This was a 2-session play-through with a PG newbie like me, using the awful fog of war (FOW) rule. I was the Japanese side in this one. The basic drill in this short saga, is all about an understrength American effort to take and hold a well-defended Japanese position. It is completely unrealistic to expect the US side to eliminate the dug in defenders without losing more than 2 steps. There is virtually no way to overcome the Japanese advantages of higher morale, good position and decent firepower. To take the place by close assault is a very tall order, indeed, for the American Commander, especially given the decoded lack of maneuver space!

The Japanese lost only a single infantry step and the loss of a leader, primarily due to my inept morale check die rolls. I had significantly better luck with initiative and combat die throws. US combat, morale, and initiative die rolls were uniformly poor in this play-through, as well. I agree with other reviewers that an American victory in this scenario is very unlikely. We experienced 2 FOW-shortened turns, out of the alloted seven!

Again, as others have reported, this unbalanced scenario is not really a good fit to play with others. It is short and to the point, though, and useful as a learning experience with a historically-accurate map to help acquaint one with fighting in a jungle environment like Guadalcanal. I doubt that this scenario was play-tested, and the victory conditions are fatally flawed, and as such I rate it as barely a 2.