Task Force: Carrier Battles in the Pacific Rulebook

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Game Equipment Explanation
3. Standard Procedures
4. Sequence of Play
5. Special Units
- 5.1. Aircraft
- 5.2. Ships

1. Introduction

1.1. The Scale

A hex represents an area of 75km from side to side.

Each turn represents a period of 90 minutes (day) or 3 hours (night).

Combat units are represented as follows: Battleships, aircraft carriers and cruisers count as one ship per counter. For destroyers and transports, it is two ships per counter. And for aerial units, it is nine aircraft per counter.

1.2. The Rules

Instead of reading the whole rulebook, you can opt to start learning the game with help of the tutorial scenarios. Each scenario will tell you which rules from this rulebook are needed in order to play them, and also the exclusive rules for that scenario, not common to other scenarios.

1.3. The Sides

Two sides fought in the Pacific during World War II: The Japanese and the Allies. The Japanese are represented in the game by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The Allies are represented by the United States and their US Navy (USN), the Commonwealth (United Kingdom, Australia) with the Royal Navy (RN), and also the Netherlands with their ships in the USN and RN navies.

Note: In this game we will use the term IJN to refer to the Japanese side, and the USN or RN (depending on the scenario) referring to the Allied side.

2. Game Equipment Explanation

The following components are included in the game:

One rulebook.
One scenario book.
Four map sheets.
180 30x15mm counters.
408 15mm square counters.
Two player aid charts.
Two fleet formation sheets
One airbase sheet
One turn track
Two 6-sided dice.

2.1. Maps

The maps show different areas in which the Pacific War took place. A hexagonal grid is superimposed to regulate the movement of the playing pieces. Each hex has a unique identification number to facilitate setup.

2.1.1. Hex Terrain

This is a game about naval conflicts, so the only distinction is sea or land (with coral reefs counting as the latter).

As you would expect, naval vessels cannot travel to land-covered hexes, nor can they pass over an area wholly covered by land. They can however move to hexes with both land and sea portions. Of course, land is not a problem for air units, who are unrestricted. Search is done in this game by air units sent to find enemy naval units, although these aircraft are not represented by counters, and thus search is unrestricted too.

Coral reef hexsides block naval unit movements and ZOC. Land hexes block naval unit movements and ZOC.

2.1.2. Turn Track

Shows the passage of time and relevant information, such as the initiative side, restrictions on certain procedures, and the duration of each scenario.

2.2. Combat Units

A unit represents a single combat unit, and a combat unit represents the military forces that took part in the historical battles. Destroyers (DD), transports (AK), and aircraft units, when they are full strength (2.2.1) are 1 unit (as the rest of combat units), and when they are reduced they are half unit (0.5 units).

There are naval, aerial, and land base units in this game.

Each unit has several numbers and letters printed on it, indicating its name, role and combat abilities.

The unit's values are color coded by nationality as follows:

Red for JP (Japan)
Blue-grey for US (United States).
Khaki for UK (United Kingdom).
Light blue for AU (Australia)
Orange for DEI (Dutch East Indies)

Aircraft counters show, at full strength: Type, Air-to-Air value, Air-to-Surface value, Range (reduced or extended range only), Model name, and Carrier/Base. At reduced strength the same values are shown reduced.

Ship counters (named ships) show, at full strength: Type, Ship's Name, Anti-air value, Durability, Carrier/Base, and Firepower. At reduced strength the same values are shown reduced.

Ship counters (DDs & AKs) show, at full strength: Type, Anti-air value, Durability, and Firepower. At reduced strength the same values are shown reduced.

Base counters show, at full strength: Capacity, Anti-Air, Durability, Firepower, and Name. At reduced strength the same values are shown reduced.

Type: the type of ship or aircraft.

Ship Type		Air Unit Type
BB	Battleship	F	Fighter
CV	Carrier	B	Bomber
CVL	Light Carrier	DB	Dive Bomber
CA	Heavy Cruiser	T	Torpedo Bomb.
CL	Light Cruiser
DD	Destroyer
AK	Transport
AO	Tanker

Name: the name of the ship, the land base, or the aircraft

Air-to-Air: used by aircraft for attacking other aircraft.

Anti-Air: used by ships and land units to defend against air attacks.

Air-to-Surface: used for attacking naval and land targets.

