Luzon Pass - Littoral Commander, Indo-Pacific

I set up scenario two of LC-IP last night to try a solo game. In this situation war has broken out between the US and the PRC. The PRC is trying to force access beyond the First Island Chain; the US is trying to deny that access. 

US marines have landed at Luzon and the islands to the north to defend against a PRC ground force aided by a naval flotilla.  

The marines have four platoons of combat infantry, six sections of long range missiles, six missile defence sections, and a logistics company.

American deployment looking west

The PRC force has four infantry platoons, a light armoured platoon, a heavy weapons platoon, two multiple rocket launch sections and two logistics platoons alongside three destroyers, a frigate and an amphibious assault vessel. 

The US has to defend the line between Luzon and Taiwan; the PRC has to breach it. There are seven turns. 

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It is hard to do justice to how interesting this game is to play. On top of the units on table, there are also attached force packages, represented by off-table Joint Capability Cards (JCCs). These can represent anything at all, from surveillance drones to special forces troops to submarine attacks to CAP fighters to ballistic missile strikes and just about anything else you can think of. They all have a points cost, and you get to choose which JCCs you will purchase before the game starts. This means that you have a vast range of options for your game strategy.

The game pieces themselves all have a roster card as well, showing hit points, assault ammunition, long range fire ammunition, defensive missile ammunition, logistics replenishment points and so on.

Card rosters for the PLAN ground task-force, with attached JCCs, and various ratings for hits and different types of ammunition, which will be tracked in-game by coloured cubes:

Probably the best way to give a feel for the game is to go through a few turns. 

Turn 1: Initiative is with PRC. They elect to begin by activating Task Force Shanghai, their land-based force. They have three action points to use. One is used to play a JCC (AI-enabled targeting) which will be reusable each turn; and two points to activate both stacks of land units to move one hex each.

The US then activates Task Force New York. With no enemy yet revealed to fire at, they play JCCs only, to get Combat Air Patrol and their own version of AI-enabled targeting onto the table for future use.

The PRC then activates their flotilla, Task Force Beijing, to move. They move wider to try and avoid the US missile umbrella and sneak around to the west and north to exit the First Island Chain.

The US then activates their second task force, Chicago, which is deployed in the island chain offshore. They do nothing, having no revealed enemy to shoot at and no JCCs to play at present.

Turn 2:

Task Force Shanghai plays a Social Media JCC, revealing the whereabouts of the US logistics company and a HIMARS section. A second JCC is played, AI targeting, which is successful, meaning that the effects of decoys can be disregarded. The two MRL systems open fire using their full capacity, for five salvos against the logistics company and one against the HIMARS section.  Missile defence is engaged by the US, with four defensive fires for the logistics company and one for the HIMARS section. One of the PLAN missiles gets through, resulting in a hit on the logistics company. It has two hits remaining.

Task Force Chicago activates. It attempts a fighter attack on two of the PLAN ships, but is nullified by PRC Combat Air Patrol (in the form of a Joint Capability Card). An attack is launched against the missile unit. Of the six attacks initiated, one is successful. There are corresponding reductions in munitions for both sides. The logistics company is concealed so that it cannot be attacked.

Task Force Beijing moves the flotilla; Task Force New York elects to do nothing as all enemy units are either out of range or, if in range, unrevealed.

Flotilla navigates towards the gap while keeping out of range

As you can hopefully see from the samples related above, the turns are interactive. There are moments to lead, moments to wait, moments to intervene, risk-reward calculations to make.  

The pre-planning (in the form of Joint Capability Cards and positioning of on-table forces) means that there are radically different strategies to employ. 

We ended up here with the US being outgunned and out-manouevered. The PRC achieved their objective of getting through the First Island Chain with turns to spare. My assumptions about US ability proved to be overly optimistic, and the pre-battle positioning was accordingly flawed. 

US strength

Strength decimated, enemy passes by

US casualties

I highly recommend the game. It isn't cheap (not that many games are now!) but what is in the box is of excellent quality, and the decisions players are forced to make are of a most visceral quality!