War @ Sea: Carrier Aircraft Capacity?

All the games made by Avalon Hill try their best to be entertaining, fun, and historically accurate…to some degree. How does their newest collectible mini game, War @ Sea, as part of the Axis & Allies line (per Wizards of the Coast and thus Hasbro) hold up to historical accountability?

The book states that, as most historians know, the Japanese fleet attacking Pearl Harbor had 6 carriers acting as mobile bases for the aircraft making the attack. The carriers: Akagi, Hiryu, Kaga, Shokaku, Soryu, and Zuikaku, launch a collective total of 183 aircraft for the first wave. The book clearly says that the 6 carriers brought 441 aircraft to the fight. 183 were launched in the first wave and 168 in the second.

The Akagi, the only carrier of its type, had a complement of 91 aircraft according to Wikipedia. We see on the card that the Akagi can carry 3 aircraft. This works out to each aircraft model in War @ Sea representing 33 1/3 actual aircraft for this vessel. Additionally, we can see that the Akagi carried almost 21% of the aircraft brought to attack Pearl Harbor. For those interested in the actual composition per wave Wikipedia tells us that 29 Kates and 9 Zeroes participated in the first wave. 18 Vals composed Akagi’s second wave of attack.

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Torg: Tuesday Game Review

No, today isn’t Tuesday but this is a review of an old game named Torg that I’ve been newly introduced to.

My friend Murf is a RPG fanatic and the both of us, plus my other friend Steve, have been commiserating the inability to find a good RPG.  I haven’t played since I was 9 or so and having been away from pencil and paper RPGs in 16+ years is a burden.  There are many cobwebs to clear from the recesses of my mind.

I was pleasantly surprised a week ago with a phone call from Murf who wanted me to join a great newly run game called Torg that his pal Teddy was putting together.  I was skeptical until Murf explained the game.

Torg is unlike any other RPG you have ever played.  The Earth has been invaded by aliens and every country/continent is altered to reflect a different period in history with a film twist.  Most of North America looks like Jurassic Park. The UK looks like Robin Hood and Braveheart.  France is a cyberpapacy like a more religious Bladerunner (or like 40k by Games Workshop).  Indonesia has turned into every horror film you can imagine in a Victorian setting, can we say Jack the Ripper meets Dracula?  Egypt has become the 1930s complete with The Godfather, Indiana Jones, and Flash Gordon.

All this variation intrigued me so I joined the game.  This past Tuesday our band of 3, Steve opted to not play, met and began our first adventure.  Although only 2 of us were there we had a lot of fun.

Murf the fighter and I the scholar worked together, saved a damsel in distress from dinosaurs, rescued her father, tricked the lizards into giving us a precious device (that can save the world), had a journey to the center of the earth and out again to Egypt, stole a plane from a Pharaoh and blew up 2 Spitfires.  4 hours of play brought us to whatever comes next.

Although we need more players, who doesn’t, the quest has been challenging but not too difficult and all around fun.

War @ Sea: 200pt Vichy French, German, & Italian Fleet

I thought up this fleet earlier today. Not entirely sure how well it’ll play out but am eager for input. At the least I think it’d be fun for a 200pt fleet.

List
Bismarck 53pts
Richelieu 54pts
Vittorio Veneto 49pts
3x Luca Tarigo (8pts ea)
2x Le Terrible (9pts ea)

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Rate the Articles, Vote in the Polls

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How do I Rate Articles?

At the bottom of every article are 5 grayed out stars and the words “No Ratings Yet.” Just click on how many stars you think the article deserves. If you think it is 5 star quality click on the last star to the right. You can do this even if an article has already been rated by someone else.

How do I Vote in the Polls?

The polls are in the sidebar at right. Scroll down 3/4 of the way and you’ll see the current poll. There is a new poll every week. Some polls you can choose multiple options and some you can only choose 1. Click next to the choice you want and then click the Vote button.

You can see the Poll Archive, which has all the old and new polls with their results.

Any Questions?

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Star Wars Pocket Models Card Game

Last week at Battlegrounds I received a promo pack of the brand new Star Wars Pocket Model Trading Card Game. For those familiar with WizKid’s Pirates or the new Transformers’ game this is a constructible card game in the Star Wars universe.

I’ve seen the product enter the store and got excited by the prospect of a new Star Wars game. I envisioned a game that took Starship Battles and merged it with Pirates. Sadly, I never got past the “Build ‘Em” stage listed on the sample pack instructions.

The instructions list 3 steps to the game. “Punch ‘Em Out” followed by “Build ‘Em” and finishing with “Play!” Punching out the parts is easy but unfortunately the assembly is difficult. Either I’m a manually handicapped Bantha or it is nigh impossible to build these planes.

The sample pack comes with two TIE Fighters, 1 X-Wing and 2 cards. I got Reasonable Risk and Screen Defense for my cards. I tried assembling the 2 TIE Fighters and after fighting for 5 minutes I gave up and asked Derek, the store owner, for assistant. I consider myself a reasonably intelligent and dexterous individual but I could not, even if you put a e-ll to my head, build those TIE Fighters. After a couple minutes of trying Derek was able to put one TIE together leaving me to assemble the last. I looked at the components in contempt. Would I let some bits of thick plastic card get the best of me? Gladly!

For the curious reader the X-wing was just marginally easier to assemble. Inserting the ship into the slotted base proves the most difficult aspect of building these fighters.

I’m reserving total judgment until I play a game. But, be warned before you shell out the bucks for this game. Building the models isn’t as easy as you think it will be.

For more information head over to the official website at starwarspocketmodeltcg.com by WizKids.