AAR: The Sangshak Redemption (J150)

SITREP

The 153^rd Parachute Battalion, 50th Parachute Brigade, was the only Gurkha airborne unit formed during the war. Their initial combat experience occurred as part of a delaying action against the northern pincer of the Japanese envelopment of Imphal, India. Along with its sister airborne battalions, the Gurkha were deployed to the vicinity of Sangshak village, where it faced the experienced Japanese 58^th Infantry Regiment as it sought to transit this location. The Indians from the 152^nd Battalion were the initial airborne unit deployed to Sangshak to meet the Japanese threat. After a seven-day battle, the Indians were pushed back. The Gurkha from the 153^rd were ordered to retake the village.

The Players

Neal – Indian Gurkha – Defenders:
152^nd Indian Parachute Battalion & 153^rd Gurkha Parachute Battalion, 50^th Indian Parachute Brigade

Scott – Japanese – Attackers:
58^th Infantry Regiment, 31^st Division

After Action Report

Location:
Sangshak, India

Date:
26 March 1944

ROAR Balance*	Archive Balance*
Indian Gurhka 47	Indian Gurhka 22
Japanese 51	Japanese 19
*As of posting of this AAR.

Neal (Defending)

Advantages

• Gurkha stealth
• Gurkha Hand-to-Hand CC
• Gurkha ELR 5 and 8-morale
• Gurhka!!

Disadvantages

• Small initial OB, must plan accordingly
• Victory relies on counterattack

Let me start by saying I lost A Quick Strike (WO18). Let that settle for a moment. A knife to the pride. So when Sangshak Redemption came up, there was no hesitation…I was taking the Gurkha (Who wouldn’t!?). There is no greater joy in ASL than flanking a Japanese platoon with a blade-wielding swarm of elite Commonwealth Commandos. And this scenario, set in the dense terrain of India in March 1944, offered that exact opportunity. But only if I could survive the opening rounds.

I had just 3.5 squads, a single 8-0 leader, one 76mm heavy mortar and a 57mm AT gun (primarily AP, limited HE, and rate-of-fire hopes and dreams). The scenario’s village, central to VC, was lightly held. I deployed a squad into two half-squads, putting dummies in the I3 church to mislead any recon. My mortar went into a trench in the kunai in I6—both concealed and in TEM. The AT gun was HIP’d in the bamboo of K6, mainly to give me PBF on two of the adjacent buildings. It had LOS through two huts into the village (all structures in this scenario are huts), arguably risky given the +2 Recovery DRM if I wanted to re-man it later, but I was gambling on surprise over longevity.

Enter the Japanese. And enter Scott’s ambitious left-flank hook.

Now, if you’re defending in a PTO terrain (G.1 in effect), you expect the frontal banzai with the Japanese, if not now…later. But always a banzai when they are the attackers. Instead, Scott went wide, flanking through palm, aiming to get behind me and intercept reinforcements. He took three buildings early, typical Japanese aggression. I couldn’t contest it, not with my force, so I dug in, praying to not be overrun by Turn 2.

They answered. The Gurkha came in hard.

Let me say: 11 elite 6-4-8s with underlined morale, Stealth and optional Hand-to-Hand are not reinforcements. They are vengeance incarnate. They swept in from the southwest corner, entering via jungle and kunai. Scott’s flank, his soft underbelly, now faced the full fury of Gurkha who could (and would) ambush him and choose HtH at leisure.

My movement planning emphasized cover: units entered through the kunai and jungle, with leaders assigned to ensure broken units had rally prospects. The terrain became my ally: Scott had overextended without securing his lines or setting up meaningful fallback positions. By Turn 3, I was adjacent to his main body.

Turn 4 saw the AT gun revealed. I fired HE…and of course instantly lost HE (first roll). Okay, plan B…HE equivalency by firing AP. It’s not much, but it’s something, especially with a ROF 3 AT gun. 57mm AP basically equates to 2 FP (C8.31).

First shot hit. ROF held. Hit again. ROF again. What followed was a textbook display of fire discipline, morale DR failures, and ELR degradation. I striped two squads, wounded a leader, and essentially annihilated the reinforcements Scott forgot to move the turn prior. The bamboo position became my executioner’s perch…with HE equivalency. Who would have thought?

By now, I was laying some smoke with my light mortar (the 76mm ran out of smoke instantly, of course). This not only obscured Scott’s LOS but gave me the needed cover to make the dreaded rush to the church. Despite not getting as much smoke as I wanted, the terrain did the work. Bamboo and huts nullified fire lanes. There were no arcs for him to interdict my movement effectively.

