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GENERALThe ame Players Magazine

The Avalon Hill GENERALIS ded~cated o the presenta-tlon of authoritat~veart~ cles n the strategy tacttcs, andvariation of Avalon H ~l l argames H~s tor~ calrt~cles relncluded only ~ns omuc h s they pro v~de seful background

tnformatlon on current A valon Hill tltles The GENERAL ispubl~shed y the Avalon H ~l l ame Company solely for thecultural ed~f~cationf the serlous game af~c~onado.n thehopesof improving the gameowner s prof~cien cy f play andpro vid~ ng ervtces not otherwise available to the Avalon Hillgame buff Avalon Hlll is a divis~on f M onarch AvalonIndustries, Inc a wholly owned subs ~diaryof MonarchAvalon, Inc Theshares of Monarch Avalon. Inc are publiclytraded on the NASDAO System under the symbol MA Hl Forinformationabout the company w rite to Harold Cohen at theexecutive off~cesof the company. 4517 Harford RdBalt~more.MD 21214

Publicat~on s bl-monthly wlth mailings made close tothe end of February. Aprll. June, August, October andDecember Alled~tor~alandeneral mail should besent t otheAvalon Hill Game Company, 45 17 Harford Road. BaltlmoreMD 21214 One year subscriptions are 9 00 Two yea rsubscr~ptions re 14 00 All domes t~c ubscr~pttons entvla bulk permit Domestic First Class Dellvery and allsubscr~pt~onso Canada and Mextco m ust pay an additjonal

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Send checks or money orders only AH is not responsible forcash lost In transit Those with a current Amerlcan Express,VISA. Mastercard or Choice may call 800-638 9292 tollfree to renew subscripttons or order merchan d~seAbsolutelyno comp la~nts r questlons will be handled on th~ s umberAny bus~ness ther than a cred~t ard purchase must behandled by mall Address changes must be subm lttedatleas t6 weeks in advance to guarantee delivery Paid adv ert~ s~n gsnot accepted. but news of importance to the gamlng COT-munity IS so l~c ~te d onvention announcements must bereceived at least 3 months ~n dvance and contaln ~nfo rma -tion pertalnlng to AH games In use

Articles from subscrtbers are cons~deredor publicat~onat the d~screttonof our ed~lorlal taff Art~clesshould betypewritten, double-spaced, and embrace the tenetso f goodEnglish usage There IS no l~m i to word length Accom pany-ing examples and d~agram s hould be neatly done tn black orred Ink Photographs should have captlon and credit linewritten on back Rejected art~ cles ill be returned wheneverposs~bleEXECUTIVE EDITOR:Donald J GreenwoodMANAGING EDITOR:Rex A Ma rt~nGRAPHICS: Jean Baer. Dale Sheaffer, Charles K~bler,Rodser MacGowan. Stephanie Czechcover Art: Rodger MacGowanMasthsad Design: Stephan~e zechAREA Technician: D~anaW~denerGENERAL Suburiptlons: Gertrude ZombroPurchases o Gamer PBM kits and parts: Chr~stv hawFOREIGN DISTRIBUTORS:Overseas readers are urged tomake subscr~ption rrangements w~ t hhe appropriate agent,AUSTRALIA Jedko Games 18 Fonceca St Mord ~alloc,3195, Victoria. DENMARK Jorn Ertksen Sondertoften 209.DK 26 30 Taastrup. GREAT BRITAIN Avalon Hill IUKI LTD,65 0 High Rd North Finchley. London N 12, ONL. JAPANPost Hobby, 1 38 Yoyogi, Sh~bura-K U. okyo SINGAPOREWong lnternat~onalEntr 6 Jalan S~n arBulan. Singapore175 0 SOUTH AFRICA Gamma Games Ltd. P 0 Box290 4, Capetown 80 00 . SWEDEN Target Games.Skogvaktargatan 2 S- 11542 StockholmRules Questions: R&D NOTE all questlons should bediagrammed No questlons can be answered whic h areunaccompanied by a self-addressed envelope Questions

must be based on rules of play [not h~stor~calr desbgnmatters1and be based on the current rules ed~ t~ on uestionson more than onegame must bellsledon separate pagesandaccompan~ed y a separate SASE for each gameIF YOU CHANGE YOUR ADDRESS:Inform us lmmed~atelyThe Post Off ~c e estroys magaztnes even if you leave aforward ing address AH ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITYFOR ISSUES LOST DUE TO AN INV ALID ADDRESS Please

Game ompan

Avalon Hill Philosphy Part 9I

Has it really been ten years? As I ponder bring-ing this column to life for the 60th time it seemshard to believe, but calendars don't lie. Vol. 9, No.1 was my maiden voyage as editor of THEGENERAL and now a scant ten years later I mustrelinquish the helm to another as time marches on.

For this, dear reader, is my last issue as your trusty(or is that crusty) old editor.

Yes, I've finally been kicked upstairs into theValhalla of fulltime game designldevelopment. Im-patient SL addicts wondering where their nextgamene fix was coming from stand out as the mostcompelling reason. Hopefully, this move will allowme to deliver the long promised G.1. game atORIGINS '82. Then too, ten years is probably toolong to nflict the opinions and personality of one old

grognard on any readership. You've suffered lenough at my hands. The opportunity for ymagazine to take on fresh ideas under new leadship is long overdue. While I am genuinely proudthe format we have developed for THE GENERduring the past decade, perhaps greater thingsbe accomplished from the vantage point of a frperspective. I have been advised from time to tithat mine is a rather opinionated and dry style mutoo grating on the nerves of those with dissimitastes. Then, again, all too often in recent dayshave allowed the hypocrisy and politics inhobby to draw me out of the comfortable shadowof apathy and onto the soapbox that the editorshof this magazine inadvertantly provides. Perhapsis time for a steadier hand at the till

ontinued on Page 42 olumn

ON DECKThe Revision o f F L AT TOP By Alan R. Mo

DESIGN ANALYSISF L AT TOP Errata By Alan R. Mo

FLAT TOP MORE OPTIONSOptional Rules for F L AT TOP By Don Gilm

BRITISH FLAT TOPS IN THE SOLOMONSIntroducing British Carriers into F L AT TOP By Bob Collma

THE BRITISH FLEET IN VICTORY IN THE PACIFICExpanding The British Role in VITP By Jim Davis and R. Hamble

PRE-EMPTIONNaval Aviation Tactics in MIDWAY By Capt. R. Harmo

BLITZ JAPANESEHow to Pronounce Oi, Ise, Hiei, et al. By Chris Roehl and Grace Bea

NATIVE POLICY IN SOURCE OF THE NILEAnalysing the Probabilities in SOTN By Michael Anchor

FLEET BOATAmerican Pacific Operations for SUBMARINE By Richard Strangman

BLITZ IN THE PACIFICOr Victory i n he Krieg By Jim Stahle

IT IS WRITTENSubmissions to the GENERAL By Robert Harmo

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i yr ,269 Battle Chart that offers variations in forces to-x. s - ..- - \i demonstrate how historv minht have been different.

Erwin Rommel and the first small contingents of whatwas to become PanzerArmee Afrika, arrived in NorthAfrica in the early Spring of 1941. Although prudence(and his orders) dictated otherwise, Rommel went onthe offensive against the scattered Allied army. In lessthan two weeks he was besieging the fortress of Tobruk,and pressing on to Egypt.PanzerArmee Afrika re-creates the sweeping action ofthe desert war-a curious land campaign having many

e aspects of a naval battle: far-flung actions by

vely small formations, extremely fluid fronts, anddistance supply problems.e high Movement Allowances of the units combined

the critical supply problems, make for a game ofant surprise and tension (there is rarely a line thatbe flanked or penetrated). Combat resolutionon attack superiority (in terms of Strength

rather than the more usual odds comparison.units can be easily overrun and this coupled with

an ability to deliberately move out-of-supplys a constant challenge to the Allied Player.Armee Afrika is fast becoming one of the mostr games largely because of its extreme play-

without sacrificing authenticity.

PanzerArmee Afrika is basically a two-player game. Itis played in sequenced turns called Game-Turns, duringwhich Players move units on the map, have combat,and attempt to achieve certain objectives. Victory isbased upon comparative strength levels at the end of thegame and the capture of Enemy bases.Each complete Game-Turn represents one month of realtime. The entire game lasts 20 Game-Turns.Each hex on the map represents 12 miles of land. EachBattalion-sized unit represents 600-1000 men. Each

Brigade-sized unit represents 2000-4000 men. EachRegiment-sized unit revresents 1100-3200 men.

PanzerArmee Afrika is basically a 2-pla forages 12 up. Rated on the Avalon Hill ComplexityScale (1-easy, 10-hard).

PANZERARMEE AFRIKA is available now for $16.00from the Avalon Hill Game Company, 4517 HarfordRoad, Baltimore, MD 21214. Please add 10% forpostage and handling (20% for Canadian orders, 30%for overseas). Maryland residents please add 5% statesales tax.

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who cry for freedom in the galax

GAME the ultimate in S-F realism-Rated 101riety of scenarios within each game system

BaFimore, MD 21214. Please add 10 for postage andRebels, interact to destroy their enemies and win the handling(20 for Canadian orders, 30 for overseas).hearts and minds of various races and planets. Maryland residents please add 5 state sales tax.

Mutant l

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DECK THE REVISION OF FL T TOPBy Alan R Mo

The first time I saw FLAT TOP was at ameeting of the Jersey Wargamers Association.One of my friends, Dennis, had just traded his un-

punched copy to another of my friends, Bob. Iwent over and peeked in the box. The map was alittle bigger than I had expected. The rules were alittle longer. I decided I'd never play the game.Then I looked at the counters. W hen I saw the in-dividual bomb units. I was convinced the gamewas way out of my complexity preference. Bobhad come over by now and was trying to convinceme what a great game it was. I chuckled. He saidwe should play it next time we got together. Whata comedian.

