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Axis
and Allies: Pacific
Players:
2 to3.
Duration:
Four hours.
By
Richard Moore
 "December
7th, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy." So said US
President Franklin D Roosevelt, whose great Hawaiian naval base
at Pearl Harbour had just got smashed by a surprise Japanese air
attack.
Before
they knew what was happening the stunned Americans had lost 2
battleships sunk, 6 battleships damaged, 3 cruisers damaged, 2
destroyers sunk, 1 damaged, 1 other ship sunk, 3 damaged, 188
aircraft destroyed, 155 aircraft damaged, 2345 military and 57
civilians killed, 1,247 military and 35 civilians wounded
It
was a massive success for the Imperial Japanese Navy and even
though it was not followed up by a subsequent raid targeting the
docks and oil facilities it certainly had the US rocking on its
heels.
In
Axis and Allies: Pacific you can get an excellent feel
for the Pacific War during World War II by taking one of three
sides - Japan, the United States and China, or Australia, India
and Britain.
If
you are feeling like a bit of a brain workout then the Japanese
are the side to pick. You seem to get a seriously cruisy ride
first turn with your surprised enemy only able to hit your attacking
units on a roll of 1, rather than anything from 1 to four, but
this is balanced by the need to spread your forces as far as possible
in order to grab vital economic resources.
These
resources give you victory points and boost your coffers so you
can buy more military units to keep the revenge-seeking Allies
at bay.
The
sneak Japanese attack should seriously clobber the Allies who
have to do their best to firstly hold back the Japanese from grabbing
too many easy victory points and secondly strike at them as much
as possible to keep them semi-honest.
The
Commonwealth forces are good to play - you have to both defend
and look for chances to hurt the Japanese - and keeping your sealanes
operational can be tough work. However the warm glow you get as
the Australians who pay the Japs back for bombing Darwin by pushing
them out of their south-east Asian strongholds is very satisfying
indeed.
For
the US player it is about balancing patience, a good use of massive
resources and then having the guts to face kamikazes and a dangerous
Japanese navy in the push towards Tokyo.
Axis
and Allies: Pacific is a superb game - one of the best I have
ever played. It is fun, intense and has a myriad of strategies
that may or may not work in any particular game.
We've
played about 35 times and have 35 completely different games.
The
Japanese (usually under Ken-gis Hay) have managed to invade America,
while the Americans have landed twice in Japan without resorting
to atomic bombs.
If
you are into changing history on your tabletop then this is an
absolute beauty.
90%
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