From: Markus Stumptner Subject: 3W's Scratch One Flattop We finished our first full game of Scratch One Flattop yesterday (after a couple of small scenarios), and I must say it lived up to the expectations raised by the reviews: this is indeed one of that rare breed, a 3W game that works, is a reasonable simulation and provides an enjoyable experience (and I'm not just saying this because I won :-). For those who don't know it, this is a double blind game about the Battle of the Coral Sea. The full scenario starts with the usual option for the US player of launching a strike against the Japanese detachment off Tulagi (which I did, sinking a DD and transport for no losses). I then milled about at the south end of the map for two days in an undecided fashion, waiting for the Catalinas at Noumea to be released (which did not happen) and on the third day (May 6) moved northwards towards the Jomard passage. The Japanese searches did not reach far enough to the south and on the one occasion that they brushed the Lexington TF they missed it (a decisive stroke of luck though not utterly improbable since the negative modifiers required for larger search coverage are fairly hefty). I searched what part of the map I could reach with the B-17s from Port Moresby, had one shot down SE of Woodlark Island and on the next turn found the Japanese there, all carriers concentrated in one hex, just within range of my Wildcats and Dauntlesses though not the Devastators. My strike lost some Dauntlesses but scored two hits each on Shokaku and Zuikaku who were surprised with planes on deck. Japanese plane losses on board the carriers were high (interestingly this is keyed to the general damage level, not whether there are planes on deck - the latter just provides a positive combat modifier). Throughout the afternoon I raced northwards to close the range for a torpedo bomber attack. The Japanese had no idea where I was coming from and I actually managed to close the distance rapidly, but decided not to try a quick followup strike with the returned search Dauntlesses and my Devastators but instead to wait for the opportunity for a full second strike. Not finding the carriers they bombed the cruiser TF I had stationed near New Guinea and basically destroyed the Chicago. Their CAP managed to destroy so many search planes that I lost contact at 1600 when my strike would have been ready. I had to deplete my Dauntless strength to reestablish contact at 1800 (again losing a couple - I'd have had a hard time to search and strike on the next day), and the strike went in from 3 hexes distant, even close enough to avoid a night landing. Zuikaku only received one hit, but Shokaku suffered heavy damage and fires. The Japanese player missed the first dieroll to put the fire out, which meant that on a 5-of-6 chance she would eventually explode. Together with his heavily depleted air strength that was enough for the Japanese to cancel the operation and withdraw. Overall the game is an interesting mix, generally more abstract and quicker than Flattop. Turns are two hours, don't know what the hex scale is, probably 50 miles. Flight operations are simplified and there is less written recordkeeping. But there are a number of areas where there is actually more detail. Task forces sail in formations that are relevant for air attack and surface combat, and the way damage and critical hits are handled is well done. Task forces spend fuel for sailing and flight operations so you constantly think about arranging your next rendezvous with your oilers - Fletcher would have been proud. There are a few problems or omissions. There are no restrictions on plane handling capacity - launching a full strike is just as easy as a smaller one. It is quite hard to establish fully covering search patterns. B-17s on search are shot down just as easily as Catalina's (and the attrition can be substantial). Having a returned strike sitting on your deck is just as dangerous as one that is fully fueled and loaded with bombs. But in general the lethality of the various combat systems seems to be about right and the above issues did not detract from the flow of the game. Purely from the game system, this game is indeed a more playable and not drastically more abstract alternative to Flat Top. It's true that the scenarios restrict players' strategies quite heavily as has been said here previously (e.g., most of the land-based bombers have a low chance of ever entering and apparently as compensation the Japanese are kept from sailing south with their transports), but I think that even with the limited scope it's good enough to be played occasionally. For now though the Japanese are bent on getting their revenge soon. :-) Markus From: Markus Stumptner Subject: Re: 3W's Scratch One Flattop >How would you say the game compares to Craig Taylor's >GUADALCANAL (the newer one from AH)? Guadalcanal with its 4-hour turns and slightly larger hexes plays faster. Plane handling is of course even more straightforward since most carrier strikes fit within a single turn. In exchange the optional tactical subsystem maps of Guadalcanal are, at least at a superficial level, more detailed than the stylized