Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

Game 4

Game 5

Game 1 (The Full Applebaum)

John: Turns 6 & 7 -- I gave up the South Pacific and Marshall Islands on Turn 6 per usual procedure with this perimeter.  I put my fleet mostly in Indonesia and all six LBA in the Hawaiian Islands along with the Hosho.  With the extra turn available to the USN, I didn't expect a fight.  Dave surprised me by attacking the Hawaiians in force.  My LBA handed him a stunning defeat -- killing five USN CV along the way.  However, Dave did manage to take down 3 LBA and put three damage on another -- which will help him in future turns.

On Turn 7, I guarded the rear areas and put all my available forces in Indonesia.  Again, I figured Dave wouldn't attack -- since the edge in the air was overwhelmingly mine and I had the flag.  Wrong again -- Dave charged in.  However, this time we ended up with a day/night roll for the first round -- and the USN fleet in this scenario is huge compared to the IJN fleet.  That freed his CVs to shoot at my LBA -- and, despite the odds, he downed all three in one round while I shot poorly and sank only three CV.  The surface round was worse -- with the IJN sinking only a single CA while losing 3 CA and 5 CV.  I landed my NLF to keep Indo secure from USN Marines -- so we had another round.  Again it was day followed by night.  I sank another CV, but lost another CA and 3 more CV.  In pursuit, I lost Yamato to boot and he destroyed one of my NLF.  I did deny the Allies control, but the turn was a total IJN disaster.  I shot badly in all four pieces of the Indo action!  That doesn't help!

For Turn 8, the IJN is left with 11 surface ships total and 3 CVs (two of which were reinforcements)!  It may be that the scenario will have to give the IJN a few more surface ships -- of course, nothing would have saved me against two nights in Indonesia this turn.  The PoC (at 22) is still OK -- but I don't think this itty-bitty fleet will be up to two more turns against the USN hordes (not that I won't try, of course)!  My lone chance of salvation is that my LBA will be coming back...

Turn 8 -- The strength of the Full Applebaum is clear this turn -- when I challenge the USN only for the North Pacific (principally because he can't get a lot of CVs there and no Marines at all).  Together with his inability to patrol the Japanese Islands and Aleutians and I should still be in position to have a chance on the last turn -- since I hope to have all 6 LBA for a shot at the Japanese Islands!

Turn 9 -- I hold enough most of my force as raiders to force the Allies to patrol heavily.  However, with two bases in every area, Dave covers everything nicely with LBA and slow ships in the backwaters.  Everything ends up in the Japanese Islands.  With 6 undamaged LBA and 4 heavy CV against 6 CV and 5 CVL, the IJN is a clear favorite.  However, night on the first round allows the USN to sink all four IJN CV without significant loss.  We fight two more nights to see if the IJN can clear all the Allied patrols, but to no avail -- two Allied patrollers remain.  The IJN has exactly ONE surface ship still alive -- the rest were SUNK!  And the Musashi has 8 damage, for that matter!  The first daylight round sees 5 USN CV sunk or disabled.  In return, only two IJN LBA are shot down (though two others are heavily damaged).  The next round sees the last CV and 2 CVL disabled -- and the Allies whiff.  The next round sees two CVL sunk while only a single LBA goes down.  The next round saw the remaining three LBA vanquish the last CVL to win the game for the IJN by 1 PoC!  The game was as close as the score -- not as the dice rendered the last battle!

The scenario seems to be well-balanced.  I'll want to try it from the Allied side to see what that's like!

Dave: Turn 6 - The IJN gets 7 "free" POC this turn from single patrollers in protected areas, so it's pretty hard for the USN to make the POC marker move. He put the rest of his fleet in Indonesia (which only two USN carriers could reach) and his 5 LBA and Hosho in the Hawaiian Islands.

I was thinking that, to win the game, I'd need to sink most of his fleet sooner or later (and the sooner the better) and would probably have to shoot down all his LBA twice. So I might as well get started. And Hawaii was the only real option.

