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Scenario 7 – Marshall Islands
Part 2: Eniwetok and Parry Islands:
Eniwetok is the South Island and Parry is the North Island.
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Scenario 7 – Marshall Islands
Part 1: Kwajalein and Roi-Namur Islands:
The Marshall Islands scenario is different from previous scenarios. First Kwajalein and Roi-Namur are invaded. A secondary victory condition is earned if both islands are controlled within twenty turns. Then you redeploy to invade Eniwetok and Parry islands. The second invasion has the airfields captured on Kwajalein and Roi-Namur. The second difference is firepower from the US Navy is available throughout the scenario.
This year, we’re leading off with the games, and there’s some excellent ones to choose from this year. Leading off, we’ve got Mark Walker’s ’65 Squad-Level Combat in Vietnam, a gorgeous card-driven game with the biggest counters this side of… well, of Night of Man, another FPG offering. Refight the Vietnam War, one firefight at a time, and if you grab it now, it’s over $20 off!
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Scenario 6 – Gilbert Islands (continued)
After seeing my 2nd wave at Tarawa stopped on the beach I moved my 2nd wave far to the East on Makin for several turns. Hopefully the Japanese defenders were flanked.
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Scenario 6 – Gilbert Islands
Tarawa is surrounded by landing zones. It was tempting to use four or more landing zones to chop up the Japanese defenders. I (mostly) resisted temptation. Thus far the Japanese have limited armor and no mechanized units. This limits their mobility. The one time I did not concentrate my forces got my Marines chopped up.
My strategy is landing on one end of Tarawa and sweeping to the other end of the island. This provides two advantages. My forces are concentrated and heavy artillery can be landed on a secured beach. Long range fire from my 155s has been devastating. There are three landing zones, but they are clustered together. Landing zone one is a risk because it is slightly isolated from landing zone two and three. But if landing zone one is successful it should destroy the Japanese HQ and diminish the effectiveness of Tarawa’s defenders.
I must knock out five bunkers on the larger island of Makin. But the bunker locations are unknown. Because Tarawa has air strips I committed a larger force there.