Through th e next several weeks. Bob persistentlyexpressed his desire to playFLA T TOP. I began toremember all the times he had played games I hadwanted to play. I began to feel guilty. I decided itwas time to grit my teeth and bear it. I took therulebook home to read it over before our next

gaming session.

Anyone who has playedFLAT TOP will knowhow our first game went. After five hours, we hadplayed less than 2 turns. I had a tremendous

headache, my vision was blurred, and my wholehead felt kind of fuzzy (not my normal conditiondespite what you may think). Quite a few of myplanes had crashed into the sea, unable to make itback to a carrier or base because of a lack of fuel.We had not even sighted each other's shipsDespite this, I had thoroughly enjoyed myself.

The next three or four games were a continuallearning process. I would reread the rulebook aftereach game and find several more things we haddone wrong. It wasn't until about the fifth gamethat we had learned the movement factors andrange factors for most of the planes and weregetting into the subtleties of the system. Completelyaddicted, we began playing FLAT TOP three or

four nights a week.

Four months later, overdosed, we finally cup fo r air. Since that time, I have played the gless than a dozen times. But tho se four m onths

roba ably remain the most intense. enjoyable tbf my &ing life.

It was an incredible coincidence that shoaf ter I came to Bal t imore, AH bouBATTLELINE. FLAT TOP was suddenly in hands. Lucky me.

As it turned ou t, the project became as muca bear as the first few playings of the game been. Usually decisive, I had trouble makingmy mind about many of the changes I wantemake. I became like a pitcher on deck; hopinghas a chance to hit, dreading the possible failand trying t o keep his mind on his real job. Thewas; wanting to change parts of FLAT TOPknowing was messing with a good th

dreading the possibility it wouldn't turn o ut b

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or even as well, and trying to keep my mind on myother projects since FL AT TO P was supposed toget just a su perficial revision. Th e results are not inyet, but the count is three and two; the pitcherwinds up and comes to the plate

Perhaps the biggest change I decided to makewas to the rulebook format. Despising the in-formality of the BATTLELINE rules, I went tothe much more formal, numbered AH organiza-tion.

The original rulebook was divided into a basic

game, an advanced game, and an optional rulessection. I decided the game was too complex tonecessitate a basic game. A nyone who was going totake the time to play FL A T TOP in the first placewas going to start with the advanced game anddisregard the basic game. FLAT TOP is not agame for beginners and I knew I could take aim atthe hardcore gamer and forget about trying topresent rules for the novice. Th e "10" ComplexityRating would be enough to scare off the lesshardy.

So, I combined the basic game, the advancedgame, and some of the optional rules into onegame, thus presenting new players with the versionof the game that included most of the rules ex-perienced players used. I retained an optional rulessection, including some of the original optional

rules and some new ones, but tried to down play itwith a introductory warning. While therulebookhas increased in number of pages from 34 to 36,the actual number of pages devoted to rules hasdecreased significantly.

The Mapboard

One of my early fears concerning the g ame wasthat the mapboa rd would be to o big to fit into thestanda rd AH flatbox size. I was most delighted tofind out that not only was it not to o big, it was toosmall. I could add two hexrows to the width of theboard and encircle the whole grid with a border.

Two hexrows were added to the left mapsection. In the BA TTLELINE version of the map,

Por t Moresby is in the westernmost hexrow. In theAH version, there are two hexrows to the west of it,enabling some additional maneuvering for AirFormations and TFs in this area, especially in theCoral Sea scenario.

One of the ugliest things abou t many maps arethe rows of half-hexes at the edges. A border ismuch mo re attractive and solves any problems deal-ing with which hexes are playable an d w hich aren't.

I have never understood why the Japanese baseon New Ireland, Kavieng, was not in the game. Itseemed a logical inclusion since it was only just offboard. I added it.

Many times accident has been the inventor'sbest friend. While Dale Sheaffer and I were puttingthe map together, Dale accidentally blacked in theoutline of Long Island (not the on e in NY). I liked

the look and decided to mak e all the non-essentialislands solid black. It is now clear which islandshave coastwatchers a nd w hich don't, since islandsthat do n't are solid black. 1 expected to get somequestions asking what the difference between thetwo types of islands was. I hav e yet to get one. I justhope nobody is treating them as if they weren'tthere and moving TFs through them .

Instead of differentiating between Alliedcoastwatchers and Japanese troops, 1 abelled themboth coastwatchers in the game and used black an dwhite stars to differentiate them on the map. Iadded coastwatcher symbols on every island thathad a friendly base. 1 also added a Japanesecoastwatcher perimeter line on New Guine a since itwas ridiculous to allow the Japanese player toobserve Allied ships on the south coast of the

island.

The Australia and Truk entry hexes were re-duced to two an d o ne respectively, simply becausethere did not seem any reason to have more thanthis. Japanese Air Formations from Truk are nor-mally required t o land at R abaul after entering thema p because of fuel requirements. Likewise, AlliedAir Formations normally fly from Australia to Po rtMoresby.

The Turn Record Chart was removed from themapboard to add a l i t t le more space to the southernpart of the map, again helpful mainly in the CoralSea scenario. The Victory Points Chart was re-tained on the m ap since it is so important that it beaccessible to b oth players.

There were numero us changes to the coastlinesof ma ny of the land m asses, all of which were doneto remove ambiguities as to whether a hexside waspartial-sea or all-land.

The ounters

Eight hundred co unters is a lot of counters for agame. Still, I felt it wasn't enough. I expanded thecounter mix to thirteen hundred Added were morechange counters for almost every plane name, 10Air Factor counters for those plane names thatappe ar in quantity in the scenarios (like Zero and

B-26), more hit markers, more weapon markers,etc.

Three add i t ional p lane names (Buffalo ,Vindicator, and B-24) and numerous ships (likeJapanese CVs Akagi and Kaga, and all theAmerican battleships at Pea rl Harb or) were addedto allow players to recreate almost any historical orhypothetical scenario in the years 1941 and 1942.Some of these additional counters are used in theMidway sc enario that follows this article.

The specifications of some planes werechanged. The RF of the B-17 was upgraded from 10to 12. The RF of the P39 and P40 was upgradedfrom 3 to 5. My playtesters suggested many morechanges to plane specifications and backed thesesuggestions with all sorts of research. I resisted,

feeling there was no reason to change the c urrentspecifications if they worked, and most do. TheB-17 RF was changed to allow it to be morevaluableas a search plane and because it was the most under-rated of all. The P39 and P40 RFs were changed toallow them to have som evalue as interceptors. Withan original RF of 3, these planes were useless. Theyhad to take off on the turn the bombers arrived, at-tacking them that turn, and since they would useone RF during air-to-air comb at, they would haveto land o n the next.turn. T he RFs of Pete and Davefloatplanes were also upgraded since with an RF of4 players tended to just leave them o n ship, it beingtoo much trouble t o spend time taking them off andlanding them three turns later; their effective rangefor searching being eight hexes from the ship.

The only changes to the Air Hit Tables were toeliminate the capability of the Japa nese floatplanesto perform as bombers. The BHT of 1 againstbases, while historical, is ridiculous in game terms.Players only use the floatplanes as search aircraftor, in desperation, a s interceptors.

A change that was not made lightly was toremove the plane types (such as fighter and torpedobomber) from the counters and rules. I figuredplayers who are interested in carrier warfare knowwhat type each plane is and players who don't,won't care. In the original game, planes wereclassified by type, by hand ling capability (seaplane,carrier plane, etc.), an d by function (interceptor,bomber, etc.). In the belief that two classificationsare simpler to remember than three, I eliminated theplane types and distinguished planes simply by

handling capability and function.

The hartsThe two Operations Charts were themse

each divided in to two ch arts. Th e overall sizmained the same, but I think the new chartseasier to use and arrange around the mapboar

The num ber of Task Force boxes was increfrom twelve to fourteen. However, five of the fteen are strictly fo r TFs that d o not contain pcarrying ships. The most CVs/CVLs that appeone scenario for one side is four, so nine pcarrying T F boxes should be more than enoug

The number of Air Formation boxes was

duced from 36 to 35, just because this number fthe chart better. Each box is divided into a highlow altitude, eliminating the need for "locounters.

The base boxes were arranged an d sized protional to their use in the game. In Flight boxes added t o each TF and base box for Air Formatthat use a maximum take off and for CAP.

The Gam es Tables Card was separated into cards. O ne (two included in the game, one for player) contains the charts tha t the players will often need to refer to: the Air Hit Tables, the Cand the Observation Tables. The other containthe minor tables and the Turn Record Chart, wpresence required the card have information onside only. Some players may wish to cut outTur n Record and place it at the side of the boar

easy reference.The most significant change in compo nenthe log sheet. In the original game, the hex numon the log sheet were barely readable. For thous with less tha n perfect vision, this made searca real headache. To rectify this, I substituted log sheets for one; together these make up a4 5%duction of the mapboard, which created bihexes for TF movement and readable hex numbWhile the two log sheets are somewhat physicumbersome, playability is definitely improve

Hidden MovementIn the BAT TLELINE game, only TFs could

hidden movement. The change that has had

most impact on the game is the extension ofhidden movement system to include Air Fortions. Both TFs and Air Formations can now mon the log sheet.

There were two major reasons for this chaOne, it reduces the length of the Plane M ovemPhase by reducing the time players spend searchbecause fewer Air Formations move on the mboard and only Air Formations on the mapbcan search. Except for observed Air Formationplayer will only leave Air Formations contaisearch planes on the mapboa rd. Since time isspent moving every Air Formation on themaboard, the number of times the opponent mfollow along an d check to see if any of his unitbe observed is cut at least in half.

The second reason deals with strikes. W

hidden Air Formation movement, a strike calaunched and flown to its target without alertinother player. This adds a tremendous amountension an d realism to the game. Before, when with a carrier was sighted, the player wouldenemy Air Formations appear on the mapband head his way, and he would know it wstrike. Now, he is never sure if, or when, a s trikcoming because the strike will move on the log suntil it reaches its target, un less sighted.

