Armor of Saipan, scenario #2: Armor of Saipan

I have played Saipan scenario #10: Tanks in the Jungle with an American victory, I played Armor of Saipan scenario #1: Massed Armor of Saipan with a Japanese victory and now Armor of Saipan scenario #2: Armor of Saipan, with a Draw, which is really scenario #0 in the supplement and uses some modifications from the original scenario #10, with better Japanese armor and a bit more American armor, now that, that is cleared up, on to the small AAR.

Since I have played a few variations of the original scenario now, I wanted to try somethings differently this time, as I enter the Japanese 1st Yokosuka Special Naval Landing Forces on the north edge of map 80 this time, which gave the American trouble from the beginning. The Japanese spread out and attacked on three three avenues, Roads/Trails with their armor and infantry, so as not to bunch up so much this time around. The Marines have a lot of ground to defend, so the main defenses are with any roads/trails to their approach and of course hex 0610 on map 80, the radio station.

The First 8 turns are under cover of night, so the Japanese use this to rush forward in all the possible areas and engage the dug-in Marines in assault or adjacent combats, which is no easy task. It was a bloody struggle for both sides and I believe I ended the game with a turn left, as neither side were going to change the outcome of this battle. The Japanese had lost 34 steps and 4 leaders but controlled a few beach hexes and the Americans had lost 29 steps and 4 leaders, resulting in both sides achieving a major victory or a Draw!

Fun stuff, now I have recorded plays on all three version of this scenario and the upgraded Japanese armor did help them.