AAR: Baw Drop (AP65)

SITREP

For weeks the “Chindits” of the 77^th Indian Infantry Brigade had been marching, living off the jungle, and harassing the Japanese wherever they were found. Major Mike Calvert’s 3 Column had tried unsuccessfully to find a suitable site for an air resupply drop, but finally it seemed they’d located the perfect spot, near the small village of Baw. RAF Dakotas were on their way to make the drop, while Major Ken Gilkes and his 7 Column were on the way down from the north to share in the spoils. As the parachutes began to fall, it was a surprise to see Japanese troops appear at the jungle’s edge and take the Lancashire men under fire.

The Players

Scott – British India – Defenders:
3 and 7 Columns, 77^th Indian Infantry Brigade (“Chindits”)

Neal – Japanese – Attackers:
18^th Division

After Action Report

Location:
Baw Village, Burma

Date:
13 March 1943

ROAR Balance	Archive Balance
Japanese 41	Japanese 12
British-Indians 29	British-Indians 6

Download the VASL .vsav setup file.
Download the VASL .vlog playthrough.

Scott (British India)

Advantages:

• Flamethrower … until I lost it.
• Decent SAN. But one can never rely on snipers.
• A commanding 9-2 leader anchoring a forward kill stack.

Disadvantages:

• The supply crates can be a trap.
• Spread out to intercept crates, or concentrate to defend?
• Portage points make supply crates a logistical nightmare.

It started so well. I had a plan. I had a 9-2 leader. I had a FT. And then I had Japanese screaming their way through my front lines like a horde.

From the first moment the bundles floated down like bureaucratic blessings from above, I knew this scenario—Bad Drop, or as we aptly dubbed it, Balls Drop—was going to be more logistical farce than tactical chess. My Chindits of the 77^th Indian Infantry Brigade were scattered across the Baw Village area like discount sentries at a clearance sale. And with five crates falling at random, the scenario turned into a shell game with four-portage-point anvils.

The supply crates were supposed to be the focus, but let’s be honest—they were a goddamn trap. I should’ve ignored them, hunkered down in the village, and forced Neal to come into my kill zones. But noooo, I had to try to grab them because they were worth VPs. What did I get for my trouble? A bunch of slowed-down, overburdened squads and no bullets heading Neal’s way when they should’ve been.

I leaned hard on my 9-2 leader, emplaced near the expected Japanese southern approach (in M9), to punish anything foolish enough to show its face. And show they did: Neal’s 18^th Division troops, flooding in from the right side of the board. Neal had no plans to split his forces. It was going to be one massive wall of Japanese coming at me. My forward deployment was meant to blunt the initial wave, but ASL giveth and ASL taketh away—specifically, my two forward squads who broke like teacups in a tempest (see, I flipped that idiom on its ear).

When the first banzai charge hit, I thought I was prepared. I had fire lanes, I had a kill stack with my 9-2 leader, and I had faith in my dice (Really?). Then I remembered I was playing against the Japanese. They don’t care about your firepower. They take their stripes, keep moving, and suddenly you’re in hand-to-hand combat with a dude who considers dying a bonus objective.

Still, I had my ace in the hole—the flamethrower. The flamethrower ambush gave me hope—positioned to hold the southern edge. When I torched one of his squads, I felt a little more confident. I threw up some white phosphorus, and thought maybe, maybe, I could hold. Neal had to change his entire approach just to avoid the mayhem. I thought, this is it, I’ve turned the tide. Then he broke my flamethrower team. Then he took my flamethrower. Then he used my flamethrower to fry my best troops.

I picked what I thought was a shrewd crate drop zone—center-left, trying to keep them close. And I got lucky. One landed directly in the village, another on a unit’s lap. Perfect. Except… four portage points? Suddenly, my elite Chindits turned into laborers, lugging metaphorical pianos through the jungle. By turn three, I realized my troops had to choose between fighting the Japanese or playing UPS. And in Burma, 1943, there is no brown truck salvation.

Trying to defend the village while simultaneously dragging supply bundles felt like staging Hamlet with half a cast missing. My attempt to bog Neal down early gave way to a desperate, staggered retreat.

At that point, I knew it was over. I tried to reposition; I tried to scrape together some kind of last stand, but I was just buying time. After the second banzai charge gutted my core village defense, the math simply didn’t work. I had a handful of scattered units, a couple crates, and huts I couldn’t hope to retake. Neal swept through like a typhoon in fatigues. By the time I was thinking about throwing in the towel, it was over. Neal had the village, two supply crates, and the VPs. At that point, I checked the dice stats, grimaced at my sea of 11s, and threw in the towel with a half-salute and a muttered, “Well played.”