Searching Shadowing

As I have already alluded, on e of the few thI didn't like abo ut the original game was the ovation system. Not only was it long and draw n

it was much to o certain and fairly complicated

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Five condition numbers seemed unnecessary soI reduced the number to three. Condition numberfive whereexact ship and plane names were revealedwas eliminated. Observation was never that exact.Even after combat, pilots sometimes didn t knowwhat ships they had attacked. In one infamousblunder, a few Japanese planes actually tried toland on a US carrier. Condi tion numbers three andfour were combined into one condition numberwhich is the highest condition number in the presentgame: condition three. Condition numbers one andtwo remained basically the same.

The format of the Observation Tables waschanged to allow quick reference. Unfortunately, Iblundered by repeating a mistake that existed in theoriginal game. Coastwatchers are unlike otherobserving units and need additional explanation. Inthe errata (elsewhere in this issue), coastwatchersare deleted from the chart and handled in a revisedversion of rule 7.9.

Altitude differences were also deleted from theObservation Tables because their impact seemednegligible in game terms.

Weather, an optional rule in the original game,was included in the aame because it does have asignificant impact onp lay , especially the searchingand shadowing procedure. Moving into clouds or astorm is often the only way a TF can escape obser-vation, especially after it has been sighted. Weather

can also cause some problems for Air Formationsduring landings and takeo ffs and mandates playersto make contingency plans when weather may be afactor. Finally, requiring carriers to move into thewind during turns when planes take off is the kindof rule that shouldn t be optional in a game as com-plex and realistic as FLAT TOP.

Cloud movement was reduced from every turnto every even numbered turn since clouds moving a t40 mph seemed a little out of hand. I also wanted tolessen the aggravation of having t o move thirty-twocloud markers every turn.

Air Formations are now forbidden from enter-ing storm hexes and, if an Air Formation begins aturn in a newly created storm hex, it must leave bythe most expedient route before moving in anyother direction. TFs may not move if they begin aturn in a storm hex and must end movement if theymove into one.

The black arrow that establishes the inital winddirection in Sector IV was shifted 60 degreescounterclockwise to establish a more even cloudflow on the eastern half of the mapboard.

Finally, clouds modify Search Table andShadowing Table die rolls.

Which brings us to the other majo r changei n thegame: the Search Table. I have already stated thatobservation was too certain in the original game.For instance, with four Air Formations, each con-taining one Catalina Air Factor (representing threeplanes), a player could search an area consisting of200 hexes or approximately 60,000 square miles.That s a lot of sea. My eyes get blurry just thinkingabout it.

The Search Table adds an intangible to observa-tion. In justification, an unsuccessful roll on theSearch Table can be explained in many ways in-cluding one or more of the following: 1) the crewsimply missed something, 2 the crew was doingother things when they should have been looking, 3the plane had one or more minor malfunctions thatreduced its searching ability that turn, 4) the planepassed just out of range of aT F n a nearby hex, and5 two or more of the planes represented by the AirFactor covered the same section of the search areaand missed some other section.

Some players may not agree with my reasoningand may still not like the Search Table. Indeed, Iwouldn t be surprised if some don t use it. But I feelit was needed because it gives TFs some chance (andhope) of getting away. In addit ion, it gives shadow-ing some purpose.

In the original game shadowing was automatic.This was unreasonable. Once sighted, a TF was indeep trouble because it was automatically underobservation from then on till nighttime or a stormcame along. One of my first changes to the gamewas to add a Shadowing Table. Unfortunately,several playtesters found a way around this almostimmediately. Instead of shadowing TFs, playersdecided it was easier just to reestablish contact eachturn by the regular observation procedure. Whytake a chance by rolling on the Shadowing Table? Itbecame obvious that I would have to either reinstate

automatic shadowing or reduce the certainty ofregular observation. I opted for the latter.

Now, neither searching nor shadowing areabsolute quantities. An Air Formation that issearching has a one-third chance of failure. On aroll of I-4 , the Air Formation can search. On a rollof 5-6 , the Air Formation cannot search, though itcan move normally (it must remain on the map-board). An Air Formation that is shadowing has aone-sixth chance of failure, being unsuccessful onlyon a roll of 6 . However, if it is unsuccessful it can-not move or search that tu rn.

The result is that nothing is certain anymore.TFs now have a chance of not being observed whenenemy Air Formations are near and have a chance(though less) of escaping observation even afterbeing sighted. To my way of thinking, this is animprovement. Finally, players will use shadowingas it was intended to be used and not try to getaround the rules.

One other minor change here was to add therestriction that only one Air Formation can attemptto shadow each TF, even if tha t one is unsuccessful.It is unlikely that a n Air Formation would backupanother in this capacity.

InterceptionInterception was another mechanic in the

original game tha t was a sure thing. Since I wasmaking everything else less than certain, naturallythe interception procedure was revised.

In the original game, only the player with the in-itiative could intercept enemy Air Formations dur-ing movement. Again, basing a game mechanismon which player had the initiative seemed illogical.Now both players may attempt to intercept enemyAir Format ions in any eligible hex by consulting theInterception Table. The table is setup so that in-terception is based on the number of Air Factors inthe hex. The more total Air Factors (combining thenumber of Air Factors of both sides), the morechance interception will take place. This systemseems logical and adds more strategy to the game,especially concerning the use of CAP.

Air-to-Air Combat

One of the first real rule problems emerged dur-ing a game in which both sides had TFs (that con-tained plane-carrying ships) and Air Formations inthe same hex in the same turn. The rulebook justdidn t cover anything like this. The situat ion wascompounded by the fact that some planes in AirFormations of both sides were at high altitude andsome were at low. In a ddition, both sides had in-terceptors present.

Rules 14.17 and 14.18 clarify the options playershave in this type of situat ion. Players can now inter-change escorts and interceptors in the same hex.Since this situation should only occur in hexes con-taining bases of TFs, it seems logical to allow thisconsidering the reorganization rules. When bothplayers have escorts and interceptors, they mustnow simultaneously and secretly allocate theseplanes to o ne function or the other.

Surface CombatOne of the most irritating problems with the

game concerned bombardment. Ships could juststation themselves in a hex with a base and bombardthe base each turn. This was especially effective atnight. It reminded me of an old western wherenobody ever had to reload their gun. An inexhaus-tible supply of shells was also a problem in ship-to-ship combat as well as players never hesitated toengage the enemy.

To rectify this, all ships were given an ammuni-tion factor. Each time a ship participates in surfacecombat o r bombardment, it uses ammunition fac-tors. While it appears that the ammunition factorsare extremely low, this is somewhat deceptive.There is only one round of surface combat eachturn and this is assumed to cover a whole hour ofcombat. That s a lot of shells. In addition, this alsokeeps players from using unusual tactics that havelittle to d o with the carrier tactics the game is tryingto recreate. Tactics such as the Japanese playersending ships to Espiritu Santo to knock out thebase with bombardment t o collect victory points areminimized.

Most of the other changes concerning surfacecombat were very minor. The BHT required fortorpedo attacks during night turns was changedfrom eight to seven to allow the Japanese player,who most often uses torpedo attacks, a slighthistorical advantage.

Light cruisers and destroyers were giventorpedo factors of 2 and 1 respectively. A recom-mended optional rule that I probably should haveput in the basic game allows Japanese DDs onetorpedo reload.

Only BBs and CAs can fire at BBs, unlike in theoriginal game where a bunch of smaller ships (like aTF of IODD) could gang up on a BB. Now BBs areships to be feared in surface combat, which againnecessitates that players emphasize carrier tacticsrather than surface combat.

Initiative

As detailed in previous paragraphs, several rulesassociated with the inititative have been changed.No longer is initiative the determining factor in theability of Air Formations to go to high altitude onthe turn of take off or in interception attempts.

So what is the advantage of having the in-itiative? Well There really is no advantage . Thequestion should really be is this an improvement ora detraction?

Since initiative is decided by a die roll, it is notcontrolled by the players (even lucky ones like me).In keeping with the basic focus of FLAT TOP as agame of skill, having the initiative established byluck indicates it is not a terribly important conceptin the game. The initiative system in FLAT TOPislittle more than a way of establishing which playermoves first during the Plane Movement Phase. Itshould not be construed as anything else. 1 havetried to eliminate all instances in the rules where amechanic revolved around which player has theinitiative.

Unfortunately, players may say that the playerwithout the initiative (the player who moves secondin the Plane Movement Phase) now has some slightadvantage . This is true, since he can react to moves(primarily strikes) made against him. However,since players must form Air Formations during aprevious step, anticipation and planning are reallythe demanding elements.

It should be noted here that many playerswanted to add a scrambling system to the game,where planes on a carrier or at a base could take offwhen a strike moved into their hex. By my way ofthinking, this goes against the nature of the game.FLA T TOPdemands that players plan ahead. They

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should not be given a second chance. It 's like jump-ing out of a plane and suddenly remembering youforgot your parachute. Geronimo (Nobod y gavethe people at Pea rl Harb or a second chance.)

LuckDespite the previous remarks on luck dealing

with initiative, 1 though t co mbat definitely neededmore luck. The CRT made the results too pre-dictable. There was no chance of one plane sinkinga ship or of a large strike failing to score a hit,though bo th of these occurrences happened duringthe war. The original rulebook contained an op-tional rule on luck which offered one system formaximum luck and o ne system for minimum luck. Idecided to swap these systems and put the max-imum luck system in the basic rules and include theoriginal luck and minimum luck systems as an op -tional rule. I also thought about including thecritical hit optional rule in the basic game, butdecided t o leave it as an o ptional rule.

