carrier rules

8/13/2019 Carrier Rules

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ARRIER Rules Page 2

Table of Contents.0 Introduction

1.1 How to Learn the Rules1.2 Game Overview1.3 Game Concepts

.0 Game Preliminaries2.1 Game Components2.2 Playing Piece Summary

2.3 The Map2.4 Charts and Tables2.5 Fractions2.6 Stacking

.0 Sequence of Play

.0 Air-to-Sea Attacks4.1 US Air-to-Sea Attacks4.2 Japanese Air-to-Sea Attacks

cenario #1: Decision in the Coral Sea

5.0 US Task Forces and Displays

.0 US Air Strikes6.1 Air Strike Initiation6.2 Air Unit Endurance6.3 Air Strike Movement6.4 Contact6.5 Japa nese Surprise6.6 Japanese CAP

7.0 US Carrier Task Force Operations7.1 Carrier Displays and Air Operations7.2 US CAP7.3 Air Transfer

cenario #2: The First Carrier Battle

8.0 Japanese Forces

9.0 Japanese Force Movement9.1 Force Type Movement Priorities9.2 Mission Movement

10.0 US Movementcenario #3: Climax at Santa Cruz

11.0 Force Chits and Intelligence11.1 Force Chit s11.2 Intelligence Tables11.3 Jap ane se Screens11.4 Intelligence Level Decreases11.5 Summary of Force Chits

12.0 Search and Detection12.1 Detection Sta tus12.2 Air Search Procedure

13.0 Standard Game Sequence13.1 Sequence Chits

cenario #4: Air Search Officer

14.0 Close Reaction and Surface Combat14.1 Adjacent US Task Forces and Ja pan ese Movement14.2 Surface Naval Combat

cenario #5: Solomons Brawl

15.0 Japanese Air Strikes15.1 Which Forces Are Eligible to Strike15.2 Japanese Air Strike Procedure

16.0 Revealed Air Strength, Air Lossesand Air Value

16.1 Revealed Air Strength16.2 Air Losses16.3 Air Value

Scenario #6: "Attack - Repeat - Attack"

17.0 Japanese Force Arrival17.1 Arrival Procedure17.2 Commitment Limits

18.0 Land Air Bases18.1 US Land Base Operat ions18.2 Land Air Base Damage and Repair18.2 Air-to-Ground Attacks

19.0 US Damage and Repair19.1 Damage Record and Effects19.2 Inoperative Flight Decks19.3 US Ca rri er Repa ir

20.0 Japanese Retirement20.1 Force Retirement20.2 Fleet Retirement20.3 Retirement Movement

21.0 Standard Game Scenarios

22.0 Standard Game Victory

Advanced Rules

23.0 CAP Over Other Forces

24.0 Game Extension24.1 Jap ane se Arrival24.2 Night24.3 Additional Commi tmen t

25.0 Advanced US Strikes25.1 Wrong T arget R esult s25.2 Change of Target , Sp littin g and Recalling Air Strikes

26.0 Advanced Search26.1 Special Search Results26.2 PBY Search

27.0 Rabaul

28.0 Returning Air Strikes

29.0 Hit Confirmation

30.0 Surface Bombardment of Airfields31.0 Historical Scenarios

31.1 Coral Sea31.2 Ea st er n Solomons31.3 Santa Cruz31.4 The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal

32.0 The Final Countdown

Credits

Ship Availability Table

Log Sheets

INDEX

Bibliography

Summary Design Notes


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.0 IntroductionCarrier is a solitaire game in which you command the United

es fleet in the gr eat car rier battle s which occurred or might haverred in 1942 and 1943. These battles effectively decided theome of th e Pacific War and estab lished th e aircraft carr ier as thet formidable instrument of naval power.The game focuses on the central problems of carrier warfare:

ching for the enemy, evaluating intelligence, and deciding whenwhere to send out strikes. Your job is to sink the Japa nes e carriersre they sink you. The game rules dictate how Japanese forces will

ve in play, move, and attack.Note to players of Ambush! and other solitaire games:rier can be played repeatedly, because Japanese actions arermined by charts and die rolls. There are no hidden paragraphsimilar limits to replayability.

1 How to Learn the RulesCarrier includes many concepts and procedures which will bemiliar even to experienced wargamers. The rules have beenctured so that you may learn them gradually, with the help ofral introductory scenarios which have been provided for theose. You should read the rules consecutively, stopping to play

introductory scenario as you come to it. Each introductoryario, examin ing one part of the g ame system, ta kes only a short

to set up and play. After playing all the introductory scenarioswill be ready for the standard game (21.0).

The full content of rules 1.0-22.0 constitutes the "standards", used in th e sta nda rd game. Rul es identified as "standa rd game" or "(Standa rd Game)" are not used with introduc tory scenarios.Following the standard rules are numerous Advanced rules.ers who desire more options and greater realism may use thesely or in any combination.

2 Game OverviewThis overview is intended to give a broad picture of how the

dard game is supposed to proceed. This will allow you to underd the function s of th e different pa rt s of th e system, as you lea rn

m through the introductory scenarios.

You control US ships which are grouped into task forces andy air units. The Japanese appear as forces. Forces enter play byndom procedure. At the time that each force enters play you knowe or nothing about i ts composition: it may represent anythi ng fromir of destroyers to a carrier fleet, or it may be a dummy.

Your first task as the U.S. commander is to send out searches to detect enemy forces and gain information about them. Thereseveral levels of information, ranging from the approximate sizes"Small") of enemy task forces to the exact names of the ships of

ch they are composed.During each turn, US and Japanese forces alternate moving and

ertaking air operations. You will ready your planes, launch themearch missions, and then launch strikes against detected forces.he same time, Japanese forces within strike range will launch

cks against you. The first you will learn of a strike is when itears over your task force. You usually do not know the exactposition of a force which laun che d an air stri ke tha t ju st at tac ked

you know only how many planes appeared.

Japanese forces move and choose air attack targets according toof priority r ules . Th ese proc edure s are complex a nd occupy a

siderable portion of th e rules. You should not at temp t to learn alldet ails of th em unti l you actual ly use the procedures in play. Letgame teach you the procedures as you proceed.

The move ment of Jap ane se forces dep ends upon their proximityU.S. task forces. Basically, they will move toward and attack USes within cer tai n dista nce s; if no US forces are ne ar, th ey moveard objective hexes fixed by scenario. Japa nes e air strike strengt hs

into account known force strength, losses, and aircraft being on other missions. Both sides' attacks are resolved by performingo-air combat, then antiaircraft fire, and finally , the bombingcks themselves.

The object of th e game is to destroy Japa nes e ships a nd planesprevent the Japanese from landing troops at objective hexes

gned by the scenario.

CARRIER Rules Page 3

1.3 Game ConceptsCarrier is a complex game that involves many new rules

systems that will be unfamiliar even to experienced wargamers. Thissection is int end ed to intr oduc e you to some of th e more impo rta nt ofthese systems and to give a broad overview how they interact in thecourse of play. We hope this will make your task of reading the bodyof th e rules an easie r one.

Naval Unit OrganizationIn Carrier, ships do not move individually. Rather they areorganized into forces, containing a variable number of ships, whichmove and conduct combat as a single unit, represented on the map bya force counter (Japanese) or task force counter (US). You keeptrack of which ships are in a particular US task force by placing theship counter s in one of the Task Force or Carrier Task ForceDisplaysprinted on the game map. When you gain precise information about which ships are in a Japanese force, its ship counters arelikewise placed on one of th e Task Force Disp lays .

Japanese Naval ForcesThe Japanese have two basic kinds of forces; combat forces

(numbered 1-20), and transport forces (numbered 1-6). There areth ree different sets of Ja pa ne se force counte rs, e ach color-coded to

indicate a different objective. Thus, for example, an orange-coloredforce has Port Moresby as its objective. Each Japanese force has alsoa correspondingly numberedactivation chit, which is placed into acup along with the activation chits of all other Japanese forcescurrently in play. During the course of the game tu rn, chits ar e drawn,one at a time, from the activation chit cup. When a particular force'sactivation chit is drawn, the force moves and/or attacks.

The direction in which a Japanese force moves when activated isdependent upon which of the three objectives (Port Moresby, Guadalcanal or Espiritu Santo) it is aiming for. Printed on the map you willfind a series ofmission movement compa sses, each colorcodedto correspond to one of th e thre e objectives. Wh en a Jap an es e force isactivated, you move it in the direction indicated by the missionmovement die roll on the appropriately colored mission movementcompass in that mission movement zone (whose boundaries areindicated by dotted lines printed on the map).

Limited Intelligence andJapanese Forces

When first placed on the map, the composition of Japanese forcesis unknown to you. You will know only that a force is either a combatforce, or a transport force, and even this information may change.Indee d, most of th e forces whose force count ers a re on th e ma p willcontain no ships at all, in other words, they are dummies. Byconducting aerial searches and/or surface naval engagements, youwill gain informati on about the composition of Ja pa ne se forces. Thequality of information that you possess as to the composition of aparticular force is defined in terms of Intel l igence Levels, whichrange from Level-0 (no information), to Level-4 (precise information). For example, a force might start as a Level-0 combat force,increase to a Level-1 "Carrier" force, then become a Level-2 "2-3Carrier" force, move up to a Level-3 "2 CV force, and finally becomea Level-4 force containing theHiryu and Soryu escorted by 3 cruisersand 2 destroyers.

You record increases in a Japanese force's intelligence level byplacing a force chit of th e approp riat e level und ern eat h the forcecounter on the map (Level-0 forces have no force chits under them).Force chits are color-coded for easy reference. Thus, for example, allLevel-2 chits are light green, and Level-3 chits are lilac (light purple).Note th at some Level-1 an d Level-2 force chits also ha ve gree n or blu ecolor bands on them. These chits are placed in two force chit cups,one for combat forces (the green-banded chits), and the other fortransport forces (the blue-banded chits). When a level-0 force increa ses to level-1, a force chit is d raw n for it from th e app rop ria te cup.In all other cases (Level-1 increasing to Level-2, Level-2 to Level-3and Level-3 to Level-4), the force's new revealed composition is determined by rolling on one of the Intel l igence Tables, and then kepttra ck of usi ng th e force chits t ha t have no color ba nd s.


