Since the whole beach was open the Marines decided to not take the straight ahead approach and hit the hill from the flank. The plan got off to a bad start when a very well placed AT gun took out an APC and it's passengers of a Platoon and Lieutenant. This didn't slow them down as the next APC in line moved forward and unloaded in point blank range of the first Japanese defender.

The defenders pulled back trading space for time. Another AT shot took out 1/2 a platoon of Armor bringing the total Marine steps left to 7... the number needed to gain a victory if every one of them makes to to the hill.

Def fire, OBA and on board bombardment fire and assaults disrupted both the remaining inf platoons and the full strength armor unit. With only 2 turns left I was forced to fire my disrupted units to try and clear the hill and assault with one apc into each of 2 hill hexes. A combination of better moral, leaders and demoralized defenders allowed the Marines to plant the flag.

The game ended up coming down to 2 AT shots. One at +0 as the 1/2 strength armor unit drove down the road and took the hill from the rear. The 2nd at +0 as the full strength unit moved onto the hill to claim victory. If either had hit the Marines would have failed.

I very much enjoyed the scenario and playing with Tim. The battle was the perfect size to play in a morning/early afternoon. The well placed AT gun was a thorn in the Marines side that I couldn't take time to remove and still win. While Tim rated the battle a 3 I'd do a 4 or 5 as it was small, fun and as it came down to the last die roll, balanced.