Strategy in 'Tiger of Malaya'
Scenario #3 (Campaign Game), Part 1
By Doug McNair
May 2007

Our exciting chit-draw activation system returns to the Pacific Theater with Tiger of Malaya, our game of Japan’s offensive against Fortress Singapore in early 1942.

Like our other chit-draw games Gazala 1942, Alsace 1945, Bitter Victory and Red God of War, Tiger of Malaya offers face-to-face and solitaire players a challenging and unpredictable simulation of operational-level World War II ground combat. And as with the other games in the series, issues of planning, supply and command and control are of primary importance in Tiger. But by taking the system to the swamps and jungles of southern Malaya, Tiger presents players with strategic challenges that haven’t been available since our MacArthur’s Return game retired to Valhalla.

Tiger comes with four scenarios — two short introductory scenarios that cover just part of the Singapore campaign, a historical campaign game that lets the Japanese cover the length of Johore Province right up to the gates of Singapore, and a “what if” campaign game that gives the Allied player additional reinforcements which the British could have sent if they’d been more on-the-ball. In this series of articles I’ll be analyzing and playing out the historical campaign game.

Strategic Situation

The struggle for Singapore is a classic battle of quality vs. quantity. Powerful but outnumbered Japanese forces attack down the east and west coasts of the Malayan peninsula in an attempt to take Fortress Singapore in the south, while Commonwealth forces of varying quality use defensible terrain and hastily-constructed fortifications to blunt the Japanese advance. Given the distance the Japanese have to cover and the fact that they must force Singapore’s surrender by Turn 17 to win, all the Allies have to do to win is keep the Japanese advance moving at a crawl. There are several ways for them to do this, and just as many ways for the Japanese to break through Allied lines and keep the advance moving on schedule.

Allied Strategy

The strategic factors which the Allies must exploit to win are:

Terrain

Southern Malaya is a maze of rivers, jungles and swamps which the Japanese must negotiate to reach the Singapore Straits. Units attacking across a river do so at half strength unless accompanied by a boat engineer unit, and only a limited number of units can attack into swamp and jungle hexes (with denser jungles allowing smaller numbers of attackers).

Commonwealth forces must exploit these terrain advantages for all they’re worth. The bulk of the Allied forces on the mainland start the game near the three bridges across the Muar River, which cuts the northwestern eighth of the board off from the rest of it. The Muar is the main obstacle in the way of the bulk of the Japanese forces, so the first order of business for the Allies must be to blow those bridges. The Japanese don’t receive any boat engineers until Turn 7, so if the Allies can blow all the bridges before the Japanese can cross the Muar, they’ll be in a great position to slow the Japanese advance dramatically.

As for the Japanese forces advancing down Malaya’s eastern coast, they must traverse a wilderness of rivers, jungles and massive swamps before they reach the town of Endau and the eastern road to Singapore. The Allies must setup picket lines in this harsh terrain and do as much damage as possible to the Japanese before they reach Endau, so that the invaders can’t mount an effective flanking attack on Singapore from the east.

Fortifications

The Allies can construct fortifications whenever they draw a FULL chit (which allows both movement and attacks) in any hexes that contain at least two full battalions worth of infantry that don’t move and aren’t adjacent to at least one full battalion of Japanese units. The Allied player must construct fortifications in as many spots as possible along the roads to Singapore, because units in fortifications have their defense strengths doubled. Placing fortifications in swamp and jungle hexes and on the south banks of rivers is particularly effective because of the aforementioned limits those terrain types place on attackers. Fortifications will also allow Allied battalions which break down into their component companies to spread out, extend and deepen Allied defensive lines without overmuch weakening their defense strengths. Doing that will help slow the Japanese advance while limiting Allied losses.

Jungle-Capable Units

Most Australian units plus a couple of Malayan and Indian units are jungle-capable, meaning that they can move through harsh terrain and enemy Zones of Control (ZOC) more quickly than other units. Even more importantly, it means they can roll to retreat before combat whenever they’re attacked. This, combined with the ability of battalions to break down into their component companies, means jungle-capable units can fan out in defensible terrain to create long picket lines which can cause big delays for the Japanese. They can do this even at low strength by retreating before combat, moving back two hexes while the Japanese advance one and avoiding damage so they can do the same thing next impulse.

