Duplex, I played Beiping tonight. Very good. It kept my interest throughout.
In the beginning, I used a classic withdraw / draw them in / defense in depth to defeat your Japanese attack, including the tanks! River defense is key. I plastered them.
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Then I pushed through Beiping after defeating the flank attack on the left.
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I don't know what the gunboat is for, though. I had it chewing up a neutral merchant ship and barge at one point. Of course, it was nothing better than a decoy once it ran into the cruiser and destroyer. After that, "Uh, Chinese militia and you other guys, stay away from the coastal road, will you?"
Nice-looking and interesting map. I like the mountains and walls guiding and restricting traffic and the jungle "traps." Everything funneled toward ShanHaiGuan and the Japanese warships.
Just keep pushing forward though, despite the air and sea bombardment. I took ShanHaiGuan on turn 23 and thought this was a walkover. Until the Japanese counterattack.
Still, the Chinese have numbers in this scenario, both in terms of units and resources. I kept swarming and surrounding the Japanese, like here:
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Here goes the Japanese "boss" tank. I did not attack it directly until it was surrounded for a turn or two, cut off, and weakened:
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Then a pivot inland toward remaining VP's, and victory!
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As I said, fun, engrossing, and entertaining. I was going to advise you to cut down on the Chinese a bit, but not, I think. Maybe that last bunch of warlord troops is just a bit superfluous.
Here are some suggestions and one flaw:
Suggestions:
Provide photos for your messages. They are much better than blank black windows. PNG format and 512 x 415 pixel size. Make sure the name in the event popup "Image Filename" box matches the photo file name exactly. Do the same for the outcome photos. See my manual for instructions on this.
Label more map features; for example, what is the name of the river that I used to such great defensive effect? What is the name of the mountains over which I finally realized I must push my Chinese troops to outflank the Japanese in and around ShanHaiGuan and to get away from their warships? Details like that make a scenario even more interesting and memorable.
Maybe provide transports for the 37mm Pak 36 and the 75mm Bofors M1929? Although the train tracks helped. Still, they are too slow to do much in the field. Also, maybe provide another fighter or two? Thanks for the ONE tiny Chinese fighter that finally provide some punch back at the Jap bombers . . . until being quickly shot down, that is. [By the way, as always, when I or anybody else make suggestions, feel free to take advice or not according to your own preferences. Nobody is going to check up and be disappointed if you don't do what is suggested, I don't think.]
Here is the flaw that I found. I was going to win your scenario anyway but it ended prematurely, right after I took XiaoFeiYang. I never got to LaoHu, the final primary victory VP. That's because the number here should be 5 primary VP's, not 4:
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Here's why. Count the number of primary VP's on your map: WuGui, Beiping, ShanHaiGuan, XiaoFeiYang, and LaoHu. 5 in total. The Chinese start out holding WuGui (and must keep holding it) and you want them to conquer the other four but in the end, they must be holding 5 victory points. I won with only 4, meeting your trigger requirement, which is why the scenario ended early.
All in all, a very good effort. Thanks for sharing this. My replay is attached, in case you are interested in seeing how I played.
