Battle Report: As the US Marines of the 5th Regiment landed on the north shore of Guadalcanal on August 19th, 1942, Japanese troops retreated west from Lunga Point. In an effort to intercept the retreating units, Company I landed 4 miles west of the Matanikau River outlet. They split into two forces, a recon unit that moved west along the coast trail and a main strike force that moved south around the swamp. As they neared the village of Kokumbona, they encountered service personnel from the Japanese 11th and 13th Construction Units that put up stiff resistance, but by 1130 the Marine units had eliminated the local opposition and controlled the village. However, there was little time to savor the victory, as a group of Japanese reinforcements from the 5th Yokosuka Special Naval Landing Force moved east along the coast trail, shifting south into the adjacent jungle as they approached the village. At noon, the SNLF units charged the Marines in the jungle perimeter southwest of the village. The Marines held and were then reinforced by an HMG platoon from the village. They withstood repeated Japanese thrusts until 1415 hours, at which time the battle waned with the US declaring victory since they held the village with essentially no casualties from the day’s fighting.Analysis: This scenario was played using 4th edition rules and using the rules for “village” terrain from The Kokoda Campaign. This latter step was taken since the town stipulations didn’t seem appropriate for a small jungle coast village. Victory conditions require the Japanese to eliminate at least a single American step and keep the US from controlling Kokumbona village, with US victory being the opposite of these; any other result is a draw. The scenario only has 25 turns, and FoW rolls are done after each side has a single activation with a roll of 15-18 ending the turn. So, haste is important for the US to achieve victory. Starting with Turn 12, the Japanese have a chance for some SNLF reinforcements, which also makes it imperative for the US to get to the village in force early to defeat the weaker construction troops. In this playthrough, the Japanese received reinforcements on Turn 12 at almost the same time the US had cleared the construction troops around the village, so the US troops were able to establish a defensive position in the nick of time. This is a fast-moving scenario with a limited number of units and the potential for early fog-of-war on every turn. FoW was rarer than expected, as only four turns were shortened in this way. The SNLF units had a good chance to pick up the one American step loss needed for at least a draw but did not get the roll needed despite repeated assaults on either the 13 or 18 column. The US had the village occupied as time ran out and had not lost a single step compared to seven steps lost by the Japanese.