And while such pickets retreat, other Allied units can be blowing bridges and constructing fortifications behind them, while Allied artillery masses up to bombard incoming Japanese and provide extra defensive support when the Japanese finally reach the Allied fortifications.

Cannon Fodder

On Turn 5 the Allies receive 23 replacement points for Indian and Gurkha units, and then an extra six Australian replacement points on Turn 6. Those 23 replacement points are enough to reconstruct nearly eight full battalions, so in the early turns of the game the Allied player should try to keep at least one Indian unit in every stack on the front lines. This will allow him to allocate Japanese hits to units which he can just reconstruct later, minimizing long-term losses. The downside is that the replacement troops are poorly trained, and the Allied player must roll a die whenever he reconstructs a unit to see if he must replace it with a unit of lower quality. Still, given the defensibility of the terrain and the fact that they’re double strength in fortifications, even low-quality units can do a lot to slow the Japanese advance.

Japanese Strategy

To overcome all these factors which work in the Allies’ favor, the Japanese must exploit all of the following to get to the Straits of Singapore in time to force an Allied surrender:

Armor and Air Power

The Allies get just one tank company in the historical campaign game, while the Japanese start the game with four and get seven more before the game is over. Whenever an attacking force with tanks hits a hex that doesn’t contain a tank or AT company, the attackers get extra bonuses to their attack odds. The same applies to a side with attacking air units (defending AT units have no effect on that).

The Japanese player must maneuver his tanks so as to hit unsupported Allied infantry units with combined tank-and-infantry assaults, and must use his air units to add to the odds of attacks on Allied units in defensible terrain. Air units can also fly harassment missions to slow the movements of Allied reinforcements on their way to the front lines. The Japanese player must use this capability as well to prevent the Allied player from consolidating his defenses in key areas.

Allied Supply Lines

In order to be supplied, units of both sides must be within five hexes of a friendly HQ which can itself trace a supply line to a friendly supply source (Singapore for the Allies, northern board edge road hexes or the east Malayan coast for the Japanese). All Allied units are automatically in supply for the first two turns of the game, but after that the Japanese player has a distinct advantage because Japanese units can move into hexes where they’re not supplied while all but one Allied unit cannot.

In addition, whenever Allied units activate while in a hex that’s beyond Allied supply lines, they must vacate the hex and move to hexes that are within range of Allied supply lines (the Allied IND company is the only exception). The Japanese player can exploit this by sending his own jungle-capable units overland to infliltrate and circumvent Allied defenses and cut Allied supply lines from the rear.

If this happens, Allied units in forward defensive positions will have to pull back to re-establish their supply lines, abandoning whatever fortifications they’d constructed and giving the Japanese a clear route of advance. The Allies will therefore be forced to thin out their forward lines to maintain flank security, thus weakening their defenses and making it easier for Japanese tanks and airpower to force breaches.

Artillery

The Japanese start the game with just two artillery units on the board, but they receive fifteen more artillery, mountain artillery and mortar units as reinforcements in the first six turns. The Japanese player must move these up fast to pour massive bombardment fire into the Allied front lines. Doing this will be another factor forcing the Allies to spread their units thinly, since the more densely stacked a hex is the easier it is to inflict casualties on the units there through bombardment.

The Japanese player will also have the flexibility to use his artillery advantage for bombardment or to support his ground attacks, with the latter dramatically increasing his attack odds. Using artillery effectively will be of primary importance for Japanese units assaulting across rivers or the Straits of Singapore.

Clarifications and Errata

Before I begin a turn-by-turn replay of the Tiger of Malaya historical campaign game, here are some updates and clarifications to the rules.

Rule 4.1: The Singapore Causeway (hex 0946) is a wide bridge designed for heavy traffic, so units just pay normal road movement rate to cross it (they don’t pay +3 movement points as with crossing a river bridge).

5.1: Truck units have no stacking point symbols and therefore do not count for stacking purposes.

