The Japanese forces dominated the initiative die roll, except for turn two, but struggled to mount any form of a good offense against the Australian forces, due to a combination of factors. Jungle Disorientation was a major one as well as the Aussie forces starting the game hidden but the most telling was the equal morale between the two forces, 8/8 which gave the Japanese one less column shift when in assault combat. The Aussies "bend but not break" defense allowed them to hold on to more of the trail hexes, 14, when compared to those that were controlled by the Japanese, 7. Aussies had good morale as well as a good pool of officers which gave them a spirited defense allowing them to win a minor victory when step losses were calculated to determine the victor of the scenario.