In this scenario the Americans get to set up first on the two hills. Victory is determined through control of hill hexes. There are not enough American units to cover all the hill hexes so the Japanese, who must set up within two hexes of an American unit will be on the hill(s) with the Americans. This gives the Japanese, who are outnumbered and outgunned) a chance to have a turn or two of offensive punch before the inevitable counterattack. It is crucially important for the Japanese to win these early attacks decisively.

As the American Daniel set up on both hills, denying me the chance to get some easy controlled hexes by leaving the smaller hill ungarrisoned - not that I expected anything different. His set up used the heavy jungle as cover, leaving my men in light jungle, or open hill terrain.

I was heavily intermingled with two of his emplacements one on a 40 meter hill and the other next to a 40 meter ridge. I expected to have some success against them in the first 2-3 turns and then use the force thus freed to continue on to contain the Americans on the ridge. My initial attacks were, however, contained, (low assault rolls on both sides). Daniel took the opportunity to advance his troops off the ridge to support some of these battles.

Seeing an opportunity to use another Japanese infantry bonus I counterattacked with 3 full strength infantry platoons and watched as, within a single turn, I lost 5 steps and two leaders (losses and demoralization on the original attack and subsequent losses on the couterattack). I had planned to infiltrate from the assault hex onto the ridge and force him to split his forces. The losses pinned me in and I was incapable of moving forward. I ultimately (turn 8) did win the first two assaults but it really was a question of two little too late. I simply had taken too many losses to have any punch left and the terrain with lots of heavy jungle, made any sort of movement questionable.

If you have gotten used to the fanatical Japanese of earlier games and supplements, with their 9/8 morale, the change to 8/7 must change your thinking. Many of the tactics used in those battles no longer work here. More importantly, your troops are simply not as dependable and are materially less capable than those on the Kokoda Trail, for example. Granted, they are still more dependable than most but their lack of firepower makes it hard to compensate for a merely "good" morale. In the absence of firepower, the attacker must rely on morale advantage. In the absence of morale advantage, the attacker must rely on numbers. In the abasence of numbers the attacker will usually fail.

While I failed in this one there is a real Japanese chance for victory. This is worth a replay to tease that out. I give it a "3" but think there is a "4" hiding in there somewhere.