Pacific Islands Campaign: Pelelieu/Angaur

[From back of the box] The 1st Marine and 81st Infantry Divisions were assigned to take the islands of Pelelieu and Angaur. One would be fairly easy and the other extremely hard. Pelelieu became a vortex that took way more Marines lives than it was worth. The Japanese had dug themselves into the Umurbrogal Mountain and forced the battle to be drawn out for 2 months, instead of 2 weeks.

[From the publishers website] This is the fourth in the PIC series of games that simulate island battles in the Pacific Ocean Area during WWII. The game is a blend of operational/tactical level combat and maneuver during the taking of the islands of Pelelieu and Angaur from the Japanese during the Second World War. The game is played in turns, each one divided into phases for amphibious landing, maneuver, and combat. The game system uses many of the seven Battlefield Operating Systems (BOS) to simulate actual combat and maneuver that both the US and Japanese players must use to fight the battle. Of the seven BOS's, this simulation concentrates on Maneuver, Fire Support, Mobility and Survivability, Air Defense, and Command and Control. The Japanese defenses are sophisticated and well manned with fanatical soldiers willing to die for their emperor. They fight so hard in fact that the Marines are stymied for much longer than planned and need to be releived by US Army troops from the 81st Division after they took Angaur. The fight is bloody and sharp. Victory in the game is measured against the time and casualties it took the US forces to actually accomplish the same mission.

The game features US Marine Corps, US Army, US Navy, and Imperial Japanese forces at the Battalion, Company, and Platoon level. Units are initially setup as Battalions and Companies, and can be broken down into their respective elements. The combat system utilizes a set of combat multipliers that players must use correctly to have the best effect. The Japanese player has the ability to conduct Banzai attacks at night and these cause considerable damage as the US player cannot fall back in front of these attacks and must take casualties.

The are a number of scenarios that simulate the battle on a smaller scale and allow for play for either island or both. There will be numerous options that can be used to even play between players and make the fight more interesting. These include additional Japanese forces that could have been there if they were not sunk by US submarines.

Game Design and Production by: Chris Fasulo

Map Artwork: Kyle Gebhardt