Posting #1

Right now, I have Waltzing Matilda, scenario #6: Steel Spring, on the table. 6 map boards, tons of units, as the Japanese try to take Western Australia with Later model tanks, lots of Infantry and supporting units and the Australians defend with Lend-Lease American tanks, some British stuff as well and a lot of Infantry. Lots of battle area, so armies will have to divide into at least three groups each. Managing Infantry and armor in this battle while taking victory objectives and knocking out enemy units, is not going to be an easy task for either side.

Well, I'll be playing this monster all week and will post as I have time.

Posting #2

Try to organize my units for setup!

I didn't have to make two copies of Waltzing Matilda to play, one will work, as I was only short a few Japanese trucks, which I just borrowed some Italian Truck counters. Also, my home-made counters match up great to the die-cut, in size, thickness and everything. Cool.

Post #6 The next couple of turns will be very interesting. The armor will start having effects on each other. Huge amounts of Armor and Infantry on both sides and both sides are very mobile but still, so much territory for both armies to cover.

The boards are evenly divided, so both sides now control 16 town hexes each.

Posting #7

Really too much going on right now, on this large battle field, to get into too much detail. But the armor is fully engaged and once this whittles down a bit more, the Infantry will play a bigger part trying to secure town hexes on all the maps and maybe getting more combine arms attacks.

Both side are losing armor, the Australians do have armor efficiency, helping them even out the greater quantities of Japanese armor but still, this could go either way. The Infantry units are just starting to rub against each other and both sides and are taking hits, with off & on board artillery, aircraft & each other.

Man I love this stuff. Step losses and town hexes both figure into victory. I assume at some time, this large battlefield will settle down a bit and smaller strategies can be had or determined, for now, it's a head-on collision!

Posting #8

Right now, I am not sure what units to leave behind to defend my existing town hexes and which units to advance and try and take more and not leave exposed openings. And this is true for both sides, as this is a head on engagement.

Posting #9

No time to post any pictures tonight but I did get some playing time in. The armor on both sides, are starting to get weeded out a bit but there is still a boat load, but give it few more turns and it won't be so. The infantry are also starting to engage in a few more locations.

Right now, the Japanese have the advantage in the center group, the Australians have it with the Western Group and with the Eastern Battle Groups it is anybodies game.

The Australian have the overall advantage with Victory Point, gaining more step loss VP's. But if the Japanese knockout too many more Australian Armor steps, they will be able to bring more punch to their fight. This is still anybodies game.

I am going to have to count total step losses after the game, as it's getting difficult to keep track of.

Cool stuff!

Posting #10

The battle is still raging! The last turn wasn't so good for the Australians but in the game, they still have the advantage in Victory Points. Both sides have lost about half their armor and both sides are engaging and losing Infantry & APC steps now, including a leader. There still seems to be no clear winner, but the game is still early, which makes play very interesting. Many decisions still to be made.

Posting #11

The Victory points are about even currently but the Australians have lost too much armor in my view and separated too much from their Infantry while the Japanese are currently using their combined arms ARM/INF better. Of the three main battle areas, I would say the Japanese are winning two out of three. There is still too much battle to be played but the Australians need to regroup some how, they are more defensive with the exception of the large forest in the middle of the battlefield which is raging, with bullets flying.

Posting #12

The main battle seems to be for the Australian controlled town in the West and the forest area in the center. I am not sure how both sides got the majority of their infantry tangled in a non-victory hex location but the Japanese are starting to get control of the forest and are breaking much of their armor away from there and heading to the western town, where the next strongest Australian battle group is. The Australians are also gathering their remaining armor in the west for one last show-down. The whole campaign could hinge on this western town but the attrition factor, as far as step losses will be a factor both sides still have to watch as well, besides the town hexes controlled, which is still even at this time but could change any turn now. In the East, the Japanese have the Australians contained. So the whole battle could ride one the next 3-5 turns.

It's starting to get easier to move counters around on the board now, as there are 46 less units/counters on the board, eliminated that is. Of course the markers are more.

Interesting, I had the Japanese roll a 3X result in Assault Combat against the Australians. They rolled a 6 on the dice with 20 combat factor, had a Leader modifier, a Japanese INF Modifier and in open terrain, bring the result to the far bottom right on the Assault Combat Chart, a 3 result. Talk about wiping out a stack of good Australian units with Leader.