Firepower: used by ships to attack other ships and bombard land bases.

Durability: used by ships and land bases as a measure of how many hits they can take before being damaged, sunken or destroyed.

Range: used by aircraft to show the area of influence in hexes, where the planes can be sent in raids. Usually it's 5 hexes. When the counter shows a number, it's the reduced range for TBD Devastator, or extended range (see 4.3.1, 4.3.7, 4.3.8.)

Capacity: the capacity in air units of the land base.

Carrier/Base: it shows the specific base (carrier or land base) to which the air unit pertains. The home base will be always the first option for an air unit to return when they get back from a mission.

Note: The combat unit's values are a mix of the capabilities, weapons, technologies, experience of the crew and pilots, doctrine, etc.

2.2.1. Steps

Sustaining damage in battle naturally leads to a deterioration in fighting fitness. "Steps" are the measurements for damage and correspond to having units placed face-up or face-down. A full-strength unit has 2 steps and it's shown by having the counter face up, and a reduced unit has 1 step and it's shown by having the counter face down.

Ships of cruiser class or superior (including Tankers): they are "significantly damaged" after one step of damage (the ship is shown as damaged), and a second step sinks them.
A unit of destroyers or transports at full strength has two ships. Inflicting one step of damage is the same as sinking one ship: when you flip the counter to its reduced strength position it shows only 1 ship instead of 2. A step of damage to a reduced unit means that the last ship has sunk — you then remove the counter from the board.
An aircraft unit at full strength (9 planes) that loses one step is flipped to its reduced strength side (4-5 planes), and after losing its second step is destroyed (removed from board).
Land bases are treated like Carriers (with notable differences, of course), and thus they take damage and have 2 steps like Carriers.

In this rulebook we will use counter to refer to the physical cardboard counter, ship to refer to the number of ships of a counter (full DD and AK having 2 ships), and unit to the combat units represented. Usually a "counter" is the same as a "unit", but in the case of destroyers (DD), transports (AK), and aircraft units, when they are full strength they are 1 unit, and when they are reduced they are half unit (0.5 units).

Note: This way, a ship of Cruiser class or superior is 1 counter, with 1 or 2 steps (depends on its damage), 1 unit, and 1 ship. A full DD or AK is 1 counter, 2 steps, 1 unit, and 2 ships. A reduced DD or AK is 1 counter, with 1 step, 0.5 units, and 1 ship. A full strength air unit is 1 counter, 2 steps, 1 unit. A reduced air unit is 1 counter, 1 step, 0.5 units.

Inflicting two steps of damage at once to a full strength unit is possible, forcing the unit out of play.

In some scenarios a unit will begin the game on its reduced strength side, meaning a single step of damage will remove it from the game.

2.2.2. Aircraft

Fighters are those aircraft of type F. They have no Air-to-Surface value. Zeros have special rules, as well as Douglas TBD Devastator. You can see them in the player aid or page 16.

Bombers are those who have a B, DB, or T type, and an Air-to-Surface value. Within Bombers, there is no game difference between Torpedo, Dive Bombers and (Horizontal) Bombers, except the values, some scenario restrictions, and when attacking a base. You can see them in the player aid.

The air units are based in Carriers and land bases, and they are only placed on the map when they are raiding enemy ships or bases, or when used in an external CAP mission. At all other times they are located in their Aircraft Status sheets.

2.2.3. Ships

Carriers are those ships with designation CV and CVL. They are sea bases to their air units, and their Task Forces are named Carrier Task Forces.

Non Carrier ships (the other designations) are either grouped into Fleet Task Forces, or escorting Carriers in the Carrier Task Forces.

There are special rules for types of ships or named ships. You can see them in the player aid or rule 5.0

The ship units form Task Forces, and are located in the Fleet formation sheets. They are only placed on the map when they are withdrawing from the mission because they have Critical damage, or are escorting withdrawing ships. You will usually use the numbered Withdrawing marker in their place for convenience because the ships are larger than the hexes.

