Battle Report: After a continuous day of fighting on September 12-13, 1942, units from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Japanese Battalions again tried to clear the ridge south of Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. The ridge was held by troops from the 1st US Raider and 1st US Parachute Battalions. At 1845, two Japanese platoons emerged from the jungle onto the east central ridge and took fire from B Company, 1st Paratrooper Division. By 2000 hours, there was an intense struggle for the paratroopers east of the ridge to hold the line. Reinforcements from the 2nd Battalion, 5th Regiment, 1st Marine Division came up the trail from the northwest at 2100. Shortly thereafter, the Japanese assaulted the central ridge and by 2145, two Japanese platoons had broken through the east central sector of the ridge and headed toward the airfield. The American units were being assaulted all across the front line. The combined forces of the paratroopers, raiders and marines were able to slow the Japanese advance by 2230, despite a small breakthrough that was stopped at midnight. At 0215 hours, three Japanese platoons had broken through the American line. Due to excessive casualties, the US forces stood down shortly after that given the Japanese a measure of victory.

Analysis: This 50-turn scenario was played using 4th edition rules; victory objectives involve US step loss and/or Japanese unit exit. This is similar to Scenario # 12 that covers the first night of fighting for the ridge, although the length gives a little more time for the disoriented Japanese to get to the north edge of the map for exit points. Disorientation also led to an early arrival for the American Marine reinforcements, as a Japanese infantry unit stumbled into the five-hex perimeter that allowed reinforcement entry, so they were in the game fifteen turns ahead of schedule. This made things a bit non-historical due to the early arrival (by 7 hours from that of the actual battle) of the Marine reinforcements. When the first Japanese unit managed to exit north on Turn # 12, the US could no longer get a victory; now, the game changes to the US attempting to save a draw by limiting Japanese exit. To win, the Japanese now needed either at least 8 units exited or 12 US steps eliminated. So, the US went into a “step-saving” mode by blocking Japanese units in the jungle and positioning them to assault with US first fire and ambush. The best approach for the Japanese is to avoid the jungle and take the ridge, which provides a clear path to the north edge, but this is no small effort since the US units have the mobility to block effectively. Nonetheless, the Japanese were able to coalesce strong enough assault groups to inflict sufficient step losses for victory by Turn 32. The scenario ended in a Japanese victory with thirteen step losses for the US compared to 21 for the Japanese, who also had exited three units by that time.

Aftermath

Technically this one is a draw, but the Americans gain a moral victory for the severe casualties they caused. Final step losses were 36 to 3!!!

Japanese needed to exit 8 units to win, and they managed half of that.

This was another fun scenario where the Japanese, instead of focusing on night assaults, need to penetrate the American line. There are some different “strategies” I’d be interested to try out as the Japanese, such as consolidating forces on the ridge for an all-out charge, or avoiding the ridge all-together and try to smash through in the jungle.

Summary: This was an entertaining scenario, if perhaps a bit on the longer side.

Scenario Rating: Average. 3/5 (I'm almost tempted on giving this a 4/5, but it went on a bit too long, so I'm keeping it 3/5)

This one really was like a game of American football, kind of. The Japanese have to exit 8 units off the north edge of the map, with plenty of marine linebackers in their way; or eliminate 12 American steps for a victory. The Americans will have a tougher time at it; if even one Japanese unit makes it past their lines and escapes off the north edge then a victory is out of reach and the best that they can hope for is a draw. Well, this time around disorientation was not as much a problem for the Japanese and 50% of the time units actually moved where they were supposed to go early on and contact was made with the American line in the northeast very quickly. That's the problem with disorientation; once adjacent contact is made with enemy units in the jungle the rule is negated. Enough Japanese strength was mustered to breakthrough early on before the marines could successfully reform their lines, thanks much in part to fog of war and the initial American deployment. By 19:45/turn 6, the Japanese had already managed to get one unit off the north edge making an American victory impossible. After that there was a lot of wiggling going on with the Japanese to get 7 more units to safety and a sizeable amount of American step losses in the process. Eventually, by 01:00/turn 27, the eighth Japanese unit had broken through and this one ended in a Japanese victory. The Americans didn't make it easy but somehow units were able slip out and get through; whether it was from surviving blasts of opportunity fire and OBA or fleeing assaults. It was really tough keeping the enemy pinned down, even when the horde of marine reserves from the 2nd Battalion were released early at 23:30/turn 21, after some wiggling Japanese had moved too close to their positions. Step losses were very close with the Japanese losing a few more but the losses really only mattered to the marines for VCs. It didn't look good with the marines losing 6 steps to the Japanese 9 considering the circumstances. What it came down to in the end was rolling for Japanese units that had initiated assaults to voluntarily exit the assault hexes due to the banzai rule. These guys were too hungry to fight or follow any honor code and the last 2 units were able to breakout and escape the north edge before getting whacked thanks to a very lucky and timely initiative roll.

So it ended with 15 turns left to go as a Japanese win. A few lessons had been learned from the night before (Scenario #13 -Edson's Ridge, the First Night), that the best way for Japanese units to escape was to barrel on through whenever possible. Having more time (42 turns compared to 21 turns the first night) helped also. One thing that may have worked better for the marines would of been to disengage the enemy as soon as contact was made instead of firing away with opportunity fire or even assaulting in order to let the disorientation rule have it's full potential. Of course this was realized much too late and after the first Japanese unit had managed to exit. Eventually the marine lines had fallen back as far north as they could anyway. It's hard to judge this one but know I could do better with the marines in a replay, so it gets an average "3" rating out of me, plus, I like football; American or otherwise and that's kind of what this one reminded me of. A lot better than the first two 'Edson's Ridge' scenarios at least.

My first PG scenario was Edson’s Ridge, The First Night. I didn’t care much for the scenario, but I really loved the PG system, so I charged ever forward while figuring I would never bother with Edson’s Ridge, The Second Night. With PG-HQ awarding ribbons, I decided I eventually want the Guad ribbon so I need to go ahead and play The Second Night.

I am not a fan of random moving, and the corresponding frustration was my issue with the first scenario. Five people playing a game where you randomly determine whether you will actually have combat during a wargame is frustrating. This scenario is a reprise, although the center Japanese force is at the lower end of the clear area which helps immensely. The scenario is also longer and larger, as the Marines have enough units to form a full defensive line.

The Japanese left is always very careful not to move so far forward as to release the reserves prior to turn 25. They contact the Marine line, and eventually break it, forcing the Marines to fall back to a second line. The left never manages to re-establish contact with the Marines, but Marine casualties were significant, and the Marines probably should have pulled back sooner.

The center waits until darkness can cover their shift towards the right through the clear areas. The Japanese right takes a long time to reach the Marine line, but as contact is made the center force joins in. The Marines manage to shake up the Japanese pretty well for a while, but eventually the assaults go in and break the line. This end of the Marine line is close to the board edge to begin with, so Japanese forces can move towards the edge based on the fact that contact with the enemy removes the disorientation. And the Japanese decide to forgo additional assaults and use the combination of pinned and broken Marine units to maneuver sufficient steps off the board. By the time Marine reinforcements arrive it is already too late to prevent a Japanese victory.

In the end, the Japanese win via inflicted step losses on turn 27, and keep going to exit sufficient steps on turn 32. The Marines lose 15 steps vs 17 for the Japanese. While there was less frustration due to disorientation this time, I still was not particularly excited about the scenario itself. An uncoordinated assault against a relatively static defense line is not where this system shines. Better than The First Night, but still only a 2.