This is a fun little scenario. I setup the Americans blocking the road leading south, as why hide them in the mountains, as neither side would win without eliminating enemy steps, plus they get to start dug-in. The Japanese lead the attack with their armor and my first mistake here was outdistancing my Infantry. The Japanese armor pulls up the Type 97’s and Shinhoto’s adjacent to a stack of dug-in American Infantry thinking they would be immune to anything but the Americans risked it all and left their dugout to assault the Japanese armor and as it in the luck of PG dice rolls, they rolled two AT 6’s and took out two steps of Japanese armor with bazooka rounds. I should have reset the game right there and played again but I didn’t and the Japanese fought back for a while but fought an uphill battle and lost 8 steps to 3 steps. The Americans won a minor victory. In the beginning I thought the Japanese could just pull up alongside and eliminate Americans steps but I took the chance and left the safety of the dug-outs as the Americans. Next time I will wait for the Infantry to back me up. It will be really fun to play this one again to see what happens but for now, I’ll put it on the back burner!

Japanese are trying to come down the valley known as Death Valley after dark against US Army troops along the edges of the valley and holding a village at the southern end. Both sides are just trying to kill as many of the other guys as they can and survive through 12 turns. In this game, the Japanese tanks didn't last long, being caught in close assaults on turns 1 and 2, and unlike the Marines in my last game, these guys knew where their bazookas were. All 3 steps of Japanese armor gone in 2 turns. From there it became a brawl in the jungle at night as both sides took turns advancing into assaults, taking a step here and dmoralizing there. But the Japanese took the worst of things, losing an LT and an infantry step in turn 4, and rapidly going down hill from there. By the end of turn 9, there was a lonely Japanese LT one hex away from their starting point on the north edge, all infantry and other leaders having died. The Japanese Major died on turn 8 even. The US had just about rallied everyone else, getting ready to hunt any surviving Japanese troops. In the end, a difference of 7 steps or more is a major victory, and with 15 steps lost from the Japanese to only 7 from the US, it was a Major US Victory. My first serious battle in the dark so far. Interesting scenario. Lots of 2s, 3s and 11s in combat results on both sides, while Japanese artillery did only a little damage when it did hit, and because of visibility of only 1 hex, it was always a possible friendly fire situation, and did in fact do as much damage to Japanese troops as it did US overall.