8.4: When a bombardment inflicts hits on a hex containing more than one unit, the player owning the target units chooses which units take the hits (the same applies to hits inflicted in ground combat).

9.0: Each hex must be attacked separately — ground units cannot attack more than one hex on the same attack roll.

9.24: Artillery that targets any swamp, jungle or city hex (either in a bombardment or when firing offensive or defensive support in ground combat) has its strength halved. The terrain in the hex the artillery unit occupies when firing has no effect on its fire strength.

9.35: All units attacking across a river hexside do so at half their normal attack strength unless they’re stacked with a boat engineer unit (light for foot units, heavy for motorized/mechanized units), regardless of whether the river hexside is crossed by an intact bridge or not. Motorized/mechanized units can only advance after combat (9.5) across a river hexside with no intact bridge if they are stacked with a Heavy Boat Engineer unit when they attack, and (in the case of FULL impulses) if they did not move before attacking.

Motorized/mechanized units can only retreat (9.4) across a river hexside with no intact bridge if they are stacked with a heavy boat engineer unit and the hex they are attacked in is adjacent to that river hexside. In both cases, if the heavy boat engineer unit they are stacked with is eliminated in combat, the motorized/mechanized units cannot advance or retreat across the river hexside. Retreating or advancing motorized/mechanized units must stop once they cross a river hexside with no intact bridge (they cannot retreat or advance beyond it in the same impulse when they cross it). A heavy boat engineer unit can advance along with the units it helps cross the river if desired, and MUST retreat along with units it helps retreat across a river. Foot units attacking or defending along with motorized/mechanized units are not affected by these advance and retreat restrictions. In all cases, the stacking limit of the hex on the other side of the river limits how many units can attack, advance and retreat across it (5.0).

9.36: Units not stacked with a boat engineer unit can attack across an ocean hexside at half-strength IF the ocean hexside is crossed by an intact causeway. The rules for advancing or retreating across an ocean hexside with no intact causeway are the same as for advancing or retreating across a river with no intact bridge (see 9.35 above), except that they apply to ALL units (not just motorized/mechanized units).

10.11: Japanese reinforcements can move and attack in the same impulse when they enter the map, but Allied reinforcements cannot.

10.13: Allied reinforcements enter the map at hex 0650 (the Singapore docks), per the Allied Reinforcements card.

11.13: Artillery on its Unavailable side cannot provide offensive or defensive support (9.2), and also cannot bombard (8.0).

11.31: The circled number in the upper righthand corner of all tank units is the positive odds modifier which the tank unit adds to the attack if there are no enemy tank or AT units in the defending hex. So, a tank unit with a circled 2 adds +2 to the combat odds of any such attack it participates in.

11.43: All available Japanese Air units that are not committed to Harassment can fly Ground Support in all Japanese FULL and ATTACK impulses (including CHOICE impulses when the Japanese player chooses the Attack option). All units flying Ground Support return to base at the end of the impulse. In any Japanese impulse, one Japanese air unit can be placed in any hex within range for Harassment duty, and stays there until the next Japanese impulse. At that time the Japanese player can leave it where it is, move it to a different hex, or return it to base so it can fly Ground Support in a later impulse.

11.61: Units aboard a steamer are not subject to supply rules (7.0).

11.81: Active motorized and mechanized units can cross river hexsides normally IF the hexside crossed contains an intact bridge or causeway. They pay +3 movement points for doing so, just like Foot units. If a river or ocean hexside does not contain an intact bridge or causeway, active motorized and mechanized units cannot cross it unless they start the impulse in the same hex with a heavy boat engineer unit. Crossing the river or ocean hexside costs the entire movement allowance of the motorized/mechanized units, so their entire move will consist of moving to the hex on the other side (they can’t move beyond it). The heavy boat engineer unit can cross along with the units it’s assisting (assuming the stacking limit of the hex on the other side allows it), or stay put in the hex where it started the impulse (owning player’s choice). It cannot move anywhere else in the same impulse when it helps other units cross. One heavy boat engineer unit can assist all motorized/mechanized units stacked with it at the start of the impulse to cross the river or ocean hexside (the stacking limit of the hex it occupies and the stacking limit of the hex on the other side are the only limits to how many units it can help cross).

