Showdown Battle: Marianas and Philippine Sea Jun44 (2019)

Operational level game of the landings and any accompanying air and naval battle(s). Individual fleet and light carriers and battleships - both Yamato and Musashi sortied in this - 2-ship cruiser and 4-ship destroyer units (mostly), Guam and Saipan invasion forces, and implicit submarines. Divebomber, torpedo bomber, and Japanese Betty medium bomber squadrons - fighters are also implicit (in the game system) for playability. 100 mile/160 kilometer hexes and 3-hour turns over a possible 6 days. As for a good Leyte Gulf game, there could be one USN player in command of Task Force 52's landings, old battleships, and taffies (baby flattop groups) and one for modern battleship and fast carrier TF58 ... with coordinating communications possibly delayed? }:) Secret *Japanese* strategic intelligence roll, with a 17% chance of them already near the Marianas and an also un-historical 33% chance of them entering the west side of the chartboard at the same time the Americans enter the east side - or they are delayed a full day, as historically. Dummy units and detection rules for operational Fog of War. My abstract "betting" ground combat system. Game balance victory point compensation. :) —description from the designer