Tubac52 and I tried this interesting, DIY, 16-turn scenario designed by our own Peter Lloyd, as a face-to-face battle when we finally got the counters printed, cutout & assembled. We started on 2 March which was the 82nd anniversary of the actual event and finished it in an action-packed, 4-sessions. My opponent led the Black Force made-up of Americans, Australians and British units. I led the attacking, high-morale, Japanese of the Emperor's 16th Infantry regiment (2nd Infantry Division) on this mixed terrain battle map. Map 7 contains the Tjianten River that the Japanese must cross and push back the defenders that are entrenched in 4 strongpoints. Luckily for Dai Nippon, only 2 of the entrenchments were setup adjacent the the west bank of the Tijanten. The other two entrenchments were not taken before the scenario arbitrarily ended in accordance with the Special Scenario Rules. Both sides drew decent sets of leaders. We used the consolidation, excess initiative and extended assault optional rules and ignored the FOW. We used the following two house rules: 1) Road Movement for Mechanized & Foot Units All FOOT & MECHANIZED units may move on roads at the rate of 1/2 a Movement Point (MP) per road hex, just like MOTORIZED units, and 2) Standardized Movement for Mechanized Units All mechanized units may move through clear hexes at a movement cost of only 1 movement point (MP) per hex, instead of 1 1/2. Add one to this cost if moving up, across, or down slopes hexes.

It took the attacking Japanese 4 full game turns to get enough troops across that river to drive back the first line of defending Allied troops and take the pair of closest entrenchments. An Allied senior leader decapitation occurred on the 4th game turn which stopped a menacing Australian counterattack, before it could get properly supported. Both overeager units of British Mk, VIb light tanks were demolished by across-the-river armor piercing shots by the Japanese type 97 light tanks. This Axis high-point was later followed by both of the Emperor's tank units being halved in later AT fire and close assault combats. Japanese morale recovery efforts and close assaults were exceptional in this play-through.

In our play-through, the Japanese lost the required 5 steps at the end of the 10th turn, when the game ended prematurely. By then, there were exactly 8 Japanese units (two already halved & disrupted) at least 3 hexes east of the river. Allied step losses were 18 and 4 leaders. The Final Japanese step losses were 5 and a pair of leaders. These losses would have been much higher had the game not ended so early. The Allies were still in bombardment range of the river at that point, but not within direct fire range of any Japanese-held river hexes.

So, victory went to the Emperor's soldiers. I give this scenario a rating of 4, mostly due to the artificiality of the sudden stop with only 5 Japanese steps as casualties. My opponent also objected to the "all-or-nothing" victory conditions that don't allow for a draw, since that result more closely mirrors the historic result. We both felt that this one is suitable for both SOLO and SHARED play, and agreed that the 5 step loss rule that ends the game prematurely should not be used.