The Australians are tasked with defending Isurava against a larger force of Japanese. They must also defend a parallel track to keep the Japanese from circling around their flank and surrounding them. Sides gain victory points for holding villages and destroying enemy steps.

The Australians rolled poorly for most of the game (never above 4 on the Assault Combat Chart and usually in the middle of the Direct Fire table), but the real problem was the size of the Japanese force and their morale. The Japanese could assault almost with impunity, since they regularly got +3 columns due to morale, leaders and the Japanese infantry assault bonus. Any Japanese units not killed outright recovered quickly even if demoralized, which they rarely were. By halfway through the scenario, the Japanese had captured three of six villages and wiped out 25 Australian steps for the loss of four Japanese.

I do plan to try this one again with different morale levels. The Australian 39th Infantry Battalion fought very well at Isurava, despite being exhausted from jungle living and continuous fighting. They held the Japanese the entire day with some help from the 2/14th. I'm going to try this with 8/8 morale for the 39th, and hope that that and better die rolling will give them a fighting chance.

Why do I care enough to try this again? I just finished reading Those Ragged Bloody Heroes by Peter Brune and I really admire what the Australians accomplished in slowing and eventually stopping the Japanese in appalling conditions. My personal opinion is that the 39th's assigned 7/6 morale is an insult to those brave men.