Battle Report: Fighting along the north stretch of the Matanikau River on Guadalcanal resumed with intensity on October 7, 1942. Japanese troops from 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment occupied the village and east approach, while the 2nd and 3rd Battalions mustered west of the village along the coastal track. The 3rd Kure and 5th Yokosuka Landing Forces were situated further west and in jungle south of the track. Marines from the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, 5th Regiment, 1st Marine Division were 2 Km east of the village along the coastal track, with the 7th Regiment and the Whaling Group of the 1st Division further south. An exchange of fire occurred on the hill 1 Km east of the village at 1000 hours, and the American 7th Regiment took the first casualties on the hill 1 Km south/southeast of the village an hour later. American units moved west, well south of the large swamp by the river mouth, while Japanese units held the ground east of the village. At 1430 hours, SNLF forces arrived from the west to shore up the west end of the Japanese line, which angled southwest from the village for 2 Km. At 1515, Japanese troops began to slowly meld back into the jungle after having caused significant American casualties. The American units pursued them supported by 3 platoons from the 1st Raider Battalion that arrived from the east along the coastal track. The Japanese held a defensive line in the jungle and a stalemate occurred at 1700 hours with both forces standing down.

Analysis: This 35-turn scenario is the first, and shortest, of two scenarios that cover the fighting along the Matanikau River in late October 1942. Hex control and step loss are objectives for both sides. The scenario was played using 4th Edition rules and the village rules from Kokoda Campaign for the town hex at the river mouth. This one is a real furball with large numbers of units attempting to control a 4-hex perimeter around one of two adjacent hexes. The limited command radius imposed by the jungle restricts the number of units that can be activated per turn, and the numerous minor river hexes running across the board combined with jungle limits the movement range. Consequently, fog-of-war comes into play frequently (about 75% of turns in this playthrough) and many units don’t even get into battle until halfway through the scenario. By Turn 23, the Japanese had exceeded the American step losses needed for victory, so they began to withdraw into the jungle to attempt to keep the Americans from reaching a similar goal. Once that occurred, there was no penalty to bringing in the Raider platoons to assist in the pursuit of the Japanese, so they came in on Turn 26, and the Americans had gathered the requisite number of Japanese step losses by Turn 29. There were no “changes in orders” after that, so the game was a draw. Total step losses were 16 for each side.