Monster’s Ball
Harpoon 4 Scenario:
Godzilla vs. Tokyo

Operational Situation

by Larry Bond

Godzilla’s origin as a result of the A-bomb testing of the 1950s has always seemed too pat to me. He’s big, powerful, and very lethal. There are no horrible, misshapen limbs, no vestigial writhing tentacles. Everything has a single purpose - destruction. If he was a machine, I’d call him a “mature weapons system,” and that description is what sent me on a hunt through the Internet.

Lizard with an Attitude

The truth may be out there, but it’s not easy to find. First, I don’t speak Japanese, and second, although I am reasonably skilled at word processors and page layout programs, I don’t have the expertise to hack though the layers of high-tech security I expected to find. Since Godzilla is a creature of the movies, I decided to solve my problem with movies. I embarked on a 36.5-hour movie marathon, alternating Japanese-language Godzilla movies with cyberflicks like Hackers and The Net. I drank Jolt and ate skittles to super-charge my neural activity.

At 3:37 AM, after finishing Johnny Mnemonic and popping Monster Island into the player, the “ready” light came on in my brain’s control room. I could write a web search engine in hirigana haiku. I could decode Nostradamus. I could write a Kabuki play that taught the user how to safely clean his keyboard and mouse. Beads of sweat dropped from my forehead onto the keyboard as my quivering fingers flew over the keys. My eyes absorbed web pages flashing onto the screen (I just got a cable modem, it’s so cool) and the data seemed to proceed directly from my optic nerves down my arms. My brain sat above the frenzy, coolly observing and watching for patterns.

My first search at the many Godzilla web pages was fruitless. I searched bioengineering sites with no luck, then I searched movie sites, looking for links between Toho Productions and the military-industrial complex.

I didn’t find anything there, although it had seemed like a brilliant idea when I thought of it, .45 milliseconds earlier. But then I noticed something, under “friends” on a Raytheon web page. It was a link to a reptile fancier’s site. Were a lot of Raytheon employees reptile fans? I hacked into the site’s server and discovered a Mr. Tahakaha listed as the administrator. My überbrain, suspecting the name was an alias, burrowed through two and a half layers of random encryption and discovered that the site administrator’s real name was Smith!

This was highly significant. I had seen Smith’s name earlier on a bioengineering web site, and also listed as Key Grip on the very first Godzilla movie (also under a clever Japanese alias). Of course, the first names were different in each case, but that was just part of the villain’s cover. Quickly encoding a global search routine (OK, I used Google), I discovered hundreds of thousands of hits for the name Smith. The man was everywhere! Beyond that, I began to detect a pattern within the occurrences of his many first names. I don’t believe it was a deliberate attempt to communicate by the Smith, but his subconscious had definitely influenced his choice of “random” first names. By finding the hidden message, his subconscious, possibly clinging to some vestige of Goodness, would tell me what evil plan his frontal lobe was hatching.

I started the decryption by arranging the first names in order of discovery, then by top to bottom. Although the Smith had chosen only men’s names, I began to wonder if this, too, was part of the pattern, an attempt to lead me away from the terrifying truth that the Smith might be a woman! Or maybe he was just a guy. No matter. I tried substitution and encoded keys, date-time patterns and algorithmic syncopation. I did the hokey-pokey and I turned myself around. After an eternal 7.52 minutes, I felt I almost had the answer, when my hexadecoder suddenly emitted cybersmoke and left charred ones and zeroes all over my desktop. But I was too close to give up.

I started again, with a backup copy, and resigned myself to seconds, and possibly minutes of tedious repetition and probable failure. But as I came to the critical step, I realized what I had to do – what always worked in the movies. I reversed the polarity. Suddenly, the screen turned phosphor green, and a string of pale yellow characters swam into view. They danced and rearranged themselves, then did a victory lap around the edge of the screen. It was a web address: www.secretbiomonster.org/Godzilla.

My throat dried, my heart shriveled, and my feet stank as I typed in the characters. It was true. Godzilla wasn’t the product of man’s reckless use of the atom bomb. He was the product of man’s reckless use of bioengineering. He was a hyperbiotic weapon, created by the Japanese as a doomsday response to Hollywood’s domination of the movie industry in the 1950s. They’d started out trying to create an army of Toshiro Mifune clones, but had ended up with a giant lizard instead. They decided to keep the lizard, because it didn’t ask for a piece of the overseas rights.

I started downloading data at breakneck speed, because the site detected my presence (the number of hits counter went from 0 to 1) and began to self-destruct. Part of the site listed Godzilla’s genetic history, while another discussed his previous attacks and their steps to market them as movies. Another covered his destructive capabilities, with a huge number of links to Tokyo construction companies. One page detailed their plot to ruin Matthew Broderick’s career. The most interesting data described the failure of Godzilla’s movie career when it was discovered that he was genetically programmed to destroy any human construction he encountered. He didn’t need to eat, which was good for the caterers, but he was hell on the props and sets. Hence his replacement by the guy in the cheesy rubber suit.

