Pacific Island Assault!

This was top of my list for projects I wanted to do this year and it finally came to fruition the other night.

The rules are Mike Crane's "Pacific Island Assault" from Lone Warrior #172.

Of course, I got impatient making palm trees and so fielded fewer than I planned, and artillery and tanks are provided by paper flats - I couldn't justify the expense of models, given all of the zines, rules and 15mm sci-fi minis I've acquired this year - but those are just incidentals in my opinion.

The heart of the thing is that I played the game and it was AWESOME fun.

The Japanese await:

A tour of the Japanese defenses (the figure types don't matter):

Two companies of Marines landed (turn 1):

The combat photographer in the thick of things.

Two companies of Marines decimated:

Again the Marines landed (turn 3):

With similar results. And then the tanks and artillery arrived (turn 5):

Tide had begun to turn. Still more arrived to the dismay of the Japanese commanders (Turn 7):

In a hard fought battle the Marines broke through the Japanese defensive lines, both an infantry unit and a tank sighted the Japanese bunker  (the victory objective, Turn 9):

They called in the naval salvo and destroyed it (turn 10), barely before the allotted 12 turns were up.

I breathed a sigh of relief. The victory felt well earned.