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RRIER Rules Page 4

r Units and Air OperationsTo mai nta in the proper "fog of war" atmos phere Japa nes e airations are represented abstractly in Carrier. No Japanese air

ke counters come creeping across the map to telegraph theirches and give you time to prepare. Instead, whenever a Japanesebat force is activated, there is a chance that it will immediatelyduct an air attack. The idea is that the Japanese air strike isidered to have been winging its way towards you for severals . This way you have no advance warning of Japan ese air attack s,must constant ly be on your guard. There are no Japane se aircraft

nters in Carrier. Instead, Japanese aircraft are quantified in

m s of generic air points, each of which represent s approximatelyt airplanes. When a Japanese air strike occurs, you record theber of air points tha t it contains on theJapa nes e Log Sheet.Airts shot down by US fighters and anti-aircraft fire are recorded in"Losses" column of the strike's space on the log sheet.

US air operations are as detailed as the Japanese air operationsab str act . Five different typ es of Americ an aircraft are repre ed, each with its own CAP, bombing and endurance ratings. A-up US aircraft counter consists of two air steps, while a facen counter contains one step. An ai r step represen ts approximatelyairpl anes. Eac h US carri er has its ownAir Operations Disp lay

ted on the map. Using the displays, you keep track of whichraft are ready to launch, which are in the process of being serviced

med and fueled), which have ju st landed, and which are standi ngin the hangar.

The US player conducts air searches by launching eligible airs into a task force'sSe arch Track.The sear ch tracks are dividedzontally into boxes representing different ranges (in hexes) fromlaunching task force. During each turn, searching air steps maympt to detect Japanese forces located in the range bracketesponding to the search track box that they occupy. At theinning of each new tur n, t he sear ching air units move on into thet box on the track until they have returned to base.

In contrast to the Japanese, US air strikes actually move acrossmap (at the rate of one hex each action phase (see below)). Theyrepresented in play by air strike counters, each of which is

mbe red to correspond with one of the US Strike Boxes that arente d on the map. These contain all the air steps that are participat

in a par ticu lar st rike. You keep t rack of the numb er of actions es tha t a stri ke have spent aloft, an d compar e it to the endurance( s)h e aircraft in th e str ike . Once an aircraft's endu ran ce is exceeded,ecomes very likely that the planes will crash due to lack of fuel.

Japanese CommitmentJu st as you ar e unaw are of the composition of individual Japa

nese naval forces, so too you won't know what forces the Japanesehave committed to an entire operation (except within broad limits).Each scenario will designate separate Commitment Limits forJapanese carriers, surface combatants and transports. These arerecorded on the Recor ds Track ( at top of map). Whe n a Japan eseforce increases to Level-3, you increase the appropriate Commitment Index by the amount printed on the Level-3 Force chit. TheCarrier Commitment Index also increases when Japanese air strikesare generated. Once a Commitment Index has reached or exceeded

the Commitment Limit, no more forces of that type can be brought intoplay.

Sequence of PlayThe game turn is divided (in order), into anArrival Phase,four

consecutive Act ion Phases, and finally, the End Phase.In the Arrival Phase of each game turn, one-third of those

Japanese combat forces not currently in play, plus one transport force,will be brought into play. The appropriate Arrival Tables (determined by Japanese force type objective) determine into which hex aforce just entering play will be placed.

In each of the four Act ion Phases, the Japanese Segmentalways comes first. The number of Japanese forces in play is recordedon the Records Track. The num bers prin ted in th e box correspondingto the number of forces currently in play indicates how many Japa

nese activation chits will be drawn from the activation chit cup in eachof the four Action Phases (example; 3/3/3/*). Some of the chits in theactivation chit cup will be dummies,but most will identify a specificJapanese force that is to be activated. Each Japanese force moves andmakes attacks at the time that it is activated, there are no separatemovement and combat phases.

Ju st as th e numb er of Jap ane se forces in play determi nes howman y activation chits will be draw n in each Jap an ese Segment of thefour Action Pha ses , so t he n um be r of US tas k forces in play determines how many will be permitted to move in the USSeg m entof eachAction Phase (i.e.; one refers to the appropriate records track boxexactly as one does for the Jap ane se). However, while Japan ese haveto conduct air operations one at a time, as each individual force isactivated, you may conduct air operations with al l US task forcesduring the US Segment, even those that cannot move.

In the End Phase you carry out a number of bookkeepingfunctions concerning Japanese air operations, damage to Japaneseships, and US intelligence about Japanese forces.

D entering its landing pattern for the USS Saratoga.


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2.0 Game Preliminaries

1 Game ComponentsA complete game ofCarrier contains the following items:

One mapsh eet

660 die-cut card boa rd playi ng pieces

One rule s booklet

Two cha rts and tables cards

Two cha rts and tables screens

One 10-sided die

Note: Carrier uses a 10-sided die. Read "0" as "10" in allcases.

Note: You will also need several paper cups or coffee cups.


Japanese combat force

Identifying number

Face = Not yet searc hed Back = Searc hed successfullysuccessfully in curren t tur n in curren t tu rn.

Japanese transport force

Identifying number

Face = Not yet searc hed Back = Searc hed successfullysuccessfully in curren t tur n in curre nt tu rn

2 Playing Piece SummaryThe playing pieces (counters) represen t ships, aircraft, an d tas k

ces of th e Unit ed Sta tes a nd Jap an . The basic US pieces are shipsd aircraft. Only a few counters are actually placed on the map; the

ers remain in holding boxes.Ships, aircraft, and Damage markers are the only pieces re

red for Scenario 1. Other playing pieces will be explained wheneded for later scenarios. However, all units and markers aremmarized below for easy reference.

Sample Units

Carrier

A.A. value

Name

A.A. valueSurface Ship

Bombardment value

Name

Air value (Japanese)

Hit capacity

- Hit capacity

Transport

back = unloaded

US air unit

Attack valu e - End uran ce

US task force

Designation

Fac e = not moved Back = moved

US air strike

face = has not yet back = ha s exh aus tedatte mpt ed contact contact atte mpts

Note: There are three identical sets of transport andcombat forces, one per objective. Note also that therevers e side of a US tas k force ha s a different meaningfrom th e reverse s ide of a Ja p an es e force.

Chits and MarkersChits and markers are used to record information. The rules

referenced below explain the use of each.

Task Force Display marker

Task force identification (see 5.0)

Carrier Display marker

Ship Name

Hangar Capacity(see 5.0)

Force Chits

Color bands on certain force chits indicate that those chits are tobe placed in a search cup when setting up the game.

Commitment value

(surface ortransport only)

Air value(carrier only)

Level 1

Level 2

(see 8.0)

A.A. value

Level 3


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ARRIER Rules Page 6

Sequence Chits

activationsequence chit

blank sequence chit

PBY Searchsequence chit

Rabaul Action chit

(see 13.1)

(see 13.1)

(see 13.1, 26.2)

(see 27.0)

Other Markers

Guadalcanal Fuel (see 18.1)

attle Exhaust 1 Battle Exhaust 2

(see 14.2)

CAP Strength (see 6.0)

Commitment

Index

Commitment

Limit

(see 17.2)

te: There are three Commitment Index markers , one eachJa pa ne se carrier, surface, an d trans por t forces. There also three corresponding Commitment Limit markers .

Damage/Time Aloft/Air Value Markers

(see 4.1,19.1, 6.0)

Numbered markers are provided to record damage to ships, the

me air unit s have sp ent aloft, and Japa ne se carr ier force air values.u use the same num bered ma rke rs for all thr ee functions, al though functions are entirely separate. The rules will refer to "Damage",ime Aloft", or "Air Value" markers according to context, evenough the same markers are used for each.

Each marker has four numbers printed on each side, one alongch edge. Orient the marker so that the proper number is alignedong the top edge of the counter being marked.

Game Tur n Ph ase

(see 3.0)

Location (see 12.1)

front: Located back: Approxi matel y Located

Mission Movement

Die Roll(see 9.0)

Number of Forces (see 17.1)

Retirement (see 20.1)

Retirement Index Retirement Limit

(see 20.0)

Second Wave (see 16.0)

Sunk Previous Turn/ Heavily Damaged Previous Turn

(see 4.1)

Target (see 6.0)

UnloadedTransport

(see 22.0)

front: 1 tu rn back: 2 tu rn s

US Advantage (see 12.2)


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r Units and Air PointsEach US air unit represents one type of aircraft: fighters, divebers, torpedo bombers, or horizontal bombers. The air units

mselves are never placed on the map; they are placed in holdinges. Air strike counters are placed on the map to represent groupsircraft in flight.Each US air unit is color-coded according to its service and thes of base s it m ay use:

Blue Aircraft Silho uett e: Denotes a carrier-capable Navyunit. They may operate from carriers or from land bases.

Gree n Aircraft Silhou ette: Denotes a Marine, Army, orland-based Navy unit. These may operate only from landbases. L.

The following is a list of US aircraft typ es, t hei r abbrevi ation s,their nicknames:F4 F ("Wildcat*) Fig ht erSBD ("Dauntle ss") Dive bomb erTBD ("Devastato r") Torpedo bombe rTBF ("Avenger") Torpedo bombe rP-38 ("Lightning") Fig ht erP-39 ("Airacobra") Fig ht erMedB Medi um Bomber Horizontal Bomber

DESIGN NOTE: Medium Bombers include B-25, B-26. ondA-20 types. P-39 counters represent P-39, P-40 and P-400 (an export version of the P-39) types. Army Air Forces aircraft have been included only if they

were likely to make effective strikes against ship targets. For example,there are no B-I7s in the game. They performed valuable reconnaissance services, which have been built into the Japanese arrivalsystem. But as anti-ship bombers they were virtually worthless.