2.2.4. Land Bases

They are treated like Carriers for all game purposes in that they:

Hold air units, and thus have their Aircraft Status sheet
Take damage the same way (and that includes the deck damage and amplification for air units destroyed in the runway).
Do Reconnaissance on their own

And differ notably in that:

They don't move, they represent the buildings and airport of the base and they are marked in the map. The counter is placed in the Aircraft Status sheet for bases. You may place the other duplicated counter in the map if you prefer to see its status easily.
They are more vulnerable to air attacks (static target).
When damaged their capacity is reduced.
Their air units may attack at extended ranges

2.3. Game Markers & Chits

With these, you can track certain statuses on the map and the status of units.

2.3.1. Fleet markers

"Fleet markers" indicate the location in the map of either a fleet (Task Force) or dummy (to deceive the enemy). The USN/RN marker front shows the US/RN flag, and its back shows a Task Force number (e.g. TF 2). The IJN marker front shows the Japanese flag, and its back shows a Task Force number (e.g. TF 7).

2.3.2. Report marker

Carrier Task Force Detected, Fleet Task Force Detected. They show that the fleet marker has been reconnaised (it's not a Dummy) and from now on it's considered a partially detected Task Force, and also what the recon said about their composition (what they saw may be different to what they are). The front sides read "Sighted Fleet" and "Sighted Carrier"; the backs repeat the same text.

2.3.3. Damage markers

"Damage markers" (critical/light) are used for the superior ship classes, and land bases, to display their level of damage. For the Minor Damage, one side shows the "Minor Damage" and the other side the "Emergency Repairs" status. For the Critical Damage, it shows the firepower and anti-air penalizations ("0" value).

2.3.4. Flight Deck Damage markers

Show if the air units can land or launch from the Carrier or Land base. They are placed in the corresponding Carrier or Land base of the Aircraft Status sheets. The front shows "Can't Land" and the back shows "Can't Launch".

2.3.5. Withdraw markers

Used to remember that the formation is withdrawing because some ships suffered Critical damage. The numbered side is used in the map for convenience because the ships are larger than the hexes. The other side is used in the Fleet formation sheet to remember that if the Task Force has a withdrawing ship, the formation must withdraw with it.

2.3.6. Turn marker

Placed on the Turn track, they also show which side moves first in the Movement phase. The front shows the IJN flag under "Turn", and the back shows the USN flag under "Turn".

2.3.7. Recon chits

They are drawn from a cup to know the result of a Search in a hex, and report the result to the opponent. There are 3 results: "Detected", "Misdirect", and "No Contact". They are explained better in the Reconnaissance Phase section.

The numbers on the backs may be used for your custom designed scenarios.

2.4. Player Aid Sheets & Charts

You can find all relevant information that is needed for play aggregated in the Player Aid Charts.

2.4.1. Combat tables

When units engage in combat, we need to determine the outcome of the encounter somehow. For this we refer to the combat charts. There are four of these:

2.4.2. Anti-air table

Used when an aerial unit attacks a naval unit or a land base, to model the effect of the target anti-air defenses.

The two columns to either side are for the die roll. The upper row gives the ship's anti-air rating. The corresponding cell in the centre tells you the result of the action.

2.4.3. Aerial combat table

Used when an aircraft engages another in combat.

The columns to either side are for the die roll. The upper row gives the difference in the units' air-to-air ratings.

2.4.4. Air-to-surface table

Used when an aerial unit attacks a naval unit or a land base.

The columns to either side are for the dice roll. The upper row gives the aircraft's air-to-surface rating.

2.4.5. Naval combat table

Used when a naval unit attacks another, or when they bombard a land base.

The columns to either side are for the die roll. The upper row gives the ships' firepower ratings.

2.4.6. Flight Deck damage table

Determines the damage to the flight deck of the Carrier, or the airport of the land base.

2.4.7. Tactical Victory Points table

Summary of the Tactical Victory Points for sinking ships, by each side.

2.5. Fleet Formation Sheets

The Fleet markers represent the position of your Task Forces on the map. And the Fleet formation sheets hold the ships that form each Task Force. There is one sheet for the IJN and one for the USN.

Each sheet has up to 6 "ring" formations, TF1 to TF6, used only for Carrier Task Forces, and up to 7 "column" formations, TF7 to TF13, used for Fleet Task Forces (Task Forces without Carriers).

All the ships that are in the map (represented by a numbered withdrawing marker) instead of in the formation sheet are ships that are withdrawing due to damage and their escorts (also withdrawing). When a ship in the map is a Carrier, it still acts like a ring formation with other ships in the hex (on map or in other task forces), and non-Carrier ships act like column formations with other ships in the hex (on map or in other task forces).

