Battle Report: Well before dawn on November 3, 1942, troops from the 230th Infantry Regiment of the Imperial Japanese Army landed near Koli Point on Guadalcanal, a position east of the Marine encampments along the Matanikau River. As they moved west, they encountered elements from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment, 1st Marine Division that were moving east in response to reports from Naval Intelligence of Japanese incursion. Fire was exchanged along the coastal trail around 0215 hours with the first casualties reported by the Americans at 0245. As dawn was breaking, so was the Japanese left flank. American troops had moved southeast from the trail and were raking the Japanese left with heavy machine gun fire in a symphony of 50-cals and BAR’s with M1 support. Two US squads broke through and went well east of the main position to reconnoiter the extent of the incursion. Meanwhile, back near the front lines, Major Kagisawa was felled and Captain Takamura took command. By 1000 hours, a three-hour close assault exchange finally was resolved as the Americans compressed the Japanese front line by almost a half kilometer. Two Japanese groups were holding out at noon, but one fell at 1400 and the other at 1445. With the Japanese units cleared from the area and a perimeter established, the Marines took a well-earned break after over twelve hours in intense combat.

Analysis: This is a 68-turn scenario that was played using 4th Edition rules and the hidden unit rules from Kokoda Campaign. The victory objectives involve hex control and the two control hexes (one for American and one for Japanese) have overlapping territory, so this scenario involves a lot of forced contact and attrition for victory. Note that there is an American step loss victory option for the Japanese, but an American victory requires control of a given area. The scenario starts with a variable number of Japanese units based on a die roll, and the Japanese rolled a “3”, so they had the minimum number of units for the battle. It also begins at night, so the first sixteen turns are played with night rules. Based on starting positions, the Japanese player has a slight edge since Japanese troops already have presence in their “victory zone”, while the Americans will have to move east to gain a victory. This was countered by the Americans once again being able to put three joint INF/HMG units with a 1 CM leader to make 16-point stacks. These proved formidable since the best that the Japanese could counter with was a single 11-point stack unless they put three units in a single hex that would be exposed to a one-column DF shift. As in some other quests in this monograph in which the Japanese have a step goal for victory, a strategy to be considered would be for the Japanese to just go all-out while it is still night and get as many American steps as possible via assaults using their infantry advantage. Otherwise, with the American firepower and a large number of turns, the Americans will eventually wear down the Japanese units. Another alternative would be for the Japanese to try and get a few units well west of the Americans and hang on for the draw, but the US had enough units in this playthrough to create a strong front line. If the Japanese had a better die roll at the beginning of the scenario, which would have given them more units, this strategy would have made more sense here. Ultimately, the Americans did eliminate all Japanese combat units, but it took 54 turns to do so. Had the Japanese survived another 14 turns, the scenario would have been a draw. In terms of step losses, the Americans lost 4 steps to 22 for the Japanese, which resulted in an American victory.