On to the eleventh battle of the Kokoda campaign. It’s actually the twelfth scenario, but we are currently skipping Scenario 19, the mother of all Kokoda scenarios. In this scenario the Japanese have a strong force to hold all six villages, but the Australians, with a weaker force, get to use hidden movement. Each side gains one point per opposing step lost, Australians three points for each village and Japanese two for each.

The Japanese form a line mostly three hexes from the south edge (their limit) to protect the villages, but arch slightly northward on the west side. This gives the Australians more maneuver room and backs the Japanese defense close to where the river meets the trail. I suspect this will lure the Aussies into the larger maneuver area. Three stacks of one HMG and one Eng are assigned to each of the northern villages as defense, but position themselves two turns worth of movement forward to help fill gaps in the line to make the defense look more equal. The plan is to give the Australians a couple turns to maneuver onto the board, and then fall back with two stacks defending each southern village and one to each northern village. The line is a sham to hide a local defense strategy.

As expected, the Aussies move a large force into the maneuver area and hit the line just to the east of that zone. They also hit the southeast village with a large force, much larger than expected. And like any plan, the defense strategy doesn’t survive contact. With hidden units still creeping around the board and strong visible forces attacking I have to hold the line as best as possible while holding off strong Aussie attacks. Luckily the dice are with me, which is rare. The Japanese hold a reasonable line for some time, making the Aussies pay for every effort. The Aussies finally also attack the south central village, which is defended, and unexpected. At this point the Japanese do start to drop some forces back to protect the northern villages, and figure the SE village is a write-off, not sending in any reinforcements beyond the assigned local defense strategy forces.

Chaos reigns on the battlefield. The Japanese repeatedly trade space for time, there are no lines, two villages are under attack, and the Aussies are trying to beeline to the NW village. But the Japanese are giving back far worse than they are taking. But there is still a stack of Aussies wandering hidden somewhere, and the Japanese need to defend all six villages.

The entire western effort ends up a disaster. The Aussies reach adjacent to the NW village, but at that point the force is nearly totally destroyed by good Japanese dice. The SE village is a battle of attrition, and while the Japanese are slowly dying, the Aussies are dying at twice the rate and are running out of forces. The south central attack succeeds in pinning Japanese forces, but the Aussies finally pull back to reinforce the western effort having gained nothing.

A stack of three Aussie Inf with a Sgt make a thrust against the NE village, and the Japanese finally can give no more space and have to defend. The stack comes adjacent, and the resulting Japanese fire does little to the Inf, but demoralizes the Sgt. His failed check causes a headlong retreat at the same time the final hidden force rushes the village (Lt and two Inf) and becomes revealed. With no more hidden forces, the Japanese units in the north central village rush to occupy the NE village and the NE defenders assault the previously hidden forces. With no leader the stack of three Inf cannot assault into the village, and the previously hidden forces die quickly under the Japanese onslaught.

At this point (end of turn 17) the Aussies see any further efforts are fruitless. They contest the SE village, but control none. Dead Australians litter the battlefield, and only in the SE village can you find similar numbers of dead Japanese. The Japanese inflict 18 steps to the Aussie 4.

End score for the scenario, Japanese 28, Australians 4, a major Japanese victory.

Rated this scenario as a 4. I think there is a balance issue since the attacking force is weaker than the defender, but the hidden rules (which I don’t normally like) made this an incredibly tense scenario. Each move felt chess-like, and the idea of the defenders being concerned about walking into an ambush while on patrol made me second guess each move. The Australian player had to play the part of trying to sneak around patrols, and that made his efforts similarly tense. The combat was plentiful, and had the dice been better for the Aussies this would have been much closer. They at least would have taken the SE village and inflicted more steps. Adding two leaders and two units to the Australian side would make a huge difference, allowing each leader to only double stack while bringing combat power to near equal terms.

Campaign score: Japanese 359, Australians 76.