| Second World War at Sea:
Eastern Fleet, Playbook Edition
 Following their victory at Pearl Harbor, the Imperial Japanese Navy's First Air Fleet moved through the American, Dutch and British colonies of South and East Asia. Having taken the mighty British naval base at Singapore, the next move was to enter the Indian Ocean and challenge the Royal Navy there.
Eastern Fleet is a complete game in the Second World War at Sea series covering these campaigns. Scenarios range from the Japanese invasions of Burma and the Andaman Islands through the massive carrier raids to the planned but never executed invasion of Ceylon. The Japanese often have overwhelming superiority in the air, which the British must counter with guile while trying to lure the enemy into range of his slow but powerful battleships.
Pieces represent the ships and aircraft that took part in the campaign. The Japanese fleet is built around its five powerful fleet carriers with their deckloads of Zero fighters, Val dive bombers and Kate torpedo bombers, all wielded by expert pilots and crews. They are supported by four fast battle cruisers, fast but lightly protected heavy cruisers and big destroyers armed with the awesome Long Lance torpedo.
 
The Royal Navy is outnumbered and outgunned in the air, with three fleet carriers — all of them smaller than their Japanese counterparts — and one nearly useless light carrier. The British do have four old and painfully slow R-class battleships and the much more useful Warspite, newly rebuilt in an American shipyard. British cruisers are vastly inferior to those of the Japanese in both numbers and capability, as is the case with the British, Australian and Dutch destroyers.
 
But this is the Royal Navy, with a tradition of victory and a secret base on which it can fall back in the middle of the supposedly empty Indian Ocean. The British cannot be counted out until their last warship is sunk.
Eastern Fleet comes in our Playbook format: everything you need to play, except dice, inside a book.
Links:
Time: 30 minutes to many hours
- Number of Players: 2
- Scale: 36 miles/sea zone
- Playing Pieces: 100 1-inch oversized “long”; 180 1/2-inch square
- Playing Board: One 28 x 22-inch operational map, one 17 x 22-inch tactical map
- Rules: 32 pages, 30 scenarios
- Difficulty Level: 2 of 5
- Solitaire Play: Fair
Stock Code: APL0719
Retail Price: $75.99
Status: Now Available!
Click here to order Eastern Fleet Playbook edition!
More Fun!
 
Coral Sea: Defending Australia
How strategically valuable was Port Moresby? We look at how the Japanese might have made use of this base on the New Guinea coast, that they failed to take during the Battle of the Coral Sea. In 14 scenarios the British Eastern Fleet defends Australia. Requires Coral Sea and Eastern Fleet. $14.99
You can order Defending Australia right here.
Eastern Fleet: Gulf of Aden
Japan’s never-executed plan to capture Ceylon in the spring of 1942 would have opened the door to the next stage, securing the southern outlet to the Red Sea. Gulf of Aden looks at this potential carrier duel in the Arabian Sea. With 14 new scenarios; requires Eastern Fleet, Horn of Africa and Bismarck. $14.99
You can order Eastern Fleet: Gulf of Aden right here.
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