by Billy Riley, 18 April 2024 ~ #UnboxingDay
Well, I did it. I found it second hand on BGG for a steal at £80 and decided I really wanted it in my collection.
Will I play it? I don’t know. Will I start it? Maybe. Will I finish it? Unlikely.
It’s one of those games though, right? Everyone has one in their collection. A big game that they yearn to play but know they’re unlikely to get it to the table, let alone play it and even more unlikely, complete it.
But I did want it so much. I don’t know a lot about the Pacific Theatre except it was very difficult for the US initially. So, I armed myself with a trilogy of books on the subject by Iain W. Toll (I’m only part way through the first one but it’s good).
Anyway – I had to have it – and here it is. What’s in the box? Plenty!
Box Art
I like it. It’s typical of the area of operations I think – lots of sea with carrier battles.
One thing that made me really want the game was that it was combined forces combat. Air. Naval. Ground. It’s all here.
click images to enlarge
The back of the box gives you the details you need to know. Solitaire is low (2) and Complexity is very high (9)…so both those factors told me this game probably wasn’t for me. But – you know…the beast that is desire.
The Manuals
There are actually 5 manuals in this game. Believe it or not, that’s a good thing. What they’ve done is managed to break the game down into Engagement Scenarios, Battle Scenarios, Campaign Scenarios and Strategic Scenarios.
This apparently allows the user to work their way up to the Campaign and Strategic Scenarios by allowing them to learn the Battle and Engagement Scenarios.
They are all on decent paper stock and quite text heavy, apart from the Extended Example of Play.
The manuals are
- Core Rules Manual
- Scenario Booklet
- Engagement Scenarios Rules Manual
- Battle Scenario Rules Manual
- Battle of the Coral Sea Extended Example of Play
Note with the Engagement and Battle Scenarios rule books, they are self- contained to help you get to grips with certain mechanics. Another neat feature is that they use the same numbering system as in the Core Rules Manual. So rule 26.1 in the Battle Scenario Rules Manual is also rule 26.1 in the Core Rules Manual.
Core Rules Manual
This is the main manual and if you’re going to jump into the Campaign or Strategic scenarios, then this is the manual you’ll use. It’s 68 pages front to back with a good 7 pages of index.
Scenario Booklet
This lists the plethora of scenarios available in the box…and there’s a lot. 34 in total.
This is a 72 page “booklet”.
- 8 Engagement Scenarios – designed for the novice
- 12 Battle Scenarios
- 9 Campaign scenarios
- 5 Strategic Scenarios
There are lists and lists of units and for every scenario (apart from the Engagement scenarios) there’s a mini map to help with setup – and they are quite mini.
Engagement Scenarios Rules Manual
This is the specific rulebook for the Engagement Scenarios. These scenarios are the novice scenarios allowing you to get into the game at a manageable level. All the rules you need for the Engagement scenarios are in here…no need to go to the Core Rules Manual.
Nifty – right?
This is 40 pages and pretty text heavy – again with a 7 page index.
Battle Scenario Rules Manual
Again, this is a “mini” manual. It’s 44 pages with a 7 page index.
Also, as with the Engagement Scenarios manual, this is all you need to know to steer you through combat.
Battle of the Coral Sea:Extended Example of Play
This booklet (and at last, it is a booklet with some 16 pages) is a walk through of an example of play of the Battle of the Coral Sea.
Replacement Record Sheet
I guess this is for you to track replacements. Having not got anywhere near the manual yet, that’s the best I can do.
There’s a lot of these and they are double sided.
Force Display Sheets
There are 4 of these each for the Allies and Japanese forces…presumably to maintain your force pool.
Operation Display
Honestly, no true idea what it’s for – tracking of time possibly and what looks like naval operations?
Display Sheet
There’s one each for the Allies and the Japanese
Screens
Again, one each for the Allies and the Japanese players
The Counters
There are 10 sheets of counters. All on decent card stock but they are small – ½”. They are double sided, but I just took pictures of the main side.
Maps
There are 3 maps. A small paper map 17”x22” and 2 bigger mounted maps, each 34”x21” making a full map size of 34”x42”.
It seems most of the Battle and Engagement scenarios could be played on the mini map I read on BGG.
One other odd thing is the Scenario Booklet referenced Maps A and B. I assume these are the main maps and I say assume because neither says Map A or Map B on them.
They are good looking. The orientation of the main map will take a bit of getting used to. I don’t know why the orientation is like that – I’m sure there was a good reason – probably scale. Empire of the Sun had the correct map orientation if I remember correctly.
The text on the map is in such a way as Russia, China, Japan are all on the right hand side.
Very bizarre. It might not be a distraction.
One fold out single sided with the game track and information on the sequence of play and some other info
Paper Map
Main Maps
Dice
And of course – 2 10 sided dice.
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