Neal (Japanese)

Advantages:

• Numbers, numbers, numbers: I had a sea of Japanese, including elites.
• Great banzai terrain and units to support it.
• The depression led straight into the village, and provided great cover.

Disadvantages:

• Had some second-line units. Boooooo.
• Flamethrower panic: facing them is never fun. Unless you steal them!

I came in with one goal: overwhelm the village and take everything not nailed down. The Japanese 18^th Division wasn’t here to admire the scenery—we were here to steamroll the Chindits, collect some British-issue tea, and go home.

The terrain was a dream (for PTO anyway). Palm trees, kunai, bamboo (which is a pain in the ass, so we avoided it), and a conveniently-placed depression that made my approach harder to spot. The scenario gave me flexibility: three entry groups, arriving on three turns, any order I chose. So I dropped the first line troops first—figuring cannon fodder should go early to soften things up, do some probing. Then I fed in the elites, for some banzai action. I saved the second-line mop-up crews for last. I aimed low: skirting the southern kunai grass and slipping into the woods. Scott’s troops were spread thin—probably trying to cover every potential drop zone. This played right into my plan: hit one flank hard, ignore the other, and use that classic Japanese weight of numbers doctrine.

The first few turns were textbook. He took potshots, but didn’t inflict serious damage. I set up a clean approach. Then the crates came down. And oh, the chaos! Watching Scott juggle the decision of “Do I shoot?” or “Do I shoulder this 4 PP albatross?” was worth the price of admission. I ignored the crates entirely. My job wasn’t to carry—it was to kill, and pick up the pieces (crates) afterward.

There’s something truly beautiful about a well-executed banzai charge. Sometimes they can almost feel overpowered. It’s like watching an elegant, choreographed dance, except the dancers are screaming fanatics with bayonets, and the audience is an increasingly terrified British-Indian force. I came into this scenario knowing one thing—there were supplies to be had, a village to be taken, and a whole lot of Commonwealth troops standing in the way of victory.

The first banzai charge did exactly what it was supposed to do: scare the hell out of Scott, overrun some key positions, and force him to reposition in ways he really didn’t want to. But he had a nasty little surprise for me—a flamethrower. This thing wasn’t just a threat; it was the threat. I hate them. One good shot and a squad was vaporized. I had to adapt, and fast. That’s when the depression became my best friend. I hopped down into it like a kid cannonballing into a pool and started working my way around his flank, where I could pop up somewhere nasty.

Scott’s murderous flamethrower squad went down, and my guys picked it up like grandma at a church potluck with first dibs on the warm wine. Except instead of wine, it shot fire, destruction, and Scott’s hopes and dreams. I marched that squad straight to his retreating 9-2 leader and did what any self-respecting ASL player would do—I let him cook.

A moment so poetic I should have written a haiku about it … so I will!

🔥 Thanks for the fire
I’ll return it right away
Direct to your face 🔥

By the time the second banzai charge hit, I think I already had Scott on the ropes. He’d lost his heavy hitter, his defensive line was crumbling, Baw village was in my sights, he was wasting time chasing down crates, and I had a flamethrower that used to be his. His squads broke, his huts got taken, and by the end, the only thing left was the smell of charred Commonwealth troops and a pile of supply crates that no one cared about anymore.

Honestly, I could’ve done a third banzai charge just for fun, but by then, Scott knew it was over. He had the look of a man who’d just watched his supply crates turn into millstones—and his best leader get flambéed.

The towel was thrown.

Debriefing

Historically, Baw Village and the broader Chindit operations of 1943 marked the beginning of Allied long-range penetration missions in Burma—a bold attempt to disrupt Japanese supply lines. The real 77^th Indian Infantry Brigade suffered heavily in the jungle, battling both Japanese forces and the terrain itself.

In Baw Drop/Balls Drop/Bad Drop, the game mirrors that chaos. The Chindits are few, elite, and saddled with mission objectives that bog them down—literally. The supply crate mechanic, while novel, offers more friction than flair, turning maneuver units into mule trains with feet of clay. Not ideal. When faced with massed Japanese infantry and relentless banzai tactics, it’s a question of when—not if—the defense buckles.

Scott played a clever delaying game, trying to force attrition and make the most of terrain. But the numbers, banzai tempo, and that decisive flamethrower reversal proved too much. Neal’s attack was methodical, patient and probing at first, then explosively aggressive with relentless banzai charges—exactly what Japanese forces thrive on in PTO scenarios.

The moral of the story? If your opponent can steal it and use it against you, don’t let them have nice things.

GET TO THE CHOPPA…!!!

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