Opening Moves (FC Nimitz AAR)

[BanzaiCat]

I just laid out FC:N to give it a run-through of a few turns. I tried out the 1942 Campaign scenario.

I had to quit after two turns (actually 1.5 turns) because I realized how badly I had screwed up by the time I moved US forces in Turn 2.

In Turn 1, the Japanese moved a massive invasion force to...Borneo. Yes, Borneo. Where we had exactly one battalion of infantry and nothing else. The Japanese brought eight ships (one a CVL, so it had two aircraft) and two LBAs plus one infantry to there. What happened? The US battalion melted like butter on a Texas sidewalk in June.

The only other battle was in New Guinea, which only lasted 1 round and resulted in a stalemate. This is when I realized US ships must return to port every turn; they don't stay on station. So you're essentially needing to repeat your attacks each turn.

You also need to form a 'ring of steel' around the Japanese and slowly squeeze it. Otherwise they will slip through cracks and get to islands they historically never did.

On my Turn 2, I had a large return to port stack and I created two massive fleets to go after the Carolines and Wake. The Carolines had a stack of six Japanese ships, but did they stay? Noooope, they left. That's when I realized I screwed the pooch and needed to reboot my play. And again realized if you want to ensure you catch the Japanese in a battle, you have to have strong units covering just about every possible advance.

One thing that kind of bothers me is that Japanese units will never be allowed by the game system to go after the West Coast of the USA, nor Australia. The West Coast I can kind of understand, but Australia was always in their sights. I could understand a rule that says the Japanese have to control Borneo, New Guinea, and the Solomons, for example, before they can advance on Australia, but whatever. The game's victory mechanics are good enough - if you lose too many Objectives, you'll get fired. The USA/Australia are not invaded, but instead, you lose your job and are replaced. An interesting idea.

It also caught me off guard that you are essentially playing one year of the war, not the entire war. To be fair, there is a way to connect the Campaigns, but you're essentially selecting the 1942, 1943, 1944, or 1945 Campaign Games and playing that year from January/February through November/December (each turn is two months). So there is an option - I just thought it was strange. I assumed each Campaign game was a start off point for the game and it would be fought until the bitter end. I thought the horde of units with 42, 43, etc. on their counters meant that was the year they appeared in-game...this is true, but I was thinking of the latter years being reinforcements. Not the case.

I enjoyed what I saw, I just totally flubbed my strategy and screwed up my enjoyment of it. Not the fault of the game at all. It's been eye-opening but enjoyable. I will try it again once I'm off work next week.

[GJK]

I'm kind of surprised that Australia is off the table as well but I gather that Dan wanted to keep it strictly US forces and thus that's why the southwest area is missing key strategic locations on the map that the British were protecting but were vital for the Japanese war effort.  An invasion of Australia would obviously include Australian ships and troops and that goes against the design decision so I get that.

I'm still waiting on my copy.  Mad Russian has asked Dan if my copy was ever sent and so I think he's trying to track that down. 

In the meantime, we had a nice visit at the Nimitz museum yesterday and that has me brushing up on the rules for Carrier while also playing a game of Tiller's Midway game (which is actually quite good and very much like Carrier but on the PC).

[jomni]

American only makes sense. It's Nimitz after all.

[BanzaiCat]

Hope that arrives for you soon, GJK. They gotta be going nuts over at DVG with Christmas in a few days - I would imagine the shipping nightmares might end soon, but who knows - maybe you can at least get a tracking number out of them. UPS delivered a package of mine to a neighbor across the street - they definitely screw stuff up but at least they knew where they screwed it up.

[GJK]

FCN arrived yesterday; just in time for Christmas...so I "unwrapped" it this morning.  I haven't removed the shrink yet to inspect (too busy dealing with everybody else's presents and getting them all situated) but I noticed that there is a strategic board that was outside of the box.  Is that a bonus or an "oops!" or a corrected board or just extra wrapping? 

[BanzaiCat]

The mounted Battle Board and the counter tray are both bonuses for their successful Kickstarter campaign. Everything will fit back in the box, even if you have to temporarily use Ziploc bags to do so. The counter tray itself does not lend near enough space to store everything.

[BanzaiCat]

Check this out and let me know what y'all think...

http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=12276.0