SCOPE: Naval-Air Battle game of Battle of Midway June 2-4,
1942
TAHGC CATALOG VERBAGE: Admiral McClusky, hero of the battle,
has recreated for Avalon Hill the true situation of 0500 June 3, 1942 when
Americans were far out-numbered by Japanese forces. How then did the Americans
win? You find out by playing the game. The game has counters for each individual
Aircraft Carrier and Battleship, plus dive bombers, Torpedo Bombers and Fighters.
During the search portion of play, each player methodically plots the enemy's
location, which is unknown at the game's start. ONce located, planes are sent
to sink each other's Carriers. Unique combat table resolved plane vs. plane,
and plane vs ship attacks realistically. Game includes manuscript of Admiral
McClusky's exclusive eyewitness account.
GAME BOX VERBAGE:
YEAR PUBLISHED (EDITIONS): 1964, Smithsonian edition 1991.
Two published variants in the GENERAL for Leyte Gulf and Coral Sea will soon
be linked. Additionally, two variants created by Deer Valley Games of which
i have no first hand experience are pulled from Web Grognards, Midway
Variant 1 (zipped file) and Midway Variant
1 (zipped file) . For what its worth, a Macintosh Pre-PPC game application
is also pulled from WegGrognards, zipped Computer Midway.
CREDITS (1964)
Design, Development & Rules: Lindsley Schurtz
& Larry Pinsky
CREDITS (1991)
Design, Development & Rules: S. Craig Taylor,
Jr.
Cover Art:
Graphic Art, Gameboard Art & Pasteup: Charles Kibler
Packaging: Monarch Services and Eastern Box
Playtesters: Kevin Hewitt, Bob Liebel, Rex Martin,
George Petronis, Edward Phillips, Everett Post, and Byron Wolfe.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2
WGA COMPLEXITY SCALE (1-10): 3
TYPICAL PLAYING TIME (HOURS): 2-3 hours.
MAP SCALE: Approximately 20 miles per square.
UNIT SCALE: Individual ships, air point represents approximately
three planes.
GAME INVENTORY: 1964; Approximately 120 counters, 22"x24"
mounted battle board, 22"x24" battle board, one divider screen with
charts, 24 page rulebook and hit record pad. 1991: 48 page rulebook.
WBC & AVALONCON HISTORY: Continuous event since Avaloncon
1991.
PBEM TOOLS:
Complete Java application VASSAL
module for the 1964 edition is complete. WGA is working on upgrade to add
both the Coral Sea and Leyte Gulf variants published in the General.
A Play by Graphics toolset using Claris Draw exists in the WGA archives
to PBEM using a multilayer graphics file is complete. Claris Draw installers
exist for both Macintosh OS9 and Windows. Claris Draw is an orphaned application.
PBEM OPPORTUNITES: Contact Wargame
Academy if interested. A Boardgamer Player Association PBEM tournament
can be organized by WGA pending suitable interest using the VASSAL VM64 module.
WARGAME ACADEMY COMMENTS: Midway is both one of the early
TAHGC titles plus one of the first I owned. Its greatest strength is its simplicity
and is ideal for introducing wargaming to new players. Multiple series replays
have been published in the GENERAL. The addition of tournament rules greatly
enhances the game to a competitive level. One drawback of the design is the
hidden ship movement and searching which requires a 3rd party GM for remote
tournament play to eliminate player tampering. When playing known opponents
where this is not a concern, this requirement may not be necessary. Most of
my play (many years ago) was in the 1964 edition. Several games have been
played with the 1991. Dispute up to date graphics, standardized rulebook format
and inclusion of much historical material as a modern introductory game, M91
seems more complex and not an actual improvement over the original. An Ebay
purchase of M64 is in my opinion a superior value. The Smithsonian series
was a belated attempt to attract new gamers with relatively simple games as
the hobby in the early 1990s was dominated by highly complex and expensive
games tailored to the dwindling hard core gamers.
WARGAME ACADEMY GAME TOOLS: One game copy of each edition
with an duplicate counter set for the 1964 edition. The 1964 edition rulebook
(with charts) and hit record pad exists in softcopy form in the WGA archives.
