March on India 1944 (1975)

This is a wargame on the battles of Imphal and Kohima 1944 and came out in JagdPanther magazine #11.

This review first appeared in IPW, the newsletter for all discount games
club members. Contact colin@allusedgames.demon.co.uk for details.

THE MARCH ON INDIA, 1944

Issue game JagdPanther #11

On the 6th March, 1944, the last great ground campaign of the Pacific
theater began. The Japanese launched a two pronged thrust against the
allied held towns of Kohima and Imphal. Both towns were allied forward
supply dumps and the Japanese were intent upon capturing their contents.
The offensive came as a great surprise, as allied Intelligence had
suggested an attack on this scale was beyond Japanese capabilities.

Historically, both locations were surrounded, but Imphal was reinforced
and supplied by air. Neither town fell and they were both relieved by
allied troops advancing from the railhead at Dimapur, further South
West. At the time of writing, this is the only simulation I know of that
covers the entire campaign at an operational scale.

A game turn commences with the British and Japanese players checking
supply. The British player has Supply Dumps, each with its own number of
supply points recorded on a track on the map. Units trace supply to
these dumps and the points thereby consumed are subtracted from the
track record. The Japanese are automatically in supply for the first two
game turns. From turns three to eight, however, they must trace supply
in a similar manner to the British, except that supply points are held
by their HQ units rather than in supply dumps. These, being mobile, are
more flexible.

The Japanese continue to trace supply after turn eight in the same
manner, but supply points become rather scarce. Units without supply
have both movement and combat factors halved and cannot attack. The
exceptions are the three Japanese allied units of the Indian National
Army, who are eliminated after two turns without supply. The supply
rules for this game are its most complex procedure, but are easily
manageable for an experienced player. Japanese movement and combat
follow. Movement uses standard wargame practice, though a lot of the
terrain on the map is tough going.

Combat also holds no real surprises, being based on odds adjusted by
terrain. Combat results are exchanges, retreats and eliminations. On lhe
first turn, the Japanese get a second movement phase after combat,
simulating the initial advantage of surprise.

British movement and combat follow, after which any British
reinforcements are added to the pool of such units held off map. The
British player then gets to transfer supply points between dumps or
transport points from an inexhaustible supply dump off map to those on.
The catch is that these same rail and air resources are also required to
transport reinforcements on to the map. These, of course, are no good
without supply, and vice versa.

Finally, Japanese reinforcements are added to the map and the game turn
is over.

Little exists in the manner of Special rules. Engineers assist units in
assaults across rivers, but not, strangely, against fortified lines.
Artillery have a two hex range and British armored cavalry can retreat
before combat in certain circumstances. Victory is determined by the
number of towns and cities held by the Japanese player at games end and
each players unit losses.

Despite being published back in 1975, March on India 1944 remains a good
game whose rules are remarkably playable. Not suitable for beginners,
but eminently playable solo, its subject has been sadly overlooked by
game designers ever since. In my opinion, on the strength of this
previous worthy offering, the subject deserves a more up to date
treatment to test the mettle of the current crop of designers. Until
then, seek out a copy of this one. You won't be disappointed.

Alan Sharif