Advice

[HansBolter]

I have a friend who just got the game and wants me to play Japanese in a PBEM against him for his first learning game.

He is a stickler for historical accuracy and doesn't want to play any of the scenarios that presume Midway never happened.

He wants to play the campaign scenario that starts on August 1 with the US poised to invade Lunga and Tulagi.

It seems that most experienced players here have the attitude that in order to give the Japanes player a fighting chance to enjoy the game, scenarios that offer the Japanese player a chance to do better than historically in reaching a high water mark befoe the inevitable turning of the tide, are the preffered scenarios of choice.

My question is this: Will I have a fighting chance, or am I simply walking into a clobbering if I agree to play this one?

I loaded it up solitaire last night and played the first week and it looks like since a player has the benefit of hindsight, even though available assets the first week are limited, there are a number of things that can be done to give the US player serious headaches.

Any thoughts from you more experienced players?

[borner]

He is playing is first PBEM game, so yes, I would say you have a chance. Experience goes a long way in this game. Not only in what to do, but also what the system does in  regards to movement, combat, ect. This will go a long way towards evening things. If I remember right, in that senario, Allied shipping is hard to come by early, and if you can hit that, you should be able to slow him down through the fall.
 
the real issue  for me will be Port Morsby. While it seems like an out of the way front, if he can keep it well supplied, he can airlift units to the small airstrips SW or Lea, and cause you all sorts of problems. If Lea falls, Rabaul itself comes into effective B-17 range, and you will feel real pain.
 
any other thoughts?
 
 

[Ike99]

There is a scenario 17 at spookys site modified in the editor to make the campaign with the historical results of Midway and some other slight modifications.

You can try it.

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

...He is a stickler for historical accuracy and doesn't want to play any of the scenarios that presume Midway never happened.

Your friend reminds me of me; I talked Todd into playing #16, Yamamotto's Prophecy, and we started a small trend for historical scenarios in UV.

ORIGINAL: HansBolter
He wants to play the campaign scenario that starts on August 1 with the US poised to invade Lunga and Tulagi.

That's Scenario #7, The Turning Tide, right? That's my favorite to play as the Allies vs. the AI. I don't often play the IJ vs. the AI, but for a bold player, I suspect there's more than enough IJN surface ships to wreck havoc on the Allies. Unfortunately, the AI rarely uses all its assets.

The Allied player will rely on PTs and mines to defend Lunga until his surface fleet and CVs build-up; it should prove an interesting game.

[HansBolter]

Thanks for the advice gentlemen.

Since my friend is a stickler for historically accurate scenarios I will take a look at the modified 17 on Spooky's site.

Last night was our weekly boardgame night (we are playing MultiMan Publishing's Case Blue with teams of 3 against 2) so I had a chance to talk with him about starting a scenario that at least gives the Japanese player a slightly better chance to reach a better high water mark than historical before they have to endure the onslaught. He said he thought there was also one that starts June 1 that obviously includes the historical results of the Battle of Coral Sea also possibly did not presume that Midway never occured. I'll look over the scenarios tonight.

Borner, you have a good point that I, while not immensely experienced (have played 2 solitaire 17s into Feb 43 and have 3 17s going as PBEMs that are currently ranging from mid May to the end of June as far as progress is concerned), I do have a much better feel for how to do things and what is possible than he does. I gave him a copy of the FAQs and strategy hints from Spooky's site last night to help him come up to speed.

He is telling me he already likes the game a lot from the little bit of solitaire toying around he has done so far, so once I get him fully hooked he will likely become another avialable player on this forum for other opponents. He is a very experienced gamer who I have had as a local boardgame opponent and teammate off and on for close to twenty years.