Scott’s fire was ineffective by Turn 5. His average DRs had crept into the upper 7s. My moving average stayed in the 6s. My fire groups were now rolling, bringing serious fire to bear; leaders coordinated 20–30 FP attacks.

Close Combat became the hammer.

Turn 6 saw three CCs in one turn, I was going for the jugular. In each, I checked for Ambush. I achieved Ambush twice. Each time, I opted for Hand-to-Hand. Ambush + HtH = total table-clearing. The few times I didn’t get Ambush, the odds still favored me due to numbers and morale. The Japanese evaporated.

The Japanese win by controlling two buildings within three hexes of I3. So I focused on retaking F3, J3…taking the church would just be icing.

Turn 4 ended with Scott holding a crew in the steeple and a couple of striped half-squads. He still held two buildings, but it was clear the onslaught of Gurkha would easily capture those last remaining buildings. His firepower had dwindled to nothing.

Scott cried “Uncle!” and the game was over.

In hindsight? ASL favors those who balance terrain, fire, and tempo. The Gurkha were made for this map, PTO terrain blunts enemy fire, and elite morale means you pass MCs others fail. Ghurka get up close and personal, reach out and stab someone, and that’s what I did in this scenario.

Scott (Attacking)

Advantages

• Neal’s not the only one with Hand-to-Hand CC!
• Stealth
• Start close to the VC buildings, easy early grabs

Disadvantages

• Low leader count
• Japanese on defense, not ideal
• Little to no banzai opportunities

I had a plan. I had a good plan. Okay, that’s a stretch. You know what they say: “No plan survives the first die roll.”

From the start, I knew the scenario gave me the edge on timing. The Japanese start right near the village. The Gurkha are offboard and come in late Turn 2. And I only needed to control two buildings within 3 hexes of I3. A cakewalk. Ha! So I flanked left. I expected Neal to bunker up in the church. I expected fire lanes, bore-sighted streets. Instead, he gave me the center and waited.

So I took it. Three buildings in Turn 1. Mortars smoked the church, and I got a foothold into the steeple. I pushed a platoon up the left center to cut off a counterattack. It was working.

And then came the Gurkha.

Turn 2, he brought in 11 squads. Yes, almost an entire company of Gurkha. It wasn’t a reinforcement. It was a knife fight invitation. I hadn’t screened my left. My center was unsupported. My fallback was unprepared. I tried to pull back. Too late. His elite squads got adjacent. I couldn’t stop it.

My leaders were busy rallying or dead. My puny knee mortars encountered line-of-sight issues. My only hope was to hold F3, J3, and/or J1…and dig in.

Then his AT gun opened up.

I had two squads and an 8-0 entering from the south. He lost HE capability on the first show, so he used HE equivalency (fired AP)…hit, kept ROF. Hit again. Stripe. Leader wounded. ROF again. It was a clinic. Through two palm trees and a hut, no less. The +3 TEM wasn’t enough. Suddenly, my reinforcements melted.

I tried to mass in F3, figuring I could at least cover the open ground he needed to cross to get me out of the buildings. But he started using smoke and stormed across the gap mostly unscathed. I didn’t have enough firepower to stop the tide. He just walked through it. Residual Fire did nothing. Not enough. Not nearly enough.

Turn 5? It was hand-to-hand time. I didn’t get Ambush once. Gurkha squads were decapitating me in CC like it was their national sport. The church? Mine until it wasn’t. I never even saw the units that took it. Probably slipped in through the floorboards.

Last turn, Neal was up four buildings to my one. I had a lonely crew up in the steeple, a striped squad in the rear. The rest? Gone to Close Combat Valhalla. There was no way back. I conceded.

What went wrong? I overcommitted to an unsupported flank. I didn’t stagger my defense. I let his reinforcements hit me. I didn’t plan for the terrain as the enemy (a common PTO mistake).

Gurkhas can be like math in ASL: cold, unforgiving, and inevitable. I hate them.

Debriefing

The showdown at Sangshak echoed the historical 1944 battle in northeast India where the 50^th Indian Parachute Brigade delayed the Japanese 31^st Division’s advance toward Kohima.

Scott’s Japanese struck fast, seizing key buildings and flanking deep into the village, mirroring the infiltration tactics that made the Japanese so dangerous in Burma. But like their historical counterparts, his forces became overextended, hampered by limited leadership and an inability to consolidate gains in the dense terrain of PTO. Neal’s Gurkhas, arriving as a late-game tidal wave, leveraged ASL’s terrain and stealth mechanics to dominate. Their elite morale, close combat strength, and ambush potential turned the game’s momentum.

In the end, Sangshak proved once again that PTO scenarios are about more than firepowe, they’re about timing, movement, and understanding when to hold… and when to charge with knives drawn.

GET TO THE CHOPPA…!!!

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