The Japanese armed forces immediately stepped in. Combined with his invulnerability to conventional weapons and his amphibious nature, he was a perfect weapon to be used (in self-defense, of course) against any of Japan’s neighbors, all of whom had coastlines and cities. Part of the Self-Defense Force’s budget was secretly earmarked for the “Notaka Dosido” project , which loosely translates as “aiming the bugger.” So far it’s been unsuccessful, which is why the Type 14 Attack Lizard hasn’t been included in recent armed forces reviews.

A cleverly concealed link (it was in English) led me to more recent and useful information, It revealed Godzilla’s current location, outside Tokyo Harbor, and more alarmingly, that he might be ready to rise again. Seismic readings, camouflaged as a techno soundtrack, show increasing activity.

Godzilla’s Tactical Situation

He’s been asleep, but now he’s awake. In accordance with his genetic programming, he’s going to go stomp Tokyo.

Godzilla’s (Genetic) Orders:

Left! Right! Left! Right!

Godzilla’s Forces 1 Type 14 Attack Lizard. He’s 150 feet tall, by the way.

Godzilla’s Victory Conditions

Tactical: Destroy 50 points of buildings
Decisive: Destroy 100 points of buildings
Catastrophic: Destroy 150 points of buildings

Each block of low buildings is worth one point, medium buildings are worth two points, and tall buildings are worth three points. Each block of the Imperial Palace grounds (Low buildings) is worth 50 points.

Japanese Operational Situation

The Japanese Self-Defense Force is aptly named in this case. Once again they face a monstrous opponent that they cannot destroy or even injure. All they can do is interpose their frangible bodies between their enemy and its goal.

With some ceremony, the Self-Defense Forces General Staff has removed from its secret place the “Gudoju Kendan Godzilla,” the distilled (and unfortunately extensive) knowledge of how to fight Godzilla.

Japanese Tactical Situation

The Japanese Air and Naval Self-Defense Forces will bear the brunt of Godzilla’s attack. The Ground Self-Defense force is fully occupied evacuating the population of one of the world’s biggest cities into the relative safety of the countryside. Cups of sake have been drunk and hachimaki donned. All air and naval units are deployed.

Japanese Forces

All of them.

Japanese Orders

As Godzilla approaches, harass and delay him at all costs. Several plans to destroy him are being rapidly assembled. All are risky, and nobody knows if any of them will work. You must give them time to try.

Japanese Victory Conditions

Tactical: Godzilla destroys less than 50 points of buildings.
Decisive: Godzilla destroys less than 25 points.
Singular: Godzilla destroys less than 10 points.

Reinforcement Table

2D6 Roll
2 1 F-2 Sqdn
3 1 F-15DJ Sqdn
4 1 P-3 Sqdn
5 1 F-4EJ Kai Sqdn
6 1 F-15 Sqdn
7 1 F-15 Sqdn
8 1 AH-1S Sqdn
9 1 T-2 Sqdn
10-12 Nothing

Aircraft can attack in sections of four. A new squadron cannot be brought in until an entire squadron leaves - with or without having used its ordnance.

In a 3-minute turn, up to four flights (they do not have to be from the same squadron) can attack from the same direction or different ones.

Setup

Godzilla starts the game emerging from the water at the spot marked X on the map. He is submerged to the waist at that point. He is facing NE when he emerges from the water, and will begin “wading” toward shore.

Special Rules

How Godzilla Moves

In the Plotting phase, the person controlling Godzilla plots Godzilla’s movement. He will always head for the center of the city (most and tallest buildings), unless he is distracted by the defenders. Godzilla swims pretty well for a two-legged lizard, making 20 knots in deep water. He swims with the top of his head and eyes out of the water, like an alligator.

When swimming, his only attack is to bite, with a 50% chance of hitting a ship or sub (the only eligible targets when he’s swimming). Godzilla moves “majestically” (slowly) when he walks. Wading though water does slow him down as well.

Godzilla has eight facings corresponding to the eight points of the compass. He’s not terribly agile, so he’ll either walk/swim or turn 45°, but not both.

The facings are numbered 1 through 8, and are always oriented relative to his facing, i.e., 1 is always ahead for Godzilla.

Hydrographic Conditions

A marked channel of 60+ meters comes up from the south and ends just below the Aqua Line. Outside the channel, the water varies from ten to forty meters, with most of the harbor having 25 meter depth. There is little shoal water (under 10 m), except for some areas along the eastern edge of the harbor.

Monster’s Ball Harpoon 4 Scenario: Godzilla vs. Tokyo

BT

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© Copyright 2002 by Larry Bond and Clash of Arms.
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