This scenario pits one Marine rifle company and an M-4 tank platoon against roughly 2 companies of Japanese troops with a single step of Type 97 tanks. Japanese get 2 points per step that makes it off the west edge of the board, both sides get the 1 point per step, 2 per armor step for casualty points. Even though the board isn't that wide, with the mix of heavy and light jungle, there is plenty of terrain for the Japanese to hide in. I placed the US captain with one infantry platoon on the 2nd level hill to mid-board/south, the US LT with an infantry platoon, the HMG platoon and the jeep in the town hex that fulfills the setup having to be at least 5 hexes from the east edge, and the US Sgt with the last platoon to the north in heavy jungle to the west of the north-south road where he can observe anything coming through the jungle and shoot or assault as the opportunity permits. The M-4 got set up in the road junction where he could react and move to wherever needed. The Japanese tank came on the east edge of the board on the road and moved up to where the M-4 could not get a shot at him and the Marine infantry was too far away to risk an assault. The Japanese Captain moved on to the south side of the tank, leaving it in light jungle and away from Marine fire. One Japanese LT came in along the south edge of the board with the Service platoon, while the last LT came in just north of center using the light jungle to mask his movement, and the Japanese SGT entered on the north edge with the last infantry platoon. I kept infantry stacks as straight infantry to get their 1-column shift, they will need it since they are below the US morale, giving the US a column shift for that each assault. Japanese moved forward, the tank breaking cover on turn 3 and getting killed by the M-4 on their second roll - first roll was a 2, second roll a 12. Japanese infantry moving along the edge was disrupted by artillery fire briefly, but took some time to regroup, while the Japanese Captain with 3 steps of infantry decided to try to assault the hilltop and take out the US commander. In the center, the Marines stacked in the town succeeded in demoralizing the Japanese LT and troops, while the US Sgt and his men moved back one hex to avoid an assault by the Japanese troops on the north of the board. In the faceoff between the commanders, the Marines got the better of it early on, and Demoralized infantry survivors spent the rest of the game falling back to the east. The Marines in the middle succeeded in finishing off the Japanese middle with direct fire and then moved north to assist with the action between the two SGTs and their troops. The Japanese on the south edge got regrouped and moved west for one more turn only to be demoralized again by tank fire, and then they started fleeing west, the only direction they could go to safe cover and away from units that could shoot at them. That force consisted of one surviving step of Service troops. The action in the north concluded when the combined 4 steps of infantry and the HMG platoon with the LT and Sgt finished off the infantry and left only the Japanese LT surviving for a couple more turns before he was chased down. As the game passed the 15th turn, the US commander had chased the Japanese commander east to where they finally managed to chase them off the board, while the Marine tanks and Marine infantry pushed the demoralized Service unit away from the west edge of the board just 3 hexes away from exiting and into heavy jungle, where the US infantry were finally able to eliminate that last step with a second demoralization. With only a Japanese LT surviving, the game ended on turn 18. This is a good game of cat and mouse for a 2-player game, and Japanese need to try to keep enough troops moving to make up with exit steps for casualty steps, or be very lucky in some assaults and eliminate enough Marines to make a difference. As this game ended, the Japanese had lost 11 steps plus 3 leaders to no losses for the Marines. Great game.

Marianas 1944, scenario #25: Road Block and Company C

Basically, the Japanese need to enter the map on one side and exit the map on another, sure points are awarded to each side for eliminated steps but the Japanese are award double points for each step exited, so why fight if you don’t have to. Both sides have a limited force but in this scenario the Japanese have 4 leaders verses the Marines 3 leaders, so they can separate and spread the Americans out more, while making their dash across the map. The Japanese have four combat groups to the Americans 3 combat groups and the American assault one small Japanese stack. This turned into a big mistake, as it locked down one group of Americans in assault combat and of all things, a Leader was lost. The Japanese were able to exit 4 steps, counting double, so 8 points and the rest of the Japanese melted back into the Jungle, as why risk losing points. The Americans could have chased down the one step of Japanese armor at the end of the game but still it would have produced only 2 points and not have changed the victory level. Interesting puzzle to solve but the Japanese come away with a Major Victory.