Reading over the scenario information the opposing forces, on paper, seem to be near equal in terms of platoons, morale and initiative. The Japanese are on the defensive having to protect the six village hexes, to complicate matters the Aussies enter the map hidden from the East, South or West map edges, their choice, which caused the Japanese to spread out their forces to cover the most likely enemy avenues of attack. Any Japanese units not set up in a village may start the game dug-in, which adds to their defense.

Victory conditions for this scenario are pretty basic, points for steps lost and control of the village hexes (Japanese 2 points for control, Aussies 4 points), the difference in total points between the two decides the winner.

The Aussie plan of attack was to concentrate on the two village hexes along the southeast trail, once captured they would head west if needed to capture the third village along the southern trail loop. This gave them 4 good avenues of attack, two using the trail, and two using the creeks (no disorientation rolls for creek movement), this would give them four different points of contact and force the Japanese to use their opportunity fire wisely.

As with other scenarios in this campaign things did not start well for the attackers, the Aussies initially took heavy casualties when they came into contact with the defenders but soon they had multiple stacks adjacent to the dug in forces by using the combination of trail and creek movement. Since the Aussies in the campaign have not been known for their assault skills they chose to soften up the Japanese with DF first. This was very effective especially when their infantry was stacked with a HMG.

Things were going well for the Aussies until two companies of Japanese infantry from the north loop counter attacked down the trail into the Aussie rear. It took five turns for the Aussies to eliminate this threat before they could continue their advance west along the trail.

The combination of the Japanese counterattack and two hexes of stubborn Japanese resistance (one village, one dug-in), both with a good leaders, a HMG, Infantry and engineer platoons, deprived the Aussies forces of victory, in the end it was a draw with only 2 VP separated the opposing forces. All it would have taken was the capture of one village or 3 more Japanese steps eliminated for a Allied Minor Victory.