Battle Report: In an effort to clear the villages west of the mouth of the Matanikau River on the northern shore of Guadalcanal, Companies B & L of the US 5th Marine Regiment landed on August 19, 1942. As they moved west, they were engaged by Japanese units from the 3rd Kure Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF) that had retreated from Lunga Point. The Japanese were stretched south from the village about 1 Km in a thin defensive line; Marines from B Company moved west along the shoreline, while troops from L Company attempted to find and turn the south flank of the Japanese line. By 0945 hours, Allied bombardment had eliminated both Japanese artillery and AA platoons from the village area, so Company B moved westward. Shortly thereafter, a friendly fire incident occurred; while it did not result in casualties, it did slow their advance. Company L had pushed all Japanese units west of the river by 1030, and the Marines had moved across the river to surround the town from the south and east by 1130 hours. Company B, moving into town from the east sandbar, had crossed the creek and chased the remaining Japanese units from Matanikau Village by 1215. Within an hour, all remaining Japanese units in the area had either surrendered or been eliminated for a US victory.

Analysis: This scenario was played using 4th edition rules. Victory conditions require the Japanese to eliminate at least 3 American steps and keep the US from controlling Matanikau village, with US victory being the opposite of these; any other result is a draw. Since the scenario has 42 turns, the US strategy was to slowly move units forward from their initial positioning south and east of the village using the cover of the ridge and jungle until adjacent fire bonuses could be achieved. The tactical steps of bombardment, direct fire and assault worked well, with the Marines hitting weakened Japanese formations that didn’t gain much of an advantage despite the first fire opportunities provided by their jungle cover during US assaults. The Marines also appeared to get the best of the die rolls, particularly in some key assaults, and the scenario is presumably more balanced that the step loss count of 0/23 (US/Japanese).