displays of SOFT. Ship damage is handled in much more detail in SOFT (using roster sheets). What I did not like about Guadalcanal was that combat tended to be extremely bloody, which is not the case in SOFT. I think that SOFT like Guadalcanal tends to exaggerate plane ranges in strikes. As far as flying times are concerned, long range planes can stay on the map for multiple turns (10 for a Catalina) and their landing time is jotted down on an area on the hit record sheet (no search planes zooming around as in Guadalcanal). SOFT also has some neat chrome like the Japanese seaplane base and weather fronts, but unlike Guadalcanal is limited to just the battle of the Coral Sea and two early war scenario (mostly good for history buffs and training purposes) covering the raids on Rabaul and Lae in February and March. >Also, could you describe how the >Search mechanic operates? I've found this to be the wink-link in all the >WWII Pacific operational games (best resolved by playing with a moderator). Well, of course you have the usual effect that the other side knows which hexes are being searched. Basically you move the search plane by its movement allowance on the map. At that spot it can search the hex it is in and any adjacent hexes at owner's choice, with modifiers from -2 to +1 depending on the total number of adjacent hexes. The dieroll produces the usual range of outcomes from "nothing found" over "something somewhere in the area searched" and so on to "exact hex and exact number of ships by class: cruiser, DD, CV/CVL/CVS". If the search area covers a hex with carriers the owning player can attempt to shoot down the searching unit (in which case there still is a 50% chance that the unit will send a last search report). Of course by trying to shoot down a searcher you broadcast that there is something in that area, but you delay the identification. The main oddity that I alluded to is that search planes search the hex in which they are at the end of their turn and the adjacent ones. However, their speeds range from 5 (Mavis/Catalina) to 7 (Betty, Dauntless, B-17). So if your search planes fly their full range per turn they will leave gaps in the coverage. In theory this looks like a major hole in the system but since the other player has no way to guess where those gaps will fall (if you even allow them instead of letting your search planes fly at lower speeds in the interesting zones) and you have a good chance of finding what you are looking for if it falls into the searched hexes, what it practically amounts to is a 30-50% reduction in search efficiency. So from the effects side one can live with it, from the play side it is an odd feel. Robert Lindsay wrote: >I'm pretty sure that Scratch One Flattop uses the same system as >Increible Victory by Quaterdeck on the Battle of Midway. I don't have IV but from what I've heard that's indeed true, or at least it's a very close variant. I'd be interested myself to hear exactly what was changed between the two. Markus From: Markus Stumptner Subject: Scratch One Flattop, second round Played our second full SOF game today. This time the Japanese came off better. I initially moved westward but was found late on the second day (May 5) and thereupon started a delayed flanking maneuver to the east. It would even have worked if I had not thought about letting Lexington refuel. By noon, May 6, Yorktown had sneaked into the cloud belt (a mere 100 miles from the Japanese Strike Force, it turned out) but Lexington was still in the open further south, slowed down because she had waited for the oiler *and* unfueled due to the need to launch CAP. I found the Japanese at 0800 but could not maintain the contact at 1000 when the eastern fringe of the Japanese search just brushed Lexington's position. A massive strike left her heavily damaged, dead in the water. On the next two turns, Yorktown could never get a fix on the Japanese due to bad search dierolls although they were never more than three hexes away (and the game does not allow for strike missions to find targets whose hex is not completely pinpointed). On the 1400 turn, Yorktown, although not in real danger of being found "behind" the Japanese, had 1 search plane available - which would certainly have been dead if it searched the next turn - and two others just landed; in addition all B-17s had been shot down on search so I would have been virtually unable to find the transports in the west and conceded. Summary: overall the game works but the search plane losses are definitely out of this world - both of us had lost all our initial land-based planes by the end of the second day, and my carrier-borne search planes had been reduced to four out of ten or so units (one of which was on Lexington and could not be launched). So if we play again it will be with search planes lost on a '6' only (currently it's 3-6 in clear weather per searching CAP step, which is obviously too much). Markus Last 3 games played: Merchant of Venus, Pacific War, Scratch One Flattop ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Bakayaro! Bakayaro!" ("Stupid Bastards! Stupid Bastards!") -- Admiral Aritomo Goto's last words to his staff, October 11, 1942