AAR: Victory In The Pacific

As rewarding as it to introduce new players to the hobby, it is with equal satisfaction to reintroduce players who have been absent for a long time to the current gaming scene.  I was recently able to demonstate to my friend Roger M. of California the flexibility and ease of using VASSAL (http://www.vassalengine.org/) for long distance play.  Roger has not been playing for some time so we thought we would start with something classic: Avalon Hill's Victory In The Pacific.  Here is a quick report on our game.

Victory In The Pacific
8 Turn Standard Game
VASSAL PBEM - February-April 2011
Japan: Michael R.
US: Roger M.

Turn 1 - December 1941
My Japanese plan was a standard push for Hawaii with a maximum Pearl Harbor raid force.  The results of the Dec. 7 air raid were quite exceptional with 6 of the 10 ships in port sunk. 


Turn 2 - May 1942
I continuted my drive toward Hawaii and Samoa while supporting Indonesia with only land based air power.  The British were able to take advantage of this by forcing out the Japanese Bettys, but US carrier forces took a beating.  The pivotal event was Japanese control of the Coral Sea and US Madate sea lanes at the end of the turn, preventing significant US power projection into Hawaii for turn 3.    

Turn 3 - September 1942
I was planning for a double invasion of Hawaii and Samoa this turn but sent an understrength force to US Mandate.  I was getting ahead of myself thinking I would be able to support them with Bettys.  Hawaii fell to Japan, but at the expense of trading away Saigon to the British.  The Japanese sub won the Order of the Rising Sun for sinking two carriers in a row.

Turn 4 - January 1943
Japan concentrated on securing US Madate to prevent the massive US fleet reinforcement due to arrive on Turn 6.  The US responded by projecting power into the sea lanes adjacent to Indonesia/Australia, but the point values were not significant enough to put a dent in the strong Japanese lead.

Turn 5 - June 1943
Japan moved to set up the invasion of Samoa.  The US had no choice but to respond by throwing every asset that could make it to the zone.  Japanese control of Hawaii and Samoa prevents the new US reinforcements coming from the West Coast.  The Japanese carrier air wings bested the US land based air units.  At this point the game was effectively over and the US sued for peace. 

I know Roger had fun while learning the interface for VASSAL.  Neither of us had played the game in a very long time, so it was a nice place to start and still a solid game to revisit.  Next time we are going to try a more recent release, Breakout: Normandy...wait...release date 1992??  Where has all the time gone!