We ended up playing a couple of scenarios. The first took place off Guadalcanal. 4 destroyers from the Tokyo Express are trying to get supplies through. They have 9 A6M2 Zeroes flying cover. The Americans send in an uncoordinated strike. 4 Wildcats start on the map with 6 mire showing up on tytn 4. This is followed by 4 TBD Devastators arriving on turn 8 and finally 6 SBD Dauntlesses on turn 12. The scenario lasts 20 turns or until all Japanese destroyers are sunk or have exited the map.
We played this one twice and switched sides for the 2nd playthrough. The Americans lost all their planes both times. They sank 2 destroyers and damaged one in the first scenario and sank 3 in the second. The Jepanese eked out a narrow victory in both sessions. 35/32 points in the first and 38/35 in the second.
The ship's AA seems a bit too deadly and the rules for torpedoes need clarification as there's no mention in the rules for their total run time.
We decided to try one without ships so we played the ambush of Adm. Yamamoto scenario. 6 P-38s try to knock down 2 G4M bombers being escorted by 6 A6M5 Zeroes. The 20mm tailguns on the G4Ms is devastating. The P-38s need to get in close to do real damage but in doing do, they get torn up really badly. I think the key for the US player is to break formation and have each P-38 operate independently. It'll cost the US the initiative but it's mire likely that a few of the P-38s will be able to slip past the Zeroes make slashing attacks against the bombers.