2.6. Aircraft Status Sheets

They show the status of the aircrafts in their bases (Carriers and Land bases). There is one sheet for the IJN and one for the USN, and each one has 6 boxes named as the Carrier Task Force where the air units are located.

Air units can be in one of four different statuses on the Aircraft Status sheet, explained in the Raid Section (4.3)

Note: we say "four" because we consider both "Landing" (from C.A.P. and from Map) as the same status, and because "Raid" is a status but it's represented on the map, not on the sheet.

A third sheet is included for bases, shared by both players, because this information is always open even when the advanced fog of war rules are in effect. The base unit is placed on top of the No. to show the ownership of the air units in that base.

2.7. Dice

Included in the game are two six-sided dice which are used mainly for combat resolution.

When we say in these rules "1D6" it refers to the roll of 1 six sided die. When we say "2D6", it refers to the roll of 2 six sided dice, adding both results.

Each scenario has an objective which is usually the capture of an enemy base, or the defense of the naval base, and/or the elimination of enemy ships (fleets). To achieve this objective, you have ships and aircraft units at your disposal.

Ships can attack other ships and bombard bases with their powerful cannons, but they do so at short distances and the enemy may fire back.

Your planes are the most effective force, as they attack from a distance from their carriers and bases, and their bombs and torpedoes are very deadly. Your defense against the enemy planes are your own planes, and the anti-air weapons of your ships.

Your ships will usually protect the carriers, and the transports that carry the troops to invade the bases.

On the map there are Fleet markers (which can be Task Forces or dummies/misinformation) and bases. Any ships directly on the map are withdrawing ships and their escorts.

Fleet markers, if they are not dummies, contain ships.

Carriers and bases contain planes.

The way to find out which enemy counters are Task Forces and which are decoys is by having Carriers and bases near them (as they are the ones that launch planes to recon the area), or sending other Task Forces to make contact with them.

3. Standard Procedures

The Standard Procedures are general rules, which apply at any time.

3.1. Initiative Player

Initiative determines who goes first during all phases of a turn except the Aircraft Operations phase, where it is decided by a die roll.

In odd turns, the IJN player is the initiative player, on even turns the Allied player. This is indicated on the turn track.

3.2. Day and Night

There are rules that apply differently if the turn is a Day turn or Night turn. The turn track shows a summary of the differences, and restrictions, but a complete list is shown here for future references while playing:

	Day	Night
Movement (in hexes)	1	2
Movement (transports)	Only during odd numbered turns	Always
Naval combat	Restricted participation	All ships participate; IJN's DD firepower doubled
Raids & CAP	Not at the last turn of the day	No
Recon	Not at the last 2 turns of the day	No
Recon chits used	Do not return to the cup	Return all of them (used and in map) to the cup
Fleet arrangements	Merge and Rearrange fleets	Split, Merge, and Rearrange fleets; Reuse dummies

3.3. Stacking

Players can concentrate their forces by placing multiple units on a single hex—this creates a "stack." In TASK FORCE there is no stacking limit, any number of fleet markers and withdrawing ships, and also a land base, can be stacked in one hex, and in that case:

Any of those Task Forces may be merged, and/or ships of those Task Forces may be moved between them, and they all share the same friendly CAP if attacked by a Raid. Withdrawing ships that are not inside a Fleet marker may receive support from other ships in the Fleets of that hex.
But, they are all subject to the same Recon chit sent by the opponent (if any), and also they all are subject to any Raid attacking the hex.

3.4. Zone of Control

Fleet markers and ships (not land bases) have a "zone of control" (ZOC) which consists of the six adjacent hexes around their position. The ZOC doesn't extend through Reefs and all Land hexsides.

The ZOC is checked and used at different moments of the game:

(Naval Movement phase) Dummy markers cannot move into an enemy ZOC.
(Naval Movement phase) Task Force markers and ship units can move into enemy ZOC, but cannot move into a hex occupied by an enemy unit.
(Naval Movement phase) After the phase is completed by both players, all Dummy markers in an enemy ZOC are removed.
(Naval Combat phase) Exchanges of naval gunfire and torpedoes are held between units in each other's ZOCs.

