After recently reading some really outstanding accounts of the Pacific
War (Eagle vs. Sun by Ron Specter, Japan at War, etc.), I got inspired
to play some Pacific War games that have been sitting on my shelf
collecting dust for, oh, nigh 10 years. I first tried Carrier Strike by
SSI, played through as both the US and the Japanese, enjoyed it a lot.
Then I reloaded SSI's Gary Grigsby's Pacific War. I've had the game for
almost 7 years, but was never able to get into it before--the learning
curve seemed too steep. Well, this time I was able to get into it,
thanks to a careful reading of the manual and the PWHints document
(version 11). And what a great game! It amazes me that this game, taking
up only about 1.4MB of disk space, can offer such tremendous game play
and fun. No eye candy here, just solid and fun and gripping gaming
experience. 

(NOTE: this is the "original" version of Pacific War, not the revised
and updated version that Matrix Games released gratis in 2000)

For those of you unfamiliar with Pacific War (PacWar), it's a strategic
and operational game of WW2 set in the Pacific, 1941-1946. You play the
role of either Nimitz or Yamamoto. Weekly turns, individual ships (down
to CL level), air squadrons, divisible land units, etc.--very well
researched and designed game here.

After trying a couple of scenarios just to learn the system, I embarked
on my first serious attempt: Guadalcanal as the Allies in 1942.

Turn 1: August 9, 1942. I am playing the role of South Pacific HQ
commander, with the AI controlling all other theatres. I form four task
forces from my base in Noumea: Task Force 50, of three aircraft carriers
(Wasp, Saratoga, Enterprise) and four heavy cruisers and attendant
destroyers, commanded by VAdm. Halsey; Task Force 51, centered around
the battleship North Carolina and the heavy cruisers Australia,
Vincennes, Quincy, and Astoria, and light cruiser Hobart and about 10
destroyers, led by RAdm. Lee. A transport task force, commanded by VAdm.
Turner loads 1st Marine Division. A cargo transport loads up on supplies
to help the marines at the beachhead. I set the destination on all those
task forces to Guadalcanal, and off they go...

The execution phase ends without any major surprises. My battleship task
force bombards the Japanese garrison on Guadalcanal, softening up the
units (hopefully) before the marines move in. The carrier task force
also launches an air attack on Guadalcanal, which achieves minimal
results, but they are conserving their strengths for any Japanese task
forces that might be nearby. The marines land, fight three pitched
battles against the three defending Japanese units, and captures the
base. In the process they eliminate one Japanese land combat unit (LCU),
but the other two have retreated into jungle and are still very much in
fight. Thus ends turn 1.

Turn 2 sees me transferring two air units to Guadalcanal (Wildcat and
Dauntless squadron each), assign them to training mission (somewhat
reluctantly, but hey, just about all air units assigned to South Pacific
HQ are at around 50% efficiency!), transport the two engineer units at
Noumea (1st Marine engineers and the SeaBees) to Guadalcanal to start
working on enlarging the port and airfield facilities. Task Force 51 is
ordered to bombard the Japanese strongholds at Guadalcanal again, while
the Carrier Task Force is ordered to stay around Guadalcanal to await
the inevitable Japanese counterattack.

The land combats don't achieve much results; minimal casualties on both
sides, but the Japanese readiness is very low (19 or so, out of 100). No
sea contacts, my carrier force is getting restless. Some attacks both on
Guadalcanal and the carrier task force by the Japanese land-based
bombers (Bettys) from Rabaul and other nearby bases, but they are few in
number and quite easily beaten off without loss.

Turn 3 sees me ordering the carrier task force back to Noumea--heck, I
waited two more weeks than Fletcher did historically, but in the end
just got tired (and nervous) of waiting for the Japanese counterattack.
The surface combat task force is also ordered back to Noumea.

Things go very well for the allies in the next few turns. By turn 5 or
so the last Japanese resistance on Guadalcanal is gone (and their
commander commits seppuku--very satisfying touch, if I may say so), and
my engineers are busy enlarging the airfield and port. I also split up
the Americal Division stationed on Suva and garrison Ndeni and Rennel
Is., the two islands flanking Guadalcanal, with them. Reinforcements
from the States arrive in forms of the carrier Hornet and the
battleships South Dakota and Washington, along with a few heavy cruisers
and a number of destroyers. Still no sign of the Japanese... until turn
8. 

My SigInt sources tell me that the Japanese 17th Army HQ, based in
Rabaul, is planning an offensive against---Espiritu Santo!!! This is far
behind the Ndeni-Guadalcanal-Rennel Is. line, and could pose serious
threat to my HQ based in Noumea. Espiritu Santo is not garrisoned with a
land unit--I have the 25th Infantry Division in transit from Oahu, but
it will be another two or three turns before it arrives in Noumea. It is
hastily rerouted to Espiritu Santo. Also my land-based air units in
Noumea and Espiritu Santo are taken off the training status and assigned
to naval interdiction. My main striking force centered around the three
carriers of Task Force 50 (Enterprise, Saratoga, and Hornet), commanded
by Halsey. It is ordered to stand off Espiritu Santo (range 1), and wait
for the attacking Japanese task forces. The three battleships South
Dakota, Washington, and North Carolina, form the backbone of my surface
combat task force, and is ordered to Espiritu Santo and to remain on
station there. The fourth carrier is formed into another air combat task
force, to be held in reserve in Noumea. 

