From: Doug Murphy Subject: S&T 178: Guadalcanal game (long) Why do I seem to get S&T a week or so ahead of the world and everything else a month later...inquiring minds want to know! Anyway, this time/space flux allowed me to tweak the latest S&T game this past weeked. Designed by Chester Hendrix. Components: 1 17x22 map, covering Guad. northern shore betwixt the Tenaru to the Matankau rivers (scaled at one hex: 600 yds), three surrounding holding boxes, damage VP, and other tracks, CRT, TEC and other relevant charts... only 130 counters, units at batt. level w/Nato symbology 'cept an armor, amtrac, IJN ships and air units which have a silhouette. Interesting use of color on Beth Queman's markers and David McElhannon's map, ie. the US air markers show SBDs colored blood red. You must photocopy two pages of the reinforcement chart...eight pages of rules. Game runs from Sept '42 through Jan '43. No turn scale noted (must be around a week-10 days) Rules: This is a good game for beginners, as it's pretty basic. there were three different developers noted...and IMHO, it shows as the rules are a bit convoluted in that you have to hunt a bit for things and there are no examples of play...but since the mechanics are so familiar, it isn't a big problem... Units contain combat strength, movement factor. Units deployed face down (revealed only at combat). Sequence of Play: Jap Reinforcements, Jap bombard airfield, Jap move, Jap combat, US Reinforcements, US move, US combat, joint Admin segment. ZOCs ban direct movement from one to another, and are not negated by friendlies. ZOCs don't force combat, but if a unit attacks, all adjacent enemy units must be attacked and since a unit cannot attack multiple enemy units by itself, this led to a few arguments as the combat "requirement" spread fighting down the "line." Stacking: 3 units per hex applies only at end of move / combat segments. Overstacking due to combat retreats prohibited. Overstacked units are eliminated... Movement is interesting because of the off-map areas. Units move from off-map to map just paying the terrain cost; Jap. units with 2 mps may move off-map. Jap units can move between offmap areas by expending their entire movement allowance. SNLF units can amphib assault by starting in either the east or west offmap area, expending half their mps and then enter any of 9 numbered assault hexes...they must immediately land on the noted beach hex by expending a MP. The rules say a unit cannot land in a US-occupied beach hex...which led to a question as to whether the unit stays "at sea" or is prohibited from that particular hex in the first place...we said the latter. Combat is pretty traditional...add up strengths, adjust for terrain, arty pts, US ground support, IJN naval bombardmt, make an odds ratio and roll on the Crt with appropriate drms. We puzzled over the CRT for quite a while. While it is noted as an odd-ration CRT, there are two columns across the top of it with numbers for each side, like this... Japanese 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7+ US or less 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7+ There was a hint on the map that noted odds of less/greater than 1:3 having a drm. So we finally decided the columns represented the combat strength involved in a battle for each side...it seemed to work...Combat results are bloody, with each result noting a unit loss (with some calling for an additional retreat). Re bombardment of Henderson and in combat...There are 4 "Betty" bombers, 4 IJN cruisers, 4 "SBD" units, and Yamato unit. We used each to represent 1 bombardment or 1 air point although nothing is noted about counter use in the rules. The Air/Naval Bombardment Table notes drms: we questioned whether the -1 drm for aerial bombardment was in addition to the -2 for Japanese air units...we said yes. Henderson damage generally halves US air points...Jap roll for attrition, adjusts drm by Henderson damage, then removes a unit if roll equals or is higher than number noted for that turn...Henderson can be repaired... Victory: Jap. automatic: 20 Vps / US auto. "less than zero" Vps. Only Jap. earns Vps. gained for eliminating US units, taking a hex of Henderson, having units on map at end of game. Jap. loses Vps for having no units on map at game end...If no auto victory, tote up pts. There are optional rules adding Japanese units and Yamato. How it plays: the very low unit density and small map make this a very playable game which can be left in the middle of the dining room table, away from little hands. The game rhythm is set by the damage and repair of Henderson...the math involved in the bombardment segment caused me to write reminder notes on the map...and slowed game play significantly. Although it wasn't noted anywhere, we made terrain effects on combat cumulative. We also made both players commit arty to combat simultaneously instead of US first. The various air/naval drms to combat must be tracked carefully. We also made that cumulatively and followed the order of combat (which BTW had nine separately lettered steps (A-J missing g). We didn't like the required combat rule (aka if a unit attacks, all adjacent enemy units must be attacked) but understand it. Holding most of the invasion hexes prevented SNLF landings in all three of our games. The US won the first two games...and we used the optional Rabaul units and convoyed units in our third try in which the Japanese overwhelmed the US.... Unofficial Errata thus far... Certain terrain types noted in rules as blocking ZOC, but missing from TEC. Map missing a distinct fourth offmap area representing Jap. amphib assault capability as well as a "US Offshore Area." The Airfield Bombardment Table is the Air/Naval Bombardment Table. Doug Murphy