| Great
Pacific War Replay
1939 Campaign Scenario
Part 17: Summer 1945
By Doug McNair
March 2008
My Great Pacific
War replay rises from its own ashes
in today’s episode. Last
time (before Japanese secret agent Hello Kitty
trashed the game board), the U.S. spent
over 200 BRPs to more than triple the strength
of her navy come winter. But while American
shipyards are working 24/7, Japan continues
to exploit the U.S. Navy’s weakness
after the horrific losses in the Battle of
the Bismarck Sea. She sent a force of 4 CV
and 8 SURF down to her base at Kusiae to challenge
Allied control of the Marianas Islands sea
zone, and if she can get sole control there
she’ll cut the supply lines to the U.S.
bases at Guam and Saipan.
That would force the American LSAC units that
have been bombing Japan to relocate to Mindanao,
which would put an end to the U.S. bombing
of Japan since it’s beyond LSAC range.
The consequent easing of pressure on Japan’s
economy would give her the BRPs necessary
to strike at Midway or Wake, and taking one
of those islands would satisfy one of the
conditions for a Japanese Major Victory while
disrupting America’s ability to stage
new units westward from the U.S. West Coast
Box.
But while Japan has been able to hang onto
Bangkok despite repeated British assaults,
time and a boost to her BRP base at the start
of 1945 has allowed Britain to amass enough
ground, air and naval forces to mount a serious
challenge to Japan’s control of the
seas around Borneo this turn. If Britain can
defeat Japan there and conquer Bangkok, Japan
will be hard-put to prevent British and U.S.
forces from linking up in the Philippines
and starting a concerted drive northeast toward
the Japanese home islands.
The war continues. . . .
Turn 23: Summer 1945
Production Segment: The Chinas hold onto their BRPs
for now, while the Netherlands spends 2 BRPs
to construct a 1-3 INF at Batavia. The Soviet
Union has no ground or air units in her force
pool and leaves the naval units there unbuilt,
but Britain builds an LC at Calcutta for 3
BRPs. Japan rebuilds the Siamese 1-0 GAR at
Bangkok, builds and airfield on Bonin Island
(on the sea zone border with the American
base at Marcus Island), and builds 3-3 INF,
3 x 2-3 INF, 3 x 1-3 INF and an LC in Japan
for 29 BRPs.
Finally the U.S. builds 4 CV and 9 SURF (available
Spring, 1946), has to rebuild the airfield
at Wake Island just one turn after dismantling
it (because that’s the only place the
5-8 SAC on Marcus Island can go to make room
for the TAC which the Americans have to bring
in due to the Japanese construction of an
airfield on Bonin Island), builds LC at the
Mindanao beachhead and 2 x 3-4 INF plus 5
SUB and a 5-4 TAC in the U.S. West Coast box
for 93 BRPs.
The Atomic Age begins in New Mexico, and two
MANHATTAN PROJECT chits go in the political
cup. The chit drawn is NO EFFECT, so for the
moment invading Japan is the only way for
the Allies to end the war. The Chinas and
the Soviet Union buy one impulse chit each,
Britain buys two, Japan buys three and the
U.S. buys two.
Sea Zone Box Placement Segment: The
Soviet Union spends 5 BRPs to put 3 SURF and
2 SUB in the Sea of Okhotsk control box plus
a 3-4 TAC in the Sea of Japan control box.
Britain spends 5 BRPs to put units in the
Gulf of Siam, Java Sea, Bismarck Sea, Coral
Sea and Marianas Islands control boxes, and
the U.S. spends 5 BRPs to put many units in
the Marianas Islands sea control box to fight
for the supply line to Guam and Saipan. She
also puts TAC in the Bering Sea, Hawaiian
Island and Solomon Islands sea control boxes
(the latter to maintain a supply line to Truk
even if the Allies lose control of the Marianas
Islands sea zone).
Finally Japan spends 5 BRPs to put units in
all the usual sea zones except the Sea of
Okhotsk (which she lets the Soviets have since
no Allied landing force is within range of
any useful target there), and sends a large
force into the Marianas Islands sea control
box to battle the Allies there.
