War in the Pacific Mini-AAR: A Week That Will Live in Infamy

I played eight days of Pacific War so far. Some experienced ultra-grognards are probably going to cringe at these words, because real players spend at least hours before thinking any significant move or strategy. I still had some things to learn, mostly about production, setting convoys and, last but not least, replacing commanders.

I replaced Kimmel with Nimitz at the helm of Central Pacific. This had beneficial effect on Pearl Harbor base. Airport and other facilities have been rebuilt after week and engineers and other crews are busy repairing airplanes and ships. I expect to have at least one of those damaged battleships in action by the end of January 1942.

Halsey returned to Pearl Harbor with something to brag about. He came too late to rescue Wake but at least his carrier-based planes have struck Japanese squadron there really hard and sank three light cruisers.

In other theatres things were far from being good. To say that Japanese are on the roll is understatement. They took Guam, Wake, Makin and Tarawa Atoll. Japanese also took Hong Kong after three days of fighting. Thankfully, three British destroyers managed to slip from the harbour and are now joining combined Allied squadron in Indonesia.

In Malaya Japanese have taken Victoria Point and took Khota Baru after one week of fighting. I wasn't as dumb as historical British leaders to try stopping them with surface naval action. Prince of Wales and Repulse are kept in Singapore harbour and if the excrement get the fan they would join the squadron in Indonesia.

In Philippines Japanese have taken northern parts of Luzon, Davao and Legaspi. 34th Fighter Group USA Army is the only Allied unit that does some meaningful job there. Torpedo boats had some nasty night skirmish with Japanese convoy, losing two of their own for one Japanese minesweeper.

Japanese have also landed on Rabaul. Australian air force is pulled out from there.

The only comforting thing is the relative effectiveness of US submarines. Unlike Japanese submarines and unlike Allied bombers, they tend to hit their targets. So far, most of them are under computer control (just like Soviets).