A lot o f players will no d oub t disagree with thisdecision.I have made n o secret of the fact th at I feellucky when I play games. But as a Vietnam veteran,I also know that when the bullets are flying, youdam n well better believe in luck. Every pilot I met inthe Air Force was optimistic as hell. They h ad to be.Game players should have that same attitude. On eof the problems with many wargames is that thecommander is more in control of the si tuation thanany commander in real life could ever possibly be.While a good leader can mean the difference (as cana good player), Lady Luck is often the mostunpredictable and decisive obstacle in the path ofvictory. F LA T TO P needed to be a l i tt le moreunpredictable.

Tak e the following example. The Allied playerhas 16 Dauntless attacking a T Fwith 8AP and 2CA.Dive bombing, the BH T would be 7. Does heg o forall of the APs, allocating one Dauntless againstfour of them (a result number of 0 requiring he roll'5-6' to hit), and three Dauntless against four ofthem (a result numb er of 1 requiring a roll of '3-6'to hit)? Or, does he go with better odds like fourDauntless against four APs (remember, the 2CAget anti-aircraft fire). I like to make these choicesand I really like to see other players make the m.

Introductory ScenarioWhile I didn't think F LA T TOPne eded a basic

game , I did think a basic scenar io might help noviceplayers get into the system. "Rings AroundRabaul" is meant to be used only by players whohave not played the original game and should beignored by experienced players. I thought aboutputting in another introductory, hypotheticalscenario but then decided to let players fend forthemselves.

Victory Poin tsIt is not easy to knock out a base in FLA T TOP,

which is okay because it wasn't easy to do it du ringthe war either. How ever, if a player does ambitiouslyfollow this strategy, he deserves more of a reward.So, the reason for the additional points for knockingout bases. I don 't think they will be much incentivefor those who k now the futility of this strategy.

While the Japanese Command may not havebelieved it in 1942, the heyday of th e battleship hadalready passed. When naval battles were foughtbetween ships several hundred miles apart , the natu reof naval warfare had drastically changed. To givealmost as many victory points for battleships as forcarriers makes no sense, and battleship values werereduced from 120 to 65-75.

In the original game an A P was worth two pointseach turn it unloaded and eight points when it wascompletely unloaded, eight turns later.I wanted toplace more emphasis on APs, so I increased theirvalue by making them worth three points each turnthey unload and only two points after being com-pletely unloaded.

The other ship that was drastically undervaluedwas the AO. While I hate supply rules in general andam happy FLAT TOP doesn't get bogged down inthem, oilers deserved more respect (we all know theprice we pay fo r gas today). They are also required to

be in a TF with at least one other non-A 0 ship soplayers can not just hide them by themselves in afaraway corner of the board.

The number of points fo r an unnecessary planeloss was raised fro m eight to ten. s a player, I neverknew whether the eight was instead of two or in add i-tion to it, soI settled it. I also tried to clarify whatcounts as a unnecessary loss. Air Factors that canreach a hex where landingw s possible, but is notwhen they arrive because of hits scored on bases orplane-carrying ships, are no t unn ecessarily lost.

Other hangesThere were quite a few other changes, most of

which were extremely minor.

1. "Each hit on a base with solely S P PH reduces thebase's LF by -I/-1, not -2/-1 like other bases."There is no runway t o destroy at seaplane bases.

2. "If a plane-carrying ship or base has any planeunits in the Ready box and /or Just Landed box whenit receives one or more hits from dive bombing orlevel bombing attack, these hits are all doubled.Similarly, if a plane-carrying ship has an y plane unitsin the R eadying box when it receives one or more hitsfrom torpedo bombing attacks, these hits are alldoubled." This rule reflects the different areas of theship which are hit by different types of attacks.

3. "If a situationoccurswhere some Air Factors ofthe same plane name in the same Air Formation landwhile others remain in flight, som e use an RF whileothers don't, or some join the Air Formation afterothers have been in flight for one turn or more,players should be careful to keep track of which irFactors must land at which times. The Notes Sectioncan be used to take notes of this kind. Alternately, inthese cases, players may keep Air Factors in morethan one Air Formation box, using a similar systemto tha t described in rule 4.1.3." This situation occursfrequently when your carriers have been sighted,since you begin to continuously put up Air Forma-tions on CAP. There was no mention of how tohandle this in th e original rulebook.

4. "A player may destroy an y of his own Air Factorsthat are on the ground at a base or on a plane-carrying ship at any time during his Plane MovementPhase." When a player loses one of his two carriersand does not have enough room for all his carrierplanes on his remaining carrier, this rule allows himto throw planes overboard if necessary and choosewhich planes he will keep. "A player may choose toscuttle a ship during the Task Force MovementPhase." In the same vein, though I can't rememberthe specific case that convinced me to include thisrule.

5. "Planes may change altitude in each hex theymove into after entering the new hex. An Air Factorthat remains in the same hex during a turn maychange altitude." This rule clarifies exactly when andhow many times an Air Formation can changealtitude during its move. It also allows mountainhex-sides some significance. "Planes may only land ifthey enter the hex they will land in at low altitude."

Along with the prior rule, this prevents Air Fortions fro m incredible feats to avoid interception,forces some logical planning. "On the turn of toff, armed planes may not go to high altituunarm ed planes may." This rule negates unrealistic advantage of the player with the initibeing able to send bombers to high altitude onfirst turn.

6 "Planes landing in a Storm hex use the NLanding Chart (if it is a night turn, there is a modifier)."

7. "Ev en one ship is conside red, and must bTF." I could never understan d why one shipautomatically considered an observed unit an dto be placed on the mapb oard. It would seem hato find one ship than a T F with ten or fifteen sThis rule deletes the exception a nd makes allequal.

8. I deleted the rule that prevented planes remaining in a n enemy hex after engaging in bat. I simply did not see any reason why thiswas included in the original game. While splayers may n ot like it when a n oppone nt fliAir Formation of fighters into one of their hexes and remains for a few turns to trydiscourage take offs and landings, there doeseem anything unrealistic about this tactic. sides can d o it and the limitations of movemenrange are still in force.

9 "They [ships] may not move in the turn anchor." "Anchored ships that wish to up ando s o by simply removing the Ancho r marker;may not move in the turn they up anchor." Botprocess of anchoring and of up anchoring time and the two a re now equal.

10. "If the [initiative] die roll is a tie, the pwho did not have th e initiative last turn has thitiative this turn." A simple rule that gives ssmall solace to those unlucky souls.

Optional RulesOne of the toughest decisions to make w

working on a g ame is what to put in the gamewhat to leave out. I really don't believe a gneeds optional rules. Everything tha t should the game is in the game. Th is is the version th abeen playtested. If you want optio nal rules, youmake them up yourself. Unfortunately, mpeople like the chance of adding the little eoptional rules provide.

It will always be possible to ad d m ore ruleFL A T TOP. The optional rules that were inclin the rulebook were selected from mapplicants. (More a re presented in a later articplaytester Don Gilman). Some people will a

that FLAT TOP is a complex game and tnothing that is added will substantially increascomplexity. My argument is that you must drawline somewhere. When I finished the basic ruleFL A T TOP, I had reached my limit.

A new optiona l rule allows plane names thaprimarily as interceptors to ready quicker other planes by moving through more tha n onor base box per turn. Anothe r requires bombetake more time readying by m andating th at thetwo ready factors instead of on e for each box move into.

Other new optional rules dealing with plare:

1. Planes may now land armed but must useNight Landing Chart. One playtester assuredthis rule was beneficial. Planes may also lan

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damaged bases in excess of the base s current L F,but must also consult the Night Landing Ch art.

2. The number of Victory Points for land-basedplanes is reduced t o one, while carrier planes arestill worth two points each. This is anothe r rule thatadds emphasis to the focus of the game: carriertactics. A lot of time is often spent sending strikesfrom Port Moresby against Lae and vice versa.When I put this rule in I thought it would help detersome of this, but it probably encourages more ofthis, if anything.

3. For those who want t o emphasize altitude more,a rule is presented that makes plane movementtwice as slow a t low altitude a s high.

4. Another rule that I wanted to put in the basicgame but resisted gives distances in hexes betweenoff-board bases and the boar d. This is a much moreaccurate system, and while it takes a little book-keeping, it is recomm ended.

5. For players who want a wilder game there is arule called Chance Com bat, which allows air-to-aircombat in any hex, regardless of T F or basepresence.

6.Other rules add skip bombing and strafingattacks.

For ships, the following new optional rules arepresented.

1. The rules on fueling have been detailed andclarified. For instance, fueling cannot take place ina storm hex.

2. The towing rules were also expanded.

3. Ships may rescue survivors, which are worth vic-tory points (both enemy and friendly). However,you have to get them pretty quick or all you get istheir life preservers.

4 A TF Organ ization rule allows planes to attackships that would generally be on the fringe of t he TF(such as CLs and DDs) without being subjected toanti-aircraft fire from all ships in the TF.

5. All ships may reload ammun ition a t a friendlybase. This rule should be used in the longer versionsof the scenarios.

Two other optional rules deal with alternateways to establish the initiative an d plane movementsequence. For instance, players can alterna te mov-ing Air Formations one at a time instead of oneplayer moving all his first. This takes m ore time butcan add interest and tactics on some turn s.

Changes I Didn t MakeThe thing I got the most flak about from the

playtesters was submarines.Fact. Submarines never took part in any of the

actions during the time frames of any of thescenarios. Submarines did damage ships (like thesinking of the CVWmp n the Coral Sea, bu t it wasbefore or after battles entailed in the game.

Fact. Submarines are more trouble than they areworth in game terms. Their reduced speed andlimited attack capabilities does not recreate theirfunction a nd a bility well inFL T TOP game oncarrier w arfare can t be everything. Submarineswere sacrificed so other more imp ortant rules couldflourish.

One playtester suggested a section on optionalvictory cond itions. Before the game began, playerscould secretly choose their objectives. This woulddefinitely have been included, b ut it never appe aredon my desk.

The number of other propo sals was staggering.Rules varying the number of day and night turns atdiffere nt times of the year, using incredibly detailedweather patterns, an d adding an astonishingly com-plicated carrier operations sequence all died a noble(and justifiable) death.

trategyF L T T O P s not an easy game on which to

discuss strategy. Or perhaps most of the strategyjust seems obvious to me.