Posting #13

Oh Australia! Army Western Australia is radioing Sydney asking for reinforcement! The Japanese have the East bottled up as a toy, the Center forest group has been routed and the big town in the West is about to be streamed rolled by the Japanese released from their victories in other sectors.

Those new Type 3 tanks were a nasty surprise. Maybe I can bring some rearguard Australian units up, that were guarding exposed town but that would leave them open for the Japanese to just walk right in.

This could all be over in a couple more turns, even though there are many left, we’ll see?

Posting #14

With the Japanese winning by a total of 144 points to 120 points, I may call the game sooner, as they have over a 21 point advantage for a major victory and they are about to take both the Western & Eastern towns on the Northern boards.

I may push the counter around for a few more turns, to see what happens?

I played one more turn and a few steps were lost on both sides with assault combat but the overall picture didn’t change. This one will go down as a major Japanese Victory.

Very fun play! I am looking forward to playing many more from this supplement, very enjoyable. I highly recommend it, download and all.

Also, you really don't need to print off two complete counters sets, as you can sub most of the extra's from other games, mostly trucks. One set will work and that is all I would ever want to make myself.

The missing postings were all pictures postings.

Having read Jay Townsend's AAR, I decided to try something slightly different. Both the Australians and Japanese deployed in two groups instead of three. They moved forward on the east and west wings to take advantage of the spur roads off the main east-west roads. Tanks were split between the two groups and lined up on the center side of each advancing column.

Both sides advanced and quickly occupied the towns on their side of the board. Here the two sides' strategies diverged. The Japanese advanced aggressively, while the Aussies waited in the towns to receive the attack.

The Japanese quickly got into the town on the west side of the board, opening assaults in two of the town hexes. The eastern town was farther away, and they advanced to threaten it without moving immediately to assault. The strategy was to hold the Australians there in place pending the success of the western assault. If the western assault was successful, they could move up and assault the town (hopefully weakened by reinforcing the western town). If the assault failed, they could cover their own eastern town and send troops to assist in holding any counterattack.

Meantime, the tank forces converged on the center and opened an epic tank battle. Japanese numbers faced Australian armor efficiency. Both sides took casualties, but the Japanese got the worst of it. The Australians were helped by the heavy armor of the Grants (most of their casualties came from among the Honeys). What really hurt Japan was the difference in marksmanship. The Australians did pretty well, while the Japanese tank gunners were shooting like they'd just discovered Australian beer. Once the Australians got the edge in numbers, the battle got even more lopsided and the Japanese had to run.

The Australian infantry in the town were able to hold their own on the defensive and eventually the Aussies were able to reinforce the town with tanks freed up from the tank fight in the center. Once the tanks arrived, the Australians pulled their APC's and Bren carriers out of the assault hexes and used anti-tank fire from adjacent hexes to make short work of the Japanese APC's supporting the assaults. Once the Japanese light armor was destroyed, the Australian armor moved back in and cleaned up. It took several hours (those Japanese are tough), but eventually they cleared all the town hexes.

The Japanese on the right (east) wing pulled back to cover the towns in the south, but were unable to cover them all. They abandoned the two small villages in the southwest. They also lost the two towns in the center to assaults from Australian infantry and armor. They ended the game holding only the larger town in the southeast.

Japanese casualties (mostly tanks) greatly outnumbered Australian casualties and, combined with the loss of the towns, resulted in a Major Australian Victory, and rock-bottom scrap metal prices for the next several years.

Author	treadasaurusrex (Japan)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Australia
Participants	NBGB NBGB
Play Date	2026-09-25
Language	English
Scenario	WaMa006

This was an intense & hard fought 13-session play-through with the fearless & redoubtable NBGB leading defending elements of the Australian 1st Armored Division in a 6-map, large-scale, meeting engagement. I led elements of the attacking Japanese 4th Armored Division, in a combined arms battle for critical terrain. Unexpectedly, both sides drew better than average sets of leaders.

Ours is the first recorded, shared play of this colossal scenario!

