Battle Report: Long after darkness on September 12, 1942, units from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Japanese Battalions moved north toward the 1st US Raider and 1st US Parachute Battalions that were manning a ridge south of Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. They took fire from Raider B Company at 2300 hours and moved to attack the left flank of the American position. By midnight, they were assaulting Raider units on the south ridge and Paratroopers on the east ridge, but it was slow going uphill for the Japanese. At 0045, the Japanese infantry from the 2nd Battalion, 4th Regiment, 2nd Division overran the Paratrooper position and established a foothold on the East ridge. The US right flank became took fire shortly thereafter but was seldom threatened the entire battle. Japanese infantry continued to push the American left northward, and a Japanese infantry platoon finally reached the ridgetop at 0230. Half an hour later, the Japanese broke through the American left and center, and three platoons were north of the US position. Fortunately for the defenders, their right flank had held and they kept control of the ridge despite significant casualties inflicted by the Japanese.

Analysis: This 21-turn scenario was played using 4th edition rules; victory objectives involve US step loss and/or Japanese unit exit. The scenario is a difficult one for the Japanese because they have disorientation rules in effect. That issue, coupled with mostly jungle terrain and a one-hex visibility due to darkness, makes it almost impossible to coordinate troop movement. Then, the number of Japanese moves needed to make progress often results in fog-of-war ending turns early, e.g. FoW ended the turn in all but three turns, with the first 17 ending prematurely. The US also got a huge break when a “New Orders” event raised their step loss for Japanese victory from “6” to “8”. Despite that change in victory conditions, Japanese units eventually did take out 10 American steps even though 13 of the Japanese units never had a chance to move the entire game. The Japanese strategy used in this playthrough involved trying to get to the open ground on the ridge and take advantage of the open ground to exit down the track. The US bottled that up pretty well, but at the expense of their left flank. On that side, the Japanese units had a reasonably steady advance and some success in assaults. In the end, the Japanese exited three units, which was one from a victory, and the overall step loss was ten for the Americans versus 11 for the Japanese, so the match ended in a draw.