This game is from Research Games, Inc. (not to be confused with Games Research, of DIPLOMACY farm), the people who brought you the PATTON game. Its full title is "Major Campaigns of General Douglas MacArthur," somewhat shorter than its predecessor. Like PATTON it was designed by Sid Sackson, whose game review column appears in STRATEGY & TACTICS Magazine and who designed most of the 3M bookcase games.
Naturally, it has a great deal in common with its precursor. Ine obvious difference is that it comes in a bookcase-style box, though (like AH's 1776) it has no outer slip case. Evidently PATTON is being converted to the bookcase package also. For those who are familiar with Patton suffice it to say that the play mechanics are virtually identical, that the three situations presented are: Bataan, New Guinea, and Korea, and the price is also the same: $8.00. For those who are not familiar with PATTON, I will go into more detail.
As indicated above there are three separate situations covered. A lot of recent games use the pitch "X games in one!" But MACARTHUR (as PATTON) really is 3 games, as 3 different maps are provided! The mounted, 17" x 23" mapboard has the map for the Bataan situation on one side and half-sized maps for Korea and New Guinea on the other side. It is a very simple game. That is, the rules are simple and easy to learn, like the Gamma Two Games (Quebec and War of 1812). Yet the strategic and tactical possibilities are complex and subtle. As with PATTON and Gamma Two, there are no hexes, squares, etc.
Movement is from point to point, regardless of physical distance, along connecting roads. Some roads cost one movement factor per unit, some two, and others three. There are only 2 types of units for each side: big and little (in Patton those are armor and infantry). Big units fight like 2 little ones but move and stack as single units.
Combat
Combat is resolved simply. When one side tries to move into a point already occupied by the enemy a battle results. For every I big, or 2 little, units he has in the battle each player rolls 1 die (up to a max. of 5). Rolling doubles will cause 1 enemy casualty, triples two, etc. Also the total numbers on all dice thrown by each side are compared and the side with the lower number must retreat all survivors. So it is possible to cause more casualties than you take, yet still have to retreat!
The most innovative, and brilliant, feature of these games is the movement system. A deck of cards is provided, with numbers from 1 to 10. These are dealt out face down to the two players. The player moving first turns up his top card and its number tells him how many movement factors he has for the turn. He can allocate these however he wishes among his units - move several units a short way or a few units a long way. Then the second player turns up his first card and adds this number to the card his opponent just used.
This TOTAL is the number of factors he now may use as he wishes. Then the first player turns up another card and adds it to his opponents last card, etc. This is-a deceptively simple system that provides an almost perfect balance of total movement factors for the two sides, while keeping both players in the dark about how many they or their opponent will receive next.
Playing time runs about 1 to 2 hours, including reading the rules and setting up the board and units! All in all these games are great fun. The components are nothing fancy, but adequate worth the $8.00 price tag. Not recommended for simulation/realism types, but if you're more interested in the "game" end of wargames - strategies and clever moves and winning and losing - MACARTHUR is just the thing for you.
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© Copyright 1974 by Donald S. Lowry
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