Another New Blog; The Plan

All,

Yep, another blog.  Been working up to this for awhile.  If you're not familiar, "Uncommon Valor Was a Common Virtue" is a quote by Admiral Chester Nimitz, made about U.S. Marines that fought on Iwo Jima.  And "The Old Breed" is the moniker for 1st Marine Division, with Old Lead Breed being a cheesy takeoff on that.  For quite some time I've been wanting to play a series of games where I follow a unit of Marines throughout the entirety of WWII in the Pacific, 1941 to 1945, and rack up as many possible battles as I possibly can, no matter how unrealistic.

That is, these poor jarheads are gonna see more combat than any other humans in WWII; in order to do this I have to make up a fake unit, as no real unit was constantly in combat.  The Marine Corps started with about a Division's worth of Marines, rapidly got up to two for its first offensive, then quickly expanded to 6 complete infantry Divisions (as well as service support groups and Marine Aviation Wings), and in real life they rotated Divisions in and out of the line, but these boys will see precious little rest, even if it means they have to take part in a landing the day after the last island was declared secure!

So, not sure how I'm going to pull this off following a single platoon.  There's no way they can be a single platoon operating alone all war; at minimum I figure they have to be a part of a battalion (the Marine Corps had what they called 'separate battalions,' battalions not part of any Division or Regiment structure, that were Corps-level assets.  There were quite a few of separate battalions, and different types: Engineer, Pioneer, Reconnaissance, Assault, Beach Defense, Tank Destroyer, the Raider Battalions (initially), Para-Marine Battalions, etc...  So, lots of different types, lots of different reorganizations throughout the war.  At first the platoon is simply part of a Provisional Rifle Company; 4th Marine Regiment (AKA, "4th Marines."  When the Marine Corps uses a number and the "Marines," it's talking about a Regiment) was in China, but right before the outbreak of WWII it was moved to the Philippines.  They knew combat was coming, and so a lot of rear-echelon troops were thrown into makeshift infantry units; that's how the platoon will start.  But it will stay and evolve over the course of the war.

I decided on playing all this out in 15mm, using figures from Eureka and Peter Pig.  I also decided I'm going to play platoon-level games, relying on Joe Legan's "Platoon Forward" as much as I possibly can, which means that typically my entire Marine platoon will be on the table, and the Japanese will be determined by a 'blinds' system that keeps their true strength and positions hidden from me.  Who knows what rules I'll end with, but I intend on starting this war using Ivan Sorensen's "No End In Sight" NEIS) ruleset, albeit a bit modified.  I'm going full-on with the activation system, still working on the combat parts; I'm just so taken with and accustomed to his 5Core concepts I don't know if I can break free of the combat/morale aspects.  So, NEIS continuing rolls to exhaustion for activation, NEIS-style react fire, but some form of 5Core fire, morale, and melee.

Phase 1, "Just Make it Out Alive"
-Start with a platoon of cooks, bakers, and candlestick makers thrown together into a Provisional Rifle Company for the defense of the Philippines in December 1941.  The Marines will be up north, near the Japanese landing sites, and get into the fight early.  In real life almost all Marines were on Corregidor and didn't see any real fighting, and no American forces took part in the early fighting, only the Filipinos did, as the Americans began falling back into the Bataan Peninsula.  My concept is to get the platoon into the early fighting, then they can escape to the east, rather than be forced down into the Peninsula and get wiped out or captured.  I've got to fight the rest of the war!

-The platoon escapes the Philippines aboard a US ship headed for the Dutch East Indies.  They think they've escaped, but they are there when the Japanese invade and end up fighting there as well.  Hopefully I can come up a plausible way for the platoon to be involved on a few different islands, always narrowly making their escape, until ultimately they flee Jakarta on a US or Allied vessel and make their way to Australia.  Where they become attached to 1st Marine Division...

-Also, in the Dutch East Indies I'm considering adding an air component to this; I'd love to play some WWII USMC aviation against Japanese Army and Navy aviation, so this might be it.  A Marine Squadron gets tasked for the defense of the Dutch East Indies (in real life, only US Army fighter/pursuit squadrons were sent, not Marines or Navy), fight there for a bit, make their escape to Australia, then end up, purely by happenstance, following the platoon around for the rest of the war.  I think I'll call them VMF-343, "The Dirt Divers."

Phase 2, "The 'Canal"
-Start 7 Aug 1942 on Tulagi (heavy fighting there unlike Guadalcanal on D-Day).  Screw around there for a bit, secure Florida, then finally move over to The Canal, probably in September.
-Sep-Nov 1942 on Guadalcanal.  I'll play a couple defensive fights, but mostly USMC patrols and offensives.  I even have an M-3 Stuart for this!

Phase 3, "Climbing the Solomons"
-The Russells (21 Feb 1943)
-New Georgia (30 June - 24 August 1943)
-Choiseul (28 October - 3 November 1943)
-Bougainville (1 November - 15 December 1943)
-Cape Gloucester on New Britain (26 December 1943- 4 May 1944; Volupai?),

Phase 4, "Island Hopping"
-I'd like to move over to Tarawa (20-23 Nov 1943), but dates conflict with Bougainville, and wouldn't make sense to go to Tarawa in Central Pacific then back to SW Pacific for New Britain...  Then again, this is a fictional unit in a wargaming campaign, I could just have them leave Bougainville early then head back for New Britain.
-Hit the Marshalls (Roi-Namur 31 January 1944; Engebi 18-19 Feb 1944, Eniwetok 19-21 February 1944, Parry Island 22 February 1944)
-Hit the Marianas (Guam 21 July - 10 August 1944; Saipan 15 June - 9 July 1944; Tinian 24 July - 1 August 1944)

Phase 5, "To the Bloody End"
-Peleliu (15 September - 27 November 1944)
-Okinawa (1 April - 22 June 1945)

Well, that's the plan, and I'm ready to get it rolling.

V/R,
Jack