Sea Control and Raiding Segment:
The RAF destroys the Japanese Air Force in
the Gulf of Siam and gains sole control of
that sea zone, but the Japanese Air force
destroys the British carriers in the Java
Sea and gains control of that zone. In the
Sea of Japan a Soviet and Japanese 3-4 TAC
go up against each other, and the Red Air
Force scores two hits to one leaving the zone
contested. Then in the Marianas Islands sea
zone, a combined Allied force of 2 TAC, 5
CV, 3 SURF and 7 SUB takes on a Japanese force
of 4 CV, 8 SURF and 5 SUB:
Round One: Each side scores one hit
in air battle, with the Americans destroying
one Japanese BRP and the Japanese downing
an American 1-4 TAC. But the Imperial Japanese
Navy does terribly in naval combat, while
the American carriers score two hits to sink
a Japanese 2 CV and the American SUBS score
another two hits to sink the remaining Japanese
2 CV.
Round Two: Honor demands revenge
so the Japanese stay for a second round. They
get some measure of it with their SURF units
scoring a hit to sink an American SURF and
their SUBs scoring two hits to sink an American
2 CV. This time it’s the Allies’
turn to do terribly, with the entire Allied
force scoring just one hit to sink a Japanese
SURF factor. The remaining American 3 CV withdraws
to Truk, because with no Japanese CV left
in the battle there’s no way the Japanese
can down the British 1-4 TAC and get 4-1 odds
on the Allies for sole control of the sea
zone (the TAC counts double and SUBs don’t
count at all for sea control, so the best
the Japanese can get at the end is 7 –
2).
Round Three: The Allies just can’t
replicate their early victories, and the Japanese
score two hits to destroy the remaining American
2 SURF while the Allies score no hits at all.
The zone ends up controlled by both sides
and the supply line to the LSAC bases on Saipan
and Guam remains intact. Just as important,
with the losses suffered in the Marianas Islands
and Java Sea, total Japanese carrier strength
is now down to 9 CV while Allied carrier strength
is down to just 3 CV.
Strategic Redeployment Segment: Nationalist
China SRs a 1-2 INF down from Chunking to
the front, but Mao leaves his units in place.
The Netherlands SRs her 2 SUB from the Middle
East box to Batavia, and the Soviet Union
brings a 4-5 ARM onto the board from Europe.
Britain SRs 2 x 2-3 Indian INF overland from
Madras down to Nagor Rajasima in Siam, uses
an LC to SRs an ANZAC 2-3 INF in Malaya through
Singapore, up to Rangoon and down to Siam,
and finally uses her 9 SURF at Madras to send
the Soviet Union 20 BRPs.
Japan uses her LC at Kagoshima to SR a 3-3
and a 1-3 INF to the Philippines, uses her
9 SURF at Darien to SR a 2-3 INF through Nagasaki
on Kyushu up to Darien (the 9 SURF moves down
to Nagasaki in the process), and finally uses
her LC at Osaka to send 2 x 2-3 and a 1-3
INF to positions behind the front lines in
Korea.
Then the American 1-3 PARA at the Mindanao
beachhead SRs up to Leyte (it won’t
be out of supply there because PARA units
are always in supply on the turn when they
drop). The 2 LC at the Mindanao Beachhead
then SRs a 3-4 INF, a 5-6 ARM and an HQ from
Marcus Island to Mindanao. The 5-8 SAC on
Marcus Island SRs to the new airfield on Wake,
and then the 9 SURF at Marcus Island SRs a
3-4 INF and a 5-4 TAC in from the U.S. West
Coast box. 
Operations Segment: The first chit
drawn is . . .
BRITISH NAVAL:
The Japanese victory in the Java Sea nixes
British plans for an amphibious invasion of
Borneo (they can’t get through the Singapore
Strait without being hit by Japanese TAC).
So the British LCs from Calcutta and Rangoon
move down to Broome in Australia along with
an Indian 3-4 INF. That gives them the option
of hitting either Borneo or the Philippines
next turn as conditions warrant.
The next chit drawn is . . .
COMMUNIST CHINA ATTRITION:
Mao’s men plunge into the
gap in the north end of the Japanese line
but don’t attack because they have to
stay alive in order to reach the provincial
capital of Changcyuan next turn.
The next chit drawn is . . .
U.S. AIR EFFORT:
The American 5-4 TAC at the Mindanao beachhead
moves to Davao, and then the LSAC units out
of Guam and Saipan perform strategic bombing
against Osaka and Tokyo. They score an outstanding
four hits on each city to destroy 8 Japanese
BRPs, and the Allied victory in the Marianas
Islands means they’ll be able to keep
bombing Japan for the rest of the year.
The next chit drawn is . . .
SOVIET 1/FEF HQ OFFENSIVE:
The Red Army envelops the entire
Japanese line and also drives down the Darien
peninsula toward the objective port.
The attack on Darien scores no hits for either
side, and the eight-die-to-three attack (with
blitzkrieg bonuses) on the line southeast
of Darien scores just two hits to kill 2 Japanese
BRPs while the Japanese score one hit in return
to kill a Soviet BRP.
The 10-die-to-3 attack on the objective capital
city of Kirin scores just one hit to kill
a Japanese INF division, but the attack on
the weak line south of Kirin eliminates a
Japanese INF division and lets a Soviet 2-3
INF gain a fifth hex adjacent to the capital.
