The marines begin dug-in and do their best to form a solid line to cover two ridges in order repell an imminent Japanese night attack. They are outnumbered three battalions to one and have just two platoons of infantry in reserve to reinforce their lines with. Most of the Japanese begin deployed just one hex away in the cover of night and jungle so their attack will be sudden and most brutal. The Americans do start off on the higher ground which will give them a slight defensive advantage against DF and in the first assault round but after that the advantage will go to Japanese with their higher moral of 9/8 in close quarter combat. Knowing that night-time/jungle fog of war will be a factor the Japanese only focus on attacking the eastern ridge at first leaving a whole battalion hidden in the jungle on the west flank as a reserve.

Immediately on the first turn the Japanese take a few step losses from opportunity fire but that doesn't do much to slow them down and assaults begin immediately at 02:45/turn 2. A HMG occupied hex on the ridge is targeted first. Marine first fire is ineffective and the assault takes out a step of the sole HMG unit there and then on the following turn the American line is already broken after the remaining HMG step is eliminated. American reserves are sent to try to plug in the gap. American OBA is called down on the now Japanese occupied hex but to no effect. Other assaults on the eastern ridge begin and the Japanese take a few more losses and soon their intiative drops by one point by 04:00/turn 7. However the sacrifice seems to be paying off with the banzai attacks as another marine postion falls forming a two-hex wide corridor through the American lines. Now the Japanese press on through with a few platoons and are able to maintain a presence in the 17xx and 18xx zone to fluster the American geographical objectives and will soon make for the two hex radius of their own objective of hex 2031.

The marines are "up the creek" as if they break off units from the western lines then the remaining Japanese battalion will easily take the other ridge. At 04:45/turn 10, with dawn approaching, Japan only needs to eliminate 2 more marine steps for a win while the Americans need to eliminate 6 more Japanese steps and/or clear out the infiltrators from behind their lines. Now one platoon of Japanese INF have made it to their objective behind the lines with others in tow and are adjacent to the dug-in 81mm mortar unit and the American Major. OBA and mortar fire is called down but has no effect. At 05:15/turn 12 the 81mm is easily assaulted and eliminated along with the Major resulting in decapitation! This prevents American units from moving at crucial areas and the Japanese capitalize on this making more assaults closer to the western ridge. Just like clockwork, as the sun begins to rise the "sleeping" Japanese battalion begins to emerge from their jungle positions to threaten the western ridge. It is also at this time that the Japanese have met their enemy step loss requirements.

With daybreak the Americans no longer have a line to hold on to but are just barely hanging on to single, isolated positions on each ridge. Am aerial view of the map is a horrfic sight at first glance but now the Japanese have their own problems as they cannot take many more losses without forfeiting their victory. They are left stuck and engaged in two separate ridge assaults and damned Japanese doctrine forbids them to exit assaults that they have initiated. Now with full visibilty American OBA will be even more deadlier and the marines are willing to call down artillery on their own postions if need be before time runs out. What the Japanese do attempt to do is withdraw all other units that are not assaulting back into the jungle to get them out of harm's way but the Americans catch one platoon before it can move away with HMG fire and get a very lucky roll on the 16 column with "snake eyes" and eliminates the entire unit! Eventually it comes down to the Americans just having to eliminate one more Japanese step to force a draw and it is certain that one way or the other they will do so; whether through calling down artillery on their own or counter-assaulting and there is nothing that the Japanese units assaulting the ridges can do about it. There are also two platoons of Japanese INF that are isolated way behind enemy lines, dug-in a jungle hex with a nice view of the sea; a few lone LTs are sent in that direction to call down OBA on them as there are no good ordered American combat units to spare in order to hunt them down. Time starts to run out and the Japanese refrain from continuing their assaults in vain hope of not taking further losses. Then at 07:00/turn 19 an American counter-assault is made with nothing much to lose and the Japanese lose their 16th step ending the battle in a draw.

A very intense scenario from start to finish. I believe it is a very tough one for the Americans to all out win but just as tough for the Japanese to hang on as well after meeting their VCs; whether through geograpical or enemy step loss VCs. It was really hard to get the Japanese to stop attacking after so much damage had been done to the American lines; not just because of the banzai rule but as the player also! The Japanese player will have to restrain himself from overdoing it and know when to call off the attack; to basically "hit it and quit it". This takes some discipline and seems somewhat uncharacteristic of the Japanese in this given situation as the airfield was within in their grasp. However this scenario does take place towards the end of the Guadalcanal campaign and by this time the Japanese are in poor shape from exhaustion, disease and starvation along with many of their attacks limited in objectives or motivation. I think 22 turns is a perfect length for this one; had it lasted any longer then without a doubt the entire marine force could easily of been wiped out. Rated a "4" for either solo or competitive play and one of the best in the box.