Flush with success at taking the ridge south of the airfield (we played Henderson’s Ridge last time with a Japanese victory), Japanese patrols quickly surmised that the Marines reinforced the position and a follow on attack would most probably lead to failure. Instead, the Japanese would land an attack against the eastern perimeter of the Marine positions in an attempt to destroy the Marine supply depot.

The Marines, now in heavier strength, had formed a thin yet near continuous line on their eastern perimeter. Artillery support had also improved, as more radios allowed dynamic strike support as opposed to the limited target sets on the southern perimeter. Two full battalions backed by significant artillery sat in their foxholes along the perimeter as darkness fell.

The Japanese had landed two full battalions further up the shore, and the attackers moved west through the jungle to assault the Marine positions. Some artillery of their own stood ready to support the attack. The strategy was to attack the center of the Marine line and send an under strength company of infiltrators through either end to go after the Marine supply.

Realizing something was coming, the Marines started calling in star shells to illuminate the jungle line (burning activations to roll fog of war). Things seemed calm along the Marine line until the jungle exploded with charging Japanese (we left a one hex kill zone between the jungle and dug in positions). Half a battalion hit the Marine line. Marine gunfire erupted from foxholes and cut a swath into the Japanese. The charge wavered, and the Japanese troops dropped in the elefant grass and set up gun positions. Marine artillery units opened up on the stationary Japanese and ripped through the attackers. The Japanese continued to send in troops, largely piecemeal, but all came to a halt against the Marine positions. Marines from other parts of the line began to reinforce the center and add their firepower into the maelstrom. Entire Japanese platoons began to disintegrate. Still the Marines held the line, but the Japanese firepower was starting to tell. Unfortunately for the Japanese, their artillery was not as accurate as American artillery. Japanese infantry soon found itself shelled by Marine and Japanese arty support.

Meanwhile the two infiltrator companies moved to the flanks. The left side company found the jungle too dense and began to pull back as a reserve for the center attack. The right flank company, however, found wide fields of elefant grass and advanced quickly on the Marine left. About half the Marine left had pulled to the center to help fend off the Japanese attack. The infiltrating company stole up on the Ilu River and prepared to launch an assault. Two Marine squads noticed the movement towards a weak part of the line and charged the river to contest any crossing. The Japanese company opened up on the Marines as they approached the bank and obliterated them. The sacrifice, however, was not in vain. Now the entire Marine left knew the Japanese position. The Japanese troops made for the coast and tried to push through the platoon guarding the shoreline. Alert to the threat, the Marines opened up on the Japanese and caught them cold, halting their advance. The captain commanding the position placed in a priority request for all artillery support, and was quickly rewarded with a massive barrage by the just reloaded Marine guns. While the Japanese managed some effective return fire, the company was broke and few lived long enough to withdrawal.

With the total failure of either company of infiltrators to penetrate Marine lines, and the main attack being held in check with massive casualties, the Japanese decided that they could not break the weakening Marine line with enough support to carry the assault against even a hasty secondary Marine defense line. Having lost the better part of a battalion, the Japanese withdrew back into the jungle to take the long way back to friendly lines. The Marines heaved a sigh of relief. While their position had held, the point of the line was weakening, and any attempt to further reinforce or create a second line of defense would have weakened the flanks against further infiltration efforts. Casualties were surprisingly light given the ferocity of Japanese attack.

For the Japanese part, the loss of manpower for so little gain crippled any chance for a renewed offensive effort. The Japanese were now on the defensive waiting for the Marines to make the next move. The momentum had shifted.

Observations: The Marines won this one handily. No Japanese exited the board, and the Marines only lost one step. Casualties on the Japanese side were heavy, with approx 1/3 of their force eliminated. The hidden rules kept the infiltrators from having a real chance to decide the game since they became visible too often while still far from the Marine positions (during the night!). Recommend some changes to the hidden rules (only check when within three hexes or in line/range of sight).

Japanese players did not assault. Their view was op fire combined with Marine artillery caused too much disruption to develop a good assault. My opinion is when playing Japanese, assault is your only reasonable chance to affect Marines in defensive positions (as I demonstrated during our last game when I was Japanese). Japanese direct fire is too weak when adjacent to dug in Marines supported by artillery. While the Marine line was severely weakened in the center, it held with no step losses. A successful assault might have punctured the line while there was no significant reserve behind it. Might have been able to race some units through and exit them. When Japanese troops are expendable, the Japanese player has to risk expending them.

Speaking of artillery, Japanese arty was a failure. Friendly fire caused as many casualties to the Japanese as it did to the Marines. Usually when a Marines hex was targeted multiple Japanese hexes had to check for friendly fire. Little damage done to either side in the final analysis, but that amount of damage hurt the Japanese more than the Marines by further reducing Japanese assault capability.

Admittedly, the Marines did roll a bit better than the Japanese, but failure to execute a single assault combined with massive Marine artillery stopped the Japanese attack cold.