The USMC troops are spread thin in this one. I placed the U.S. artillery set up on the northern hill on Board 83 with range to anywhere on the board. Mortars on the next hilltop to the south where they can use their limited illumination ammo to help, the rest spread out in heavy jungle or town heard where the have at least one open hex visible to their east. Thinking as the attacker then, I put the Service and reduced platoons on the southern flank with 2 leaders, the main force just south of the middle of the board and the SNLF troops behind them to take advantage of gaps that the Japanese Army troops uncover. Illumination helped early on, with 8 steps and a lieutenant lost by turn 3, but once the illumination ammo was used up, the Japanese succeeded in infiltrating the needed 8 steps plus by the end of them 7 while the Japanese Army troops pinned down the senior U.S. leadership and troops in the town to the south with a fruitless assault. Opportunity fire and artillery fire caused a few more disruptions, but the majority of the SNLF force was still heading for an opening on the West edge of the board unhindered. Interesting scenario.

Pretty fun, fast playing scenario! The Japanese must breakthrough the American lines and exit at least eight steps to win. I set the Marines up towards the middle of map 83 running north to south as there seems to be a few open areas there between the heavy jungle or light jungle where the Japanese must use to break through. I called it, kind of a middle corridor defense. The Japanese tried to fill the open gaps with units and some went through the jungle as well but with the nice on board artillery of: 155mm, 105mm and 81mm artillery & mortars and the ability to shift their line and fill the gaps, save the day for the Marines. It was touch and go until about the last two turns, as the Japanese could only exit 4 steps before the time limit and they lost there fighting ability as organize units.

The US set up with the artillery on the 40mm SW hill. A Capt. and a Inf & a HMG set on the NW hill overlooking the cane fields. The US also had a force in the jungle east of the road. The Axis hit the center of the Allied line with the Rikusentai. The Allies converged on this attack in an effort to blunt what looked like and was intended to be the main Axis thrust. The Allies were able to get into blocking positions and did cause some casualties on the advancing Axis platoons. They took a couple of step losses in return. In the mean time a large group of IJA made a dash for the open ground at the south edge of board 83. Only two stacks of Allied units were able counter this move. They both were quickly overwhelmed by Axis assaults. Axis win. This was a fun scenario. The Allied set up was faulty. They left critical ground poorly covered. This was the rub; they had a lot of frontage to cover and not a large force. The Japanese zigged one way pulling the defense with them and zagged another,leaving Allied platoons beating the air. Faked out on the misdirection play. First down Yokohama. Move the chains.