The Australians have to try to slowly give ground and cause casualties so they can hold onto a majority of the trail hexes and cause more casualties than they receive. The Japanese have lots more troops to try to take trail hexes and cause casualties while trying to keep their own down. The Australians need to fire and withdraw, avoiding assaults, while the Japanese need to get into assaults and pin down the Australians while flankers move around and take more trail hexes. My fighting withdrawal lasted just a few turns before disrupted units got pinned down in assaults while causing few casualties among the Japanese troops. The Japanese did lose their initiative rating first when they hit the 3 step mark but the Australians matched them soon after with their 5 step losses, and all too quickly, flanking forces pinned the whole Australian column in assault while others skirted them and took the rest of the trail. Australians managed to hold the initiative most of the game but it did little good when the dice were not on their side. Good column shots ended up with lots of 7s while low column shots by the Japanese disrupted and demoralized troops, and then the assaults tied them down. Even with passing morale checks turn after turn, they just got pounded again next turn. After 17 turns, one Japanese stack of LT and 3 Infantry platoons had managed to hit the southern most hex of the trail, and the only trail points the Australians could claim were the 3 they occupied while surrounded and trading shots. In the end, Japanese had 30 points to only 9 for the Australians for a Japanese Major Victory.

On to the eighth battle of the Kokoda campaign, the beginning of the second half. As I rate scenarios, the ratings will be based on the scenario as a stand alone scenario, not part of the campaign. I’m not sure if early scenarios benefit one side with the intent to gain a point lead, with later scenarios designed to close that gap, so I need to consider each as a stand alone.

Again the Australians are trying to delay the advance of the Japanese troops, very similar to scenario 13. Except the Aussies have fewer troops, half the HMGs, the Japanese outnumber them nearly 2-1, and the Australians have a measly three leaders. My opponenet set up across the width of the map to try and discourage my last scenario “maneuver around the flanks” trick. The Japanese enter from the north. Victory is based on step losses and trail/village hexes controlled.

The Japanese come on the board and quickly press to gain the switchback portion of the trail. The switchback means 11 of the 28 VP hexes are within four hexes of the north edge. This is a HUGE advantage for the Japanese, and the maneuver game encourages the Australians to back away and yield this rich source of victory points. The Australians are particularly nagged by having to share a leader between two stacks in the jungle. The Japanese are making their way around anything the Aussies can put in their way.

Finally, on turn 6, after some ineffective sniping by both sides, the Australians are forced to attempt a retreat to re-establish a defense position around the village at 0911. The Japanese are starting to move behind them. The Australians move along the trail adjacent to a stack of Japanese, and the opfire comes in on the 22 column. The first shot hits one of his two HMGs with a ‘3,’ causing one step loss and disrupting the Lt Col, and the second shot rolls snake eyes and wipes out the Inf. A follow-on opfire by the Aussies takes out a step of advancing Japanese Engineers, but the three step losses of Australian troops dooms them.

The Australian position in the village comes under threat. The Japanese fire repeatedly to try softening the position with little luck. The assault goes in, as does the assault against an Inf and half HMG led by the Lt Col. To add insult to injury, the Lt Col dies in the assault, the troops in the village are frozen in place, and half the eastern units, which had been moving towards the trail, are also frozen in place. The Japanese jump all over these units as well as finishing the flanking move to get on the trail behind the Aussies.

From here the disaster is complete. By turn 13 of 24 the Australians are down to four units on the board, all locked in assault hexes, and the Japanese are three turns from covering the entire trail. I offer my opponent that he may withdrawal his remaining units safely if he agrees they will not approach the trail while doing so in exchange for not playing the next 11 turns. Given his frustration at being able to do absolutely nothing he happily agrees and we stop the game. The Australians suffer 15 step losses to the Japanese three, and all VP hexes are Japanese.

End score for the scenario, Japanese 43, Australians 3.

Rated this scenario as a 2. It is an Australian disaster from the beginning. The opfire was incredibly lucky, but even so the Australians are totally mismatched. While in scenario 13 I felt the Australians were playing for a draw, it was a fun scenario with both sides having plenty to do. This scenario doesn’t come close. The Australians are playing for a minor loss, and will likely be bored and frustrated well before the game ends. They are heavily outnumbered, and the map setup gives the Japanese a huge advantage right off the bat. I think the scenario is salvageable, but only with the following changes:

1) Flip the map so the switchback doesn’t give the Japanese such an early advantage in VP hexes, or better yet eliminate the trail from 0616 to 0714 and connect 0717 to 0814 via 0716 and 0715.

2) Reduce to 20 turns.

3) Give the Australians a Lieutenant.

4) Preferably, also give the Australians one more HMG.

5) Maybe give the Australians another LT and up to 3 Inf, or subtract that from the Japanese starting forces.

Campaign score: Japanese 264, Australians 46.