3.5. Handling of Combat Hits

Note: It would not be realistic for attacks to do the same amount of damage to ships of all types; this is because there are considerable variations in their levels of armour. While a battleship might survive several bomb or barrage hits or even a torpedo in its stride (unless they hit at a weak point), a destroyer will often be sunk by even one. The durability rating reflects such variations.

This section refers to damage applied to ships and land bases. When we say "ship" here, it refers to "land bases" too.

By weighing the durability rating against the number of combat hits, we grade damage using five levels:

Undamaged: Number of combat hits is less than the ship's durability.

Minor: Number of combat hits equals the ship's durability. Place the minor damage marker on the ship, showing the "Minor Damage" status. If the ship does not take any more damage until the Admin phase of this turn, the marker will show the "Emergency Repairs" status, and from then, if it still doesn't take any combat hit until the Admin phase of the next turn, emergency repairs are then performed and the damage marker gets removed (see 4.5). To remember that, if an attack results in any combat hit inflicted to a ship that have a Minor Damage marker on its Emergency Repair status, the marker will show the Minor Damage status again.

Note: a Minor damage marker will be removed too if the ship damage changes to a worse category (Significant, Critical, Sunk).

Significant: Applies in two cases:

Number of combat hits exceeds the ship's durability by 1. (E.g: the Tennessee takes 9 combat hits.)
A ship with a Minor damage (any status) suffers any further combat hit.

When a ship is significantly damaged, it is placed on its reduced strength side. It has reduced combat ratings in this state.

Critical: Applies in two/three cases:

If the ship has Significant damage: Number of combat hits equals the ship's reduced strength durability.
If the ship is at full strength: The attack inflicts Significant damage, and then Critical damage. In other words, the leftover number of combat hits after Significant damage equals the ship's face-down durability.
This can happen when:
Ship is Undamaged: Number of combat hits = face-up durability + 1 + face-down durability.
Ship has Minor damage: Number of combat hits = 1 + face-down durability.

Place the Critical damage marker on the ship. It now has anti-air and firepower ratings of 0.

Sunk / Destroyed: One more combat hit sinks a Critically damaged ship. Remove ships from the board/sheets when they sink.

If Carrier or Land base, remove the Aircraft units in its READY and RESERVE Aircraft Status sheet.

If a sunken ship creates a gap in a Fleet Task Force, then close the formation by shifting other ships along.

If a Carrier sinks in a Carrier Task Force, the ring formation becomes a column of 4 boxes, and it's from now on, a Fleet Task Force (it's not a ring anymore). Rearrange the line-up of the column.

Example: If the Repulse sinks, the right-side destroyer shifts to take its position.

Example: Summary of combat hits needed to sink the Tennessee (durability 8/7, undamaged):

Undamaged, 8 hits: From Undamaged: 17 hits = 8 + 1 + 7 + 1 (→ Minor → Significant → Critical → Sunk)

Minor, 1 hit: From Minor Damage: 9 hits = 1 + 7 + 1 (→ Significant → Critical → Sunk)

Significant, 7 hits: From Significant Damage: 8 hits = 7 + 1 (→ Critical → Sunk)

Critical, 1 hit: From Critical Damage: 1 hit

Note: The only levels of damage are the five defined above. Leftover combat hits in an attack are dismissed after each attack.

Example: you attack the Tennessee four times, with combat hits of 6, 10, 4, and 6. The first attack inflicts no damage, because it's less than the ship's durability. The second attack inflicts Significant damage, dismissing 1 combat hit. None of the next two attacks surpass the ship's reduced strength durability—no extra damage is taken.

3.5.1. Applying hits to Destroyers and Transports

A reduced DD and AK have only three levels of damage: undamaged, minor damage, and sunk.

A full DD and AK is considered to be 2 reduced units, so when they take hits the sequence would be like this one: Undamaged (2 ships) → Minor Damage for the first ship → Sink the first ship and flip to the reduced side (undamaged second ship) → Minor Damage to the second ship → Sink the second ship and remove the ship counter.

When there is a Minor damage marker in a DD, it will be always from the first ship, and if it has 2 Minor Damage markers, it's one per ship (see 3.6.5).

