'Twas a dark and stormy night at sea ...

I arrived at Mike Welsh's house last night at about 
  7:45 PM. 

I was the USN this time. I brought all the ships 
  into the game on the same hex ESE of Leyte. I had 
  the ships in the following groups: the old 
  battleships, the escort carriers with the 
  transports, the not-so-fast modern battleships,
  and cruiser, IOWAs, and the 4 fast carrier 
  squadrons. 

I had the modern battleships, cruiser, and fast/fleet
  carriers head north into the hex adjacent to the 
  east coast of Luzon to await any aircraft the 
  Japanese might stage in there. I had two subs in 
  the bottleneck passage SW of Palawan Island near 
  Brunei and NE of the other end of it. 

Mike immediately deployed task forces and/or dummies.
  The nearest threat came on southward toward my fast 
  ships.  On the following morning, I got a search 
  off at a range of ... 2 hexes? ... and got a very 
  real contact ... with a shock: KONGO, HARUNA, ISE, 
  HYUGA, ZUIKAKU, YAMATO, and MUSASHI themselfs! 

In the meantime, I had encountered both of his 
  I-boats which he had designated "active"/aggressive,
  and ENGLAND (presumably) disposed of them. 

Our converging forces made contact and our airstrikes 
  passed each other in the sky. With maximum USN 
  combat air patrol, ZUIKAKU's weak air and the 
  ISE/HYUGA seaplane units flamed and splashed ... 
  brushed off my steel cuff, as ADM Ugaki (or Nagumo 
  or Yamamamoto?) historically said. 

My 4 strong carrier air groups damaged both YAMATO 
  and MUSASHI. 

In the next turn, multiple task forces blossomed from 
  Mike's last sighted position, and I concentrated 
  all my modern battleships and cruisers out in the 
  path of one south-heading group: night battle!  (We
  probably should have placed the ships out face down 
  with their identities concealed, but I forgot that 
  S,S,&J idea.) I found myself confronted by only 
  KONGO and HARUNA and my modern battle squadron 
  (only) damaged them both -- without loss to 
  ourselves. 

Pam hadn't made popcorn for us -- not wanting me to 
  be able to use buttered-fingers as an excuse for 
  any bad luck with the dice, and at this point I 
  wondered if Mike might get up and make popcorn for 
  us himself ... and, if he made it, if I would eat 
  it.  

At this point, I had eliminated his submarine and 
  naval air threats and neutralized both of his 
  superbattleships as well as both of his fast 
  battleships. Nothing could stop me!  

Mike elected to withdraw, and I then elected to make 
  the tactical mistake of the game -- which would 
  prove to be a strategic one -- by pursuing.
  (Remember, that all these ship groups have 
  attendant cruisers and/or destroyers packing full 
  torpedo complements, and we learned at Guadalcanal 
  the price of chasing "Long Lance"-carrying Japanese 
  destroyers and cruisers. 

Thus IOWA was sunk  and NEW JERSEY and ALABAMA 
  damaged!  Dumb, dumb!, DUMB!! 

Concerned about exposing my carriers and letting the 
  barn door open -- i.e., allowing his land-based air 
  to stage into Luzon -- and expecting him to 
  continue to advance toward Leyte even with crippled 
  ships in the Bushido! spirit, I did not send out my 
  carriers to investigate and pursue his various task 
  force markers. 

Meanwhile, my searches picked up all his other ships 
  advancing from Singapore, north of Palawan Island 
  nimbly evading my 2 subs SW of it. My sub NE of 
  Palawan engaged this battle group of NAGATO, the 3 
  cruiser groups, AOBA's transport group.  (FUSO and 
  YAMASHIRO were following behind. 

I had designated my subs "active," and SS3 managed 
  to damage ATAGO at the loss of itself. 

Also, the Japanese staged in aircraft to Luzon which 
  my carriers pounced upon, but a couple survived to 
  strike ... my wounded battleships!
  NEW JERSEY went down!  


My fast and escort carriers searched and struck out 
  in all directions. They finished off ATAGO, and 
  repeatedly attacked FUSO which ... now withdrawing 
  and at extended air range ... shot down Fast 
  Carrier Air Group 2!  After repeated useless 
  strikes on FUSO, I switched my attacks to YAMASHIRO 
  and immediately sent her down.  (Note to all air 
  groups: Stay away from FUSO!) 

After additional days/turns, Mike had amassed enough 
  airpower sometime after October 24th to stage them 
  in to Luzon. From a hex away -- therefore only one 
  airstrike per air group -- my carriers attacked 
  them the following morning. From the face-down 
  units I luckily picked out the Kamikaze! for 
  destruction -- but some were left to attack the 
  transports, one of which went down with victory 
  points of its own as well as for following days. 

With little time to rebuild his air strength and even 
  his crippled ships (safely) evacuated from the 
  board, Mike suggested we count up Victory Points. 


They came out to 38 points apiece, tying at 0 -- a 
  near-Strategic Japanese victory.  

There is no justice! I designed this game!! 

OK, Welsh! There, I said it. Enjoy!  

*** 


Mike pointed out that the game took us 2 hours flat, 
  and both of us enjoyed the game ... and I will 
  never again pursue wounded Japanese ships at night! 
  I swear.  Really. 

Mike and Pam have played the game together.  He says
  that he misses being able to fire antiaircraft in a
  separate roll.  (I have had both AA and bombing
  results in the same combat results table, in the 
  interest of speeding gameplay, but ....) 

I'll see if I can find naval charts on the Net to 
  double-check the un-navigableness of some of the 
  island passes. 

Mike also showed me well-built Monogram models he has 
  of the Hellcat and Avenger -- with all parts 
  working. Beautiful pieces, but they should have 
  done better in the game!

LEYTE GULF NAVAL CHESS GAME is *FREE* on my webpage
at:


http://LCoat.tripod.com/leytpage.htm

Lou Coatney, Macomb Illinois, http://LCoat.tripod.com              
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