Open the Box
Stake the Bunny

Pacific Victory

By Craig Ambler

(Columbia Games)

I have avoided the Victory: Blocks of War series so I cannot comment on whether this is in the same series. Howsoever that might be this is a most agreeable, testing and exciting game, and it will be receiving further reviews later. The map shows from Bombay to Seattle and from the Aleutians to the Antipodes. The map is liberally scattered with bases (the "stations" on the supply line) some of which are worth Production Points. The scale of the map is enormous so that movement is usually one or two hexes (four for air units doing a base-to-base move) unless you move strategically (all of Burmah is in one hex). American fleet units being built (as against rebuilt) come from the East Coast via Panama and must move strategically.

Combat is a series of rounds through a number of "types" starting with Naval Aircraft (which do not seem to be on ships) through to Leg Infantry. Each unit (most have four sides in usual block fashion can be a division of infantry or a battleship (or anything in between) can be rated for Air, Naval and Ground combat. The number giving the highest score that will hit. So US Marines have a G3 rating (hit in Ground Combat on a 1-3) but Cruisers have a N1 value. Carriers tend to combine good A, N and G ratings that make them very useful.

Be warned however that the operational nature of combat (there are a number of weeks a turn) has been shown in the game as quasi-tactical activity. I particularly enjoyed the bombers from the carriers striking units of submarines instead of enemy carriers because of the way the loss allocation system works. The tactical flavour can be as dorky as that found in Victory in The Pacific. But one can usually rationalise what it "means".

Defenders fire first with three rounds of combat, and the player who moves first can thus find it useful to take the base before the other side gets there. Player order is dice driven (ties to the Americans. The ownership of bases depends on a hierarchy of occupation. Land units sit at the pinnacle here, followed by naval and then air units. Control of bases to get the Allies back to the Home Islands depends on taking bases and here the limited number of US Marine or Allied infantry divisions is a key constraint. Marines (of both sides) may function like naval units, but Infantry attacks across water need strategic activation. Coast hopping by Mountbatten is an expensive business.

The Japanese fan out trying to avoid losing too many expensive ships, often occupying key bases and then building Garrison units on them to give the Allies an eviction problem. Infantry units can be bombarded and shelled but their last step (which can often take two hits in major bases) can only be winkled with the bayonet. Singapore often holds out with more than its historical decisiveness (though with few Allied naval units there re-supply can be difficult). India is protected by numerous and cheap infantry, though not enough to really press forward into South East Asia without a lot of time and effort.

Three scenarios (but they all end on the same turn). I have heard that the Japs are overly favoured and USN victory is not possible. I must say that is not my present view but I'll need some more games to check it out. Pleasingly I would actually like to play those games! Some questionable history perhaps (see below) but excellent gaming.

More Open the Box, Stake the Bunny

Back to Perfidious Albion #101 Table of Contents
Back to Perfidious Albion List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 2000 by Charles and Teresa Vasey.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com