The biggest consideration th at players are facedwith every game deals with launch factors. Whenthe enemy has been sighted and it s time to send astrike, there are two choices. Send one massivestrike or send two or more waves. The Strike Char tis similar to the Range Reference Table than was inthe original game. From this, players can helpdetermine which is the better m ethod.

The situation will dictate, of course, but ingeneral a large s trike is more effective. Less planesare lost to CAP and anti-aircraft and there is agreater hit potential. Th e disadvantage is range andtime. A large Air Formation usually must waste oneturn forming up because the number of planestaking off forces them to make maximum takeo ffs.This greatly reduces the range an d delays the strike.

Wave attacks can be made from much furtheraway and will hit the target o ne or two turns earlier.However, each wave will be subjected to C AP an danti-aircraft fire.

- ,B-25B-26CatalinaDauntlessr

RufeValZero

Seems like one large strike would always banswer, right? W rong. Take the following examYou ve just sighted an enemy TF with carrierhasn t sighted you yet, bu t his search planenearby. If you launch a sm all strike now, he mtaken completely by surprise and not have anyup when they get there. You might get luckysink a carrier before he is able to launch any planes. If you wait to form up a large strikesearch planes ma y find you an d he ll be alertyour attack. Which shows why the choice ialways as obvious as it seems.

Related to the strategy of strike organizatiTF organization. When you have two carrshould they both be put in one TF or should eaput in a separ ate TF. Of course, if you don t enough ships to make two solid TFs, there choice, but if you do, this a major decision.

Putting two carriers in one TF with the that have the best anti-aircraft factors seems indisputably correct. Again, not so. For one ttwo TFs are harder to find than one. One TFsteam along several hexes behind the other. It carryin g a derringer a s well as a six gun. Y ou caup twice as much C AP over the sighted carrienone over the unsighted one and the enemy wilittle surprised. Or, you can launch a strike frounsighted carr ier that th e enemy won t expecthe s watching the oth er carrier. Finally, whenriers are in more than one TF, attacking ploften only attack one TF an d many times findcan inflict more hits than they need. If thereanoth er carrier in the same TF , it would also btacke d, but if the oth er carrier is in another T Fone hex away, it cannot be attacked.

Food for thought. But there are other sidera tions too. Play ers must co nsider the abila TF to protect a carrier during surface com

STRIKE CHARTMinimum Minimum Normal Normal Maximum Maximum

Air Formation Launch Launch Launch Launch Launch LaunchComposition No Combat Combat No Combat Combat No Combat Combat

DauntlessDevastato 9 6 6Wildcat (same without Wildcat)DauntlessAvenger 21 14 18 I I 14 7Wlldcat (same without Wildcat)A2 I4 I 8 9Avenger 28 25 I 2 1 14Beaufight1 27 23 14 18 9Beaufort 28 25 18 21 14R 17 AQ 36 A 11

2315514

U C V d h l d l 1 L L Y-Hudson 28

P-38 12- P 39 I I

P-402 2 22

1717 I I

11Wildcat 24 20 2 16 8Betty 45 4 1 2 36 27Dave 10 6 8 4Ernlly I08 04 5 99 90Judy 2 2 28 .7Jake 18 18Kate 18 8

84 428 0

r r l r 10 6 a18 918 1830 20

ValKate 2 21 18 18 15 15Zero (same without Zero)Nole: All Air Formations are assumed to take off from and land atthe same base or plane-carry ~nghlp.

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Coral Sea has the smallest number of land- The problem is that even though the Japanesebased planes and ships. T he objectives are clear cut player has more carriers, he has only a few moreand the game proceeds quickly until on e side sights carrier planes and these are offset by the number ofthe other's carriers. In the Coral Sea, both players land-based planes (well over100 the Allied playerare trying to win the game by sinking the othe r's has.carriers. If the Allied player can sink the Japanese The best Japanese strategy may be to wait forcarriers, the Japanese APs will be sitting ducks. If night and then move in on Guadalcanal, bombardthe Japanese player can sink the Allied carriers, the Henderson and hope to engage the Allied fleet inAPs will be virtually unopposed when landing. It is surface combat. The best Allied strategy is prob-a nice way to begin playingFLAT TOP ably to sit to the south of Guadalcanal and hit the

A large step up is the Eastern Solomons Japanese fleet from the carriers as they move southscenario. The number of land-based planes is in the afternoo n or flee in the morning.

almost doubled for the Allied player (close to 100). The Allied player will probab ly spend q uite a bitThe number o f carrier planes is almost doubled f or of time attacking with planes from Port Moresbyboth sides. The Japanese player has quite a few but this is a side action. The real battles, the onesmore ships and can unload his APs in two places that decide the game, will be fought nearinstead of one. Guadalcanal. This scenario is worth a few playings,

While the number of turns is down to66, it can but not nearly as good as the first two. (Can oftenoften take much longer than the Coral Sea game. be 66 turns of relative boredom.)Usually, this game will not be decided after only on e Most people think the Guadalcanal scenario isstrike, since both players have three carriers. In not as good as the first two scenarios, but it has itsmany games, the points awarded to the Japanese own m erit. Neither side has many carrier planes andplayer for unloading the A Ps will be the difference the Allied player has only one carrier. Both sidesbetween victory and defeat. have quite a few land-based planes (the Allied

In Eastern Solomons, the Allied player must player has over 125).prevent the Japanese APs from landing at either The scenario is interesting because both sidesGili-Gili or Guadalcanal. He canno t just go search- have APs an d both are trying to land them ating for the Japanese carriers. He may well have to Guadalcanal. The objectives are the same for bothsplit his carrier force to defend properly. Th e sides and it is a slugfest right from the beginning.

Japanese player, on the other hand, must decide No weaving and bobbing, it's all go for thewhere to send his AP s and whether to play throat .aggressively with his carriers and search out the Both sides are forced to come in close toAllied CVs or lay back and protect his APs. Guadalcanal to protect their APs. Th e chance for

When carriers are sighted, each turn in the gam e surface combat is great and slightly favors thecan take an hour or mo re as players land, take off, Japanese player. However, this is offset again byand ready planes and resolvecom bat. It can get very the number of Allied land-based planes. Carrierhairy. It is, however, probably the best scenario planes are abou t equal. Though 79 turns is a longbecause of the strategic and tactical considerations game, it will rarely go the distance.he Japanesethat confront b oth players. APs will probably either have unloaded or been

Santa Cruz can be the least interesting of the sunk before the day is Over.scenarios, but this depends on how the Japaneseplayer sees the game. If one of the players is moreaggressive than the other, he should be the Japanese I'm pretty sure I've made my feelings clearplayer. The reason is that there are no AP s and the about FLAT TOP Craig Taylor (the designer, ingame is just a ca rrier battle. If neither player wants case you didn't notice) will never design a betterto fight, there is no specific reason t o d o so.I added game than this one. It is a shame many gamers willa rule that a player must have scored a t least 200 not try it, becau se it belongs on every gaming sh elf.points to win or it is a draw in an effort to entice My work onFLAT TOP was both som e of the bestaggressive play. and w orst times I've had at Avalon Hill.

PL NE N ME SPECIFIC TIONS

Airto Air

~ W = ~ ~ R P l 0 - - N M F' --' El

Vindicator V 3 0 interceptor,t--B-24 N 8 1 5 3 1) bomber only

Air Attacks Vs. ShipsLevel Bomb ing Level Bomb ing Vs.High Altitude Low Altitude Dive Bombing Subs

AP GP AP GP AP-Vindicator 1 5 3 6 1

SHIP SPECIFIC TIONS

Ammunition

CV Soryu 12 24 8/3 7 CVV 1 - 7 3/1 '

ikuma

I m w 1 AS Chiyoda 12AS Nisshin I

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WE WANT Y O Uto wrlte for theGE NE R L If y o u can s t r~words together In to an In teres t ing ar tformat on any Avalon ~ l lw arg ame, th e r e ' sgood cha nce you re just the person welook~n g or You can supplem ent our l~tes ta ff w ~ t h r t ~ c l e sf strategy, gam e analyseS e r~ es ep lay s, co mmen ta r tes , n ewscenarios.or varlants

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C o m m e n c ~ n g ~ t hh e Jan u ary1977

Issuth e GE NE R L w ~ l lpay 6 per runnlng 1column of ed~ te dext Letters to the Ed~tornot subject to remuneratlon Alternat~au th o r s may e lect to t ak e th e ~remu neratlon the form of Avalon ~ l l roducts p a ~ d t t hrate of 1 50% of the cas h remun eratlon Nt h a t ~ l l u s t r a t ~ o n sn d d eco ra t~v eype faces arnot subject to remuneratlon except by pag reemen t w ~ t h h e ed ~ to r ItIS generallex p ec ted th a t a r t~ c les ~ l l e acco m p an ~es u f f ~ c ~ e n tl l u s t r a t ~ o n ss a requirement foacceptance

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FLAT TOP MORE OPTIONS

F L AT TO P is a unique system in the gaminghobby. It is one of the few titles that satisfies thetwo extremes of playability and realism. As ag ame ,

F L AT TOPplays smoothly with only a smatteringof logistical necessity. As a simulation , it shows theconditions of carrier warfare during the beginningsof WWII. Unfortunately, there werecertain factorsthat affected the represented battles that werefactored out t o streamline the system. Th e purposeof this article is to provide some options th at wereconsidered to o specific for inclusion in the game.

I. MINE WARFAREINTRODUCTION

Minefields were used during the period toinhibit enemy movement in and around the manyislands and ports of the region. Po rt defense was amajor factor when the Japanese attempted toinvade Port Moresby in May 1942. Otherminefields accounted for the sinking of severalvessels during late 1942 and early 1943. Later in thewar they severely restricted reinforcement ofisolated Japanese garrisons, an d eventually chokedthe Japanese Islands to death.