There are no Japanese air unit counters. Japanese carrier forcese intrinsic air strengths, expressed in air points. Each Japanesepoint represents about eight aircraft.

S Air StepsUS air strengths and losses are counted in steps. A face-up

nter repr esen ts two steps and a face-down counter represent s one.s, a loss of one ste p ma y be satisfied by flipping a face-up counte rr or by removing a face-down counter from play. You may replace

wo-step counter with two one-step counter at any time, and maye additional counters for this purpose if necessary. Two one-step

nters of th e sam e type can like wise be combined into one two-ste pnter.

S Air SourcesThe following are US air sources:

Any US car rie r hav ing an ope rat ing fligh t deck;

Any US lan d bas e which has an operating runwa y and whichhas at least 3 steps of bombers a nd/or torpedo planes remai ning. This includes planes on the ground, planes on the basesearch track, and planes in strikes launched from that base.

US air sourc es affect th e actions of Ja pa ne se forces. (Note: Thed "source" is used simply as an appropriate term to encompass

h carriers and land bases.)

hip Types and SizesShips are identified by the following abbreviations. Ships willasionally be referred to by size or weight: for example, a rule maye "If th e tas k force contain s no ship lar ger (heavier) tha n aroyer...". Ships are listed here in order of size/weight.

ps in Order of Size/Weight:BB= BattleshipCV= Fleet aircraft carrierCA= CruiserCVL= Light aircraft carrierCVE= Escort aircraft carrierDD= DestroyerAP= Transport (U.S.)TR= Transport (Japanese)Battl eship s, cruisers , an d destroyers are surface ships. (They are

named because they carry no aircraft and so fight only on theace of the ocean, not above it.)

DESIGN NOTE:For design reasons which rule 11.0 will clarify, thegame's "CVE" and "CVL" designations are sometimes different fromthe official ones. The game uses "CVE" to refer to any very smallcarrier, and "CVL" to refer to any moderately small one.

Forces and Task ForcesGroups of Ja pa ne se ships a re called forces. Gr oups of US ships

are called task forces. Rules 8.0 and 5.0 will explain these conceptsfully. In the meantime when you encounter "force" or "task force"simply think, "group of ships."

Japanese Force LevelsThe rules will often refer to Japanese forces of particular levels,

for example, "a level 2 force." The level is a number from 0 to 4. Itdenotes the amount of information you have about the ships in theforce: level 0 indicates no information at all, level 4 indicates complete

informa tion (nam es of all ships) . Rule 11.0 will explai n force levels. InScenarios 1-3 all Japanese forces are level 4.

2.3 The MapThe ma p displays th e South Pacific are a of oper ati ons at a scale

of 33 miles per hex. The re are thr ee basic terr ain type s: land, coastalsea, and high sea. Any reference to "sea" embraces both coastal andhigh seas.

Naval units may enter hexes which are part land and part sea.Naval units may not enter all-land or traverse prohibited hexsides.

Air units/strikes may move through any type of hex or hexside.

Map DefinitionsCoastal Seas. The lighter-shaded sea hexes close to some coastlines

and islands. Japanese carrier forces and U.S. carrier task forces maynot enter coastal sea hexes.

High Seas. All sea hexes other than coastal.

Land Base. A land airbase, from which air units may operate orattacks originate. The base's own A.A. value is printed in its hex.

Mission Movement Area. The entire map is divided into areas todetermine Japanese Mission Movement (see 9.0). A unit's movedepends on which area it is located in.

Objective.Guadalcanal, Port Moresby, and New Hebrides are Japanese objectives (see 8.0).

PBY Search Area. Numbered hexes designate the center of areaswithin which the US can conduct PBY searches (see 26.2).

Prohibited Hexsides. Specially marked hexsides impassable to

naval units (reefs, shoals, etc.). They do not affect air units.Records Track.You use this numbered track to record a number ofimportant game quantities. The line of numbers labelled "J" in eachbox deter min es how many sequen ce chits to dra w in each of th e fourJap ane se segmen ts in each tu rn. The line of numb ers labelled "US"det erm ine s how man y US tas k forces may move in each of th e fourU.S. segments.

2.4 Charts and TablesCarri er Battles in th e Pacific includes a larg e numb er of char ts

and tables arranged on the map, on two chart screens, and on two8"xll" cards.

The chart s will seem voluminous at first, but tha t is because theyhave been integrated with procedure summaries and reminders of

important rules. Charts are arranged in sections according to topic:"Japanese Movement", "Japanese Air Attacks", "Intelligence", etc....Most sections are arranged as procedure summaries, with rulesreminders and corresponding charts inserted in sequence. Referenceto these charts will guide you through each game procedure and willsave a great deal of flipping through rules.

2.5 FractionsThe rules often require fractional quantities to be computed and

the n rounded: for example, when half of some num ber of points mu stbe expended. Unless otherwise stated, fractions are always roundedto the nearest whole number, and the fraction 1/2 is rounded up.

2.6 StackingAny numb er of uni ts of any type of eit her or both sides mayoccupy a single hex. The only stacking restrictions are:

Eac h car rie r can hold only a limi ted nu mb er of air un it s ( 7.1)

A US ta sk force ent eri ng an enemyocc upied hex mu stattempt surface combat.


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ARRIER Rules Page 8

.0 Sequence of PlayCarrier Battles in the Pacific is played in game turns . Each turn

ceeds according to a strict sequence of play. The turn is divided intoses, which are further divided into segments. Each game turnresents 80 minutes.

Important Notes:

The complete outline below is for reference and to provide afurther overview of play using all Standard Rules. However,those portions of the sequence labelled "(Standard Game)" are

not used with introductory scenarios. Parts of the sequence labelled "(Advanced)" are used only with

Advanced rules.

EQUENCE OUTLINE

Arrival Phase (Standard Game)Determine how many new Japanese forces arrive (see 17.1).

Place new Japanese forces on the map. If a force arrives withinximum coverage range of searching air units, double check itsval.

Count the number of Japanese forces on the map and position thember of Forces marker accordingly on the Records Track.

Uni ts in each Search Track box are shifted to the Available sectionshe next track boxes (see 12.2).

First Action Phase

Japanese Segmentoll the die once to determine Mission Movement directions duringsegment (see 9.0).

onsult the Records Track box containing the Number of Forcesker to determine how many sequence chits to draw in thisment. Draw that number of chits from the cup one by one,cuting the appropriate action immediately after drawing each.

a.If an Activation chit is drawn, that force is activated. If achit is drawn for a force which has been removed from themap,do nothing.

i.Determine whether the force makes an air attack (see 16.0).ii .Resolve the air attack, if any.iii.Move the force one hex (see 9.0).iv.Remove any US Advantage marker from the force.

If the force is detected and has not been successfully searchedin the current game turn, its Detection chit decreases.

If the force moves into a hex within coverage of Used searchingair units, you may search it immediately. (Ignore this inScenarios 1-3.)

b.If a blank chit is drawn,do nothing.c.(Advanced)If a PBY Search Chit is drawn, immediatelyconduct a PBY search (see 26.2).d.(Advanced)If a Rabaul Activation Chit is drawn,immediately carry out the Rabaul Air Attack procedure (see27.0).

Do not replace the chits in the cup.

f any second waves (see 16.0) are due to arrive in this phase, resolver attacks now.

United States SegmentAirMovement Step(see 6.0):

a. You may move each air strike one hex.b. Increment the Time Aloft markerof everystrike or on-map airunit step, whether moved or not. (Do not increment markers forsteps in Landing Boxes.) If any Time Aloft marker exceeds the airunit's endurance value by more than 4, eliminate the air unit.

ir Operations Step(see 7.0): You may perform air operations withry carrier and land base.

a.Carriers and bases may launch air units.

Expend fuel if air units are launched from Guadalcanal.

Mark targets for strikes just launched.

(Advanced) You may attempt to split up or change the targets

of strikes which have not yet reached their destinations.b.Every carrier may raise 8 steps (less the number launched).c.Units may be placed into Servicing Boxes.d.Every carrier may lower 8 steps (less the number launched).e.Carriers and bases may land units.f.Increment the Time Aloft markers of all units which are inLand boxes and did not land. Eliminate air units if endurancerules so dictate.

g.Strike units in the same hex as a carrier or land base may beplaced into Landing Boxes; they cannot land in this segment.

3.Task Force Movement Step:Consult the Records Track box corresponding to the number of US task forces in play. You may move thelisted number of your task forces (see 10.0). Only task forces whichhavenot yet moved in the current turn may move.

4.Air Unit Search Step(see 12.2): You may perform search with airunits in one search box of each carrier task force or land base. Aftersearching, units are placed in the Used box section. Invert forceswhich are Detected.

5.Air Strike Step (see 6.0):a.Any face-up US air strike may attempt to contact a force in thesame hex which is its designated target.b.If contact attempt succeeds:

i.Determine new target Force chit (if applicable, CAP,surprise, and screen).ii .Resolve air-to-sea combat (see 4.1).

At the end of the step, remove all Japanese CAP Strengthmarkers.

6.Carrier Repair Step(Standard Game): Make repai r die rolls for UScarriers at damage level "M" or higher (see 19.3).

III. Second Action PhaseIdentical to First.

IV. Third Action PhaseIdentical to First.

V. Fourth Action PhaseIdentical to First.

VI. Game Turn End PhaseA. Reset forces:Flip all forces and task forces faceup. (Detectionmarkers remain in place.) Reduce intelligence levels as necessary (see11.4). In the 1200 turn (only) remove all "Battle Exhaust" markers(see 14.2) except those just placed or flipped.

