Trying out the Pacific theatre

After the mixed success of our France 1940 campaign, caused by one of the major players dropping out suddenly, Chris K and I have been considering running a new campaign. Our plan is to get our local World War 2 players focussed on a joint project we can all take part in. Our local club has a strong Bolt Action focus, so this was going to be the obvious ruleset to use.

To be fair, our France 1940 campaign went very well and was very popular. So, before we embarked on another mad campaign, we thought it s wise to have a few test games and see what parameters (or restrictions, if you prefer) we should set ourselves. So that we don't get swamped in bamboo-armed militia or Sherman tanks, we are aiming at 1942-43. We were also going to make the campaign play more loosely, so if one player left unexpectedly, we could handle it without too many issues. Our ideas are still work in progress, but I'll blog more about them in the future.

One idea was to combine the campaign with air and naval rules, but this will require careful planning - keeping things simple is a good plan from the start. Likewise, we wanted to play linked scenarios, not just a series of 1000 point games without consequences for losses taken by either side. We are also running a few test games to see how well the armies and scenarios we have in mind will perform. To this end, I recently arranged a test game with my friend David, who conveniently wanted to try out his Japanese army. I had to use late British infantry as 'stand ins' until I complete a force of my own. To be fair to David, the scenario was in my favour, all I had to do is sit back and wait. Note to self, choice of scenario will be crucial to the campaign.

Our game went very well and was a close-run affair. The Japanese moved bravely forward while I basically took cover and started laying down fire on every unit I could see. I was fortunate to disable David's tank early on but his anti-tank teams proved very effective. As his infantry charged in, I was able to while them down, so even though he would charge in and destroy a unit, I kept reserves so was usually able to send a unit in to countercharge.

I think we both learnt lessons from our game. While David had some support, he could have used a howitzer or a larger mortar than the 50mms he had. His infantry would have more effective with support. I took a Grant tank, which proved very powerful with its two guns, so they'll be going on the 'banned' list (Lee/Grants were late 1943). Nevertheless, it was a very enjoyable game with a good opponent. Food for thought!