This is a fairly good scenario. It looked brittle to me and events would bear that out. We were playing with 3 people, 2 on the Japanese side.

Scenario modifications and pertinent house rules:

• Modified random event table
• Soviet artillery group leader changed to a lieutenant
• Agreement that west of river is not limiting terrain, but otherwise like a hill
• Soviet & Mongolian troops may stack, activate, & fire together, but leaders may not activate or apply modifiers to each other.

I deployed the forward group on the south side of the road. The Mongolian cavarly is in reserve, 2 hexes back incase a cavalry charge may be useful. The bridge group deploys north of the road, engineers in the river and extending east. My office corps is unimpressive apart from a 1-10-1 captain in the forward group and a 2-10-1 leutentant in the bridge group.

The game opens with a random event of 2 Japanese planes hurtling out the sky at my artillery. Actually one gets lost (rolled a 1 on arrival), but the worst of the pair, a Ki-21/Sally hits hard enough to demoralize both batteries and their commander. I looks like my dark lick cloud is still hovering.

I send 2 rifle platoons from the forward group to support the bridge group. Azuma & company is making a beeline toward the bridge. The Japanese relief force is angling to hit my forward group on 2 sides. Deja vous all over again!

My reinforcements do not appear, and do not appear again. I lose the initiative roll (by a lot) as the Japanese move up. On the plus side, my OP fire does very well. Azuma has 3 platoons discombobulated, the relief force does even worse on the northern prong. I move some Mongolian cavalry into the potential assault hexes and cover a hole in my eastern flank with cavalry and the armored car.

Now I get some very useful good luck, I win the initiative. The major (rather a wimp actually) shows what his 3 stripes are good for. I activate everyone I can in the forward group, and down the chain. The north prong is again savaged. Azuma jumps in with what is available to press the bridge, but does poorly in the exchange. (Did I just get more good luck?) The eastern Japanese force does better and assaults.

The Azuma force is demoralized or disrupted (1 hex is completely demoralized). The northern relief force is pined in front of my troops. The my eastern side is barely holding on. I launch a weak counter attack at the bridge against the demoralized Japanese, doing tolerably well. I get the second reinforcement group, the first group is still AWOL.

My reinforcements move in behind the bridge defenders as the first of my dug in troops are overrun in the center of the map. But things look pretty good. Azuma is on the ropes with a only an understrength company functioning. I bracket the just concurred assault hex with fire, before the attackers can disperse, some effect. A little more and the game is functional over. It is turn 9.

If the Japanese are to win, they need to win early. The Russians (as usual) win by trading shots with the Japanese. I think my quite effective OP fire followed by the second punch is what sealed victory for me. The Japanese simply don't have a second chance for victory in this scenario.