The Japanese set up along the xx27 hex row with the AA battery in the village with some inf support and on the ridge on the right with the 70mm gun to cover all approaches. The Marines would have liked to drive down the road and also hit the ridge on the left but they didn't have enough troops to make both moves so they opted for a down the road attack with one platoon guarding their left against the ridge positions. The Marines reached hex 1928 without casulties. This was their highwater mark. They did win in the exchange of fire over the next 3 turns inflicting a step loss and demoralizations on the Japanese occuping hex 1927. In the insuing assault the Japanese here were reduced to the net result of the 3 col. on the assult table. The Marines assaulted on the 18 column. The Japanese rolled a 5 for a Morale check and the Marines rolled a 1 for a moral check. Needless to say the Japanese passed the Marines did not and became disrupted and demoralized. On the next turn the Japanese reinforced the assault hex with two fresh platoons of SNLF one being an HMG. The Marines had not yet had a chance to recover and lost two steps, one to a double demoralization and one to a x result over the next two turns in this assault. The last straw came with a lucky snake eyes on the 7 col by the 70mm and supporting inf. eliminated another Marine step on the Marine platoon on the left. At this point, 09:45, the Marines had only one and a half platoons not disrupted or demoralized on the whole board. So they retired. This scenario is tough on the Marines. They just don't have enough to press through or to keep up pressure when they suffer disruptions and demoralizations. The apparent "easy" assault undid the Marines. The Japanese assault bonus column shift was the key. The Japanese roll on the inital assault was a 5, causing a morale check on the Marines, which they promptly failed. Had the roll been on the 1 col where it would have been for just about any other nationality there would have been no effect. But in truth this early defeat was probably just a preview of what the Marines would have gotten if they assaulted the village, which would have been a harder nut to crack.