In the early morning hours of August 7, 1942, units from the US 1st Marine Battalion began landing on the shores of Tulagi Island in the Sealark Channel. By 0815, they encountered fire on the landing beaches from elements of the 3rd Kure Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF). A 37mm AA platoon was also hidden in the jungles above the beach and managed to destroy one of the incoming LCVP’s that carried Captain Rhodes and his Ranger platoon from C Company. A brief 30-minute thunderstorm broke out at 0830 slowing the landing, but obscuring the LCVP’s from further 37mm fire until the Rangers could get on the ridge above the beach and engage the forces there. By 0945, the Rangers had cleared the hidden units from north of the landing area, but a stubborn group of SNLF infantry had blockaded the spine east-west road along the ridge. The road was finally cleared at noon, and E and HQ Companies had disembarked in the landing areas. The north seaplane base was also cleared shortly thereafter, and the service units from both seaplane bases retreated to the caves on the south coast. By 1230 hours, all Japanese units were in the cave system. By 1315, one cave had been cleared, but Japanese units remained in two others. A mix of SNLF and service units remained in one cave at 1500 hours, but they were flushed out and eliminated by 1545 hours. The western half of the island was free of any Japanese troops by that time and the battle was considered a draw due to the level of Marine casualties.

This is a classic invasion scenario that has withstood the test of time. It was played using 4th edition rules (including the updated cave rules), and the special rules regarding Hidden Units (#4) and Disorientation (#5) from the Kokoda Campaign scenario book. It still plays very balanced when played under those conditions. Since the game ended six turns early with the elimination of all Axis units, a better strategy would have been to slow the landings until the ridge above the beach could have been cleared, and the initial landing force from B and D Companies eventually accomplished that. An LCVP was destroyed on the second turn, which immediately put the USMC at a two-step loss; one more step loss would ensure that the best outcome for the Allies would be a draw. While it took until Turn #25 to lose that third step, the Allies would have won without the initial LCVP loss. On the other hand, the Allies had good fortune in only losing two steps while assaulting the Axis units in the caves, only losing two steps in the process despite several Axis die rolls on the “13” column of the Assault Table. The Allies had a decided advantage in initiative, winning it on 29 of 32 turns, and there were 21 fog-of-war rolls in the first 30 turns. The final step loss was 4 for the US and 27 for Japan, and the end result was a draw despite complete elimination of all Axis units.