First off, this series is being done as a bit of a lark as wargaming has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas so if anyone is offended, please just stop reading now. Also, I know that traditionally the 12 Days of Christmas happen after Christmas Day (starting on December 25th and ending on January 5th also known as Twelfth Night) but I want to do this in a lead up to the holiday.

On the 9th day of Christmas War Gaming, my true love gave to me…

9 Japanese Soldiers Defending Okinawa

Okinawa: The Last Battle of World War II is a bit of an abstract solitaire wargame that places the player on the island of Okinawa during the final battle of World War II and in charge of the US Marines as they invade the island that stands as the last bastion of defense for the Japanese. The fighting is intense and casualties will be high but the job has to be done. The game uses custom 6-sided dice to activate and upgrade soldier cards improving the abilities and actions they can take on a rondel. The soldiers must attack the various soldiers on the island, overtake objectives and defeat special Japanese units such as mortars, machine gun teams, tanks, bunkers, tunnels and even aircraft.

In the game, the player has their Marine cards spread out in a circle with a prescribed order on what units go where. These cards are then numbered 1-10 with number tokens and these correspond to the 10-sided dice that are rolled each turn that represent the focus of attacks of the Japanese Soldier tokens located in the middle of the layout called the Battlefield. Also located on the Battlefield are special Japanese units that also must be defeated but that represent a larger threat than the Solider tokens. The number of dice rolled is determined by the number of Japanese Soldier tokens, not including the special Japanese unit cards, that are still alive on the Battlefield at the end of the turn. At the outset of the game, and throughout various stages moving forward, a new Objective is placed and these cards will add a starting number of Japanese Soldier tokens to the table. This is typically 2-6 but can be added to each turn. This can be a real and growing challenge though as certain cards, either found as special effects or the special unit cards can add additional Japanese Soldier tokens when certain conditions are met. This means that a manageable number can quickly grow into a real problem. In the picture above, I want to point out one of the Special unit cards in the Tunnel. The Tunnel will add 2 Japanese Soldier tokens to the Battlefield each round after the Enemy Attack phase until it is destroyed and removed from the game. This is a major problem for the Marines and can quikcly get out of control. The main focus of the first few turns for trhe Marines should be destroying this Tunnel to stop the addition of Japanese Solider tokens but this is not as easy as it sounds as the Tunnel is hidden, represented by a Fog of War token, and must be found by a Scout unit card. The player is in luck though as there are 2 such Scouts among their ranks and one is the first card so you can take that action immediately to remove the Fog of War but then may not be able to attack in the same round depending on the results of the dice.

I very much enjoy the thematic elements of the game and how the designer created these cards to add some difficulty to the experience. The Tunnel is very thematic and true to history as the Japanese had dug many underground complexes, tunnels and connections stretching from different points along the battlefield to allow for late night incursions, infiltrations and banzai charges under the cover of darkness. This card is really great and creates some true challenges with growing numbers of Japanese soldiers arriving to vex the Marines.

You can catch up on the posts in this series to date at the following links:

A Lone Service Troop Holding a Bridge – Assault Sicily ’43 – Primosole Bridge Expansion from Assault Games

2 Armored Trains Supporting – 1920: Nest of Eagles from PHALANX

3 Federal Agents in Hot Pursuit – The Pursuit of John Wilkes Booth from Blue Panther

4 Ships Bombarding – General Orders: Sengoku Jidai from Osprey Games

5 Russian Battalions Defending the Flank – Battles of Napoleon: Volume I – Eylau 1807 from Sound of Drums

6 Patriot Regulars Enduring Friendly Fire – Battles of the American Revolution Tri-Pack #2 Volume VII: Germantown from GMT Games

7 Red Dust Rebels Campaigning – Red Dust Rebellion from GMT Games

8 Reloads of Machine Gun Ammunition – Fields of Fire Deluxe Edition from GMT Games

-Grant