Example: CV Hornet is attacked and it gets 2 combat hits. As it has 3 steps of Fighters (1 full strength fighter and 1 reduced fighter) and no Bombers in the READY section, and at least 1 combat hit was inflicted to the Carrier, a die roll is made to see if the hits strike the aircraft there. A 3 is rolled, and the air units explode, causing more damage to the Carrier. The fighters add 2 combat hits (3 steps / 2 = 2. 2 x 1 combat hit = 2 hits). The amplified damage of 2 combat hits is added to the attack's result of 2 combat hits, making a total of 4 combat hits. Minor Damage to the Hornet. If the aircraft there would have been Bombers instead of Fighters, the amplified damage would have been 6 hits, with a total of 8, Significant Damage (1 more hit would have resulted in Critical damage, it's dangerous to have air units in the flight deck when the Carrier is under attack.)

3.5.2. Withdrawal

Any ship must break off from their fleet and head for its side's starting line if it:

Suffers Critical damage, OR
It's a Carrier, and suffers at least Significant damage, and loses the ability to land or launch aircraft units (3.5.5)

A ship that has to withdraw:

May either break off the formation (place a numbered Withdraw marker in the map, and move the ship counter and any escorts you wish, or none, out the Fleet Formation), or keep it in formation (place a Withdraw marker in the Fleet formation).
In each of its Movement phase, it must head for the player's starting line.

A Carrier that has to withdraw, also:

Cannot leave unaccompanied: if it breaks off the formation, at least 1 other ship must be placed with the Carrier (as part of the Withdrawing marker) to escort it.
For the other ships in the Carrier Task Force, if the Carrier breaks off the formation, the ring formation becomes from now on, a Fleet Task Force (of 4 boxes), using the rules for the columns. Rearrange the line-up of the column.

Note: When a withdrawing ship in the map is a Carrier, it still acts like a ring formation with other ships in the hex (withdrawing, or in other task forces). Non-Carrier ships act like column formations with other ships in the hex (withdrawing, or in other task forces).

Note: Yes, you could remove an entire Task Force by making all the ships as escorts of the withdrawing ship, and thus, saving a Fleet marker for any other uses (as they are usually limited in number), but when playing with the Fog of War, the ships under a numbered Withdraw marker (on map) are always visible, while those on a Fleet marker not. And remember that any ship accompanying a withdrawing ship must move towards the starting line.

3.5.3. Carriers & Land Bases

Carriers and Land Bases have further damage rules, because their "air base" role.

3.5.4. Amplified Damage

If an attack results in any combat hit inflicted to a Carrier/Land Base that has Aircraft units in the READY section, these aircraft may be hit too and cause more damage to the Carrier/Land base. Just before applying the combat hits to the Carrier/Land base, roll 1D6, and if the result is in the range of 1-3, the aircrafts on the flight deck are striken and explode:

All the air units in the READY slot are destroyed
Amplify the damage to the Carrier/Land base, adding to the combat hits from the attack 1 combat hit per 2 steps of Fighters destroyed (round up), and 3 hits per 2 steps of Bombers destroyed.

3.5.5. Flight deck / Airway damage

Whenever a Carrier/Land base take Minor and Significant Damage, roll 1D6 to see if its launching and landing capabilities are affected. If it takes Critical Damage, no need to roll the die, the aircraft units can't land nor launch from it.

Note: if the Carrier was undamaged and in the same attack it suffered Significant Damage, you first roll for the effects of Minor, and then for the effects of Significant.

Die Roll	Minor	Significant	Critical
1	Can't land	Can't launch & land + Withdrawal	Can't land & launch + Withdrawal
2	Can't launch	Can't land + Withdrawal	Can't land & launch + Withdrawal
3	Unaffected	Can't land + Withdrawal	Can't land & launch + Withdrawal
4	Unaffected	Can't launch + Withdrawal	Can't land & launch + Withdrawal
5	Unaffected	Can't launch + Withdrawal	Can't land & launch + Withdrawal
6	Unaffected	Unaffected*	Can't land & launch + Withdrawal

* Even if unaffected with a Significant Damage, it must Withdraw if it had a "Can't Land" or "Can't Launch" from a previous Minor Damage result.

Can't Land: no air unit can go to LANDING, or from CAP to READY, in that Carrier/Land base.

Note: Carriers/Land bases can still launch aircraft (to CAP/RAID) even if they cannot return to land on them, as they may land on other Carriers/Land bases.

Can't Launch: no air unit can go to CAP/RAID in that Carrier/Land base.

