From: "Patrick R. Collins" Subject: Sky Sea & Jungle Replay I've been a bad Patrick. I'll be better. Here's a game post! A tough game, but an Allied win. The Allies took Guadalcanal on turn one. They also managed to raid Baku and severely damage the forces there so as to remove that threat (or so they thought). Turn 2 was even better for the Allies: they got surprise on a night battle! The Japanese forces got beaten badly. But, most ships were not sunk, only damaged. Turn 3: The empire strikes back. The Japanese navy arrived in mass at Truk, and sortied to the South Pacific, while the Rabul units headed for the Coral Sea. Not guessing this, (and no Magic) the Allies deployed in the SP and slot. The carrier exchanges were not good, Wasp went under, and the air groups were hit hard. The night battles were even, as neither side had surprise. But the Allies had to withdraw, in the face of the massive forces. The Japanese then moved from the "day only" box in the SP to the "after midnight" portion of the slot. G-Canal then got the ^&*((%^$^ bombarded out of it. No one left after that! Turn 4 saw the fortunes reverse suddenly. The Allies went all out for the slot, leaving CV's to take on the SP. But the Allies got detection in both the Slot and the SP, while the Japanese in night only in the slot did not. The morning air strikes decimated the Japanese CV in the SP, and a sub strike helped on a BB. At night, the Allies got night surprise (again!) and slaughtered the Japanese. More troops landed on G-canal. Turn 5: The Japanese tried to land troops on G-canal, but the Allies were able to turn back their night only forces, and lack of air cover (No IJN air squadrons for the CV) meant that the SP to slot forces were turned back by the few Allied CV's. Turn 6 was quiet. Turn 7 Massive Japanese reinforcements (which arrive at Truk, not as useful as at Rabaul) along with repaired units from earlier battles make for a renewed Japanese capability. However, the Allies land on Bouganville! The Japanese, sortie to the CS, pound Port Moresby, and take it! Turn 8: This is IT. The Allies mass to defend GC and Bouganville, and to retake PM. The Japanese leave PM to it's fate, and the Allies manage to land, and retake it. The big push is in the slot, and in the SP. The Japanese MUST be able to bombard and control the night only in the slot. It doesn't happen. The US air groups again win big in the SP, forcing those units mostly to repair shops, out of the game for good. The climatic night battle starts with the US getting night surprise, and stomping the Japanese again, esp. now that the US has as many BB's as the Japanese. Things are so bad, there's no point to turn 9. A tense middle game, helped by some VERY lucky night surprise rolls early on for the US. Regards, Pat pcollins@prairienet.org Last Played: Safe Return Doubtful(x2), Siege of Hong Kong(x3), Sky Sea & Jungle http://www.prairienet.org/~pcollins From: "Patrick R. Collins" Subject: Sky Sea & Jungle - discussion It really has a good "Guadalcanal" feel. The only way to keep islands in supply is to control either the "day" or "night" sea areas. To do that, you have to be the last one there, so fighting is needed. Since being OOS loses half your troops (rounded UP), and ground combat occurs BEFORE supply status is checked, you can see that being OOS really hampers your control of the island. Another reason to fight for the seas is bombardment. Having a BB (or SBB, Yamato) work over your base is VERY bad. You will lose some INF, and likely all of your few air groups if he rolls at all well. Since the Japanese have LOTS of battleship types, preventing this is a BIG Allied problem. But you can't be too pugnacious, since your ships are not replaceable, and even if they don't sink damage will keep them out an average of four turns (in a 9 turn game!). Another nice feature is the FOW. You deploy behind a cardboard screen. The Japanese player first. If the Allies make their "Magic" roll, they get to peek before they deploy. When fighting at night, ships are face down, until they are damaged, when they come face up. The only guide you have is that the battle board divides BB's from DD's. Unfortunately, CA, CL, and transport types can be on either side of the line. You also have to watch out for New Guinea. While you can only use Buka or Port Moresby as air bases, raiding Rabual or Australia is quite profitable, esp. if you can catch some ships in port. But, since you need to control the Coral Sea if you capture the enemy field, more naval fights occur, and you really don't have the ships to make a major thrust in both the Slot and the Coral Sea. Of course, CV's and their air groups are also useful for raiding, and preventing sea control. But you will find that your air groups are almost as valuable as your CV's esp. for the Japanese, who almost ALWAYS have more CV's that they have air groups to fit on them. In fact, sometimes you don't mourn the loss of a CV, since you didn't have enough squadrons to put on it anyway. It's this feeling of scarcity that I like. You always lust for more of everything, and never feel you have enough. You often must postpone a push, to wait for next turn's reinforcements, or leave a battle since you don't want to risk losing what little you have. I guess it's this "campaign mentality" that I like. Most of the bonus for controlling an airfield in the Slot is the ability to strike units in the "day" area of the slot. So, if the Japanese stick to night only, your air units will have little to do, unless you control Bouganville, in which case they can raid (and be raided by) Rabul. A nasty trick for the Japanese is to place units in the night only box of the slot, and the day only box of the South Pacific. They then, if they win in the SP, go to the Slot "after midnight" to bombard, since a ship that fights at night can't bombard. It also helps them to avoid the "8 only" rule that restricts sorties from Rabul to 8 ship units. (CV, BB are individual ships, CA,CL are two ships, DD's are four ships.) A neat design trick is the anti air and anti sub treatment. If air or subs attack, they generally hit on a five or six. If they roll a one or two, they can be sunk (or shot down) if certain conditions hold. Simple, yet effective. Now, the downside. The rules are only 8 pages, which is good. However, they could really use editing by anyone living in Homer, IL. Everything you need is there, but it is not well organized. I also wish the naval/air CRT had the rules for losing HD'd ships, and for determining how many turns a damaged or heavily damaged ship is out of the game. Graphics: Generic. I actually don't have a problem with this, but if you only like games that are eye candy, you may wish to see someone else's copy before you buy. The maps, while also generic, are nice in the the Japanese map is the reverse projection of the Allied, ie, Rabaul at the bottom, Esperitu Santo at the top. Counters have only ship outlines, Inf is NATO symbols, and units are generic battalions, completely interchangable. Air units have the outline of Wildcats, SBD's, and B-17 for the Allies, Zeros and Bettys for the Japanese. Suggestion for solitaire players - don't try to use one map! The game is designed so that each player places his forces on his own map. You won't have enough room for both sides on one map. I must also confess - while I did roll for Rabba the volcano, I enjoyed the game so much there was NO WAY I would let Rabba go off, even if I did roll that way (a six in 4 consecutive turns). Say the Japanese invented an anti volcano device in the 30's. errata The rules neglect the afternoon naval air strikes. It is on the Fog o' War screen. You automatically detect any enemy ships in the afternoon (as opposed to the morning, where you must roll for detection). Q's: The return to Truk holding box. If I sortie from Truk on turn 3 to the SP area, and withdraw from battle, I go to the return to Truk holding box. Can these same forces leave Truk on turn 4, or must they wait until turn 5? Can units that left Truk to go to the SP, return to Rabul instead of Truk? Does the 8 unit sortie rule for Rabul also cover units RETURNING to Rabul? ie, only 8 units can reenter Rabul at the end of the turn? Where do repaied ships arrive at? Same as reinforcements? All in all, I like this game. I completed the whole thing in under three hours. Regards, Pat pcollins@prairienet.org Last Played: Safe Return Doubtful(x2), Siege of Hong Kong(x3), Sky Sea & Jungle http://www.prairienet.org/~pcollins