A company of Japanese SNLF troops marches down a jungle trail to a village where it faces a company of Australian Militia. But there is something extra in this scenario. The Japanese force also includes a reduced [platoon of T-95 tanks. Worse news for the Australian defenders - they have no antitank weapons, and by scenario special rule, even assault combat cannot inflict a step loss or morale check on the tank. All the Australian player can do is prevent the tank from leaving an assault hex. In this scenario, the Australians try to fight a delaying action along the trail east of the village and are successful at holding the tank in a series of assault hexes. But facing a morale deficit and Japanese assault column shifts, the Australians start to lose steps in the assaults and just run out of troops two turns before the end, ending up with an iverwhelming Japanese victory.

This is a small battle with a company of Australian infantry commanded by two officers defending the trail and local village against a Japanese company from the 5th Kure SNLF supported by a Type 95 tank section. The Japanese have the higher morale, 9/8 to the Australians at 7/6, the scenario takes place at night with visibility down to one hex, jungle disorientation in effect as well as FOW.

Things did not start off well for the Japanese, their lead platoon was eliminated by opportunity fire at first contact and the follow up platoon was demoralized, the only saving grace was the tank section could not be harmed. For the next 8 turns the Aussie forces won the initiative and slowly fell back leap frogging over their forces but they could not fall back for the entire game and expect to win.

The Aussies held up better than expected since their morale is 7/6, but the key was the two good leaders both with a morale modifier which helped when needed. FOW did not come into play for this scenario due to the small force size and limited points of contact. In the end it was control of the three village hexes by the Australians that helped them tip the scales into a draw instead of a Japanese minor victory. VP totals were Japanese 12 vs 13 for the Aussies.

Author	treadasaurusrex (Japan)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Japan
Participants	Tubac52
Play Date	2024-04-28
Language	English
Scenario	KoCa025

This was a 4-session, company-scale, play-through in the dark with the daring & adept Tubac52 leading the defending Aussis side. I had the attacking Japanese, and both sides drew decent leaders sets. This was a relatively-balanced one, that ended in a victory for the Emperor's SNLF boys landing in New Guinea. We played it with the FOW and excess initiative optional rules.

Others have described the action of what is in essence a lengthy Australian tactical withdrawal in the face of a higher morale, combined arms force. As is typical, jungle disorientation caused havoc for both sides, but hurt the Australians more than the surging Nipponese. The final VP total were 15 for the Japanese and 10 for the Australians. iI the senior Aussia leader had not ben eliminated in the 6th game turn, this could well have been an Ausralian win.

This one is a decent, but slightly tedious pull. Reasonably balanced, the scenario is suitable for SHARED and SOLO play. I give it a three.