PLANTING MINEFIELDS

1. Minefields may be planted in any hex whereanchoring is allowed. Minefields are considered tooccupy a designated hexside. Th e exception is whena Base is in the targe t hex; the Minefield is then con -sidered a P ort Minefield. Such a Minefield occupiesthe whole hex where ships anchor(i.e., to landtroops, rearm , o r to establish Seaplane Bases).2. Minefields may be planted by ships or sub-marines.3. Minefields are measured in Mine Factors; thehigher the Mine Factor, the more effective theMinefield is. All minelaying ships begin the gamewith a number of Mine Factors; this is the max-imum number of Mine Factors this ship may carryat one time. Ships may reload mines fro m a Depot.Depot locations and the number of Mine Factorsavailable are listed in theScenario Table.

4. After reloading (or a t the start of a game), theplayer must record the intended primary TargetHexside and a n adjacent secon dary Target Hexside;use the Wind Direction Num bers t o indicate hex-sides. If the Target is a Po rt, n o secondary TargetHexside is necessary.5. To make the Minefield planting run, theminelaying ship enters the hex and exits over thehexside the Minefield is to affect. The actua l hex-side mined and the num ber of Mine Factors plantedare recorded on a separate piece of paper. Sub-marines may not plant Minefields if they are at deepdepth. Ships that plant Minefields may move one ortwo hexes during the turn.6. A ship may plant less than all of its MineFactors. The ship may keep any remaining MineFactors on board, but must return to the Depot so anew Target Hex may be specified.7. If the ship is attacked during a turn in which itmakes a planting run, the plant is aborted. TheMine Factors remain on board the ship. The shipmay attempt another planting run on a later turn.8. If for som e reason the player decides not to plantthe Minefield in the intended Target Hex, then theship must return to Depot before designatinganother Target Hex.

By Don Gilman

9. If a ship is observed while making a plantingrun, no special information is related-unless theCondition Number is 3 . If the Condition

Num ber is 3 , the observing player is told thatMine Factors are present in the hex. If a submarineis making the planting run, this can only be observedby an Air Formationand the Condition Num ber is3 .

10. T o reload Mine Factors, a ship returns to aDepot (designated in the scenario) and, if Mine Fac-tors are available, may reload using the RearmingOptional Rule. M ines may be reloaded at the sametime a ship is rearming ammunition an d torpedoes.A Skip Bomb counter may be used to indicate MineFactors on board.

11. T he U.S. DMs were WW I four stack DDs anddid not have a good cruising range. As a result,these ships have a Movement Factor of 1 unless:1) they are within two hexes of an observed enemyunit; or 2) they are within five hexes of thedesignated Target H ex. U.S. DM s based at EspirituSan to may only designate a Target Hex in Sectors111, VII, V III, o r within 1 4 hexes of Tulagi. U.S.DMs based a t Tulagi may only plant Mine Factorsin any of the previous areas o r within 26 hexes ofTulagi.

12. Th e Japanese SSMs require three passes thruthe Target Hexsides to plant their on e Mine Factor.13. Any minelaying ship with a Gunnery Factor istreated like a DD for Surface Comb at.

MINEFIELD CO MBAT

1. A n enemy TF must be observed to be attackedby a Minefield. In m ost cases, coastwatc hers will beable to observe TFs that enter Minefields. Any TF sthat enter a hex which contains an enemy base areautomatically observed. Unobserved TFs th at entera Minefield are unaffected.

2. When a n observed enemy TF crosses a hexsidethat contains a M inefield or enters a Port Hex thatcontains a M inefield, the TF is attacked by theMinefield.

3. The BHT o f a M inefield in an open hexside is3 . An open hexside is any hexside which contains

no land. The BH T of a M inefield in a strait hexsideis 14 . A strait hexside is any hexside that has twoseparate land areas in it (two land areas that are notconnected within the hex). The BHT of a PortMinefield is 15 . The number of attacking factors

is the number o f Mine Factors present.4. Hits suffered by a Minefield attack must bedistributed among ships in the TF, o ne per ship inthe following manner. Each DD, each AP, eachPG , each CL, each AO, any other ship type/s. If thetotal num ber of hits exceeds the numb er of ships inthe TF, ships take extra hits in the same order .5. Each T F that enters a Minefield is attacked bythe Minefield separately.

6. If a TF is attacked by aircraft while in a friendlyMinefield, the BHT is increased by on e table 1).If a TF s attack ed by enemy ships while in a friendlyMinefield, the TF must accept an attack by theMinefield.7. A TF in an enemy Minefield undergoes a

Minefield attack be fore any combat.

MINEFIELD DETECTION

1. Ships may search a suspected hex for minesimply declaring this when moving on the m

board. If such a hex contains a Minefield, found. Coastwatchers can never find enMinefields.2. Wh en a player finds a Minefield, he is told that a Minefield exists in the hex. He is not towhich hexside the Minefield exists, nor how mMine Factors are in the Minefield.

Minefields may be sw ept two ways. The firsquires the use of Minesweepers (MSs). The semethod may be used if the Minefield is a Minefield.1. Only Minefields that have been found maswept.2. To sweep a non-Port Minefield, a TF must tain only MSs. The TF must cross the Minehexside. In doing so the TF is attacked byMinefield with a BHT of 9 . For each MS tsurvives, the number of Mine Factors inMinefield is reduced by one.Note that thesweepinplayer will not know which hexside contains thMinefield , and may run his minesweepers throughthe hex several times before comm encing sweepin

3. T o sweep a Po rt Minefield, a player may rdie each tur n. On a roll of 'I-4', there is no efOn a roll of '5', the Minefield is reduced byMine Facto r. On a roll of '6'. the Minefield iduced by two Mine Factors. This procerepresents the efforts of small boats availabmost bases. A player may add one + 1) to the roll for any base that is a Depot, a Seaplane bas

a P T base.4 MSs may escort TFs through a Minefield has not been swept and the other TFs underMinefield attack with the BHT reduced by ttables (-3).

VICTORY POINTS

1. Each Mine Factor planted more than six hfrom a friendly base-1 Point.2. Each Mine Factor planted in a hex withenemy base-3 Points .3. Each swept Mine Factor-1 Point.

11. SUBMARINESINTRODUCTION

Submarines were streamlined extensivelyplayability. This section of the article is for tadmirals with a sincere interest in submarines like Admiral N imitz), which should satisfy the porters of the Silent Service.

DEPTH

Submarines may be at on e of three depths: face, Periscope, or Deep.1. A sub may change from one depth to any odepth each turn.2. If a submarine isa t surface depth and is attaby an Air Formation o r a TF, the submarinemaytempt t o dive to periscope depth to escape the atin the following manner. The BH T is establiand the player with the submarine must then

that number or lower to be able to dive. A

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marine that dives may only be attacked at periscopedepth. If a submarine chooses not to dive or is un-successful in thedivingat tempt, it is att ackeda t sur-face depth and the BHT fo r the attack is increasedby two tables 2).3. If a submarine is at periscope depth, it isattacked normally but cannot use its AAF.4. Submarines at surface depth or periscope depthcan observe and be observed.5. A submarine at deep depth cannot be attacked.A submarine at deep depth cannot be observed,

cannot observe anything, and can move one hexonly every even turn. A submarine at deep depthmay not enter a partial-land hex.

6. A SS type submarine at surface depth can movea second hex every third turn, providing it has beenat surface depth for the two previous turns and re-mains at surface depth on the turn it moves twohexes.

SUBMARINE TYPES

There were three specific types of submarines(SST, SS, and SSM) that participated in the timespan of FLA T TOP These are described below forhistorical interest.1. JAPANESE.a. (SST) RO-Type. These were small coasta l vesselsthat a re identical to o ur S-Boats.b. (SS) I-Type. These are the submarin esrepresented in the game.c. (SSM) I-Type Minelayers. These are monstersubs of 1200 tons displacement. This classplanted mines or operated floatplanes.2. UNITED STATES.a. (SST) S-Boats. These small subs were entirelyunsuited to combat anywhere, especially the Sou thPacific.b. (SS) Gato Type. These are the submarinesrepresented in the game.c. (SSM) Nautilis and Argonaut These were U.S.submarines of very large size. They were used astroop transports although the Argonaut was built

as a minelayer.3. SSMs have two loads of torpedoes and have anAmmunition Factor of 12 (they may also rescueonesurvivor factor). SSTs have one load of torpedoes.SSs have two loads of torpedoes.4 The Japanese SSM with the floatplane (onePete, for game purposes) must be at surface depthand spend three hours to launch or retrieve theplane. When launching, the Japanese player rolls adie to see if the plane can fly. If the roll is a 'I 1, thePete is unserviceable for the duration of thescenario (no victory points are awarded). If the rollis a '2', the plane must roll again next turn. If theroll is a '3-6', it may takeoff.The planem ay only flyonce per 12 hours. The plane may not participate inany combat or be placed in an Air Formation with

any other planes. The plane has a MF of 4 and aRF of 4 . This SSM is worth twelve VictoryPoints.

OPERATION AREAS

Submariners had a morbid fear of aircraft,especially floatplanes. The large number of aircraftand patrol vessels around bases resulted in someoperational restrictions.1. Submarines may not surface during the daywithin five hexes of an enemy base.2. Submarines are not allowed within three hexesof an enemy base at any time.3. Pete and Dave floatplanes may attack sub-marines with a BHT of 1. The planes were used inthis capacity and their numbers around the

Bougainville area were deleted for playability.

Rabaul and Shortland should have one special AirFormation (of Petes or Daves) assigned to them; d onot use any plane counters, only an Air Formationcounter. If destroyed, these Air Formations arereplaced one hour after destruction by a new unit inthe Just Landed Box of the appropri ate Base. TheseAir Formations do not count towards replace-ments. Each is worth one Victory Point.4. MS units are treated like PG units for the pur-poses of attacking submarines.

