From: RayFreeman@aol.com Subject: Review of Victory in the Pacific Alan, I am pleased to submit my review of Avalon Hills classic game on World War II in the pacific theater, Victory in the Pacific. I hope you will post it to your Web-Grognards site. Ray Victory in the Pacific The Avalon Hill Game Company Published: 1977 2nd Edition Rules: 1981 Design Development: Richard Hamblen Victory in the Pacific is a two player wargame which covers World War II in the Pacific Theater, from December 7, 1941 to October 1944, the time period after which the ability of the Japanese Empire to offer meaningful resistance ended. The game won a Charles Roberts Award for best strategic game in 1977. VITP remains the only strategic level treatment of the entire Pacific theater which is playable in a single session. A game takes from 3 to 5 hours to complete, including set up time. The design is based on War at Sea, an earlier AH design by John Edwards set in the Atlantic, but has been modified considerably and is a richer, more complex, and significantly more skill oriented game than its predecessor. Hamblen's extension of Edwards original concept is brilliant in its execution, altering some WAS rules and adding just the right amount of chrome to create a truly fabulous wargame. The components include a standard Avalon Hill flat box, mounted 22" x 28" mapboard, two sided 3/4 inch square counters representing ships, smaller auxiliary and informational counters, two cardstock reinforcement sheets, and an eight page rulebook. The board is divided into 13 irregularly shaped areas which cover the Pacific from Ceylon to Pearl Harbor, and Attu to Australia. There are 8 major ports, such as Pearl Harbor, the Yokosuka Navy Yard, Truk, Singapore and Australia to which ships must return at the end of each turn; and 14 bases at which ships may also be based but under more restrictive conditions. Ports may only be captured by isolation, that is one side must control the waters (sea area) surrounding the port for two consecutive turns. Bases can be converted by isolation or by invasions conducted by amphibious units of either side. The navies of the Japanese Empire, USA, Britain, the Netherlands, and Australia are represented, but the US Navy is by far the major Allied force. The ship counters include all fleet and light aircraft carriers, battleships, and heavy cruisers used by both sides. There is a single submarine counter for each side, but only one is in play at a time. The main function of subs in VITP is carrier hunting. Ships have three numerical factors which represent gunnery, armor, and speed. Aircraft carriers also have an airstrike factor. In combat a ship rolls a number of 6 sided dice equal to its gunnery or airstrike factor. First line carriers, modern US battleships (radar), and Japanese cruisers (long lance torpedo equipped) all get DRMs to their attack factors. Other combat pieces include 6 Japanese land based air flotillas (LBA), 10 Allied LBA which enter in pairs over the first 5 turns, 3 Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces, and 5 US Marine units. The game is eight turns long, but has provisions for an optional 9th turn. There are also a number of other optional rules in the rulebook, however none of the options are used at the convention events I have attended over the years. The sequence of play is broken into several segments in which the Japanese is required to move first in each segment. There is a considerable amount of player interaction in a turn due to the alternating play in each segment of the sequence of play. The sequence is move patrolling ships, place LBA one at a time alternating between Japanese and US, move amphibious units, move raiding ships, place submarine. Ships moving in the patrolling segment can move move up to two areas; in the raiding segment, 3 areas. LBA can be placed in any sea area which is touched by a friendly port or base. Amphibious units move two areas. The submarine can be placed in any sea area. Combat is then resolved one area at a time in any order selected by the Japanese player. Combat lasts an indefinite number of rounds, ending only when one side is either wiped out or retreats successfully. Players score points of control (POC) for successfully patrolling sea areas each turn with either ships or LBA. Each sea area is worth a fixed number of POC for each side, with the value skewed according to the areas relative importance to each side. For example, the Indonesia is worth 3 POC per turn to the Japanese, 1 POC to the Allies. The Hawaiian Islands is worth 2 POC to the Japanese, 3 POC to the Allies. A considerable positional bonus for controlling a sea area is that enemy ships must stop upon entering. Thus control of sea areas is critical for protecting certain areas of the board from attack or for channelizing enemy movement. Further, a controlled area gives the possessor an advantage in determining whether an air or surface action will be fought there in the next combat round. The first turn of the game is mainly the Pearl Harbor raid and a smaller one on Indonesia. The only real drama involves discovering how many ships survive at Pearl and where the randomly appearing US carrier groups show up. Thereafter, play becomes more free form, although certain general patterns are typically followed. On turns 1 and 2 it is usually fatal for Japan to not control Indonesia. If