B. Update Japanese logs:

1.Remove from play any Japanese carrier sunk in the preceding turn.Adjust the force's current air value (see 15.3). Note if Rabaul wasrendered inoperative in the preceding turn.

2. Check whether any Japanese carrier suffered damage in the

preceding turn, and if so, adjust the force's current air value. Markheavily-damaged and sunk Japanese carriers (see 4.1).

3.Consult Japanese logs to determine whether any air attacks landthis turn (see 16.0). If so, add their losses to their force's total losses(see 15.2) or adjust the force's air value.

C. Repair Land Air Base DamageRoll for each land air base (including Rabaul) that is currently

damaged (see 18.2).

D. Execute Bombardments / Unload Transports

E. Check for Retirement (Standard Game):If the Japanese Retirement Index is at least as great as the

Commitment Limit, roll the die for retirement.

F. Expend Guadalcanal Fuel (Standard Game): Expend fuel forunits in the Guadalcanal CAP Box.

G. Adjust Chits and Game Turn Marker:Replace all sequence chits in the cup, except those for forces

which have been removed from play.Advance the Game Turn marker one box on the Game Turn

Track. When you have played the last t urn on the track, the game isover. You may use the Phase Record Track and Phase Marker torecord which phase is in progress.


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0 Air-to-Sea AttacksDESIGN NOTE: The end goal of each side's efforts in Carrier is to sendbombs and torpedoes crashing into enemy ships. The climax of anycarrier battle was when strike planes found their targets and madetheir attack runs. The first group of rules and first introductory scenariocover this situation.

Air-to-sea attacks occur when aircraft attack enemy ships. Esially the same procedure is used to resolve both sides' air-to-seacks. Rule 4.1 explains the full procedure from the US viewpoint;

4.2 explains differences for Japanese attacks.

NOTE: Air-to-Sea Attacks may never be conducted duringNight game turns (Advanced Rule 24.2).

1 US Air-to-Sea attacksUS air attacks are resolved by the following procedure:

f th e tar get force has combat air pat rol (CAP), resolve CAP combat.

esolve antia ircr aft fire.

esolve bomb a nd torpedo at tac ks.a. Add up the total attack value. Use the Air Attack Die RollsChart to determine the number of dice to be rolled.b. Specify targets.c. Determ ine n umbe rs of hits using the Air Attack Damage

Table. Record hits and time of attack.

ombat vs. Japanese CAPo dete rmine t he CAP st reng th of a Japa nes e carrie r force, see

anese CAP, 6.0. (Exception: In Scenario 1 the scenario rules givestrength.)

Roll the die and modify as listed beside the Japanese CAP Combatle (see ch art screen) . Cross- reference th e modified die roll with the

P streng th to find t he nu mber of US air s teps eliminated. Theanese CAP never suffers losses.

DESIGN NOTE: Japanese records show they lost very few CAP fighters.

ich Steps Must be LostYou may choose which steps to rem ove. However, at le ast half th e

es (rounded up) must be removed from non-fighter units (dive,edo, or medium bomber) if possible.

minated Steps in the AttackElim inate d uni ts do parti cipate in the attac k on the enemy ships,

at half val ue. (I n effect, hal f th e pla nes are shot down before th ec k and half after.). To record losses for th e rema ind er of th erent attack, place air units that have suffered losses in the "One or "Two Hit" boxes printed on the map sheet. After the attack has

n fully resolved, remove or invert units accordingly.

ack Modifier

If a target force has no CAP, add 1 to every die roll on the Airack Damage Table in addition to any other modifier.

DESIGN NOTE: If there were no CAP at all the attackers could takemuch more time to calmly line up their shots. Even the smallest CAP

would cause the attacking planes to hurry, making them lesseffective.

ntiaircraft (A.A.) Fire vs. US StrikesAfter CAP combat you resolve antiaircraft (A.A.) fire as follows:

omput e th e ta rge t force's A.A.value:

If th e force is level 3, it s A.A. val ue is pri nted on it s Force chit.Subtract 1 for each hit against the force or against a carrierunit belonging to it. If it is a carrier force with a screen, addtog eth er the A.A. valu es print ed on th e two level 3 chits to f indthe overall A.A. value.

If th e force is level 4, add th eeig ht stron gest A.A.va lues fromamong all its ships.

On the Antiaircraft Fire Table (see chart screen), locate the highest-mbered column whose heading does not exceed the firing value.r examp le, if 22 point s are firing , use th e "20" column.) Roll the dieadd all applicable modifiers listed with the table. Cross-referencemodified die roll with the column to find the combat result.

minate twice t ha t num ber of US air steps.

3. Fin d the row labelled "Attack Modifier" at t he bott om of th e Anti-Aircraft Fire Table. The number in this row corresponding to thecolumn used in step # 2 modifies all die rolls on the Air Atta ck Dama geTable. It has no effect on the resolution of antiaircraft fire.

DESIGN NOTE: The most important effect of A.A. fire is to disrupt theattacker's aim. For this reason, even a little bit of A.A. fire is muchbetter than none. Its value cannot be measured in kills alone.

A.A. Die-roll Modifiers Atta ck Size: The A.A. die roll is modified for th e numbe r of

points or steps in the a ttack, as listed with the table,inc lu dingany points or steps which were shot down by CAP. Do notinclude escorting US fighters when computing the modifier.

Time period: Ea ch side's A.A. die rolls are modified at cert aintime periods, as listed beside the Anti-aircraft Fire table.

Which Units are EliminatedYou choose which steps are removed. All steps must be removed

from non-fighter units; A.A. fire never eliminates fighters. If A.A.losses exceed th e num be r of non-fighter uni ts pre sent , excess lossesare ignored.

Eliminated Steps in the Attack

As with CAP, shot down units participate in the attack at half

value. Use the "One Hit" and "Two Hit" boxes to keep track of theselosses unti l the completion of th e curre nt attac k.

DESIGN NOTE: A great many of the planes shot down by A.A. fire werestill able to deliver their weapons. This was because both sides usedlight A.A. guns 20-25mm with low stopping power. In the case ofCAP, many fighters were able to contact and shoot down attackplanes only after the attack had been made.

Effect of Surprise on A.A. Fire

"Surprise -CAP" causes a die-roll modifier on th e Antiai rcraftFire Table

"Surprise-Planes onDeck" prevents A.A. fire entirely. Skip theentire procedure.

Air Attack TablesDESIGN NOTE: A very wide range of outcome was possible in air strikes.In the second strike against the Yorktown at Midway, a mere fiveJapanese attack planes penetrated the American defenses, yetscored enough hits to cause abandonment of the ship. At the otherextreme, there were several cases of thirty or more planes failing to hitat all. In Carrier, such extreme results can occur, as well as the moreusual outcomes somewhere in between.

Air attack dama ge is determ ined using two table s; the Air AttackDie Rolls Chart and the Air Attack Damage Table (see chart screen).The former determines how many attacks you will make i.e., howmany times you will roll the die on the the Air Attack Damage Table.The latter determines how many damage points are scored.

Air Attack Procedure:

1.Add up the attack values of all units of all types in the strike.(Rememb er, thi s includes half rou nde d to th e near est wholenum be r of th e air un it s lost to A.A. fire.) You use th e tables ju stonce per strike, not once for each target.

2. If both torpedo and dive bombers are par ticipa ting in the samestrike then the attack is considered "coordinated " and is modified asfollows:

In Ja nu ar y- Jul y '42 add 1/4 for every step of att ack planes (ofeither type).

In Augus t '42 and after, add 1/2 for every step. (For examp le,if 8 steps participated, you would add 4.)

Whe n tota llin g th e num be r of step s for thi s modifier, count astep eliminated by CAP or A.A. fire as 1/2, and a step whichsurvived both as 1.

DESIGN NOTE: Evasive action was a very important part of defenseagainst air attack especially torpedo attack. Evasive action wasmuch more difficult against a coordinated strike. Also, if both typesparticipated then the Japanese tended to concentrate on thetorpedo bombers, allowing the dive bombers leisure to take good aim(as at Midway). In the first half of 1942 the US strikes tended to be


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All ships suffer the following effects from damage:

Antiaircraft and bomb ardm ent values are each reduced by 1(but never to less than 0) for each hit a ship suffers.

If a ship suffers hit s equa l to or in excess of its Hit Capacity,it is sunk. Remove it from play immediately.

poorly coordinated; even if the planes flew out together they usuallyfailed to combine for the attack.

On the Air Attack Die Rolls Chart (chart screen), locate the largestAttack Valu e" entr y which does not exceed th e tot al att ack value. Th ehart entry indicates how many times you will roll the die for the Airttack Damage Table, and with what modifiers.

EXAMPLE: The attack value is 29-1/2; use the "25" entry. "1(0), 2(+l)"indicates one roll with modifier 0 and two rolls with modifier +1.

Specify targets.

Make the indicated number of die rolls using the Air Attackamage Table (see chart screen). Apply the following modifiers:

The modifier from th e Air Atta ck Die Rolls Chart

+1 to each die roll if th e tar get ha d no CAP. (Unless you useAdvanced rule 23.0 this will always be true for non-carrierforces.)

The atta ck modifier from th e Antiaircr aft Fire Table. If the rewas no A.A. fire, use the modifier in the "0* column.

+5 if th e conditio n "Surp rise- Plane s on Deck" is in force.Read the table result corresponding to the modified die roll. The

rget ship or force immediately suffers the indicated number of hits.

If any Japanese carriers suffered hits, note on their logs that theyere hit during the current game turn. (The time affects air attacks.)

Exception: In Scenar ios 1-3 you need not ma ke thes enotes.

US Target SpecificationNote: Because of the intelligence rules (1l.0), any force youstrike will necessarily be either level 3 carrier or level 4.