Turn 8. Wow. Bad things start happening almost immediately. Numerous
Japanse surface vessels are sighted along the
Rabaul-Bougainville-Shortland axis by B-17s flying out of Port Moresby
on reconnaissance missions. The usual desultory strikes against
Guadalcanal by the Bettys from Rabaul and the neighboring bases. But
wait---what's this?!! A Japanese submarine south-west of Oahu sinks one
of the transports carrying my 25th Infantry Division! At about the same
time I find at least four separate Japanese task forces heading for
Espiritu Santo. The Hudsons and Catalinas from Noumea and Espiritu Santo
soon identify them--one surface combat task force, a cargo/transport
task force, and horror of horrors, TWO separate carrier task forces! One
has four carriers, and the other three carriers. Against this array, my
task force with three carriers seem pitifully small...

The execution phase begins with the Japanese carrier strike against
Espiritu Santo. The first strike, with some 130 planes, has about 50
escorting Zeros, which quickly wipe out the defending fighters (about 10
each of F4F Wildcats and P-39s). The bombers duly bomb the base, with
damages to the supply depot and disruptions. Thankfully, no ships are in
port there and, of course, no land units are yet stationed there. The
Japanese carriers launch two more waves of attack against Espiritu
Santo, with the similar non-critical results.

The opposing surface task forces come within range of each other. I see
a report saying that one of the Japanese task forces, presumably the one
carrying supplies and/or combat troops, turn back after detecting my
battleship task force. 

A night surface combat ensues. I have three battleships, six heavy
cruisers, two light cruisers, and four groups of destroyers. The
Japanese has one battleship, three heavy cruisers, one light cruiser,
and three groups of destroyes. But wait--what's this?!!? Their flagship
is the Yamato!

The battle opens at 2,000 yards, and last for two rounds. The Yamato
fires first, and thoroughly pulverizes one of my battleships with her
18.1 inch shells, which sinks soon afterwards. But the rest of my
ships--the two battleships and five of the six heavy
cruisers--concentrate their fire on the Yamato. In addition to the
battleship, I suffer two crippled heavy cruisers and three destroyers.
But I have sank the Yamato, three heavy cruisers, and four destroyers.
Wow. Surprisingly, the Japanese only scored two torpedo hits on my
ships, which given the range and the historical outcome, is a bit
surprising. I'm not complaining, though.

Next, the carrier battles open up in earnest. My carrier task force is
first to launch an attack, and dispatches, to my immense chagrin, a
strike of only 66 planes (30 fighters, rest dive bombers and torpedo
bombers) against the three-carrier Japanese task force. It is met by the
CAP of 50 Zero fighters. 8 bombers get through and score a single
1,000-lb hit on a CVL. The CAP loses 11 fighters. Less than 10 planes
return to my carriers.

The counterstrike finds about 80 Japanese planes over my carriers,
defended by 36 F4F Wildcats (and four P-39s from Espiritu Santo! What an
amazing display of inter-service camaraderie :) ). The Zeros occupies
the Wildcats (and in the process beat the crap out of them), and about
40 bombers attack my carriers. Flak is somewhat effective, but they
still score 1, 1, and 4 hits respectively on my three carriers. My
counterstrike sees 12 planes getting through the CAP and flak, and I
score another 1,000-lb hit on a CV and a torpedo hit on the same CVL I
hit before. The final Japanese counterstrike scores critical hits on my
two carriers (each four damage stars out of five--ouch), effectively
guaranteeing that they'll be out of war for a long time to come.
Thankfully, I do not lose any ships, and my carriers limp back to
Noumea. The Japanese also withdraw, not having landed any troops in
Espiritu Santo. 

That's where I am in the game now. Out of the three carriers, only one,
the Enterprise, is relatively intact (one hit, 8 damage, still able to
steam at 26 knots), and I plan on forming another carrier force with it
and the Wasp that was in my reserve force. As for the surface combat
task force, only one battleship is still combat-worthy, along with three
heavy cruisers from that task force that fought the Yamato, and three
more from Noumea. I plan on forming another surface combat force, but
will probably be a lot more circumspect deploying them around Espiritu
Santo (same with the carrier force). Hopefully, the Japanese HQ in
Rabaul will change its mind about attacking Espiritu Santo! If they
still do, it might turn out OK--it should be fairly easy to isolate the
base from their supply line and win it back. What a battle, though. :)

My purpose in posting this lengthy after-battle result is 1) to share
with others interesting gameplay results--I always enjoy reading
others'; 2) to maybe rekindle the interest again in those of you who
used to play it, but haven't touched it in a long time. It's truly a gem
of a game, especially in this age of eye-candy, 600MB+ games that are
big on graphics and sound but very, very lacking in game quality. 

Hope people found this interesting,

Hyun.

(hyunyu@concentric.net)