I am sorry for the delay in writing up this battle report, but at least I finally did get there and only six months late!

The oil refineries at Balikpapan

Two were destroyed by the Japanese and stay US bombing (really), limiting the VP’s the Australians could achieve.

Part of the US naval support.

The jungle at the immediate outskirts of Balikpapan.

The jungle was made of of sheets of artificial plants and was scattered across the table.

Japanese artillery on Coke Hill.

The “F – shaped) table. At the top Balikpapan, centre Coke Hill and under the sheet the airport which only those of us who were familiar with the battle guessed. I was to busy pushing the Australians along Milford Highway to get in pics of the Battle at the airfield, which again the Japanese defied history to win.

The swamp beyond Balikpapan

More views of the table.

The Australians hit the beaches at Balikpapan.

Unloading with Matilda support.

Japanese bunkers open fire on the advancing Aussies.

The Matilda destroys one of the bunkers.

The Buffaloes 50 cal machine guns provide withering fire.

More landing craft approach on the far right.

The second wave landing

Japanese counter attack

A unit of Japanese destroyed in a bulding

Advancing along Milford Highway, Matilda tanks with US air support.

Two hours later in game time. The Australians advance along Milford Highway to their objective of Coke Hill.

Japanese try to slow down the advance of the Matildas. This was the largest deployment of Australian armour in the Pacific.

A traffic jam on the road( track) provides a juicy target for Japanese air support. Historically the allies had total air superiority and allowing this was one of the design flaws of the scenario as their strafing caused extensive damage to the Australian advance.

Note the Australian support bulldozer. Two were historically deployed.

The US quickly down the Betty (I think) just south west of the Lipton’s tea plantation.

Australians still advancing at the close of the game far short of their objective of Coke Hill.

The game worked really well and there are only just a few things we will change for the future.

The Japanese air support was one, and allowing the Japanese to deploy wherever the wished meant instead of being strung out along Milford Highway they were able to concentrate at the first bottleneck.

A great game which allowed me to finally see all of my Australians on the table together.