Against the Odds Issue #58

 Against The Odds Issue #58

featuring

Clash of Carriers

 The name of the magazine speaks for itself. In this issue, they really take on what in hindsight was not even against the odds, but pretty much impossible. The Japanese Naval Air Force was shattered and almost totally destroyed by the fighting of 1943. Japan did have carriers. However, they did not have trained pilots to fly off them. True, the amount of carriers Japan had seemed paltry to the amount the U.S. had. The one thing that Japan had still was the unsinkable carriers that were its island bases. The Japanese thought that with both, they just might be able to strike the U.S. Navy hard enough to stop its inexorable march across the Pacific. Japan had a plan that was called A-Go which was really just a rehash of their earlier plans, even before the war, for a naval showdown between the U.S. and Japanese Navies. The only real thing that the Japanese had on their side was that their planes had always been designed with longer ranges than the U.S. ones. They might just be able to spot and hit the U.S. fleet before their ships had even been sighted. Plan A-Go was a gamble but one that would have to be taken. The battle has become known as 'The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot'. This should give you some idea of the actual outcome. It is pretty amazing that the big gun battleships that until 1941 had ruled the waves were just bystanders in the battle.

 Hard to believe, but this is issue #58 of Against the Odds. ATO is a wargaming magazine whose production values are second to none. I have been a fan of ATO for some time now. Some of my favorite magazine wargames have been made by them. The actual name of the game inside this issue is Clash of Carriers: The Battle of The Philippine Sea. The designer is Mark Stille. The game itself is based off of ATO's issue #17 game Imperial Sunset.

 This issue of the magazine deals with the Battle of the Philippine Sea which was caused by the U.S. decision to invade the Marianas Islands. The Japanese knew that this invasion had to stopped or the Japanese mainland would be in the range of bombers taking off from the Marianas Islands. The magazine starts out as always with a succinct but invaluable retelling of the history of the game's battle. It is not just a primer on the battle but goes far deeper than that. Your reading of it will give you all the information you would want to know. It also comes with a list of sources used for it and the game. 

 This is what comes with the game:

Maps - One full color 22"x34" hex mapsheet

Counters - 160 large 5/8" and 160 standard 1/2" die-cut pieces

Rules length - 16 pages

Charts and tables - 8 pages

Complexity - Medium

Playing time - Up to 6 hours

How challenging is it solitaire? - Poor

Designer - Mark E. Stille

Development - Russ Lockwood

Graphic Design - Mark Mahaffe

 The articles that come with this issue are:

Clash of Carriers: by Mark Stille

Exploring a Hard Pounding Fight: Optional Rules and Ideas (This is about a game on the battle for La Haye Sainte during Waterloo. It is published by ATO's partner Turning Point Simulations.) by Paul Rohrbaugh

On Guards: How These Fish Sharpened Their Teeth (about the U.S. Submarine Fleet in WWII.) by Andy Nunez

And The Data Shows: Shooting Fish in a Barrel (About the airplane and its coming to age against Battleships) by Ed Heinsman

Thunder Gods: The Kamikaze Offensive, April 1945 by Paul Rohrbaugh

Simulation Corner: Wargames Around Taiwan: Who Won? by John Prados

The "Archive Rat" Passes by Kevin Zucker. This is a tribute to John Prados who passed last year.

The Fifth Columnist: The Hussite Wars (An upcoming game from ATO.) by John D, Burtt

 All of these articles are what you have come to expect from ATO. They are incisive and full off history and facts and figures and all of them are too short. They always leave me wanting the article to be much larger than they invariably have to be.

The Surface Battle Display (Map)

 The game components are excellent. They are just like you would find with a boxed game costing much more. The counters are especially well designed. They come with a nicely done profile of the ship or plane that they represent. The numbers that you need to play the game are large and the counters are not cluttered. The ship counters are 5/8" and the planes and informational counters are 1/2". Normally I like to play only historical wargames. However, in this case you have to go with the designer and his choice to make the USN victory conditions, as he puts it, tough. The game also comes with plenty of Optional Rules including Secret Movement. There are three scenarios included with the game. These are:

Historical Scenario

TF 58 Unleashed Scenario (This allows the USN to be unleashed from protecting the landings in the Marianas Islands.)

The Japanese Dream Scenario (All of the penalties for being untrained are taken away from the Japanese forces, among other things.)

 

This is a tense game for both sides, especially if you use the hidden movement rules. Because of the victory conditions and the fact that historically the USN was chained to the Marianas Islands does give the Japanese Navy a chance to pull off a big upset. Just be forewarned that playing the Japanese is a tough challenge and a draw should be considered a great outcome for you.

 

Thank you Against the Odds for allowing me to review another great issue and game from you.

These two have already been released by ATO:

ATO Annual: Beyond Waterloo

ATO Annual: Cruelest Month (The Airwar over Arras in 1917)

These three will be coming up from ATO:

ATO #59: Blind Faith (The Hussite Wars)

ATO Annual: Operation Roundup (Allies Invade France in 1943)

ATO #60 Cities of the Damned (Cassino and Aachen)

Do not forget to take a look at the line of games that Turning Point Simulations has to offer.

Against the Odds:

Against the Odds (atomagazine.com)

Against The Odds #58:

Against the Odds (atomagazine.com)

Turning Point Simulations:

Turning Point Simulations - Home Page