Rumble in the Jungle – More Burma, 1944

Unfortunately, Gareth had a last-minute work meeting on Tuesday so our planned game didn't go ahead, but James from the HKSW came over on Friday and we had a go with my Burma figures. It was James and the HKSW who gave me my first proper introduction to CoC a couple of years ago (though I have vague memories of playing a 1940 game at Abingdon around 2019), so both of us were relatively experienced players and we agreed to include enough woodland to bring jungle rules into play.

After a bit of dicing, we ended up playing Mission 6: Attack on an Objective, with James taking a Japanese platoon on the defence while I had British on the attack. I ended up with a 14 point support budget (which I proceeded to then miscalculate and only spent 12) while James got 10. For my part I went with a Sherman, a sniper, a Red Die, and an adjutant, and had I realised I had two left over I'd probably have grabbed engineers as well. James put everything on two minefields and an anti-tank bunker.

The Game

This was the battlefield: a clearing in the wood with a few huts and a knee-deep creek, the leftmost part of which had been mined by the Japanese. The objective was in the hut on the rising ground on the British left.

Jump-Off Points and my rough plan of attack: I would appear to be focussing on the right flank, but in fact the two sections there would be used to provide fire support to my leftmost section in the centre, whose left flank would be anchored by my tank. I had expected James to put his leftmost JOP a bit further forwards. On the night I thought it had been the wrong move and that he ought to have committed more strongly to a forward delaying action, but I think on reflection the more rearward position was probably the stronger choice.

Opening moves for the British: as planned, two sections with the officer and the sergeant, respectively, moving up in column on the right flank, while the third rushes towards the bamboo grove in the centre, and the tank following up behind.

First contact: the British leading elements take some fire from a Japanese LMG team.

A Japanese double phase, combined with a lucky 6 on the jungle dice for their first round of fire, let them kill a Bren crewman and inflict 6 shock. 

At this point, most of the game comprised the firefight on the right flank, as each phase saw me committing a 4 and a 3 to rally shock and keep up my fire. Unfortunately the Japanese weren't inflicting many losses and so I was able to rally my troops in short order, and, worse still, the moment James sent his sergeant up, he was shot dead.

It was around this point that we realised that the Japanese ought to have had a Line of Communications marker, whose loss would mean a morale check akin to losing an objective. With that in mind, James decided he had no choice but to make a firm stand on the right. Thus, he rotated in a fresh section and pulled the existing one back beyond visibility (9" in dense Secondary Jungle) while I redressed the ranks.

As they deployed, they proceeded to throw two grenades, one of which landed right on target, and the other of which landed at the feet of the man who threw it... oops!

My depleted lead section was starting to feel the heat as the superior weight of fire from the fresh Japanese section started having real effects.

Case in point: one or two Phases later, and I had lost everyone in the section bar the Bren gunner and two SMGs, and my corporal had been stunned.

In the third – and ultimately final – double phase that either of us rolled during this game, I started out by bringing up my second section, intending to replicate what James had done.

Meanwhile in the centre, I finally had enough command dice to spare that I was able to push that section through up to the fringe.

And then in the second phase I had a moment of inspiration: in the Far East handbook, Commonwealth forces in 1944-5 can form a 'Blitz Party' under one of their Senior Leaders by taking two sections, merging their Bren groups and SMGs, and combining them into a new section (leaving the remaining riflemen under their corporal). With that in mind, I pulled the second section's automatic weapons over, and now I had two Brens and four SMGs (five with the Leader) pointed at the Japanese.

I also had a taste of my own medicine when I, too, dropped a grenade as I was throwing it, and lost one of my precious few Bren loaders.

Still, 18/20D6 of firepower was not to be sniffed at, and the Japanese position on the right started to buckle. As the clock struck nine, we were both eager for a quick finish and an end to the evening.

Losses were being taken on the British side too, but successive unlucky Green Dice rolls, which in one case invalidated what would otherwise have been 9 hits on 14 dice, led James to throw in the towel.

A final survey of the battlefield. The British left flank was fairly quiet, as both of our attention was squarely placed on the right. James brought out his bunker and I took some potshots with both my tank and sniper, but failed to achieve any effect. Had I been under less pressure on the right – and had there been a bit more time – I might have tried to post some grenades in the aperture using my centre infantry section, but James still had a rifle section and his grenade dischargers in reserve, and that would probably have been unwise.

Lessons and Reflections

The way that jungle fringe cuts up the battlefield into fully discrete areas I think makes for quite an interesting change, and in narrower strips along the edges of the table it really does make things come down to concentration of firepower at section level. In retrospect, this might have been a good opportunity for James to bring out his grenade dischargers and get some extra fire onto my lead section using the Japanese rules for indirect fire in jungle: an extra 6D6 of high explosive per Phase could have been quite problematic for me.

Once the contours of the right flank became clear, I think my revised plan made some sense: with a Red Die in hand and both Senior Leaders out, I could potentially bring more forces to bear across the table than James could necessarily deal with simultaneously, so with a good command roll I could probably pressure both his infantry on his left and his bunker on his right, whereas, being down one Senior Leader, he would most likely only be able to deal with one side at a time. Had the evening gone on longer I suspect a lucky roll with either his AT gun or his infantry might have turned the tide, but it couldn't so it didn't.

A good game as usual, and good practice for the extended mechanics of the Far East book. Now, if only I could get round to doing up some proper jungle foliage...