The whole scenario seemed kind of interesting but I feel the Japanese have the advantage with two extra leaders, one extra Infantry and a tank unit and a killer 9/8 morale. The turning point happened early in the game for me, as I had a stack of two Japanese INF, one Reduced Type 95 Tank and two leaders, one with a combat modifier of one, for a total of 12 Direct Fire point, adjacent to, two Australian INF with one leader. The Japanese activated first and rolled snake eyes, a (2) and even with the Jungle modifier, it was a 2X applying a 2 step loss to the Australians right off the bat. The Australian just didn't have enough left to control enough trails and village hexes and played to aggressive after this, trying to play catch up which cost them more steps in assault combats.

In the end, the Australians lost 6 steps of INF and one Leader to the Japanese one step of INF. The Japanese controlled 14 hexes of trail and village to the Australians 5 hexes and one other village hex still contested in assault combat.

A Major Japanese victory!

I still enjoyed playing this one, it was fun to dive back into the jungle!

The Aussies set up in a forward V four hexes east of the village. The hope is to delay the Japanese push as they cannot really beat them in a stand up fight based on the lower morale and smaller number of men. The Japanese set up in a line east of the Aussies with the intent of pushing towards the defenders and possibly outflanking them if the opportunity presents itself. The game begins with the Japanese advancing at the rapid pace of one hex per turn. The first couple of turns end early on fog of war which slows the advance even more as the Japanese try to kepp their line straight. By turn four, they make contact with the Aussie defenders, but no casualties result. The defenders retreat one hex to keep the Japanese from advancing into close combat. By turn six, the Japanese are able to close into close comabt with the center of the Australian defenders. However, only MC's result from the comabt and everyone is okay. Meanwhile, the Japanese flanks attempt to move forward and close with the Australian flanks. The northern Japanese force closes with the defenders and causes a MC which demoralizes the defenders. The center Japanese force also casues a demoralization to their defenders. However, the Australians are able to rally both hexes on their activations. Over the next several turns, the two sides trade some MC's with neither gaining much advantage, but the clock is ticking for the Japanese. Finally, on turn 11, the center Japanese force causes a 2x loss on the defenders forcing the survivors to retreat when they cannot rally. The northern forces continue to trade MC's with little effect. On turn 12, the Japanese advance again, but cannot cause any further casualties on the Australians. At the end, the Japanese end with 14 VP's and the Australians with 12. This is less than the minimum 3 VP difference, so the game ends in a draw.

This is a repeat of scenario 5 with more forces for both sides. The Japanese are able to establish a significant superiority in numbers in this scenario and that gives them a few more options, especially in the ability to flank the Austrailians along the trail by climbing the mountain (80 meters along the coastline is a mountain to me). The tanks again follow the coastline and a strong force moves up the trail.

The primary difference in this one that gives it a "4" rather than the "3" I gave the previous scenario is that the Austrailians have a 10-1-2 leader who provides them with the ability to withstand morale checks and therefore hold out in front of the village.

In the end the Japanese strength is just too much for the Austrailians but this, while never a nail biter was a competitive fight and it seemed much closer, mid-play than it ended up.

I set up the Japanese on the xx13 line so that the whole line could move forward using the chain of command. Australians were set up in an inverted v so that they could take chances with shots at advancing Japanese as they showed up or withdraw another hex to avoid assaults. The Japanese tanks were placed in the central hex with the SNLF LT Cdr and an infantry squad. This worked pretty well, the Australians trading space to avoid casualties while getting a few shots in, disrupting Japanese troops but not really slowing them down. The higher morale of the Japanese once again came into effect. The Australians stopped to try to hold the village, and the ensuing Japanese assault actually saw the Lt Cdr and his stack disrupt and then demoralize, even losing the single step of tanks. This was almost better for the Japanese as they regained their morale, as they get the +1 shift when operating with just infantry. Through the last few turns, the Japanese managed to push Australians out of one hex of the village, killing one LT and causing two demoralized single step platoons to flee, but the other 2 hexes held and looked like they would continue to hold after game end. In the end though, the Japanese opened up enough trail hexes to really make the difference, winning 16 to 8 on points. This one really felt like the Australians were doing better, even though they rarely won the initiative, and with their own setup in chain of command sequence, usually moving their whole line on one action just like the Japanese opposing them. I still rate this a 4 as I enjoyed the gaming of it. I would rate the perfect scenario a 5, and one that was just okay a 3, with one that I really don't like a 1. So far, I have enjoyed the play and look forward to running the whole campaign in face-to-face sometime.

This scenario was better than the previous. More forces, more flanking options, a little less fragility to the Australian forces. But the Japanese strengths are too much. The Aussies leap frog down the road in retreat, shooting at the Japanese when they close. This even manages to knock out one Japanese step and cause some disruption, but the Japanese can afford to be aggressive given the huge morale advantage. Once the Japanese manage to lock down some Aussies in an assault it begins to degrade. The Aussies actually hold up the Japanese advance for about seven turns, until the Japanese finally inflict a double step loss. The best Aussie leader goes down as well, and everything else is running to the village. The Japanese control everything two hexes and farther from the village, and are contesting the hex in front of the village when the clock runs out. The Japanese lose three steps and one leader, which happens to be exactly what the Aussies have left. Final score 21-10.

I liked this better than the previous since there was more to do. But in the end the Aussies have little chance without incredible rolls. The Japanese get huge column shifts in assault combat, have superior numbers, and wicked morale compared to the Aussies. After seven turns the contest was realistically over. Too much difference in strength to earn a three.