Game Summary: Turn 1, 14 – 15 January, 1942

With that, here begins a turn-by-turn replay of Scenario #3, the historical Tiger of Malaya campaign game.

The scenario starts with Turn 1 already in progress. The Allies have drawn and played a FULL chit (which allows movement and combat), and the Japanese have just drawn a MOVE chit and start the game by moving. The other chits which are placed in the cup for Turn 1 are Allied JUNGLE-CAPABLE FULL, MOVE and CHOICE (which allows either an Attack or Move action), and Japanese CHOICE, MOVE and two FULLs.

The Japanese player gets to use one randomly-drawn air unit on Turn 1, and he draws a Ki21 Sally unit which gives a +2 odds modifier when supporting attacks, and adds +2 to the movement point cost of any hex it interdicts. All units start the turn In Supply, and Allied units are automatically In Supply for the first two turns. The weather condition is 6 on Turn 1, meaning 6 chits can be drawn and played (some chits always end-up unplayed at turn-end, so players have to select them carefully).

The first impulse is . . .

JAPANESE MOVE: The Japanese player declines to break any of his full-strength battalions down into companies, and has no interest in destroying bridges. He then brings in his reinforcements scheduled to arrive this turn. Most arrive on the roads in the northwest board corner, but two infantry and one artillery battalion, an engineer company and an HQ arrive on the east board edge just north of where the eastern Malayan coast runs off the board.

Then all Japanese units move. Top priority is keeping the Allies from blowing the bridges over the Muar, so a recon battalion charges southward on the west-coast road to the hex just across the river from Muar Town. A truck unit is right behind it with an infantry battalion on board, and the remaining Japanese units on the west coast road bring up the rear while those on the next road to the east drive toward Gemas to engage the Allied units on the left flank of the Japanese advance. The Japanese units arriving from the east edge move south toward the coast so their HQ can pick up a supply line from the Japanese navy. Since there are no blown bridges for the Japanese to try and repair, the final Japanese act for the impulse is to place the Ki21 air unit (which has a range of 60 hexes from the north board edge) in hex 0946 for Harassment duty — the Singapore Causeway hex. That will add +2 to the movement cost for all Allied units trying to cross the Straits, thus slowing the outflow of non-motorized Allied reserves from Singapore to a trickle.

The Japanese player randomly draws a chit from the cup, which is . . .

ALLIED MOVE: The Allies try to blow the bridge at Batu Anam, but with no engineer unit there they need to roll a 4 or more on one die to do so. They roll a 3, and fail. They can’t blow the bridge east of Jementah because there aren’t 3 stacking points in either hex next to it, and they can’t blow the bridge at Muar because the Japanese moved a recon battalion to its north end last impulse.

So, the Allies pull an engineer company back from the forward position at Gemas to Batu Anam. Other units from south of the river at Sagemat move up to the bridges to guard them while the engineers do their work, and a truck unit takes a jungle-capable Austalian infantry battalion to a forward roadblock position at Jementah. An Indian recon unit and an Australian AT unit join it, while the remaining Australians at Gemas stay where they are to receive the incoming Japanese attack.

The Indians, British and Singapore Straits Volunteer units near Muar Town move to reinforce the area so the Japanese can’t force their way across the bridge. They position a British AT unit on the south end of the bridge to prevent the Japanese tanks coming down the road from adding a +2 odds bonus when they attack. Allied units in the central part of the board move north, the Allied units on the east coast do the same, and what motorized units there are on Singapore head across the causeway while numerous infantry units get snarled by strafing runs from Sallies. Two British infantry companies take ship from the northwest coast of Singapore’s island and head up the west coast, and the impulse ends.

The Allied player draws . . .

ALLIED CHOICE: The Allied player chooses to take a MOVE impulse, and starts by having his engineer unit at Batu Anam successfully blow the bridge there. The non-engineer units east of Jementah once again fail to blow that bridge, so the engineer needs to move off thataway. It does, thus freeing up the Indian units in the area to move to the south bank where they can start constructing fortifications on the next Allied FULL impulse. Then three Australian infantry battalions plus two Australian AT companies move northward and create a solid wall of ZOC ahead of the oncoming Japanese units. All the Australians are jungle-capable, so they’ll be able to retreat before combat if necessary.

