Getting back to the trail after being away for a few weeks, I set up the Australians in 3 groups, each centered around an LTC with the Colonel and 2 infantry platoons holding the heights on the big hill mass, 2 groups on that mass and one on the smaller hill mass. Japanese have to achieve a selection of objectives, so I lined them up and entered with the LTC in the middle with chain of command spreading out left and right from there, so the majority would move on a single activation, leaving 2 LTs with infantry to pick up additional activations to keep up untill some part of the line made contact. The Australians had pushed one Cpt with an Infantry and an HMG out as a tripwire, to sound an alarm when contact was made. The intent was to get a shot off and then fall back, but the Japanese got the initiative on the following turn and the forward element became engaged in assault. It did have a secondary effect of splitting the Japanese force up, and for several turns, the Japanese forgot about capturing trail hexes, one of the 4 objectives, to try to get flankers out right and left to try to take both hill masses from the outside, where defences had least expected an attack. The western hill mass became a bit of a quagmire for the Japanese as they became locked in assault and traded losses where the Australians were better able to accept losses. The eastern groups managed better and assaulted all along the hill and pushed a flanking force around to try to take as many of the 80meter hill tops as possible while the Australian troops were nailed in place with asaults. Because of the combination of jungle and often firing or assaulting up hill, the Japanese advantages didnt help much, but superior morale leaders were a contributing factor to the end results. The first Japanese casualties also ended in the loss of the Japanese LTC, but his loss went unnoticed as the majors picked up and moved on. Once things became more bogged down in assault, one Japanese major made the best of things and wandered casually along the trail, taking the entire length of it from the crossroads to the south edge, so that the whole thing was up for the Japanese victory. In the last few turns, as Japanese losses finally started to mount and some Australian units became available, an Australian Captain with a good force of infantry moved south on the trail taking back most of the southern half. Another Australian force was able to reclaim all the 80m hexes and most of the 60 as well. It came down to the final shots, the final turn and the final count for the Japanese to pull out a minor victory, mostly due to the large numbers of australian casualties and the slight advantage in trail hexes held. Great game.