they are unable to do so, usually the Japanese are never able to take it and the Royal Navy, operating out of Singapore instead of Ceylon, becomes a much more potent threat. Even more disastrous, US ships operating out of Australia can raid the entire interior of the Japanese empire. On turns 2 or 3, the Japanese player often attempts to control the Hawaiian Islands, thus converting Pearl Harbor into a Japanese port. The US player has a variety of defenses to this strategy, including blocking in the Marshall Islands on turn 2 and fighting in Hawaii with his fleet on turns 2 or 3 or with LBA on turn 3. If the Japanese player goes after Hawaii, the character of the middle game changes considerably depending on whether it falls or not. Turns 4 and 5 are usually consolidation turns for the Japanese. They will try to secure their 'defensive perimeter' which consists of Indonesia, the South Pacific and Marshalls, plus either the Hawaiian Islands or the Central Pacific and Northern Pacific or Aleutian Islands. Ideally, all ports and bases within or touching this perimeter will also be controlled. The US player generally tries to maintain his fleet in being and some forward bases within the above mentioned perimeter. It is especially critical for the US to preserve its aircraft carriers as much as possible during the first 4 turns. These are his primary offensive weapons, and can not be frittered away on meaningless sideshows. On turn 5, the US player will attempt to open a sea area hole in the perimeter by raiding with most of his fleet. This is critical in order to open raiding lanes for his turn 6 reinforcements to get into the POC rich interior of the Japanese empire. Turns 6 sees a turning of the tide as the US gets massive reinforcements in the form of 8 aircraft carriers, a battleship, 2 cruisers, a marine, and the submarine, with similar reinforcements on turn 7. From this point on the Japanese are on the defensive, with the primary question being whether they have a big enough POC lead and sufficient positional pluses to hold the lead through turn 8. Sometimes the game comes down to a really huge battle in the Japanese Islands sea area on the last turn. Both sides have interesting problems to solve in the course of the game. The Japanese player is blessed with superior numbers in the beginning and a superb central port at Truk. The Allied player gets to move after the Japanese. This is a considerable advantage when the Japanese player is a relative novice because the US can pounce on mistakes more readily than can the Japanese player. However, the Allies do have an exterior position, and often it is difficult in the latter stages of the game to determine to which port to return their ships. Evaluating who is winning can be fairly difficult in a close game, because there are 5 significant variables involved in the calculation. These are: 1. POC 2. Relative Fleet Strengths 3. The Perimeter 4. Ports and 5. Bases. The game is rated a 3 on Avalon Hills 10 point complexity scale, so the mechanics are easily learned. However, mastering play of the game takes a fair amount of experience and study. There is a considerable body of theory available on VITP in the form of some 25 articles in the GENERAL magazine. There is also a very extensive 'errata' which is maintained by Glenn Petroski. Glenn's address (he recently moved) is 6829 23rd Ave., Kenosha, WI, USA, 53143. The errata runs to about 8 pages, so send Glenn $1 to cover copying and postage when you request it. The game is perfectly playable without the errata. Much of it deals with fairly subtle and sometimes esoteric minutiae of the sort which only appeals to rules lawyers and perfectionists. VITP is probably slightly unbalanced in favor of the Japanese when experienced players clash. Bidding POC for sides is now fairly prevalent at tournaments. A sort of consensus among top players is that a 2 to 3 POC bid for the Japanese is about right. I should also mention that there is a PBM simultaneous move variant which was published in vol. 19 #6 of the GENERAL. This variant is very unlike the basic face to face game, and appears to unbalance the game even more in favor of the Japanese. However, it is being used in the VITP AREA ladder being run by Glenn Petroski and I believe that it is commonly used in play by mail games outside of the ladder as well. Victory in the Pacific is a game, not a simulation, although I think it does a fine job presenting the players with many of the difficult problems inherent in the Pacific Campaign at a strategic level. It is a game that rewards the player who is willing to experiment and tinker with his strategy. The game is an absolute classic in the truest sense. Although 20 years old, it currently ranks 3rd in the number of active players on the AREA rating list, behind ASL and Up Front, a tribute to its enduring popularity. Usually 40 or more players turn out for the VITP tournament at Avaloncon, and at Pacificon, in the San Francisco bay area, there are always at least 8 players in the event. Victory in the Pacific is highly playable, fun, exciting, challenging, and any number of other superlatives one could use to describe a truly fantastic wargame. It also has very high replay value. For players who like strategic level games, naval strategy, or have an interest in the Pacific Theater of World War II, this game is an absolute must. Ray Freeman