Slitherine

I find most of the scenarios provide great challenges, many depending upon clever tactics and sometimes a little luck. Now I realize Tokyo is a hypothetical scenario, but really .... It's supposed to be March, 46, The war in Europe has been over for ten months. The US military would be at the peak of its prowess, in man-power, equipment, and technological supremacy. Transfers of experienced units from Europe to the Pacific would have been accomplished. Japan, while still able to field a large home army and expected to utilize its immense population for military purposes, has virtually no oil left to fuel anything and infantry equipment and ammunition is in short supply. Its naval forces have been essentially eliminated. Its air forces constrained by fuel shortages, have pilots with only the barest rudiments of pilot training. Lots of cannon fodder and Kamikazes to throw into the battle, but little else. The beach areas were to be defended in depth.

The invasion of Japan, Operation Downfall, was to be two-fold. Operation Olympic would invade the southern island of Kyushu in 11/45 so that it could be used as a base and staging area for Operation Coronet, an invasion of the main island of Honshu, in the Tokyo area, in 3/46. So, I guess, the Tokyo scenario purports to be Operation Coronet. According to an Order of Battle I've found the invasion was to be spearheaded by 3 Marine divisions, 9 Army divisions plus two armored divisions in reserve afloat. Since this was to be the deciding battle of WWII against Japan, it's likely no resources would remain untapped if needed. Yet the scenario is practically devoid of resources. Even cheating to add a huge number more RPs (this is the first wargame scenario I've felt justified in using a cheat) so that I can max out all CPs, still leaves one a bit threadbare. You are short particularly in land based units. You are initially provided no US armor, a scant air force, limited naval forces (including several older non-moving blue battleships which rapidly become useless since they don't move to reflect targets, and no Iowa class battleships or late war carriers). You get no off-board support, at least early on, no armor division reinforcement, no artillery, no heavy bomber support, or any other significant help. You only get 80 CPs per turn, barely enough to keep reinforcing those units you have.

When I first tried to play the scenario, as written, it was ludicrous. Like the US was trying to end the war utilizing the resources available in 1942. An on the cheap climatic battle. So I used the RP cheat code to max out the various CPs. Playing this was better but still there just isn't enough US superiority to make this realistic (plus I have to keep adding RPs simply so that I can keep reinforcing my units, particularly planes).

So what exactly is this hypothetical scenario supposed to be about? There should be large numbers of US first wave casualties due to the Japanese decision to contest invasion beaches and a plethora of initial Kamikaze attacks (plane, boat, submarine, land force human bombs, IEDs, etc). It seems devoid of any real hypothetical historical accuracy (some examples: the invasion beaches have virtually no pillboxes or bunkers, the Japanese have more armor than the US in 1946 ?!?!). Don't understand the point of this scenario as it is. I realize it's a hypothetical scenario, but it doesn't seem to reflect what might have happened.

In campaign, it's pretty balanced and US has a huge advantage imho. Japanese air force is virtualy non-existent, their navy consist of a single cruiser and a few destroyers against your large fleet of several battleships and carriers. Plus you'd be very likely fielding late war tanks by that time. I had quite a great army when I reached the Tokyo mission, with having a jet squadron and a few Pershing tanks. I think it's fine.

One thing we have to remember in all scenarios, and especially a hypothetical one, is what MarechalJoffre mentioned: balanced gameplay. All of what you, bjarmson, said about the likely dilapidated state of Japanese forces by 1946 may be true but if the game developers had made Operation Downfall merely a "mop-up" exercise, it would have been highly criticized as, basically, no fun. Strategy game-players generally need a strong challenge to overcome in order to enjoy the game.

Besides which, if I read my history correctly, even given the fact that Japan had lost the war by 1945, an invasion of their homeland in 1946 was projected to have been a hell on earth, regardless. The developers made the scenario difficult, using the tools included in the game, to reflect that. Once they "went hypothetical," the strict tie to absolute, but conjectured, historical accuracy is lifted in my opinion.

But the balanced gameplay is nothing but a distortion of what probably would have happened. As I noted, the Japanese planned on meeting any invasion with a blitz of suicide attacks and by contesting the beachheads from the moment of invasion. The Japanese were fairly sure where the landing areas would be and had time to fortify them. In this scenario the initial US landings are barely contested. In several starts of the scenario (still haven't made it to the end, due to the sheer frustration of how it's set up), I've never lost a single unit, land air, or naval during the initial invasion. A few relatively minor point losses, but easily fixed in a turn. The immense Kamikaze attack planned is limited to a few planes, easily taken care of by fighters and anti-air (supposedly the Japanese had at least 5000/6000, with some suggesting as many as 10,000 to throw into the fray). No boat attacks, no mini-submarines, or manned torpedoes (supposedly around 2000 total), no suicide destroyer attacks. No beaches crammed with fortifications, no massive banzai infantry attacks. They fought like crazy on Okinawa. This is their heart of their homeland, many would be fanatical to a point difficult to imagine. I once saw a quote attributed to a fanatical member of the ruling military clique calling for things to end in the glorious death of 80 million; in other words the total population of Japan. So craziness would ensue, though not likely to the last of the 80 million. The Emperor showed some survival instinct and sense at the end.

To combat such fanatic Japanese tactics the US planned on using the largest, best equipped invasion force in history. For the previous Operation Olympic the naval forces planned were: "The Strike Force, 3rd Fleet, had 21 carriers and 10 fast battleships to range up and down the length of Japan to suppress Japanese forces with priority to destroy aircraft and transportation. The Assault Force, 5th Fleet, had 26 carriers, plus 8 detached from Strike force for the invasion period, 13 slow battleships, 20 cruisers, 139 DD, 167 DE, and support ships for a total of 800 warships. Troops and their equipment were to come from the Philippines and Marianas in 1,500 transports. All combat troops were from the Pacific theater; none redeployed from Europe." I imagine Operation Coronet would have been on an even bigger scale and made use of redeployed European units, particularly air force and naval, and as many elite army units as could be transported in time.

Operation Olympic would transform Kyushu, about 400/600 miles from Tokyo, into an arsenal, with staging areas, naval facilities, and scores, if not hundreds, of airbases providing round the clock attacks upon Honshu and Tokyo. Add to this the firepower of the immense, modernized US fleet, which would also include numerous British warships, meant the Japanese would be pulverized daily for months before any invasion was launched. There is no real hurry, the Japanese navy is gone, they have virtually no fuel left, are under an almost airtight naval blockade, and undergoing the most massive air campaign ever; the Russians likely have destroyed most, if not all, Japanese forces in Manchuria, and are contemplating invading Hokkaido, the northern most island of the Japanese archipelago. Upon invasion, casualties would be heavy, but likely fall off after the initial Kamikaze attacks and beachhead banzai tactics petered out. Once beachheads had been secured to provide room to maneuver, all pockets of resistance would be handled by bringing massive US firepower to bear—air, artillery, armor, and naval, with infantry the last resort—in order to limit US casualties as much as possible.

From what I've played of the scenario, none of this happens. So what we're playing is not a really a hypothetical scenario, one built from known facts and astute speculation, but a fantasy scenario carelessly thrown together, a larger version of Okinawa. IMO, a hypothetical scenario, based on what I have mentioned above, could have been developed to provide a completely different experience. Instead the developers have taken the easy way out. A missed opportunity at fighting the climatic, likely bloodiest, battle of WWII.