You must specify a target for each die roll on the Air Attackamage Table. A target will be an individual combat ship or a groupf up to three transports. All targets must be specified before any diells are made.

Hits scored by each die roll are inflicted against the specifiedr get . If you have ta rge ted a group of two or th ree shi ps, hit s are

pread as evenly as possible (with odd hits assigned randomly) amonge ships.

gainst Level 4 Forces:

You mus t specify th e individ ual ship s or group s of tra nsp ort s (seeelow) you wish to attack. (Note:All forces in Scenarios 1-3 are level)

gainst Level 3 Carrier Forces:The Level 3 chit indicates what carriers of each type comprise the

orce (11.5). You may simply specify carriers by type. Or, if the levelforce has carriers already in play you may specify any of those

arriers as targets.

EXAMPLE:You are attacki ng a level 3 "2 CV + 1 CVL" force, an d havethree d ie rolls. The force has one CV unit in its holding box. You co uld say,"One against ea ch carrier", or "Two against the CV in the box an d oneagainst the other CV", or "All three against the undamaged CV", ormany other combinations.

roup s of Tran spor tsIf th e targe t is a tran spo rt force, you may divide the tra nsp orts

nto groups of three or fewer. Each group of three trans port s is treateds a single target. Hits scored are divided evenly among the threeansports in the group. (This allows you to use your die rolls morefficiently tha n if you a tta cke d one trans por t with each die roll; iteduces the number of wasted hits.)

EXAMPLE:You atta ck a transport forc e with 6 transports. You have tw o dierolls. You assign one die roll against three of the transports and oneagainst t he other three. The two rolls score tw o an d three hits respectively.Two ships chosen randomly in the first group would suffer one hitea ch , and e ac h ship in the second group wou ld suffer one hit.

Damage to Japanese ShipsHits against individual ships and transport groups are recordedsing Damage markers. Place a Damage marker equal to the numberf hits und ern eat h the damag ed ship. Dama ge is additive: for exmple, if a ship hav ing two hi ts receives two more, give it au4"marker.

Exception: S un ke n Ja pa ne se carr iers are removed in theend ph ase of the turn after sinking. Mark such carrierswith a "Sunk Previous Turn" marker in the Update Japanese Log Step of the End Phase. Heavily damaged Japanesecarriers receive a "Heavily Damaged Previous Turn" marker

at the same time.

EXAMPLE:A carrier sunk on turn 4 is removed at the end of turn 5. This isbecaus e the carrier can still contr ibut e air strength to strikes which arrivesome ti me afte r its sinking. It is assumed th at the strikes were already in theair before the carrier sank. The same applies to heavily da ma ge d carriers,whi ch cou ld alre ady ha ve had strikes in the air at the time that they weredamaged.

If a carri er is su nk or suffers dam age , note it on th e Japane seLog Sheet (see 15.3, Changes in Air Value). Standard Gameonly: If you have sunk or heavily damaged all of a force'scarriers, the force retires (see 20.1). If you have heavilydamaged (inflicted hits greater than or equal to one-half of itshit capacity) or sunk any carrier, increment the retirementindex by its air value (see 20.2).

COMPREHENSIVE EXAMPLE OF AI R STRIKE RESOLUTION:

The tar get of a US strike containing fou r SBD steps an d two TBF steps is aforce conta ining one CVL having 1 point of CAP.

You roll a "1" for CAP c om ba t; this results in no losses. The carrier for ce plusthe screen have tot al ant iaircra ft value 10; a roll of "10" results in one hit(tw o steps). You choose to remove the 2-step TBF unit. It will attack at halfvalue before being removed.

The strike's air-sea attack total is 14. There are four SBD steps, each withatt ack value of 3, plus the t wo shot- down TBF steps (which c oun t as one-half normal), each with an attack value of 1. However, since the strikecontains both tor pedo a nd dive b ombers, it is coordi nate d. Assume theda te is August 1942; 1/2 is added to the tota l attack values per participating step. The two elimi nated TBF steps cou nt as one-half eac h, so the nettot al is 4 SBD steps plus 1 TBF; thus, you add 2 1 /2. The total at tack valueis thus 6 + 6 + 2 + 2 1/2=16 1/2, rounded up to 17. This entitles you to onedie roll with a +1 modifier.

You select the carrier as you r targe t. Modifiers are: +1 from the AntiaircraftFire Table, +1 from th e Air Atta ck Die Rolls Table. A roll of "4" becomes "6";this results in two hits.

Looking about, I was horrified at the destruction thathad been wrought in a matter of seconds. There was ahuge hole in the flight deck just behind the amidshipselevator. The elevator itself, twisted like molten glass,

was drooping into the hangar. Deck plates reeledupward in grotesque configurations. Planes stoodtail-up, belching livid flame and jet black smoke.

Commander Mitsuo Fuchida (air group leader, Akagi)describing the Battle of Midway

4.2 Japanese Air-to-Sea attacksMost of th e proced ure for resolv ing Jap an es e air-to-sea attacks

is identical to that for US attacks. The resolution sequence is the same(Exception: US Warning).

US WarningIf any ready air units are in a US carrier's Flight Deck Box when

its task force is attacked (or in a land base's Runway Box when thebase is attacked), they may be able to launch immediately.

Note: Any carrier which launches aircraft during the USWarning step is prohibited from landing aircraft during thefollowing US segment (See 7.1 for launching, Flight DeckBoxes, etc.)


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Roll the die and consult the US Warning Table (see chart screen).result is the number of ready steps which may launch from each

ier in the task force (or from the land base, if rolling for a base). the die separately for each carrier or base.Units may launch only if ready and in the Flight Deck Box.

nched units are placed as follows:

Fig hte rs ma y plac ed in th e CAP Box (if thi s does not cause thenumber of steps there to exceed the maximum allowed).

Any un it may be placed in th e Land Box with a "2" Time Aloftmarker.

Any uni t(s) may be formed into an air strik e wit h a ti me aloftmarker of "2". The strike's target marker must immediatelybe placed on a detected Japanese force. If there is no suchdetected Japanese force, this option may not be chosen. Onceformed up, the strike immediately moves one hex towards itstarget.

ombat vs. US CAPThis combat is resolved using the US CAP Combat table (chart

en).

otal the number ofs teps in the CAP Box. (Advanced rule 23.) Iftarget has no CAP, it may be possible to commit CAP from a

rby hex.) Note the following modifications to strength:

Eac h P-39 ste p coun ts as only half a step. Sum the tota ladjusted number of steps and drop any remaining fraction.

If a US fighter on CAP ha s a Time Aloft marke r, modify itsvalue for CAP as listed with the CAP Combat Table. (TimeAloft markers are not used in scenario 1.)

(Advanced rul es only) CAP str eng th is doubled against airstrikes from Rabaul.

oll th e die a nd ad d an escort modifier determined by the numberap ane se air points tak ing par t in the at tack. Consult the Escortdifier Chart (located next to the CAP Combat Table), locate theanese attack strength, and read the corresponding modifier. (Thisects escorting Japanese fighters.)

On the US CAP Combat Table, cross-reference themodified die rollh the modified number of CAP steps. The result is the number ofanese air points eliminated.

Half the elimi nated points are deducted before the at tack onth e ships, and hal f after. An odd point a tta cks a t half valu e.

If th e modified die roll is "1 " , one step of US CAP (of yourchoice) is eliminated. This applies no matter what the CAPstrength.

Standard Game only) Increment the retirement index by 1/2 forh Japanese air point eliminated (see 20.2).

DESIGN NOTE:Even a strong CAP can fail to shoot down anyJapanese. This result represents fatal misplacement or misdirection bythe ground controller a common error.

S Antiaircraft FireAntiaircraft fire is resolved by the same procedure as for US

c ks (include points shot down by CAP when computing the str ikemodifier).A maxi mum of eight sh ipsin the task force may fire. their A.A. values together to obtain the task force's total A.A.

ue.Die rolls for US A.A. fire ar e modified according to the q uali ty of

fire control; Early War, Standard, or Improved. The scenario willcify which type to use.

The Antiaircraft Fire Table result against a Japanese attack isnumber of air points eliminated. Half are eliminated before

ck resolution and the rest after; an odd point attacks at halfngth.(St anda rd Gam e only) Increme nt th e Retir ement Index by 1/2 for

h air point eliminated (see 20.2).

panese Use of Air Attack Tables

Use the Air Attack Tables by the same procedure as for UScks. Choose targets for each roll using the Target Specificationbelow. The following rules apply:

In 1942 eac h Ja pa ne se air point ha s at ta ck valu e 5. In 1943each point has attack value 4.

The following addi tion al modifiers apply to rolls for th e Air

Attack Damage Table:+1 if unready unit s, but no ready units, are in the targetcarrier's Flight Deck Box If there are ready units on deck,ignore this modifier.+1 for every ready unit (i.e., every two ready air steps) in thetarget carrier's Flight Deck Box. (Ignore any odd step e.g.,if 3 steps are in the box, the modifier is +1.)+1 if any units are in the target carrier's Servicing Box

DESIGN NOTE: The attack value is based on the typical mixture ofabout 30% fighters, 30% torpedo planes, and 40% dive bombers inJapanese attacks. The Japanese usually coordinated torpedo and

dive bomber attacks very well, and the attack value reflects this.

Japanese Target SpecificationYou must specify a target for each die roll on the Air Attack

Damage Table. Whenever you are instructed to "divide evenly",resolve any choices randomly as shown in the examples.

If the targe t is a carri er ta sk force, the Japa nes e attac k asmany carr iers as possible. If the num ber of die rolls availableexceeds the num be r of car rie rs, divide th e rolls as evenly aspossible.

EXAMPLE: The Japanese have three die rolls avai lable against a t w o -carrier task force. One die roll is ma de against e ach carrier. A second ismade against one of the two, chosen randomly.