The situation in Hawaii looked to me to be roughly comparable to what the IJN usually face when they're trying to convert Pearl Harbor on Turn 3 in a regular game. In my experience, they win that battle more often than not. Of course, the IJN LBA pack half again as much punch as the USN LBA do, but I thought he might be tempted to divert some of his first-round attacks toward my patrollers or marine units.

It turns out I was wrong. He concentrated exclusively on the carriers and rolled sixes like they were going out of style. So the American attack failed (like throwing popcorn at a brick wall). At turn's end, the IJN was still firmly in control of Indonesia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the USN carriers were badly depleted. I did shoot down 3 of his LBA, though. And I gained a toehold in Guadalcanal.

Turn 7 - Feeling somewhat desperate already, I patrolled everywhere I could and went after his massed fleet and 3 LBA in Indonesia. Fortune smiled on me. I got a first-round day/night action. So I was able to target his LBA during the daytime, knowing that I'd be able line up my battleships across from his carriers during the night action.

Then Fortune smiled again, and I got a second-round day/night action. When the smoke cleared, Taiho was the only surviving Japanese carrier, and his surface fleet had been fairly well shot up, too. Although I didn't control Indonesia, I had an open raiding lane through it to the Japanese Islands.

The POC marker dropped down to 22. My uncontested marines invaded Johnston Island. Maloelap and Kwajalein converted to USN control. I started feeling better about my chances.

Turn 8 - I put as sturdy a patrol as I could into the Marianas, expecting that John would try to break my control there (or in the South Pacific) to prevent the USN from capturing Truk. I also expected to see his defensive efforts concentrated in the Japanese Islands since (1) that's where the POC are and (2) a goodly portion of my surface forces would have to speed roll to get there.

But John had a different plan. He put everybody in the North Pacific Ocean, which only my Turn 8 arrivals could get to as raiders. So I had to leave him alone.

The POC dropped to 11. That's good enough for a Japanese win if he controls the Japanese Islands next turn since I will have no way to patrol the Aleutians. And because he avoided major combat on Turn 8, he'll have all six LBA and the entire remnant of his fleet to work with.

USN Endgame Comments: From the USN side of the table, this scenario is fun because you have a sizeable fleet to work with. In a regular game, the USN struggles through the first five turns with scanty resources. Then, when the cavalry finally comes over the hill on Turn 6, the game often ends-either because the USN position is so bad that there's no hope of salvaging it or because it's so good that the IJN player surrenders.

This scenario lets you play with a full-size fleet for four complete turns-and, what's even better, the I-Boat disappears after the first one.

Balance-wise, it seems like the USN player ought to have the edge. Even though the starting position is terrible, the extra turn could theoretically be worth as many as 17 extra POC. And it ought to be worth 8 to 10 POC in even the worst case.

Nevertheless, our game went right down to the wire. Going in to Turn 9 combat, John and I both still had a reasonable chance to win. And although my luck wasn't always good, it wasn't always bad either-so I can't really blame the dice.

I'd be interested to see how the wins and losses balance out in practice over multiple playings.

Game 2 (Historical Turn 4)

Larry: The scenario worked well and was very balanced.  We only played two rounds however due to very lopsided dice.

In the first round the IJN moved in force into two areas one of which I countered.  My speed rolls for five ships (2-5's and 3-3's) resulted in only one ship making it giving the IJN an advantage but nothing overwhelming.  I had a 16 to 9 air advantage (4+,4+,4+, AF, AF to 4+,4+,3+) and managed to loose two CV's to one with my reaming CV disabled.  The IJN sub was able to retire my Marines allowing the IJN Amph unit to land at Midway thus retiring my AF units.  The result was a loss that setback the budding Allied effort.

In turn six the losses were worse.  Speed rolls were again well below average and the air battle was so lopsided that the game was a clear mathematical win for the IJN.