The FOW, consolidation, extended assault and excess initiative optional rules, as well as these FIVE house rules: 1) Road Movement for Mechanized & Foot Units — All FOOT & MECHANIZED units may move on roads at the rate of 1/2 Movement Point (MP) per road hex, just like MOTORIZED units, 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, 3) Firing Through or Over Friendly Personnel Units — All AT guns, AFVs, Infantry guns (direct fire), Anti-Aircraft (AA) guns and HMGs may fire over or through friendly personnel units. In the case of HMGs, AA guns & Infantry Guns, there must be one unoccupied hex between any friendly unit that is being fired over and the targeted hex as in the current rule (10.1, page 24), 4) Armored Fighting Vehicle (AFV) Consolidation — Unless prohibited by special scenario rules, reduced 2-step tanks, and other AFV units of the same type, nationality, and morale condition may be combined to form a single, full-strength unit. Both reduced units must start their activation in the same hex and be activated by an adjacent – or same-hex – good order, Tank Leader. This action costs both units all their movement points. Remove one of the units, flip the other to its full-strength side and mark it activated, and 5) Voluntary Unit Reduction — Players may voluntarily reduce 2-step personnel units to 1-step (halved) units if they have at least one leader of MAJOR or higher rank among their side’s assigned force. To do so, the unit to be halved must begin the player’s activation phase in the same hex or in an adjacent hex to a CAPTAIN or higher rank. The full-strength unit to be halved must be in good order and this action costs all the reduced unit’s movement points. Remove the full-strength unit and replace it with 2 reduced strength units. Mark both — and the leader — as activated.

We felt that these house rules improved simplicity and playability of this scenario.

Our first session (game turn 1) featured the Australians moving south from the map edge on a broad front with the bulk of their mechanized infantry on left and a combined arms wave led by 4 groups of Honey light tanks, interspersed with 4 companies of Grant medium tanks. The Japanese also moved forward in 6 separate columns, but with their light tanks leading as scouts. The initial victory point tally favored, a pair of fast-moving Australian armor spearheads with a score of 8-6.

The second session (game turns 2-3) consisted of continuous movement as both sides approached each other, occupying as many town hexes as possible. Leading edge Australian units were now clearly visible, and the 20-meter mesa in the central portion of the battle map was claimed by Aussie infantry accompanied by a company of Grant tanks. The initial, 6-column Japanese movement to contact coalesced into 4 large concentrations with the strongest forces on the flanks, seeking covered & concealed positions on the 40-meter hill mass and adjacent woods & town hexes. The Emperor’s inept pilots failed to provide effective air support for the advance, and Australian OBA began firing at targets of opportunity during the third game turn. Carefully advancing Digger units utilized methodical, fire & maneuver tactics as they pushed forward. The victory point score was now 34-30, slightly in favor of the scrambling Japanese.

Our slightly-delayed by technical issues, third session (game turns 4-5) was composed of a brief exchange of long-range AT fire, some ineffective OBA strikes, a successful Japanese air attack and a great deal of movement & digging in activity. Initial step losses were: 4 to the Japanese and 2 to the advancing Australians. The updated victory point tally was now tied at 36, as both players consolidated their steady advances.

The high mobility, fourth session (game turns 6-7) featured The Japanese right flank wing moving boldly forward to begin menacing the Australian defensive positions and 4-hex town on Map 19. A section of Honey light tanks was eliminated by long-range AT fire on this margin of the battlefield. Meanwhile, on the Japanese left flank, a similar advance of the Emperor’s soldiers pushed north toward the 5-hex town on Map 1. The revised victory point score was now slightly in the Emperor’s favor at 38-36, as both players continued consolidating their positions and moving reinforcements to the front lines.

Our, intense, but unexpectedly low casualty, fifth session (game turns 8-10) consisted of the Emperor’s advancing infantry formations pushing a pair of Grant tank companies back from the front line on both flanks. Wisely, these mobile units fell back on nearby town hexes, strengthening the Australian garrisons in both, effectively stalling Japanese attempts at close assault. On the opposite flank, long-range Aussie AT fire accounted for a section of Ho-Ni SPAT guns, that was supporting the left flank Japanese advance, as it drew into decisive range of the 5-hex town on Map 1. In the meantime, the Aussie-held, 4-hex town on Map 19 was now menaced by a swarm of the Emperor’s kamikaze AFVs that were in decisive range. Digger reinforcements continued to pour onto the battle map, establishing a pair of strategic unit clusters in the central & western sectors of the battle map.

