The Japanese situation didn't look that well to begin with in this battle as there wasn't too much time with 14 turns to break through the marine lines and reach the objective area. The original plan was to send a few units forward to distract or confuse the Americans while the bulk of the battalion would attempt to wiggle around the left flank of the enemy lines. However I overlooked the "other" section of the scenario instructions and didn't realize that movement through the 11xx hexes was prohibited and that Wayne had that area covered quite well. Immediately the first INF platoon I sent forward got vaporized from a 2X opportunity fire result on the first turn and a few other units had fallen into disarray through failed morale checks. However I did manage to get two stacks of units ready for assaults early on. There was no time to try to weaken the Americans with DF so two assaults were begun immediately against the marine lines defending at full strength, in hopes that at least one of them would be successful. I got lucky with one of my hidden INF platoons making it adjacent to the American lines without being detected which helped on the right flank. But it was the assault on the American left flank that got the needed results. I was able to whittle down the defenders, step by step and after being reinforced. Wayne however, very quickly managed his step loss VCs but I managed to infiltrate into the objective area and maintain a permanent presence there, preventing an American victory. With about 4 turns left to go I managed to extract the necessary amount of American step losses to take the win.

Superior morale along with the Japanese INF assault bonus really made assaults horrific for the marines and three American leaders with morale modifiers were also eliminated before the battle was finished. Japanese and American losses were about equal. Perhaps there is a slight edge favoring the Japanese in this one as once one assault went well a domino effect was created. Disorientation wasn't a problem in reaching the objective area as most American units remained adjacent to Japanese ones most the duration. By turn 12 there was really no chance of driving the invaders back and the Americans even had to call in artillery fire on their own units out of desperation. I had to give this one a "4" rating, not just because I "won" it but that it looked really hopeless for the Japanese from the start though persistence paid off in the end. If the defenders had better rolls with the first fire bonus then the outcome may have been a little different as many times Wayne was rolling on the 18 column. At first I was sure I would lose after that one whole platoon was eliminated on the first activation; mid-game I thought a draw was more probable and only then with only 4 turns left did I feel certain of a win. Wayne stated that he probably would done better to have deployed the Americans a hex back, forcing the Japanese to risk becoming disorientated before making contact, so that only a minimal amount of attacking units would get through. Another possibility would of been for the Americans to push forward and engage the enemy first. Whatever the case and regardless of play balance I really enjoyed this one and glad I got to play it FTF first rather than solo. Also was the first time using the Jungle hidden rules with an opponent instead of trying to trick myself in a solo match.