The IJN Admiral's play was good but the dice were a kamikaze that could not be overcome.

Eric: I was IJN -1. I was able to control the perimiter in turn 4 and 5. It was a big help to knock out two USN Cv's on turn 4. The scenerio is well balanced and is a good one. I would change the starting POC to the 13 that is historically accurate, as indicated in James's introduction. The US player can then bid for the right to play the US. I feel that 20 is too high as any CV loss in turn 4 leaves the US in a difficult position when trying to break the perimiter defence. In our game I had 29 POC after turn 5 and feel confident that I would be able to hold the lead, my opponent agreed and quit. Overall I like it.

Game 3 (Emperor in Exile)

Glenn: I deployed with a bias towards surface forces at Yokosuka, CV's centralised at Marshalls for max raid flexibility and marines getting the priority for forward basing.

Andy's IJN seized the initiave and never relinquished it. His attack was a shotgun affair which saw battle in Indo, Home Isl, Marianas, SPO, Marshalls, Indian, Coral, and Mandate. USN CV's were forced all over the map - and shot very poorly, with the result that offensive airpower was depleted on T2. Andy was able to clinch the test by careful force deployment/POC management.

Opinions:

Re: Play balance. Tough to say based on this one test. I suspect that there might be an edge to the USN.

Re: Entertainment value. A pleasant surprise here, as the split USN basing options really open it up for the IJN. If our game is any indication, the actual resolution will devolve into a wide number of smaller actions consisting of a small number of aerial units duking it out. Luck factor is through the roof - but in a 3 turn VITP match, what can be expected? In our game the decisive factor was the ability of the IJN LBA to dodge bombs and bullets, along with Andysan Gardnamoto's usual aggressive and insightful play.

Re: Suitability for tournament play. Possible. I would not rule it out on the basis of our 1 test.

Andy: Initial impression-The IJN can't sit on their butt and win as the POC count in BOB, IO and INDO(21 over 3 turns) vs rest of board(45 over 3 turns) leads to a 2 POC USN victory. And the IJN can't hold BOB, IO and Indo for 3 turns against the might of the USN! So the IJN must either raid judiciously or go on the offensive on T9 (their best chance).

T9-As Glenn has already stated, I decided to pretty much hit everywhere that I could (Except AI and NPO), knowing that I should control or decontrol areas based on my how well my LBA's did. The downside of course was that both IO and Indo were vulnerable to attack, leaving me without a single protected area on T10. My other goal was that I did not want any of Glenn's marines to land (since all the USN's future marines were essentially useless). Results of combat: The luck factor that Glenn spoke of came into play as the IJN managed to control the Marshalls, USM, CS and BOB at a cost of 2 LBA's, 5 CVL's, and a number of
surface (including half of the IJN BB's) vs 1 LBA, 4CV, 3CVL's and a little surface. We also had a 9 round fight in Japan where both sides lost their last patrolling LBA on the last round! The POC count for the turn ended where it began, at IJN +22. Two of Glenn's marines were sunk while one slipped through to capture the Phil's. Both of my NLF's were sunk as well. The overall turn, thanks mainly to incredible IJN LBA shooting, left the IJN in great shape in both POC and airpower! It also had a semi-protected (from all the PH reinforcements and from all the YNY USN forces) area in the CS.

T10-With a lack of carriers the USN was in poor shape to contest the IJN's remaining LBA which set up in IO, BOB and Indo. The IJN fleet (6xpats) went to the CS (with the returning NLF) while raiders (mainly carriers) went into the Marshalls, SPO, CS, IO and Indo. Result: Yoko got through to take Guad (taking out single LBA's in CS and SPO) while Yamato took out the USN surface pat in the SPO. The IJN also got rid of the pat in the Marshalls. The IJN held the CS and IO w/o a fight, BOB with a minor fight. The IJN left a slightly USN favored fight in Indo (even though it would have won the game outright for the IJN) so that
the IJN would have all 6 LBA's for T11. The USN's shooting was better this turn as they sunk 3 CVL's (1 via airraid), CV and Yamato vs the IJN's result of one CVL and TN. The POC was reduced to IJN +16.

