I played on Sunday and was surprised and dismayed how much EotS I have forgotten since I played the 1943 scenario a couple of times about a year ago. It was definitely a mistake to let so much time pass before finding another opponent and playing again.
On the other hand, I wasn’t surprised to find that I’m still lost when it comes to tactically putting an offensive together. I wasn’t sure what to do Allies in the Solomons in the 1943 scenario, and it’s the same in South Pacific (other than the opening play of going for Guadalcanal that the South Pacific scenario serves up on a platter). The macro objectives are clear to me – I know I need to conquer three ports. But if you just do a straight-forward huge amphibious assault on a port, the IJN is going to sweep down on you and ruin your day, especially from turn 2 forward. And I can’t figure out a path forward tactically using my cards to open up opportunities.
I started going through John Steidl’s video series a few days ago. I watched about 15 mins of the AAR you linked, but then switch to the overview of the game and specifically the 1943 scenario tutorial he did for the Advance After Combat group. By the title you can’t tell that’s what it is, unfortunately.
I was glad to hear John say about 1m20s in that what I’m experiencing is “completely normal”.
Thanks for linking to those videos @Syzygy and @Spock. I just procured an opened but unpunched copy of the 2nd reprint on eBay for a reasonable price, so I’m looking forward to digging into this sometime in 2017.
The tough part of Allied strategy is the balance between making progress and blowing up Japanese units, because you really need to do a lot of both to be in a good 1944 position. It’s generally worth suffering a VP loss or two for the opportunity to remove multiple IJN ships in a good turn because later on it will make it easier to make progress. The fewer ships available to the Japanese, the more vulnerable the unoccupied hexes become.
It’s a similar dynamic for Japanese planes. It’s generally more profitable to raid Japanese air units than to take empty hexes in 1943.
Thanks, Panzeh. I wish I was to the point of worrying about balancing a VP loss or two for the opportunity to remove IJN ships. :) But I can’t even get to thinking about that kind of tradeoff as I can’t figure out tactically how to setup an assault on Bougainville, Rabaul, Buna, or Lae (ports) that has a reasonable chance of success.
I’m sure I’m missing something, but if the Allies are lucky enough to draw a Military event with a surprise attack intelligence condition, that opens up possibilities for destroying Japanese forces with overwhelming force. However, in my game once we got to Turn 4 (turn 2 of the scenario, all the IJN forces in Truk had finished licking their wounds. My opponent didn’t move them from Truk, which is far enough away from Guadalcanal that it wasn’t possible to pin those forces by sacrificing a bomber. I looked at taking the undefended airfield at Baka (within 6 hexes of Truk) but special reaction would mean that I’d likely be severely punished for attempting that as well.
Also, you mentioned destroying Japanese air. My opponent parked most of his Japanese army air force in Lae and Buna. But if I attacked those a reaction move would still allow him to concentrate a huge amount of force and punish me for trying those attacks.
Well, if you want to remove a stack’s reaction, you just need to pin it. That’s what the LRBs are good for, attack an airfield with one LRB and you can disable a huge chunk of the Japanese planes from reacting. Until you get bases in range, you need to focus your attacks- if they want to bring all their planes they can, but the Allies can afford a mega battle per turn- they get a lot of replacements- the Japanese get almost none. They get new planes but they get so much worse than the ones they start with.
Another great resource is Judd Vance’s VASSAL log tutorial. I learned with that tutorial last time I learned the game, then read the rules. You may want to check that out as well.
I also found Judd’s log tutorials very helpful. He’s using version 1 of the game, so a few things will be off; e.g., the colors of the counters. For me, John Steidl’s tutorials made things stick in my head better, but they also take longer to watch. That guy really should be a teacher. He explains things clearly and concisely.
I just finished my first solitaire play of “South Pacific” and thoroughly enjoyed it. The US took Guadalcanal and island-hopped to other airfields in the Solomon to make Progress of War, but were rebuffed at Bougainville. Then the Allies marched overland to Buna. From there they tried a ground assault on Lae and once again were rebuffed.
Meanwhile the Japanese launched an air offensive against Allied air units in Guadalcanal and the Solomons, and the US happily reacted, thinking that a one-for-one exchange of aircraft would favor the US. But the US pilots performed poorly, and Japan established air superiority over much of the center of the map, putting key Allied positions out of supply. The US had to use its carriers to help maintains supply lines, but this was risky, as the war in Europe prevented all of the US turn 6 naval reinforcements from arriving, and the US was in some jeopardy of losing the game for loss of its fleet.
In the final turn, Japan tried to retake Guadalcanal but failed, and it didn’t have the ground troops to march overland from Lae to Port Moresby. So the game ended in a draw. Pretty cool! I was playing solitaire but I found myself “rooting” for the Allies at the end, partly because they’re mostly on offense, and it’s easier to identify with the attacker (who has more to do) than the defender.
@Spock@B_Dog@Panzeh@Brooski – the South Pacific VASSAL module is out–or at least a Beta version. Any interest in a team-based game or two? If so we could make a thread and plan between the teams in direct messages.
If all of you are interested that’s five including me. So we could go with teams of 2-3 people, find another to make it 3-3, or if someone wasn’t interested it could be 2-2. We’d probably want Panzeh heading up a team as he seems to be a strong player.
Matrix Games is having a Happy Valentine’s Day! sale.
The following games will be discounted at 30% off during Valentine’s Day.
Order of Battle Blitzkrieg
Sengoku Jidai
Panzer Corps Gold
Battle Academy 2
Pike and Shot Campaigns
Victory and Glory
Mark H. Walker's Lock 'n Load: Heroes of Stalingrad
Decisive Campaigns: Barbarossa
Gary Grigsby's War in the West
Polaris Sector
Heroes of Normandie
Battle of The Bulge
Vietnam 65
Just insert “LoveWargames” in the Discount Coupon field when you’re checking out in the store and you’re set!
Happy Valentine’s Day, and happy wargaming to everyone!
Command Ops 2 is out on Steam - the base game is free, and modules are 20% off at the moment. I’m waiting to get my keys from purchasing it through LocknLoad so I can leave a positive review.
There’s 100+ missions if you buy the whole package. The Bastogne and Highway to the Reich packs are probably the best starting packs if you don’t want to get them all.
Ageod’s English Civil War has been announced as well
