Operation Rainbow

SGB-22 Operation Rainbow (1986) (JPY 6800)

Subtitled both “Pacific War in Another World” and “From Surprise Attack on Pearl Harbor by US Navy to Decisive Battle of Marshall”. The box cover has a dramatic picture of the Japanese battleship Nagato slowly turning on its side and billowing smoke while US dive bombers fly overhead ala the USS Arizona. An eye-grabber indeed!

There are four maps in this game, making it the largest AT game size-wise. The maps stretch from Calgary, Canada to Tienching, China and from Attu in the Aleutian Islands to Tahiti in the Society Islands at a scale of 100km per hex. There are 756 counters, ranging from US and Japanese divisions to Chinese and Russian Corps. Even the Germans are represented by the 5th Light and 15th Panzer divisions! There are four PACs (two sets of two identical), some representing task force boxes and the others charts and tables (of which there are many). There is a 32-pg ‘History’ booklet, along with a 40-pg rulebook.

The game itself has 26 pgs of actual rules and nine scenarios. Turns are ten days (three per month) and lasts from Dec. of 41 through August of 42. The game is decided by Victory Points, which are accrued by ownership of geographic objectives and multiplied by the current value for the turn (VPs x5 early on and going to only x1 starting about halfway through the game). Plane counters are of the ‘change’ variety, while capital ships are individual and smaller vessels are grouped together.

This has apparently always been a popular title in Japan and commands quite a good price over there (20,000+ JPYN) for mint copies.