T11-Never played as the outcome was obvious to both of us and the next ladder round was about to start.

Opinions:

Play balance-It is hard to say on this one test but I think, given average shooting, that the game may be about even. The IJN's shooting really skewed things, IMO. Givens: The USN's reinforcements for T11 are fairly useless offensive wise. Both the T10 and T11 marines are fairly useless also as they are too far away from the front area's.

Entertainment value-Hard to say based on one game but I'll grade it a B for now. This one could be over on the first turn IF the IJN can flag Japan (trapping a decent part of the USN's fleet for T10). This would be tough for the IJN to do, but if they could it would not be very entertaining for the USN player! On the flip side the IJN could lose a good deal of it's fleet (heavily outnumbered) and most of it's carriers trying to control/decontrol areas. A whole lot of fun for the USN when they can start destroying the IJN piecemeal!

Suitable for tournament play-I think it has enough interesting components (flexible USN basing vs various IJN plans of attack/defense) to make it acceptable. Much like the current game, but condensed into 3, possibly intense, turns.

Game 4 (Emperor in Exile)

John: This turned out to be a rather exciting game.  On Turn 9, I realized that I could not sit back and take the easy road -- there just wasn't enough PoC in it to hold on to the lead (which is as it should be).  So I decided to go for the big PoC in the Japanese Islands.  I also held back a lot of fast forces in several areas for potential PoC raids.  Ken elected not to contest the Japanese Islands with his scattered forces.  He also patrolled several areas weakly -- leading me to challenge the Central Pacific and Marshall Islands.  I think the Shinano (1953) and Yamato (695) make a particularly effective combination for a PoC raid -- especially since I ended up getting both of them back!

On Turn 10, I made a mistake -- I could have won the game by heavily defending Indonesia and the Indian Ocean (due to the position of Allied forces).  Instead I went for the conversion of the Japanese Islands -- at great cost against Allied LBA -- and also losing a lot of equipment in Indonesia.  As a result, I needed to win a very close battle in the Japanese Islands on Turn 11 (with only one of my LBA left standing at the end of the game).  I think I would have been toast if the Allies had been more aggressive on Turn 9!  As it was, the combination of my mistakes and Ken's mistakes made for a very tight finish!  Thanks for a great game, Ken!

Game 5 (Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere)

Tom: Greg and I played the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere scenario, with Greg as the Allies and myself as the Japanese. The game resulted in an IJN victory by 1 POC.

Pros:

1) Play balance seems to be very good. This game could have gone either way. A couple critical day/night rolls went against the IJN, but at the same time the USN could have patrolled Japanese Islands more heavily on Turn 8 which might have resulted in a USN win.

2) It seems like an excellent way to improve one's play at a particular part of the game (in this case the endgame).

3) Can be played quickly.

Cons:

1) A few key die rolls could be the deciding factor among equally matched players. Being only 3 turns long, there are fewer chances for luck to even out over the course of a game.

2) The shorter game also means far fewer strategic options for each side. As the IJN player, I felt that there were only one or two viable strategies, with only a few chances to improvise or adapt my strategy based on my opponent's moves.

In summary, I would recommend this scenario to other VITP players looking for a short, relatively fun game, or as a way to practice some of the endgame tactics of VITP. But I would be hesitant to recommend this particular scenario for tournament play or other competitive play of VITP, since it seems there are a limited number of strategic options and play could be more influenced by luck than in the full game.

I look forward to trying the other scenarios, and seeing more scenarios developed. I think that some longer 5 or 6 turn scenarios would be very interesting because they would probably avoid the two minor concerns I mentioned above.