An infantry attack on the next Japanese unit
farther south scores no hits, but finally
the Soviets get a break on the extreme Japanese
southern flank, with a 7-die-to-3 armored
assault scoring three hits to reduce a Japanese
3-3 INF and force it to retreat southwest
while a Soviet 4-5 ARM advances. 
Soviet ARM, CAV and TAC press the attack in
exploitation combat. They score just one hit
on the north flank to kill a Japanese BRP
while losing 2 Soviet BRPs to a determined
defense, but in the south they destroy 2 x
1-3 INF and nearly complete the encirclement
of the forces southwest of Kirin while losing
1 Soviet BRP to defenders. 
The next chit drawn is . . .
NATIONALIST CHINA ATTRITION:
The Japanese are getting blindsided by everyone,
and the Kuomintang get the jump and march
into Hanoi before the Japanese can rush forces
in to protect it. French Indo China falls
under Nationalist Chinese control (which will
give Chiang Kai Shek a big BRP boost in the
spring), and Kuomintang armies attack the
Japanese extreme western flank in China. They
destroy the Japanese 1-5 ARM division there
while losing a 1-2 INF unit.
The next chit drawn is . . .
BRITISH 14TH HQ OFFENSIVE:
The Commonwealth attacks Bangkok again at
the same strength as last turn’s. This
time it works, scoring seven hits on 21 dice
to eliminate the Japanese 3-3 INF and Siamese
1-0 GAR to take the capital and conquer Siam.
The Japanese go down fighting, scoring two
hits on five dice to eliminate an Indian 2-3
INF. Units advance into the capital and beyond
(since there are no enemy units remaining
adjacent to them), the British and Dutch TAC
land there, and then in exploitation movement
the British 4-5 ARM heads across the central
Siamese plain toward the key Japanese base
at Camranh Bay.
The next chit drawn is . . .
JAPANESE ATTRITION: Finally
Japan gets a clue that her empire is falling
apart and sends word to her troops southwest
of Kirin to get the hell out of there. The
retreat is slowed by ZOC from the Soviet 4-5
ARM that came up from the south after smashing
the Japanese flank, but the Japanese score
a major victory by scoring two hits on six
dice to destroy the Soviet 1/FEF HQ and the
2-3 INF guarding it! That will slow the Red
Army’s progress considerably until a
new HQ can be brought to the front.
The next chit drawn is . . .
JAPANESE ATTRITION: The
Japanese pull back their west flank so that
it links up with the beachhead on the south
China coast, where they’ll be able to
SR a unit from Japan next turn.
The next chit drawn is . . .
JAPANESE CEA HQ OFFENSIVE:
The Japanese 3-3 INF on Borneo moves northeast
and captures the objective city of Taralam.
The last chit drawn is . . .
U.S. NAVAL:
The Americans bought this chit hoping to use
the 2 x 2-4 MAR on Truk for an amphibious
landing on either Borneo or the Philippines.
But the weak performance of the U.S. Navy
in the neighboring Marianas Islands sea zone
plus exclusive Japanese sea control in the
zones east of Borneo and the Philippines makes
this unadvisable. The Marines stay at Truk,
but the 1 LC unit at Midway transports one
of the two 1-0 GAR units there to Wake.
Supply Segment: All units are in
supply (even the Japanese 1-0 GAR at Kirin
since there are no empty Soviet ZOC hexes
between it and the Japanese armies to the
southwest). Japan spends 2 BRPs to repair
her reduced 3-3 INF on the Korean coast, and
the U.S. voluntarily removes her two LC factors
from Guam and Wake so they can be built elsewhere
next turn.
End Segment: Siam surrenders to Britain
and her 1 SURF is removed from play. Units
then return to base from sea zone boxes (with
a Japanese 2-4 TAC landing at the new airbase
on Bonin Island and an American 3-4 TAC landing
at Truk), and the turn ends.
So with just four turns left in the game,
Japan has stymied Stalin’s advance in
Korea by destroying the Soviet HQ there, and
her navy and air force are doing a good job
of keeping the Americans off balance. But
Siam and French Indochina have fallen to the
Allies, and British and American air units
will be in a position next turn to fight for
control of all the sea zones surrounding Borneo.
If they take sole control of those zones they’ll
cut the supply lines to the Japanese armies
on Borneo, and that followed by likely Allied
invasions of Borneo and the Philippines could
spell the end of Japan’s empire in the
west.
But the improved situation in Korea will allow
Japan to use her LC and SURF units to SR new
units to Borneo and the Philippines and possibly
hold off the Allies — if, that is, Japan’s
BRP stockpile can hold out against continued
American bombing. And then there’s the
matter of the Atom Bomb. . . .
Can Japan keep her empire together until the
spring? Tune in next time and find out!
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