An Indian recon unit moves to block the road west of Jementah, and a truck unit takes advantage of Jementah Bridge’s resiliency to cross back to the south bank so it can pick up northbound reinforcements. The Indians reinforce the south end of the bridge at Muar Town, and extend their river defense line northeast to prevent a Japanese crossing east of the town and to put Allied ZOC on the road north of the river. All the Allied units that are allowed to leave Singapore make it past the aerial bombardment and across the causeway (the Allied player must leave a garrison of at least 20 stacking points worth of units on Singapore), and the Allied player maneuvers his HQs in the center of the board to establish supply lines to motorized units heading north from Singapore (just in case no more Allied movement chits get drawn until Turn 3). Units continue moving north on both coasts, the steamers keep heading north toward Muar, and the impulse ends.

The Allied player draws . . .

JAPANESE FULL: The Japanese player has several artillery units which are on their Unavailable sides since they moved earlier in the turn, but it’s pointless to try to get them to recover since they’ll have to move closer to Allied units this impulse to get within firing range. The Japanese recon unit holds the north end of the bridge at Muar while the infantry unit behind it moves southeast to guard against opportunistic attacks by Indian units that might cross the river and hit unprotected Japanese artillery.

One Japanese column of artillery, tanks and infantry come down the west coast road toward Muar, while another heads southeast to the road junction near the jungles west of Jementah. The Japanese units on the east Malayan coast move south and adjacent to the river north of the eastern swamps, and then the remaining Japanese units move to hit the Australian infantry and AT units blocking the roads to Gemas and the un-blown bridge. They have no trouble moving adjacent to all three hexes containing Australians, but only the units moving down the road to Gemas have the extra movement points necessary to attack after moving.

The Allied artillery in Gemas fires defensive support for the lone Australian infantry unit southwest of the road, thus compensating for the +2 odds bonus which the Japanese tanks will trigger since the Australian infantry has no AT support. The base attack odds is 33 – 8 or 4 – 1, and after the +2 tank bonus it rises to 6 – 1. That’s not enough for the Japanese to annihilate the Australians, so the Aussies stand their ground rather than retreating before combat. The Japanese roll a 5, scoring two hits while taking one. The Australians flip to their reduced-strength side and retreat southeast to the road hex adjacent to Gemas, and a Japanese infantry unit flips to its reduced strength side and occupies the offroad hex the Australians vacated along with a tank and a full-strength infantry unit.

The Japanese then hold off attacking the other Australians on the road, because those Australians do have AT support and the Japanese attack would be at just 1-1 odds (which gives a good probability of high Japanese casualties). The impulse then ends with the Japanese air unit returning to base so it can fire ground support in the next Japanese attack impulse.

For the last impulse of the turn, the Japanese player draws . . .

ALLIED JUNGLE-CAPABLE FULL: Only Allied jungle-capable units can activate, but they can take a FULL impulse. The only on-board jungle-capable Allied units are the Australians plus the Malayan IND company and one Indian infantry battalion on the east coast, but that’s OK since the Engineer unit getting ready to blow the bridge east of Jementah is Australian. It rolls a 2 and succeeds, and now the only intact bridge across the Muar is the one on the west coast at Muar Town.

That done, the Australian forward roadblocks start pulling back toward the river. Indians and Australians break from the eastern swamps and move toward the Japanese coming down the east coast, and the turn ends.

So at the end of the first turn, two out of three northern river bridges have been blown with the Japanese still far away due to the forward Australian roadblocks. The bridge at Muar is intact but the Japanese have been unable to bring up the forces necessary to attack across the river effectively. Japanese airpower greatly slowed the advance of Allied reserves from Singapore, but with Allied units aggressively moving to engage the Japanese moving down the east coast of Malaya, all Allied reserves should be available to meet the main Japanese advance rather than guarding against flank attacks from the east. Will the Muar River line hold? Tune in next time and find out!

Click here to order Tiger of Malaya