Carrier Battle: South Pacific

Carrier Battle: South Pacific is a solitaire simulation of the great aircraft carrier battles fought off Guadalcanal and in the Coral Sea in 1942. As the US commander, you will maneuver your task forces, both carrier and surface, as well as aircraft of the Cactus Air Force at Henderson Field, and conduct air searches in a tension-packed contest to find and strike the Japanese before they find and strike you. The game proceeds in turns, each turn divided into four Action Phases. In each Action Phase, you can launch, land, and service aircraft. Aircraft can be sent on search missions to detect the enemy, strike missions to attack detected forces, and intercept missions to protect your fleet. The Japanese appear as "forces" whose contents initially is not known to you -- they may have aircraft carriers, or just surface ships, or be "false contacts" and contain nothing at all. These forces are activated at random times during the turn by chit pull, and may attack you (and thus be revealed to have aircraft carriers) when activated. In each Action strikes in the air move and attempt to contact their targets, at which point bombardment attacks are resolved. Most scenarios occupy one day of simulated time, at the end of which victory is assessed on victory points. The Japanese are trying to bombard and unload troops at objectives such as Guadalcanal; you are trying to stop them, and both sides are trying to sink each other's carriers. There are also rules for surface combat. Each naval task force -- yours and the Japanese -- moves once per turn, from hex to hex, at a time determined by chit pull. The game’s mechanics – derived from those of Carrier Battle: Philippine Sea and also the original Carrier (Victory Games), and updated based on much recent research – drive Japanese actions in a way that is both challenging to beat and true to history. You will not know that a Japanese air strike is headed your way until you spot it on radar and scramble your fighters to intercept. Using your aircraft and flight deck space efficiently, and planning ahead – because your fighters climb slowly, and the Japanese can show up suddenly – are key skills in the game. —description from the designer