If the targe t is a surface tas k force, the Japa ne se attack asmany ships as possible of the largest ty pe. (For example, if thetas k force contains CA's, CL's, an d DD's, the Jap ane se att ackas many CA's as possible.) If the number of die rolls availableexceeds the nu mbe r of targ ets, divide th em as evenly aspossible among those ships of the largest t ype pre sent.

Exception: The Japanese will allocate no more than threeattack rolls against any single CA or CL. If there are excessattack rolls left unallocated, divide them as evenly aspossible amo ng those shi ps of the next sma llest type.

If the target is a tran spor t force, divide the tran spor ts intogroups of three (see Groups of Transports, 4.1). One group mayhave fewer th an thr ee tra nspo rts if necessary. Assign die rollsto groups so as to attack as many transports as possible. If

there are not enough die rolls to attack all groups, chooserandoml y between groups of equal size. If the numb er of dierolls available exceeds the number of groups, divide them asevenly as possible.

EXAMPLE:: A US task force contains five transports, and so one group of threeand one of two are formed. The Japanese attack the group of three andscore two hits. Two of the transports, chosen randomly, suffer one hiteach.

In all cases, if different modifiers apply to the different die rollsthen choose randomly which rolls to use against which target.

EXAMPLE: The Japanese hav e one roll with +1 modifier and one with 0modifier available. The US task force has three carriers. Choose randomlytwo carriers to attack one roll against each. Then choose randomlywhich to attac k with the +1 and which with the 0.

Recording DamageAt this point please read rule 19.1, Damage Record and Effects.

COMPREHENSIVE EXAMPLE OF JAPANESE STRIKE RESOLUTION

The scenario period is September, 1942. A Japanese air strike composedof 6 air points is attacking US Task Force 17, which contains the carrierWasp,the cruisersAstoria, Portland, PensacolaandSalt Lake City,and sixdestroyers. There are 4 steps of F4Fs in TF17's CAP Box, while theWasphas2 steps of F4F's in the ready portion of her flight deck, a nd 6 steps of SBD'sin her Servicing Box.

Because theWasphas aircraft in the ready portion of her Flight Deck Box,US Warning is checked for. Consulting the US Warning ta ble, a "9" is rolled,permitting a total a total of 4 steps to be launched. The two steps of F4F's

are placed in the CAP Box.

You roll a "4" for CAP combat. Consulting the 6 step column of US CAPCombat Table, we see that no losses are inflicted on the Japanese airstrike.

TF-17 gets to fire at the attacking air strike with the combined AA FireRatings of its 8 strongest ships. These are theWaspO0) , the four CA's (total


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RRIER Rules Page 12

of 16), and three DD's (total 9), for a combined total of 34. There is no sizemodifier for a 6 point strike. You roll a "5", which, on the 30 column of theAnti-aircraft Fire Table, inflicts one loss on the attackers.

The five surviving Japanese air points each attack with a strength of 5,while the one that was shot down is halved (rounding up) to 3, for a totalattack strength of 28. The Air Attack Die Rolls Table indicates that theJapanese are entitled to two attack rolls, one of which is automaticallymodified by +1. The Attack Modifier read from the bottom of the 30column on the Anti-aircraft Fire Table is "0", so this will not influence theattack rolls either way. However, since the Wasp has aircraft in herServicing Box, both attack die rolls will benefit from an additional +1modifier. The attack rolls are "3", modified to "4", and "5", modified to

"7", inflicting a total of 3 hits. These hits are crossed off on the Wasp'sda ma ge record on the US Log Sheet.

Never in all my years of combat have I even imagined aattle like that! When we attacked the enemy carriers wean into a virtual wall of antiaircraft fire; the carriers andheir supporting ships blackened the sky with explodingshells and tracers. It seemed impossible that we couldsurvive our bombing and torpedo runs through suchincredible defenses. Our Zeros and enemy Wildcats

pun, dove, and climbed in the midst of our formations.Burning and shattered planes of both sides plunged

from the skies.

Lt. Cmdr. Shigekazu Shimazaki (air group leader, Zuikaku)describing the Coral Sea battle

Scenario 1: Decision in the Coral SeaThe Situation: The Battle of the Coral Sea the first ever foughtentirely by carrier planes matched two Japanese fleet carriersagainst two American. The prize: control of Port Moresby. In the earlymorning hours of 8 May 1942, each side's search planes found theenemy. Strikes were launched simultaneously; then it was up to theaviators to deliver victory. In Scenario 1 you resolve these two decisiveair strikes.

This scenario consists solely of air-to-sea attacks by each side.You may resolve the attacks in any order. The map is not used. All thenecessary tables are on the chart and table screen. The tables, arrangedin sequence order, will guide you through the air-to-sea procedure.

Japanese Strike: You receive the following US ships:CVs Lexington and YorktownCA's Minneapolis, New Orleans, Chester, PortlandDD's Morris, Anderson, Hammann, Russell, Phelps, Dewey,Farragut, Aylwin, MonaghanThe U.S. CAP is composed of 6 F4F steps.

Eigh t Jap ane se air points make one atta ck against theseships.

US Strike: The Japanese force consists of:CVs Shokaku, ZuikakuCA's Myoko, Haguro

DD's Ariake, Yugure, Shigure, Shiratsuyu, Ushio, AkebonoThe Japanese have a CAP of 2 air points.The time period is Jan-Jul '42; US AA is Early War.You make two air-to-sea attacks with the following aircraftgroups:

Fi rst attac k: 8 SBD step s, 4 F4 F ste ps, 2 TBD steps

Second att ack : 3 TBD ste ps, 1 SBD ste p, 4 F4 F step s

Note: In this and all other introductory scenarios, you neednot use the historical BB's, CA's, CL, or DD's for either side.You ma y choo se rando mly the prope r nu mb er s of ships ofeach type.

Victory

You win if you inflict more hits on th e Jap an ese ca rriers tha n theJap ane se inflict on yours . If you sink a ny carri er and the Japanesesink none, you win an overwhelming victory and are promoted.

' 'Lady Lex'' being abandoned by her crew during the Battle of the Coral Sea.


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.0 US Task Forces and DisplaysTask forces are gr oup s of shi ps. You ass ign each of your US ship stask force. The term "task force" is used only for the U.S.; groups

a pa ne se s hips are "forces*.

k Force Counters and Display MarkersOnly task force counter are placed on the map.The actual US ship

nters are set up on task force displays at the start of the game (see0) or after detachment. To set up a task force, place its Displayrk er in the Display Mark er space of th e display. (This indicates

ch display houses which task force.) Then place the ships in thep Holding Box.

Eac h ta sk force ha s an histori cal desig nation num be r foridentification purposes. Some task force counters are designated "TG" for "Task Group", but they are functionally identical to other task force counters.

A US tas k force is flipped to its reve rse side after moving in th ecurrent game turn.

ask Force Composition A US ta sk force which contains carrier s is acarrier task force.

A US task force which contains neit her carriers nor tran spo rtsis a surface task force.

A US ta sk force which contains trans por ts is a transport taskforce.

ask Force Display

etachment (Creating New Task Forces)A new task force can be created during any US segment by

aching ships from one task force. Place the new task force counterthe ma p in the sa me hex as the detaching task force. Place the shipsa new display or in a new holding box.

The following restrictions apply:

You mu st place at leas t four ships in the new task force.

You mu st leave at leas tfour ships in the detaching task force.A task force having fewer than eight ships cannot detachships.

You mu st place at leas tsixDD's pe r carrier in a new tas k force,and you may not red uce the de taching tas k force to fewer th ansix DD's per carrier.

US Carrier Task Force DisplaysEach US carrier task force display holds the ships of one carrier

task force.

The Ship Holding Box contains the ship counter s.

The Display Mar ker space holds a mar ke r identifying th e tas kforce.

The CAP Box holds air un it s on comba t air patr ol.

The Search Track holds air uni ts on search missions.Surface and Transport Task Forces: Holding Boxes

US surface and transport task forces use the non-carrier taskforce display s. The se consist solely of Ship Holdi ng Boxes and DisplayMar ker spaces. To s et up a ta sk force, place its Display ma rke r in theDisplay Marker space and the ships in the holding box.

Task Force Restrictions

A carrier task force may never contain more th an two .UScarriers.

A carrier task force may never contain any tran spo rts.

Tas k forces cann ot be combin ed du rin g th e gam e.

A ship from one tas k force can never join a different existin gone. (See Detachment, however.)

The re is no ma xi mu m size for a ta sk force. However, you maynever voluntarily cause a task force to have fewer than fourships, a lthough th ere is no advers e effect if this h appe nsbecau se of combat losses, you are not requ ired to replace sun kships.

Turn Sequence NoteRules 6.0 and 7.0 use some terminology from th e stan dar d game

sequence of play. The st and ard game tu rn seq uence includes fourAction Phases in which movement and combat take place. EachAction Phase consists of a Japanese Segment followed by a USSegment. Each force or task force moves in exactlyone (andonly one)of the four action phases. Air uni ts m ay move in all four: each USSegment co ntains an Air Movemen t Step in which every air unit m ay

move. Likewise, carrier air operations may take place in all foursegments, during the Air Operations Step. It may be helpful to referto rule 3.0 as you read what follows.

Carrier Task Force Display


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6.0 US Air StrikesDESIGN NOTE: This section explains how to form US air strikes, fly themto their targets, and make contact. After contact the air-to-seaprocedure ensues.

A US ai r stri ke is lau nche d over one or more US segmen ts, movesa target over a period of several segments, and attacks in air-to-seambat. It then moves to a base and lands. (See 7.1 for launching andnding.)

r Strike Procedure:

Launc h:During the Air Operations Step of one or more segments,u may launc h air uni ts to take pa rt in the strike . Place the a ir unit sto a Strike Box and place the corresponding Air Strike counter one map.