COMBAT

One of the biggest problems with the submarinesystem is combat resolution. To help relieve this im-balance, whenever a player has a submarine that isabout t o be attacked by a TF, he must first roll onedie and consult the Submarine Attack Table Ifmore than one TF is present, he must roll for eachTF.

SUBMARINE ATTACK TABLE

Die Result1 The TF may attack by may not be attacked by

the submarine.2 The attack is resolved normally.3 The attack is resolved normally.4 The submarine may attack first and then the

TF may attack.

5 The submarine may attack first and then theTF may attack.6 The submarine may attack but may not be

attacked by the TF.Modifers:a. 1 if it is a night turnb. 1 if in a stormc. 1 if the TF is in a Minefieldd. + 2 if the TF is anchorede. -1 if the submarine is a SSM or SSTf. -1 if there is an enemy Air Formation in the hexg. -1 if th eT F has beenat tacked within thelas t 12

hours by submarines

111 T BOATSINTRODUCTION

PT-Boats (PTs) of this period were armed withtwo or four WWI t orpedo tubes, and a varied selec-tion of .30 and .50 caliber machine guns. Those PTswith two torpedo tubes had four small depthcharges that were totally useless. PTs were capableof speeds up to 35 knots when in good shape. Forthe purposes of this article PTs are two per counter.PTs are treated like any other ship except asfollows.

MOVEMENT

PT's have a very short action radius.1. PTs are treated like aircraft for purposes ofmovement. They require a log column and a TFbox. These may be made from unused groups or

from a separate sheet of paper with a correspondingcounter. They have a Range Factor of 12 .2. After expending their one attack, PTs mustrearm using the Optional Rearming rule. PTs havethe option of readying in three hours but may onlydo so without torpedoes.3. Due to the severe problems with servicing, eachPT must, after reloading, roll a die. On a roll of'1-4', the PT may operate normally. On a roll of'5-6', the PT must start rearming over again. Eachtime the PT starts the rearming process it maychoose the three o r six hour reloading option.4. PTs are immune to all Torpedo attacks and allMinefields. Aircraft att acking PTs have their BHTreduced by two tables (-2). Due to their small sizeand muffled engines, whenever a player has a PT

that is about to be attacked by a TF, he must first

roll one die and consult the PT Attack Table. Ifmore than one TF is present, he must roll for eachTF.

PT AlTACK TABLE

Die Result1 The TF may attack but may not be attacked by

the PT.2 The TF may attack first and then the PT may

attack.3 The attack is resolved normally.4 The PT may attac k first and then the TF may

attack.5 The PT may attack first and then the TF may

attack.6 The PT may attack but may not be attacked by

the TF.Modifers:a. 1 if it is a night turnb. 1 if in a stormc. 1 if the TF is in a Minefieldd. 2 if the TF is anchorede. -1 if thereis an enemy Air Formati on in the hex5. The BHT used is 7 for the PT and 11 for theT F ifthe TF attac ks first. The BHT used is 11 for the PTand 9 for the TF if the PTa tta cks first. If it is a nightturn, subtrac t three tables (-3) from these BHTs.

SCENARIO TABLE

Coral Sea

1. Allied.a. Port Moresby has a Minefield with eight MineFactors.b. Port Moresby is a Depot with two Mine Factorsavailable.c. Allied submarines are 5SST.

2. Japanese.a. Rabaul has a Minefield with three Mine Factors.b. Rabaul is a Depot with two Mine Factorsavailable.

c. Change the 4PG that begin the game at Rabaulto IML and 3MS.d. Change the4PG that begin the game at Tulagi to2ML and 2MS.e. Japanese submarines are 2SST and 5SS.

Eastern Solomon s

1. Allied.a. Espiritu Sa nto has a Minefield with three MineFactors.b. Port Moresby has a Minefield with nine MineFactors.c. Espiritu San to is a Depot with six Mine Factorsavailable.

d. Delete 2DD from the Order Of Battle.e. Add 3DM to the Order Of Battle which muststart at Espiritu Santo.f. Add 2MS and 2PT to the Order Of Battle whichmust start at Tulagi.g. Tulagi is a special non-plane base. It takes fourhits to knock it out and has an AAF of I.h. Allied submarines are ISSM and 6SS.2. Japanese.a. Rabaul has a Minefield with four Mine Factors.b. Rabaul is a Depot with three Mine Factorsavailable.c. Add ]DM, 2MS to the Order Of Battle whichmust start at Rabaul.d. Japanese submarines are ISST, 2SSM. and

loss .

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SCEN RIO SEVEN

WAKE ISLANDBy Don Gilman

Historically, the CV Saratoga, with su pport from the CVs Enterprise and Lexington, were assigned to relieve Wake lsland after thefirst Japanese bid to take the island failed.One reason the carriers never reached the island before hesecond successful nvasion was the change of command in progress at Pearl

Harbor; Admiral Kimmel had been reczlled to Washingion to explain the Pearl Harbor a ttack and his subordinate. Admiral Pye, wascon-cerned with the safety of the carriers. Naval Intelligence had no idea of where the Japa nesecarrie rs were. and peoplestill honestly believedthat an invasion of Hawaii might take place.

This scenario assumes that either Admiral Kimmel remained at Pearl for another two weeks, or Admiral Nimitz, then in Washington.arrived one week earlier.

This scenario uses a D D Y blank hex sheet (available from Avalon Hill for $1 SO each, or 4 for $5.00). The illustration is a reducedversion of this size hex sheet and shows the Map Sectors, Directional hexes. off-boa rd entry hexes, and t he Wake lsland base.

Wake Island

Time: 0100 21 December-2400 23 December (76 turns)Weather: Scattered Clouds

Allkd Order Of BattleShips: CV Enterprise, CV Lexington, CV Saratoga, CA Astoria. CA Chicago, CA Indianapolis, C A Minneapolis. CA New Orleans, CANorlhampton, CA Portland, CA Salt Lake City. CA San Francisco, 25DD, IAPD. 2AO. 6SS, ISSM (no Mine Factors)

Sea Based Air: 12 Dauntless, 4 Devastator, I I Wildcat. 6 Buffalo

Bases: Wake Island. Hawaii, Midway

Land Based Air:At Wake Island: I WildcatAt Hawaii o r Midway: 2 B-17, 2 Catalina

Ships Starting Positions: CV Saratoga. CA Astoria, CA Minneapolis. CA San Francisco. 8DD, IAPD, and IAO must begin in any ofhexes YYIO-YYZO. CV Lexington, CA Chicago, CA Ind ianapoli s, CA Por tlan d. EDD, and IAO enter on any turn 0500-1200 on 21December in any of hexes YY25-YY36. CV Enterprise. CA New Orleans, CA Northampton. CA Salt Lake City. and 9DD enter on anyturn 1800-2400 on 21 December in any o f hexes YYIO-YYZO.

Japanac Order Of BattleShips: CV Hiryu, CV Soryu, CAV Chikuma, CAV Tone, CAAoba, CA Furutaka. CA Kako. CA Kinugasa, CLTatsuta. CLTenryu, CYuhari. 14DD. ZAPD, 3AP. IPG. 2SS

Sea Based Air: 12 Kate. 12 Val. 12 Zero, 2 JakeBase: Kwajalein

Land Based Air: 17 Nell, 5 Mavis

Shipsstarting Positions: CV Hiryu, CV Soryu, CAV Chikuma, CAVTone, and 2DDenter onany turn0100-0500 in any of hexes AI-JI.All other ships enter on any turn 0300900 on 22 December in any of hexes A35-N35.

Spcelal Ruln1. Allied CVs have radar.2. The Japanese and Allied APs may unload only in the Wake lsland hex.3. CVs Hiryu and Soryu must be within ten hexes of the western edge of the mapb oard at the end of the game.4. The Wildcats have a BHT of 7 for Air to Air Combat.5. The six Buffalo available must be placed on V Saratoga . Oncelaunched , they may not land on aCV; they must land at Wake lsland oran off-board base. They may ready and launch from a base normally.6. OPTIONA L RULE. CV Sara togaandacc ompanying ships must begin fueling by 090023 December. CV Lexington and accompanyingships must begin fuel ing by 1200 23 December.

Special Viciory Condltlons1. Automati c Victory Level: 200 Points2. The Japanese player must unload 50 Points more than the Allied player in the Wake lsland hex or the Allied player wins.

Base InfonnatlonKwajaleinMC-infinite; LF-infinite; RF-SLP. 4SP; PH-LP, SP

WakeMC-9; LF-4/2LP 2/IS P; RF-3LP ISP; AAF-5; SF-8; PH-LP. SP

MidwayMC-30; LF-12/4; RF-8; PH-LP, SP

HawaliMC-infinite; LF-infinite; RF-infinite; PH-LP. SP;

Counter InionnationSpecifications for all thecounte rs used in this scenario can be found in FLATTOP . theart icleenti tled MIDWAY in this issue, and

the article entitled MORE OPTIONS in this issue.

Santa Cruz

1. Allied.a. Espiritu Sa nto has a Minefield with five MineFactors.b. Espiritu Sa nto is a Depot with six Mine Factorsavailable.c. Port Moresby has a Minefield with ten MineFactors.d. Delete 2DD fro m the Order Of Battle.e Add 2DM, 2MS, and 4PT to the Order Of Battle

which must start at Tulagi.f. Tulagi is a special non-plane base. It take six hitsto knock i t out and has an AA F of3.g. Allied subm arines are ISSM , 1 SS.2. Japanese.a. Rabaul has a Minefield with four Mine Factors.b. Rabaul is a Depot with three Mine Factorsavailable.c. Add IDM an d 2MS to the Order Of Battle whichmust start at Rabaul.d. Japanese submarines are 12SS.

