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Hürtgen Forest - Game Video
US Marines at Tarawa - Virtual 20mm Anniversary Wargame
Join us for a stream where we try something totally new. We’ve been listening to your feedback and we’re trying to expand the rule sets we feature in our Sunday wargames. Specifically, we’ll be taking a look at PSC / IronFist Publishing’s Battlegroup system with “virtual miniatures” on a computerized 20mm 8′ x 5′ table.
The subject of tomorrow’s experiment will be the Marine Corps landings on Betio Island in the Tarawa atoll in the Central Pacific, 20 November 1943. In some of the most savage fighting in what was already a horrifically-intense campaign, we see Leathernecks of 2nd Marine Division up against Special Naval Landing Force of the Japanese Navy.
That’s right … the only thing worse than a battle with Marines … is a battle with Marines against other marines.
Sunday, 2PM ET / 7PM UK
More answers to further questions can be addressed on our Discord.
Here is the location of today's game. Operation Galvanic was the American invasion of the Gilbert Islands, specifically the island of Betio in the Tarawa atoll. The battles took place November 20-23, 1943 ... so obviously we're commemorating this battle's anniversary. 
The initial landings on Betio (Tarawa) by battalions of 2nd Marine Division. The part of the fight we're approximating with our virtual Battlegroup game is shown in green. This is Beach Red 3, hit by 2nd Battalion / 8th Marines. This part was chosen because its one of the few places 2nd Marine Composite Battalion was able to get at least a handful of Shermans onto the island, and we're looking to playtest some tanks in our "virtual" Battlegroup game.
Research on the exact placement of Japanese defenses, heavy guns, and buildings. This island is absurdly small, just 200 yards across at its narrowest point and 1.7 miles tip to tip. and yet well over 10,000 Marines were battling 4500 Japanese marines, army, and Korean laborers at the height of the absolute bloodbath.
Here is my virtual miniatures table. It's scaled to represent an 8 x 4 table at 1:76 (20mm).
Here are some of my "virtual miniatures." We have seven types of Marine infantry (leader, rifle standing charge, rifle standing port arms, rifle prone, Thompson, BAR, and .30 cal MMG) and two types of armor (LVT and M4A2 Sherman). And yes, the turrets on those Shermans to turn on our virtual table!
Some of our Japanese forces, including 7.0 cm field guns, twin 13mm HMG AA, and infantry. We also have some Type 95 "Ha Go" tanks as seen on Tarawa.
Heavier Japanese artillery includes a 5 inch (127mm) coastal defense gun in a blockhouse. This wasn't even the largest gun, some went as high as old British Vickers 8-inch guns dating from the 1905 Russo-Japanese War. Clearly these guns were primary targets for the TWELVE American battleships involved in the operation, especially the old Pearl Harbor survivors USS Colorado and USS Maryland. But still the Marines would have to land against fanatical Japanese resistance and dig the enemy out of these positions.
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