I was decisively influenced by Mr. Avery Abernethy's playthrough of this mission to the point that I was moved to great respect and admiration for the capabilities of the Engineers.
Mr. Abernethy forcefully brought to my conscious mind that to cross a river other than by using a bridge a unit needs three turns: moving adjacent to the river (which might be a normal movement), moving onto the river and moving out of the river (adjacent tile only). Thus two additional turns are required and the delay is evident. The six bridges highlighted with blue circles are thus earmarked to be blown up, some sooner, some later, and will require three demolition-capable units.
I would dearly like to blow up the bridge North of Angeles but that seems unfeasible: it starts as part of enemy territory and the Japanese have the initiative. It is quite possible to defend Angeles for a turn or two but the Engineer has to be on the bridge at the start of the demolition turn and that's a very vulnerable position. I will expand on it later but I'll mention right away that I had two false starts where I aborted my play on the second turn. The second one was my attempt to blow that very bridge and my Engineer was attacked (and eventually destroyed) by no less than four enemy units (twice after retreating).
This post is getting long so I'll defer presenting my plan of action for this mission. Before I adjourn though I would like to draw your attention to the legend of Figure 2, particularly to the terrain combat effects.
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