Turn 1: Standard.

Turn 2: IJN three-area attack. Suicide CV works in Hawaii. Marshalls block should have worked but USN dice went ice cold at the wrong time. IJN ended up controlling Hawaii and Coral Sea. IJN AFs wiped out a USN CV and the whole British CV force in Indo.

Turn 3: At Hawaii, USN BBs and AFs sink all of the IJN patrollers without a single scratch against the IJN CV force. The remaining AFs duck the fight after breaking control. Remaining USN CVs get banged up raiding the interior. Southern bases begin to fall to the IJN. Hiyo and Junyo were sunk in port at Truk by USN air raid.

Turn 4: Brits patrol Indo and get wiped out by a IJN CV raider force. USN fleet decontrols whole parts of the IJN interior but lose control of USM and Coral Sea again.

Turn 5: Probably a turning point in the game. Two US Marine divisions were sent to Indo unprotected and were jumped on by the same IJN CV raider force. A third Marine division was demolished in sight of Midway. By the end of this turn, the USN CVs had been completely eliminated. The last Brit would be removed by rule. Every US Marine unit had been sunk. The US held Dutch Harbor and their home ports. The IJN held all of the central and southern bases and managed to flag their perimeter finally. USN never let the POC track get out of hand.

Turn 6: IJN chose to hold CPO with the fleet. USN forces sunk four IJN LBA and were able to control the Marshalls and SPO.

Turn 7: IJN fleet held Indo and Japan. US Marines took Lae and reinforced there with a second unit. Huge USN fleets ported in Dutch Harbor and Lae.

Turn 8: Began with the IJN up by +13.5 poc adjusted for the bid. IJN patrolled Japan with everything but the speed 8 CVs and a couple of CAs set aside as raiders. USN fleet from Dutch Harbor patrolled in Japan. I placed three AFs in Marianas and three in Japan. US AFs doubled up to protect against raiders. Two SNLFs went to Indo to retake Lae. My raiders stayed in Japan. USN raided three CVs and one CVL to bounce the Marianas AFs. Everything else went to Japan since my fleet there was still intact.

The US AFs killed one SNLF and ended that gambit. The Marianas AFs removed all three USN CVs in the first round of combat. Return fire only knocked down one AF. In Japan, a night round let both sides chew up the other's surface fleet. Dennis resigned the game at this point. He needed to decontrol the Marianas and to win Japan outright for the win.

A very interesting game where neither side seemed willing to engage in an even fight. :) Prior to Turn 8, the "Sunk" pile was full of IJN CAs that got caught patrolling USN home waters and USN CVs that were caught by IJN AFs and the I-Boat. I think that killing US Marines on Turn 5 saved the game.