The intense, bloody & high mobility sixth session (game turns 11-12) resulted in the loss of 9 Australian and 13 Japanese steps in heavy fighting, mostly due to close-range, urban fighting on Maps 1 and 19. The Japanese managed to establish toeholds in both the 5-hex & the 4-hex towns, and also drove off another company of dug-in, Grant medium tanks in the central portion of the battle map. The Australians continued consolidating their defensive positions, and strengthening their central reserve, while also initiating an infantry probe on their right flank. Both sides saw their initiative levels reduced in fierce fighting.

Our fiercely contested seventh session (game turn 13) was less bloody, but was characterized by aggressive actions on both flanks of the battle map! Japanese infantry pressed their close assaults in the two towns, while an exchange of long-range AT shots and an airstrike led to casualties on each side. The Australian right flank reconnaissance-in-force probed forward, and increased its size with a section of Grant tanks and an additional platoon of infantry. Each side suffered reductions in their initiative levels as losses mounted.

The exciting & very costly, eighth session (game turns 14-16) marks the halfway point in our play-through. Casualties were heavy, with the Japanese losing another 11 steps, plus a leader, while the Australians lost 7 more in fierce fighting. The left flank Aussie probe became a genuine menace, which drew the attention of the Emperor’s soldiers away from their continuing assault on the nearby, 5-hex town on map 1. On the opposite flank, the Japanese experienced limited success in their ongoing siege of the 4-hex town on Map 19. In both urban fights, the Japanese suffered multiple, unsuccessful morale checks, and difficulty maintaining pressure on the feisty, combined arms garrisons.

Our stimulating ninth session (game turns 17-18) was far less bloody as both sides had a good deal of consolidation & morale recovery to accomplish, as well as an audacious, right flank sweep by a combined arms Australian pincer. This action was accompanied by a significantly weakened Japanese siege of the 5-hex town. Over on the Aussie left flank, the Emperor’s infantry & armor continued and slightly expanded their siege of the 4-hex town, as Aussie armor abruptly withdrew north out of range. Only a combined 5 steps were lost this session, while the victory point tally swung in favor of the Antipodean side’s heroic sons at 61 to 59.

The combined arms, Australian right flank advance became lethal in this mobile & extremely costly tenth session (game turns 19-21)! Overall, step losses increased by 17 for the struggling Japanese side, and another 8, plus a leader for the Aussies. Most of these were armor losses for the Sons of Japan. The updated victory point tally had now surged in favor of the Diggers by a score of 78-69, as the Emperor’s initiative level fell to zero. Fierce close assault fighting continued in 3 contested town hexes.

Our eleventh session (game turns 22-23) was a high mobility fracas that cost the Emperor another 8 steps, plus a Major, while the Australians only lost a single step in extended combat! Both sides expanded their respective right flank advances, but the Aussies wisely enhanced their approach with multiple AT crossfires attempts, and a broader front when the Japanese close assaults in the 5-hex town collapsed. The revised victory point score had widened to 86-60, putting the Australians in line for a major triumph if they can outlast the diminished strength of the Emperor’s remaining troops, while keeping their casualties as low as possible.

The costly 12th session (game turns 24-25) saw the loss of another 15 steps of the Emperor’s soldiers in heavy fighting on both flanks. The Australian defenders lost only 5 steps and a leader, as the battle shifted decisively in favor of the Aussies, with a victory point tally of 99 to 76. Japanese air support failed to account for additional Australian casualties, and both sides experienced bad luck in morale recovery attempts. An Antipodean triumph seems certain!

Our extremely costly thirteenth & final session (game turns 26-31) ended with the Japanese conceding on the penultimate game turn, providing the Australians with a major victory with a final score of 128-77. Step losses this session totaled 22 plus two leaders for the hapless Sons of Dai Nippon, and another 9 steps for the triumphant Diggers. There were 15 FOW-shortened turn of the 31 played.

This was an enormous scenario with 251 counters, on 6-map boards, in relatively open terrain. It was well-designed, slightly unbalanced in favor of the Australian defenders, but fun to play & filled to the brim with decision points that challenged both sides. The emphasis on mobility made an exciting, though longish, play-through. The more experienced player should operate the Japanese side in shared play. I give it a rating of 5 and recommend it for both SOLO and SHARED play.