Soldiers of Construction by Dan Owsen

I just finished a quick on-line game of Z28, Soldiers of Construction, against my AOL ASL buddy, Ricky. Ricky says he’s a new player but he’s been picking up the game fast. He plays a lot of ASL in AOL’s chat rooms and since I’m no pro myself, he’s been a worthy opponent.

Soldiers of Construction is from the Rout Report and used to be available for down load at the Rout Report web site (it doesn't appear to be there anymore). The action takes place at Naha Airfield on Okinawa, and pits SeeBees against remnants of the Japanese Naval Base Force. The quality of men on both sides is very poor, though the force of 11 SeeBee 336 squads is bolstered by two bulldozers, and an entering group of 4 more squads and a Sherman tankdozer. The Japanese force consists of seven 347 squads and a couple leaders. Since the ELRs are low (US=3 and Japanese=2), and the Japanese are experiencing ammo shortage, you would expect both sides to quickly lose quality or become disrupted if exposed to fire. The SeeBees have no choice in the matter; they must clear planes, rubble and shellholes from one complete runway on the board 38 airfield in six or less turns without losing 12 or more CVPs. The Japanese start out in the woods outside the airfield, on board 34. Since it does not specifically say on the card, we assumed that PTO terrain was not in effect.

Japanese Advantages:
Banzai, Tank-Hunter Heroes, DC Hero

Japanese Disadvantages:
Poor quality forces (low ELR and ammo shortage)

US Advantages:
Numbers, dozers, tank dozer

US Disadvantages:
Low morale, lots of work to do!

The US set up within four hexes of 38g7. Ricky put a big stack of squads with their 9-1 leader and a MMG in the big pile of rubble in 38j6. Since this hex is at the junction of the two runways, it must be cleared for victory, and since each successful clearance roll only creates a trailbreak through two hexsides, three clearance rolls must be made to clear this obstacle. Ricky’s other guys and the bulldozers were placed in other obstacle hexes so they could get right to work during his prep fire phase. Ricky also put a couple of squads and a leader in the building in 38j8.

I concentrated my forces near the center of board 34 at the edge of the woods. My plan was to try to end the game quickly by tallying up CVP. In the first turn, I used my mortar to smoke the stack in 38j6. Since I had to set up on board 34, I couldn’t really set up in a hex in range for WP, so I had to use regular smoke. I then banzai’d j8 with two squads, who made it into the hex, although one of the 336s battle hardened to a 447, the other disrupted. One of my squads was flipped in the banzai. In the ensuing CC, we eliminated each other. Not a good trade for me, although I did get 5 CVP… I was almost halfway there but at the cost of almost a third of my strength. I was really hoping to win that one to establish a jumping off point for another banzai into 38j6. I almost could have made it into the hex with my intial banzai but it would have been tight.

Ricky brought on the tankdozer and rolled up to the gliders around 34g8. His other squads moved up to help out with clearing the obstacles in the northern part of the airfield. Since the tankdozer is worth 5 CVP, I thought killing it would be the key to accomplishing my objective. However, since the 38j6 stack was still smoked, and would be worth a whopping 8 CVP if eliminated, I decided to create a DC Hero and use him to assault that hex. Takashima-san volounteed to deliver the package and banzai’d. Yes Ricky, DC Heros can attack any enemy unit. Of course, Takashima-san threw the hard-working SeeBees into panic. They tried to pour what fire their 336 counters allowed them into the berserk Japanese soldier, but he shrugged it off. Finally, they wounded him, in the hex adjacent to his target. Since he was in the process of a banzai charge he wasn’t pinned but he could go no farther. With the last of his strength (in the AFPh), he hurled the DC into the SeeBees as they huddled in the rubble…. Unfortunately for Takashima, his sacrifice was in vain as the valiant SeeBees made their morale checks.

The rest of my forces shifted south in the treeline to get closer to the tankdozer. To my surprise, in his turn Ricky moved the dozer even closer to the woods, and stopped it in 38d9, a mere two hexes from the woods. Two squads lead by my 9-1 were stalking the dozer and getting in position to generate a tank-hunting hero… Altogether I was able to cobble together an ELR reduced 336, a 126 and a 347 along with the 9-1 in 34e1. I used the conscripts to try to surpress the SeeBee 336 that was in the hex with the tankdozer, but to no avail. I fired my mortar at him… broke the mortar. Poor Prep Fire results were not going to make this easier. So in the movement phase, I tried for a TH… and got one. He was off towards the tank. He easily survived all defensive fire and entered the hex. Yes, tank hunters attack in the MPh! He tried for an ATMM and got one…but did not roll low enough to kill the tank dozer…. Unfortunately, the dozers get +2 vs. CC, which basically cancelled out my ATMM bonus. I then had a dilemma… I could pull back and try again, or go for it. Since the attacked tank dozer and accompanying squad had not only Defensive Fired but were marked with a CC counter (this is a bit confusing in the rules… do they stay marked with CC even though the TH hero is eliminated after his attack?), I sent in the squad with the leader. They moved up adjacent to the hex and advancing fired. Broke their lmg. Generated another tank hunter though, who advanced into the hex along with the squad and leader. Since combat was now sequential, I chose to have my squad attack the defending SeeBee squad. Casualty reduced it! It attacked back. CR’d my squad. I then had the TH attack the tank dozer with the leader directing… Tried for ATMM—AND MISSED! I still had a chance to kill it though; 5 CCV for the TH, -1 for leader, +1 for escorting HS, +2 for dozer… and I rolled a 3! Immobilized it….

That was basically the end of the game. I was probably going to be able to prevent the clearance of hex 38d9 through the advancement of the rest of my thinning Japanese forces, but Ricky still had the two dozers and plenty of squads to work on the other obstacles. Rather than draw it out and hope for poor clearance rolls to win, I surrendered.

This is an interesting scenario. You certainly don’t see many that pit forces of this poor quality against each other, or engagements with bulldozers—and this one has three! In retrospect, I probably should have been a little more cautious, but I really think the Japanese have to get into CC with the SeeBees or the bulldozers in order to win. If they try to soften up the Americans with fire, they will only succeed in reducing the quality of their own forces due to the ammo shortage penalties. The Americans have plenty of men to get the job done (literally)… but I don’t know how much fun this one is to play on that side. Ricky didn’t seem to think they were that fun. I might play this one again since it’s pretty short and doesn’t have too many units. It also uses the cool board 38. All in all a unique little scenario in my opinion.