My son Charlie and I managed to get a game of Bolt Action in during the holidays. We kept things simple, about 500 pts each. I took the Japanese Imperial Army- with a couple of regular infantry section and a section of veteran jungle fighters backed up with a sniper and a MMG. Charlie took the British Chindits, with two infantry sections, a MMG and a mortar (all veterans).
The plot was a Chindit patrol had located a Japanese supply dump in a small village in the depths of the Burmese jungle, well behind the Japanese lines. The supply dump seemed lightly guarded, and so the lieutenant in charge of the patrol ordered a surprise attack. Unfortunately for the Chindits, at the time of the attack there was a squad of jungle fighters and an experienced sniper team making their way through the jungle back to the village to resupply.
The attack got off well for the chindits, as their Vickers MMG opened up on the Japanese MMG in a sandbag redoubt, catching them napping and killing one of the crew. The Japanese scrambled for cover, and the jungle fighters took up positions along the tree-line to cover the approaches to the village.
Meanwhile the Chindits advanced towards the village, using their fire and manoeuvre training to effectively suppress the Japanese as they advanced. The Chindit 3" mortar zeroed in on the squad taking cover in the village house- it seems that bamboo and woven palm leaves don't provide much cover against mortar shells.
The Japanese Jungle Fighters tried to slow the Chindits down, but they were outnumbered, and soon they began to fall to the relentless and accurate fire of the Chindits.
The Japanese sniper took out a Chindit NCO as his squad advanced into the clearing around the village, but his squad pressed on relentlessly, spraying fire from their tommy guns and rifles to suppress the Japanese soldiers in the village.
The Chindit lieutenant spotted the sniper and made his way around the flank, using what cover he could, until he was close enough to charge the sniper.
The Japanese, seeing their position desperate, fixed bayonets and with a cry of "Banzai" they bravely charged the Chindits. The Chindits opened fire, scything down three of them as they ran across the open ground, then met the Japanese bayonets with their own Kurkri and machetes. Two of the Chindits died, but in the end they wiped the Japanese out.
The Japanese officer was cut down in a hail of bullets as he prepared to follow his fellow soldiers into the charge, earning himself a honourable warriors death.
The Japanese sniper team and the remnants of the Japanese MMG team melted back into the jungle, abandoning the supply dump. They Chindits took what they needed and could carry, and burned the rest, before carrying out a force march through the dense jungle to be well clear of any counter attacks the Japanese Imperial Army might mount. It had been a text book raid for the British: using surprise, overwhelming fire power and manoeuvrability to overcome a numerically superior enemy. The Chindits had just seven men killed or wounded, and the Japanese had lost a whole platoon.
If this battle report lacks drama or seemed like a white wash for the Brits then you can blames Charlie's fantastic dice rolling, which saw him gunning down my soldiers with ease, while my own inept rolling was barely more than a minor irritation to his Chindits. Chindits, being all veterans, are a solid and reliable force, and their ability for fire and manoeuvre is very effective.
All in all, a great battle...thanks Charlie.