Guadalcanal1. Allied.a. Espiritu Santo has a Minefield with five MineFactors.b. Espiritu Santo is a Depot with eight MineFactors available.c. Port Moresby has a Minefield with ten MineFactors.d. Add 1MS to the Order Of Battle which muststart at Espiritu Santo.e. Add 2DM, IM S, and 9PT to the Order Of Battlewhich must start at Tulagi.f. Tulagi is a special non-plane base. It takes sixhits to knock it out and has an AA F of 3. Tulagi canbecome a Depot if Mine Factors are brought to itduring the game.g. Allied subma rines are lSSM an d 12SS.

2. Japanese.a. Rabaul has a Minefield with five Mine Factors.b. Rabaul is a Depot with three Mine Factorsavailable.c. Add 2DM and 2M S to the Order Of Battle whichmust start at Rabaul.d. Japanese submarines are 2SSM (one with onePete plane; this SSM cannot carry Mine Factors),ISST, and IOSS.

THE COUNTERS

Players will have to make DM, MS, ML, SSM,and SST counters themselves from blank counters.Here are these ship s specifics. The Torpedoesspecification means how many loads the ship/submarine has; a ship with 2 has its initial loadplus one reload.1. Allied.a. DM: Gunner y Factor-1, AAF-I, MF-2,D a m a g e F a c t o r- 2 , M i n e F a c t o rs - 2 ,Torpedoes-0, Victory Points-10.b. MS: Gunnery Factor-0, AAF-1, MF-1,D a m a g e F a c t o r -1 , M i n e F a c t o rs - 0 ,Torpedoes-0, Victory Points-6.c. PT: Gun nery Factor-0, AAF -I, ME-2,D a m a g e F a c t o r -1 , M i n e F a c t o rs - 0 ,Torpedoes-1, Victory Points-4.d. SSM: Gunner y Factor-1, AAF-I, MF-1,D a m a g e F a c t o r -1 , M i n e F a c t o rs - 2 ,Torpedoes-2, Victory Points-10.

Continued on age 33 Column 2

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BRIT IS ^ FL T rapsH SOLOMONS

Although the aircraft carrier was the mostimportant capital ship in World War I1 there were

relatively few carrier versus carrier battles.Attrition of aircraft and pilots was high, and theJapanese rapidly lost their small group of superbpilots with which they had begun the war. Fourmajor carrier actions in 1942 exhausted theJapanese air groups and forced them to keep theirCVs in reserve until 1944. Their final immolationcame at the Battle of the PhilippineSea, aptly called

The Marianas Turkey Shoot .

Gamers interested in FLAT TOP will soonrealize they have in the scenarios of the game thethree most balanced of the historical carrier versuscarrier battles. Any real enthusiast is, however,unlikely to be satisfied with such a condition andthe following suggestionswill not only help createoriginal scenarios but hopefully throw new light onthe existing scenarios and increase insight intocarrier tactics.

FLAT TOP does much to point out the dif-ferencebetween American and Japanese equipmentand tactics. It is easy to dwell on these differencesand overlook the fact that in basic design, equip-ment, and tactical goalsthey were more similar thandifferent. American and Japanese aircraft carrierswere basically large cruisers with a flat deck forlanding aircraft. American carriershad light armorprotecting machinery and magazines but no protec-tion for aircraft or hangars. Japanese carriers wereeven less protected in most cases. In contrast, theBritish Illustrious class aircraft carriers weredesigned to operate within range of enemy landbased aircraft and thus had armored flight decksand hangars. They could withstand direct hits by5 Ib bombs on their flight decks; in fact,

Illustrious took six 1,000Ib bomb hits from Stukasand managed to steam away at 18 knots. This pro-

tection was not gained withou t penalties.The extratopweight of the armored flight deck and hangarsides allowed for only one hangar and reduced air-craft capacity. Only two small elevators were pro-vided in order to maintain the structuralintegrity ofthe flight deck, and plane handling was relativelyprimative with the spotting of aircraft donemanually until late in the war.

The relative merits and disadvantages of thearmored flight deck have long been a topic ofdebate among carrier fans. Illustriousclass carriersserved with distinction in the Arctic, the Mediterra-nean and the Far East. Despite this, they never par-ticipated in a carrier versus carrier duel with theenemy. Heavily outnumbered in the Indian Oceanearly in the war, Admiral Somerville, withIndomitable and Formidable as part of his force,wisely chose not to engage the Japanese carriersduring daylight and did not get the opportunity a tnight. Thus, there can never be any truely historicalscenarios in which Victoriousmeets Shokaku andthe possibleresult of such a meeting remains a topicmerely for theoretical discussions.

FLAT TOP is a game of sufficient detail toallow players (especiallyin refereed games) to getthe feel of carrier versus carrier combat. The rulesare clear and concise but still sufficiently open-ended to allow gamers to experiment with new orunusual tactics, often with results that justify theacts of the historical commanders. The game is suf-ficientlyaccurate to be used as a method of gaininginsight into carrier operations. By fitting Britishtask forces and aircraft into the system and

substitutingthem for Americans, the discussion of

the armored flight deck can be given simulated fto add to theory. This may be interesting, but

historical nonsense?If, as was quite possible, the LexingtSaratoga and Enterprise were at Pearl Harwhen the Japanese struck, it is reasonable to assuthe U S would have immediately turned to Brifor temporary help, as they did when they obtaithe loan of Victorious ater in the war. Britain ha t least as much to lose as the US if Australia hbeen isolated. It is conceivable that PresidRoosevelt would have dealt directly with WinsChurchill to bargain for the loan of three or fBritish carriers. The U S could have agreed to tcomplete responsibility for escorting the Arconvoys to Russia, thereby freeing British shipsother activities. In addition, British naval aircwere obsolescentand a promise of a higher percage of future American naval aircraft product

might have been the final bargaining point.purposes of the scenarioswe will assume the Briagreed to temporarilyloan the Americans the usI l lus tr ious Vic to r io u s Fo rmid ab le aIndomitable.

The British navy in 1942 was not withoutassets. The Illustriousclass carriers had stronganaircraft protection and most of the British cruishad eight or nine 20mm Oerlikons added inspring of 1942to make up someof their deficienin AA effectiveness. The King George V clbattleships had improvements to their anti-aircrprotectionas a result of the earlier lossof the Prinof Wales to Japanese aircraft. The Dido class licruisers were similar to the US Atlanta cladesigned primarily as AA escorts. The destroyvaried considerably between classes in their me

as AA screening ships.

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T BLE

NonnalShip MC LF RF P H AAF Radar AirgroupIlluslriour 2 10/3 6 CV 6 es 16V~rrorrous 20 10 3 C V 6 Yes 16Indomitcrble 20 10/3 7 C V 7 es 18

All of the British cruisers had torpedo tubes andthe torpedoes were sound. Crews were specifically

trained in night combat, gunnery was of agenerallyhigh sta ndard, and damage control in most Britishships was not neglected as it was by the Japanese.

Britain had a two year head start on theAmericans in the installation of radar on their war-ships. By 1942 most British ships sported a varietyof radars; air search, surface search, range finging,and fire control. The sets were generally superior toUS equipment at that time, the operat ors wereprac-ticed, and techniques were sound. Fighter directionwas excellent and the US navy adopted the system in1943 after operating with H.M.S. Victorious

British destroyers and their crews had con-siderable experience against enemy submarines.The battle of the Atlantic and the war in theMediterranean gave the British considerable ex-pertise in anti-submarine warfare.

The largest weakness of the British navy at thistime, at least in the context of carrier task forces,was the poor quality of the aircraft of the Fleet AirArm. Most of the planes appear to have been moresuitable for the Ark t han the Ark Royal

A glance at the British Aircraft specificationsclearly points out their disadvantages in most areas.This resulted from the Fleet Air Arm being con-trolled by the RAF unti l 1937. Not only did the AirMinistry fail to understand the requirements for ef-fective naval aircraft but were fully committed tohigh-level bombing and failed to keep up with divebomber design. The Fleet Air Arm itself was alsocapable of making mistakes and insisted that navalfighters have two man crews, one a navigator.Generally there was little expectation for high per-formance in naval aircraft of any type.

The Swordfish was known lovingly as theStringbag. These viceless but archaic biplanes serv-ed throughout the war, first as torpedo bombersand eventually as subkillers. They were too slowand vulnerable for daylight torpedo attacks andwere therefore equipped with ASV (Air to SurfaceVessel) radar and the pilots were trained for nightcarrier operations and attacks. A night attack onthe Bismarck in poor weather was made possible byradar and their night attack on the Italian Fleet inTaranto was sufficiently successful for theJapanese to study it in detail while planning their at -tack on Pearl Harbor.

The Albacore was supposedly a replacement forthe Swordfish but only a marginal advance. Alsobiplanes, they were slightly faster, possessed abetter range, and had an enclosed cockpit and awindscreen wiper. It seems incredible that firstservice deliveries of this antique occured in March1940. They were also equipped with ASV radar and

T BLE B

Aircmft N M F RF Type Air Modifier Anti SubAlbocore AL 10 CV 2 IFulmar F 7 7 C V 1Seoffre SF 10 CV 1SecrHurricrrne SH 8 CV ISwordfish SW 4 8 C V 2Morrlet MA 8 6 CV 0

were at the peak of their career as a night torpedobomber in 1942. The British torpedo was not equalto the Japanese Long Lance, but was generallyreliable and considerably better than the AmericanMark XIII; at least it could normally beexpected toexplode.

The desperation of the pilots of the Fleet AirArm can be judged by the enthusiasm with whichthey accepted the first deliveries of the Fulmar inJun e 1940. These were two-seater naval fighters offew vices, ample firepower, and moderate perfor-mance. However, they lacked speed, being unableto catch a JU88, and couldn't stay in the air with anMe 109 even if they had been able t o catch one. For-tunately, much of their career was spent in theMediterranean where their eight machine guns weremore than adequate to dispatch the nimble Italianfighters in one burst , which was all they usually got.

The desperate need for a high performancefighter resulted in the fitt ing of Hurricanes with tailhooks and calling them Sea Hurricanes. They hadfew of the