Risposte at the Eastern Solomons

“In a dive-bombing attack, it’s not just a case of getting one plane or ten or even fifteen. You’ve got to get them all, you can’t afford to get hit.” – Lieutenant Commander Elias B. Mott, Gunnery Officer for USS Enterprise

This is a scenario for my ruleset There's The Effing Scheer, and its expansion Striking Effectively First, which allows you to wargame early- to mid-war WW2 naval combat.

One of my favourite parts of wargaming are the what-ifs of history and how on the grand scale of things, so much seemingly comes down to luck. The best laid plans and all that. The Eastern Solomons struck me as an interesting engagement because both sides seemed to share an equal amount of luck, or at times a lack of it. It is almost like Coral Sea all over again.

The Americans start unlucky. They send a third of their carrier force away to refuel as their intelligence tells them they've got enough time until the Japanese offensive towards Guadalcanal will arrive. They are unlucky not to find the Japanese fleet carriers as the one accurate scout report is lost in the ether, and both of their strikes are wasted on secondary targets (though I'm sure the crew of Ryujo may feel differently). The Japanese were lucky enough to get the drop of the Americans, getting Shokaku and Zuikaku into strike range without being detected themselves, and getting the first punch in. American radar sends their CAP intercept up at the wrong altitude and the Japanese bombers attack. They strike first, but not effectively.

Then the luck seems to shift. Enterprise is hit by three bombs and its steering locks in a circle as the second wave closes in, but then the second Japanese strike fails to find them. The strike from Rabaul turns back due to bad weather and Ryujo's strike fails to neutralise Henderson Field. Nagumo, feeling his work is done, pulls the carrier air cover back, allowing the Cactus Air Force to sink one of their precious transports and parry the invasion. Both sides pull back claiming victory. The Japanese held the field, but any tactical victory seemed phyrric and strategically the Americans still held Henderson Field.

As always, I've added a few special rules to bring this scenario to life, allowing you to step into the shoes of Nagumo and Fletcher as they duel for the third time in 1942. Will Henderson Field fall? Or will the Americans sink the last two carriers who struck Pearl Harbor less than a year before?

-description from the designer