The Air Strike counter may be placed in the carrier's hex, or inyadjacenthex. (In effect it can fly one hex at the time it is launched.)

Target Assignmen t: Immediately after you launch a strike, place Target marker on its target force.

Movement: Move the strike to its target, one hex per Air Moveent Step.

Actions 4 - 9 occur within a single Air Strike Step:

Contact: When the strike has reached its target, determinehether it makes contact.

Intellige nce: Increase intelligence level as necessary.CAP: If ta rge t is carr ier force and has no CAP Stre ngt h marker ,termine CAP strength.

Surprise: Iftar get is c arr ier force, check for surpri se.

Screen: If ta rge t is car rier force and does not yet have scre en,termine screen composition (see 11.3). (Note: In Scenarios 2 and 3l forces already have screens.)

Combat (see 4.0)

0. Landi ng: In succeeding Air Movement Steps, move the strike tocarrier or land base (one hex per step except if using Advanced Rule.0). When the st rike has re ached a carr ier or land base, the unit s are

aced into Landing Boxes during the Air Operations Step andnded.

.1 Air Strike InitiationTo initiate a strike, do the following:

Laun ch th e air unit s dur ing one or more Air Operatio ns Steps (see1) and place them in a Strike Box. All units participating in a strikee placed together in the same Strike Box. Each sep arate strike usesseparate box. Each box is numbered to identify the strike; for each

ox there is an Air Strike counter bearing the same identifyingumber. Locate that Air Strike counter.

An air stri ke may only be laun ched if the re is at least oneenemy force Located or Approximately Located at the timethat it is launched.

DESIGN NOTE: This is to prevent players from launching air strikes andcircling them over their carriers until a target is detected. In reality, no

US carrier admiral would have used such a tactic. There was too muchdanger that the enemy wouldn 't be found in time. The resulting delaysone would face in landing and refueling the aircraft involved far toomany risks to accept.

Place the Air Stri ke count er in the tas k force's hex or in any adja centex. (Th us the s tri ke can fly one hex at the time of launch. )

Place a "l" Time Aloft marker underneath the Air Strike marker.

Mark the strike's target with the Strike Target marker bearing theme identifying number as the Air Strike counter.

orming Air StrikesThe following restrictions apply to forming up air strikes:

Uni ts laun ched from different ta sk forces can neverbelong tothe same strike. Units launched from different carriers in thesame task force can belong to the same strike.

Any num be r of uni ts can occupy th e same Strike Box.

Unit s may be launched in separate segments and join in thesame strike,i fthe strike has not left the task force's hex. Placethem in the same Strike Box. Do not place a new Time Aloft

marker. Such a strikem aymove one hex in the same segmentth at th e newly-launched aircraft joined it.

Once a stri ke has left th e ta sk force's hex or th e ta sk force hasleft the strike's hex, no more units may join, even if the strikeand task force are again stacked together at some later time.

A stri ke may only be split up as the res ult of a 2nd Contactattempt (see 6.4). Otherwise, a strike may never be split up,nor may its target be changed, unless you are playing with

Advanced Rules section 25.0. Two different stri kes may neve r be combined into one, nor may

units be transferred between existing strikes.

If you ru n out of Air Stri ke ma rk er s you may mak e more.

Target Assignment

DESIGN NOTE: Strikes were ordered to fly to a particular location andbegin searching from there. Poor radio communications often made itdifficult to redirect an airborne strike. Note that you can send out astrike against any Detected force, no matter how vague its force chit.If you want to strike a "Large" force on the chance that it's actually alarge carrier force, that's your gamble. Maybe it will pay off; andmaybe the enemy will turn out to be a large coral reef.

You must assign each strike a target at the time it departs its

launch hex. The target is always an individual Japanese force. Thetarget must be either located or approximately located at the time youdesignate it. Each strike can have only one target.

There is one Target marker for each Air Strike marker. Place theTarget marker on top of the target force.

If the force curr ent ly is located, place the Target marker on its"Located" side.

If th e force cur rent ly is approximately located, place theTarget marker on its "?" side.

The side the marker is on will determine the strike's chances ofcontacting its target. Changes in a target force's location status do notcause any correspon ding change in the condition of the Targ et mark er(12.1)

EXAMPLE: If the target force was located when the target marker was

placed, but later declined to approximately located status, the targetmarker would not be inverted to its "?" (approximately located) side. Itwou ld stay fa ce up on its "Loc ate d" side, and woul d remain so even if thetarget force was to bec ome u ndetect ed.

Note: You ass ign a target only wh en th e strike dep ar ts itslaunch hex, not when the strike is first formed.

Dummy TargetsIf an intelligence result reveals the target to be a dummy, leave

the target in play. Strikes targeted against the dummy force mustcontinue on to reach the force and attempt contact. After each strikehas at temp ted contact tha t strike's Target m ark er is removed. Removethe dummy target from play after all Target markers have beenremoved from it.

Note: When playing with advanced rule 25.0 you may

attempt to recall or redirect air strikes.

6.2 Air Unit Endurance

DESIGN NOTE: The inferior range of American aircraft was an importantdisadvantage. The Japanese could sometimes strike from beyond therange at which the US could strike back; and the Japanese in thegame will attempt to do precisely that. Aircraft had 'safe' endurancesand 'extended' endurances. A plane which turned back within safeendurance was guaranteed to make it home; flying beyond safeendurance entailed serious risk of ending up Vn the drink'. (The divebombers which made the decisive strikes at Midway were wellbeyond safe endurance.) The game offers you this tradeoff. You willhave to weigh the risk of 'splashing' against the value of another try atcontacting the Japanese.

An air unit's endurance rating, printed on its counter, is themaximum number of US segments it can safely remain aloft. Airborneunits receive Time Aloft markers to keep track of their fuel status andto show how much longer they can continue flying. If a unit's TimeAloft mar ker exceeds its en dura nce ratin g, t he unit can be eliminated.


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Time Aloft markers are placed and incremented as follows:

Whe n an air strike is ini tia ted th e Air Stri ke count er receivesa mark er of value "1 ". In each successive U.S. segment that th estrike remains aloft, the marker value is incremented by 1.Place just one marker per Air Strike counter. All units in thestri ke, rega rdl ess of when th ey joine d it, ar e considered tohave whatever Endurance marker the Air Strike counter has.(i.e., they are all considered to have been aloft for that lengthof time.) Increment Time Aloft marker whether or not a strikehas moved.

Time aloft is increm ent ed for a second contact att emp t (see

Second Contact Attempt). For each segm ent th at a uni t waits in the Land ing Box but

does not land, its time aloft increases 1 (see 6.0).

When an air unit leaves the Search Track it is placed in theLandi ng box or if necessary, on the m ap w it h a Time Aloftmarker equal to its printed endurance (see 12.2). Units inSearch Track boxes do not use Time Aloft markers (the boxthey are in indicates their time aloft).

If a CAP uni t mus t, for emerge ncy rea sons, be placed on th emap, it receives a marker (see 19.2). Except in such anemergency, endurance does not affect CAP.

EXAMPLE:A strike is laun ched. It receives Time Alof t marker "1". In the nextU.S. segment the strike remains in the carrier's hex while more units arelaunc hed an d ad de d to the strike. The marker value becomes "2" . In the

U.S. segment after that the strike moves one hex. The marker valuebecomes "3".

hecking Time AloftCompare an a ir unit 's Time Aloft marke r to its endur ance rati ng

he following times:

Uni ts in Str ike Boxes or on th e ma p are checked at the end ofthe Air Movement Step. If a unit's Time Aloft marker exceedsits endurance value by mor e th a n 4, the unit is immediatelyeliminated.

Uni ts in Lan ding Boxes must be checked during the AirOperations Step. If a unit's Time Aloft marker exceeds itsendurance value by more than 4, the unit is immediatelyeliminated.

Ever y un it mus t be checked when it lan ds. If th e Time Aloftmarker exceeds the endurance value by any number at allthen see Extending Range.

xtending RangeAn air unit can remain airborne for a maximum of four segments

re than its printed endurance value. A unit whose Time Aloftrke r exceeds its enduran ce value is said to be extending range. Onetwo additional segments is increased range; three or four addinal segments is extreme range. "Extended range" refers to bothreased and extreme range.

ect of Extending Range:

Landing:Wh en units which have extended range land, roll thedie and consult the Exte nded Range/Night Lan ding Table (see

char t screen). The result is th e fraction of air steps eliminat ed.Roll once for all increasedrange units landing on eachcarrier, and separately for all extremerange units. Roundthe number of steps lost to the nearest whole number; roundonehalf up . You mus t dis trib ute losses as evenly as possibleamong the various aircraft types; subject to this, you maychoose which steps to eliminate.

Elimination: If th e Time Aloft mark er exceeds the en dur anc evalue by more than 4 at the end of an Air Movement Step, theair unit is immediately eliminated.

DESIGN NOTE: \t is permitted to move your strikes beyond the point ofno return. At Midway, the pilots of it Cmdr John C. Waldron 's TorpedoSquadron 8 flew on to attack in the certain knowledge that they werebeyond return range. Attacking unescorted against heavy A.A. fireand fighters, they were all shot down. They have become justly

famous for their bravery in pressing the attack. But they deserve to beequally famous for their bravery just in flying the mission. Even had theysurvived the attack they could not have returned to their carrier.

My greatest hope is that we encounter a favorabletactical situation, but if we don't and worst comes to

worst, I want each one of us to do his utmost to destroyour enemies. If there is only one plane left to make a

final runin, I want that man to go in and get a hit. MayGod be with us all. Good luck, happy landings,

and give 'em hell!

JohnC.Waldron, Pre-battle message June 3,1942

6.3 Air Strike MovementDESIGN NOTE: Most reference books print an aircraft's absolute topspeed. Strikes actually flew at speeds much slower than these. Rangewas more valuable than speed, and an aircraft achieves best fueleconomy at a speed well below its maximum. The strike speeds in thegame are based on flight times recorded in the actual battles, not onperformancefigure speeds.

