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.