First off, I'd like to say that the Tulagi island map is simply beautiful and comes complete with a cricket field and a few scenic views from atop it's hills but that is where the beauty ends. As a battlefield it is a miserable place for both the attacker and defender.

This scenario was long though it was completed after 97 turns of the potential 137. It's probably not for everyone and it will test your patience whether you play it out solo or (perish the thought) shared; or as the Americans or Japanese. As the other AAR writers suggested, if you are in the mood for an amphibious assault and want to endure the Tulagi experiance then you can bypass this one and just stick with the first Tulagi scenario "Tulagi - The First Day". However, this one is different, even with the initial landing, available forces and VCs; it is not exactly the same as the first scenario as far as the first day goes as you have a few more options with the Japanese in deployment.

In this scenario the Americans are allowed up to 7 step losses to secure their victory by eliminating all but one of the Japanese SNLF or Tulagi Seaplane Base personnel units. There is no real rush to accomplish this for the Americans with the time allowed but it would be best if the objective was reached before nightfall because by then the battle will become very static as Americans are restricted in movement then and disrupted if they choose to move at all. Then there is the penalty of adding +1 to American recovery rolls during night turns along with the increased chance of fog of war occuring.

The first few turns of the battle will decide a lot as to how the Americans will proceed with organizing, manuevering and attacking. The best that could be hoped for is that the Americans not only get sufficient air support but that it is able to wipe out the Japanese 37mm AA gun before it can fire at the landing craft. This is where it is advisable for the Americans to play it safe. You don't need all of the marine units on shore right away and the AK troop transport can hold an unlimited amount of troops at sea and out off range of the AA gun until it is eliminated. Here, after air-support failed to eliminate that threat, I went on with the landings and sure enough the AA gun sank an LCVP carrying 2 steps worth of marines on the second turn with a potential 135 turns left to go! Of course that gun was eliminated soon after with the cruiser and destroyer task force but it had served it's purpose well. From then on the Americans would proceed with a little more caution in securing the island as they were only allowed 5 more step losses for VCs.

The west end of Tulagi was not secured until 14:45/turn 28 and the east end of the island put up fierce resistance before it succumbed later but only after inflicting a few more marine step losses. Then there were the caves to deal with. Because American losses were high enough already units did not triple stack during the daylight hours of the first day to get the maximum amount of DF. The island would not be secured entirely before nightfall. However, by that time, there was only one stubborn unit of SER units left holed up in the village on the northern end and one of the caves had been cleared of HMG units by then. But soon, American losses had reached 6 steps going into the night phase. The Americans did a good job of organizing their forces before nightfall and finally did triple-stack to flush out the two remaining caves but after hours of static fighting tragedy struck the marines when a random event occured and at 21:45/turn 56, "snake eyes" were rolled after friendly fire occured and the marines eliminate a step of their own HMGs! Now the Americans could only afford one more step loss and it seemed inevitable that before those last caves were cleared that the Japanese would get lucky enough to roll "snake eyes" on the 7 column of the DF table before they would eventually be eradicated. At 01:00/turn 69, that is exactly what happened and with 8 step losses the Americans were battling for a draw instead of a victory. During the remaining night hours the caves kept holding on while marines did slowly manuever in disrupted fashion to form a firing ring, dug-in and out of sight on the beach, east of the remaining caves. It was hoped that they wouldn't be needed and that the last cave would fall before sunrise of the second day. Instead, the battle continued to drag on but by daybreak there was just one cave left holding out and barely. Exactly 24 hours after the invasion began at 08:00/turn 97, on the second day, the Japanese were reduced to just one demoralized and reduced unit of fanatical SNLF troops. All Japanese Naval and Army leaders had been eliminated or captured except for an Army Sergeant that had been promoted from within the ranks by a random event. Perhaps by that point the remaining SNLF units had had enough being led by a lowly Army leader and either committed ritualistic suicide or even surrendered.

So after about five days of nibbling away at this one it was finished. It could of ended a lot sooner but then it would of been a Japanese victory. I suppose that is really the only way the Japanese player could win this one; by inflicting 8 or more step losses on the Americans and wearing out the actual American player's resolve to finish the scenario to secure a draw. It's not a question of "if" but "when" all of the Japanese will be eliminated to just one unit. However, there were times when I really started to ponder if the Japanese could of held out until turn 137. For what it's worth I cannot rate this one low, it gets an average "3" for a solo play but only if someone has the endurance. In a shared match, if the Japanese were able to inflict the 8 step losses I could see the American player forfeiting a draw from actual exhaustion and frustration and letting the Japanese win it. The American friendly fire random event is what made this slugfest a draw instead of an American victory as it was the difference between 8 and 7 American steps lost.