In the Air Movement Step of each US Segment every Air Strikecounter may be movedonehex. (Exception, Advanced Rule 28.0) Youare not required to move a strike.

At th e ti me a stri ke is lau nche d it may be placed into anadjacent hex, effectively moving one hex at that time.

Neith er enemy uni ts nor ter rai n affects air movement.

A str ike can move an d th en atta ck an ene my force in th e sam esegment.

Every air strike's Time Aloft marker must be incremented by 1,in each step, whether it was moved or not.

6.4 ContactA strike must contact its target force in order to attack. You may

attempt contact during the Air Strike Step. A strike can attempt tocontact only its designated target force. The target need not bedetected at that time; it need only to have been detected when theTarget marker was placed, at the time the strike departed its launch

hex.Perform the following procedure:

1.On the Stri ke Contact Tabl e (see cha rt scree n), locate the columncorresponding to th e stri ke's curre nt Time Aloft mar ker value. (Thisroughly measure s distance from launch; grea ter distance implies lesschance to contact.)

2. If theTarget marker is on its "?" side, shift one column to the right.The targe t's cur ren t location stat us (see 12.0) does not affect thi s shift.

Note: The column between "8-10" and "11+" has no timealoft hea ding . It is use d only if th e time aloft is 8-1 0 and acolumn shift is applied.

3.Roll the die and modify as listed beside the table. Crossreferencethe die roll with the column to obtain the resul t. Resu lts a re explained

beside the table. The condition "tar get force cur ren tly is inver ted" is equiv alent

to the target force's having been successfully searched duringthe current game turn.

Note: If two strikes re ach th e same ta rget force in the sa mephase and the first one contacts, causing the target to beinverted (see step 4), this inverting do es benefit the secondstrike's contact attempt.

4. If the air strike contacts the ta rget, then :a. The contacted force becomes Located and is flipped over (ineffect, it has been successfully searched);b. Immediately flip the Air Strike counter over (indicating thatit has used up its contact attempts).

Second Contact AttemptIf your first atte mpt res ults in no contact, you may immediately

make a second attempt. Follow this procedure:

1.Place the air units that will participate in the second attempt intoa separate strike with its own time aloft marker.


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Make the second roll immediately, consulting the Strike Contactble exactly as for the first attempt.

Increment the new strike *s Time Aloft marker by 1.

If the second at tem pt contacted any target, resolve combat usingy the units in the new strik e which made the second atte mpt.

Regardless of whether the attempt succeeded, flip the Air Strikeunter over.

DESIGN NOTE: Failure of air strikes to find the enemy could nullify anadmiral's best efforts. As the air strike flew, the enemy would bemoving in an uncertain direction. Air officers had to estimate where

the enemy would be. send the planes there, and then let the airleaders search. A right decision in hunting for the enemy could be themost important decision of the entire battle. This was the case atMidway, where Lt.-Cmdr. C.W. McClusky's 'second contact attempt'led to his finding and destroying the Japanese carriers.

ailure to ContactA strike can make only two contact attempts, and these must

ke place in the same segment. After a strike has concluded itsntact attempts, flip the Air Strike counter over. The strike musten land and the pla nes mus be serviced before the y can ta ke partanother strike.

arget Chit Increase (Intelligence)In scenario 6 a nd the sta nda rd game, if th e contacted force ha s

chit of level lower than 4, the chit increases to the next level. (See.2) Ignore this in scenarios 1-4.

If th e ta rge t is a non-car rier force and this chit incre ase causeso become a carrier force, place a US Advantage marker (see 12.2).

Two US air strike s conta ctin g th e sam e level 1 or 2 carrierforce in the same segment would ea ch cause the force chit toincr ease by one intelligen ce level, (thou gh the force would onlybe level-4 for the second of the contacting strikes).

.5 Japanese SurpriseDESIGN NOTE: "Surprise* in Carriermeans being struck whileunprepared for attack. In its mildest form, this could mean having aweak, poorly positioned CAP. In its worst form, it could mean beingstruck with planes on deck. The latter was every carrier admiral's

nightmare. A group of fuelledup. bombedup planes amounted toa mass of explosives ready to be touched off. In such a situation onebomb could transform the carrier into a blazing ruin as happenedto the Japanese at Midway. Note that Japanese Strike Surprise isdifferent and separate from the scenario condition "strategicsurprise".

If th e ta rge t is a carri er force, us e th e Surpri se Table (chartreen) as follows to determine whether the force has been surprised:

Roll the die.

Apply the listed Strategic Surprise modifier if strategic surprise iseffect in the scenario.

Read the result corresponding to the modified die roll.

The result "Surpri se-CAP" causes adverse modifiers to Jap anese CAP and Antiaircraft combat die rolls.

The res ult "Surprise -Pla nes on Deck" cause s an adver semodifier to Japa ne se CAP combat die rolls, whileprohibitin gantiaircraft fire altogether. "Surprise CAP" also causes themodification of rolls on the Air Attack Damage Table.

In the rul es any mentio n of "surprise", wit hout disti nguis hinge two res ults, encompasses both forms of surprise . However, Japa se Surprise must not be confused with Strategic Surprise (21.0).

A surprise result applies only against the current strike. Surise is determined separately for every strike, even different strikesthe same segment. Surprise applies only to strikes against carrier

rces.

DESIGN NOTE: It may seem puzzling at first that a force can fail to besurprised by one strike but then be surprised by a second strike arrivingonly a few minutes later. However, at Midway the Japanese were not

surprised by the US torpedo plane attack, but were most brutallysurprised by the dive bomber attack immediately after.

6.6 Japanese CAPDESIGN NOTE: Combat air patrol (CAP) is a fighter force operatingcontinuously over one's own carriers, to intercept incoming strikes. Airlosses will reduce a force's CAP strength, but not proportionately tothe size of the loss. Most losses fall on strike planes, not on fighters sentalong as escorts or kept back as CAP. Furthermore. Japanesedoctrine during the game period placed little emphasis upon CAP.stressing instead the safeguarding of their strike aircraft. Therefore.Japanese combat air patrol strengths will vary relatively little untilcarriers are sunk or rendered incapable of operating aircraft.

Each Japanese carrier force has a combat air patrol (CAP).

Determine CAP strength the first time a strike contacts each force ineach segment, using the CAP Table (see chart screen).

Note: The CAP (Different Force) Table is used with Advanced rule 23.0.

To use the CAP Table, proceed as follows:

1. Locate the column corresponding to the target's air value. (Note: InScenarios 1-4, the air val ue is the sum of th e carri er air value s in theforce.) For the purpose of computing CAP strengths (only), ignore allreductions to a force's air value except those caused by carriers beingsunk or heavily damaged. Thus, for Level 3 carrier forces, thecondition of any carriers in ship holding boxes must be determined,merely examining the force's air value marker will not suffice.

2. Roll the die.

3. (Standard Game) Subtract 3 if strategic surprise is in effect.

4. Cross-reference the modified die roll with the air value. The resultis th e CAP str eng th in air points. Place a "Jap CAP" mar ke r to indicatethe strength.

Once determined, CAP strength applies throughout the currentsegment. Each force's CAP strength is determined anew in eachdifferent segment. All CAP Strength markers are removed at the endof each US segment.

In the standard game Japanese non-carrier forces never haveCAP, and each Japanese CAP protects only its own force (but seeAdvanced rule 23.0).

COMPREHENSIVE EXAMPLE OF STRIKE MOVEMENT AND CONTACT:

A strike of launched in the first phase of the turn against a target threehexes distant. It moves toward the target, one hex per phase. In the AirMov ement Step of the third phase the strike enters the target' s hex. At the

end of the Air Operations Step of that phase t he strike is resolved.First, co nt ac t must be dete rmi ned. The strike's Time Alo ft marker has value3. the target marker is on its "Located" side, and the target force isinverted (it was Detected earlier in the turn). Thus a "5" or better willcon tac t. You roll "2 ", missing entirely.

Making a second attempt, you increment the Time Aloft by one and rollaga in, obt aining a "6" ; co nt ac t succeeds. The Strike marker is flippedover and a Located marker placed on the target.

The force's tot al air value is 4. Therefore, to gen era te CAP you roll the dieand consult the "4" column of the CAP Table. A die roll *3" produces 0CAP. The air-to-sea combat procedure ensues.

As rule 7.0 will reveal, 8 steps is the maximum any US carrier can launchin one segment. If yo u wished to includ e more steps in the strike, you couldleave the strike in the launching carrier's hex, adding planes to it overseveral segments, and then be gin movi ng it tow ard the ta rget wheneveryou wished.

Entering dive. Our objective is the rear ship. Step onit! Are we going to attack or not?

They're all burning!

That scared hell out of me. I thought we weren'tgoing to pull out.

Your bomb really hit them on the fantail. Boy, that'sswell!

These Japs are as easy as shooting ducks in a rainbarrel.

Gee, I wish I had just one more bomb!

Tojo, you son of a bitch, send out the rest and we'llget those too.

Radio transmissions from US aviatorsat the Battle of Midway


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.0 US Carrier Task Force Operations1 Carrier Displays and

Air OperationsIn every Air Operations Step you may conduct air operations

h every one of you r carrie rs an d land base s. (The following ruleslude mention of land bases althoug h land bases do not app ear in

introductory scenarios.) A carrier may perform air operationsardless of whe the r its task force moves in th at segme nt.

Air operations are performed by moving air units from one box toother on the Carrier, Carrier Task Force, and Strike Box displays.operations include the following activities:

Launch

Landing

Raising

Lowering

ServicingIn every Air Operations Step you may perform all these opera

ns witheach carrie r or land base. The carrier need not have movedha t segm ent. T he Air Operation s Sum

carrier rules

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