If the Carrier/Land base had the capabilities affected by a previous attack, those capabilities are still affected by new attacks that change the Damage category.

Example: CV Hornet suffers a Minor Damage, rolls for flight deck damage and gets a "Can't launch" result. If it gets a Significant damage result later, and rolls a 2 on the Flight Deck damage, it will be unable to land (by this damage) and unable to land (by the previous damage). If it had rolled a 6, it would have still been unable to land units (and also would have to withdraw because the previous "Can't launch" result).

If the capability is affected by Minor damage, and it's repaired by emergency repairs later, this also restores its landing and launching capabilities.

A Carrier that has to withdraw, may still launch/land aircraft (whichever is undisabled) after breaking from its fleet.

3.5.6. Land Base Damaged

Inflicting a Significant damage to a land base unit halves the number of aircraft it can hold. If this falls below the number of aircraft already at the base, remove excess units from its READY slot first, and then from the RESERVES if there are still units to remove.

If a land base is destroyed, remove all the aircraft units in its Aircraft Status chart (any status).

Note that those that have to return from a mission to it can't land on a Carrier, so they usually will be destroyed too when returning to base.

3.6. Handling of Fleet Markers

3.6.1. Dummies

Dummies are used to deceive the enemy, giving you more time to find their Task Forces and thus striking first.

Dummies are removed from the board when located by:

Reconnaissance planes (see Recon rules)
At the end of the movement phase if an Enemy Task Forces is in its ZOC.

Dummies may be re-used on night. As the number of fleet markers (Fleet + Dummies) to use is fixed at 12 throughout the game, each Task Force wiped out (by destruction, withdrawal, and merging of entire Task Forces) puts one extra dummy marker at your disposal. By the same logic, every time you split a Task Force in two you have one less Dummy to use.

On the movement phase of any turn during the night those dummies up to the maximum marked before can be stacked on top of other Fleet markers. Do this out of your opponent's sight, in a way that the opponent doesn't see which is the dummy and which is the genuine Fleet marker.

Note: In the movement phase you may send the stacks' markers off in different directions so your opponent loses track of previously uncovered Fleets.

Dummy markers can not move into enemy ZOC (3.4).

3.6.2. Detection Level

A Fleet marker is undetected if it's showing its flag side.

A Fleet marker is partially detected if it has a Report marker.

A Fleet marker is detected if it's showing its numbered side.

3.6.3. Splitting Task Forces

On the movement phase of any Night turn you may split Task Forces into two or more.

Make the adjustments in the fleet formation sheet (observing the restrictions). New numbered TF marker(s) will be needed for the new Task Force(s). Make your opponent aware of where the splitting is being done in the map, and add to this original marker one (or more) markers. If the original splitting Task Force was undetected, the new Task Forces are undetected as well, and if it was detected (face down), the new are detected. Sacrifice dummy markers if necessary so that you do not exceed 12 markers.

You can add an extra layer of concealment by stacking dummies on these markers (as in 3.6.1).

3.6.4. Merging & Rearranging Task Forces

You may arrange your ships between different existing Task Forces in the same hex. If one Task Force is fully incorporated into another Task Force(s), set aside its Fleet marker (during the night you will have one more dummy to place).

You may also reorder as you wish the ships within their own formations.

That may be done:

At the start of your movement phase.
At the very start of the Raid phase, before it's started by the first player

Comply with the restrictions on Fleet formations (see 3.7.1)

If a detected or partially detected Task Force "A" fully merges with or send ships to an undetected Task Force "B", this TF "B" is now detected as well:

If the TF "A" was fully detected (fleet marker showing the TF number) then the TF "B" will be fully detected.
If the TF "A" was partially detected (it has a Report marker) then place a Report marker (opponent chooses its side) with the TF "B"

Consider the ships on map (those that are withdrawing and those escorting them) as their own formations, so they can also rearrange and reorder: sending ships to Task Forces, receiving ships from Task Forces, and reordering their own column formations (the ring formations need no reordering). A withdrawing Carrier must always have at least one escort with it (if it had one when started the withdrawal).

3.6.5. Splitting & Merging Destroyers (DD)

You may split/merge DD units freely. That may be done:

At the start of your movement phase.
At the very start of the Raid phase, before it's started by the first player

Merge: take 2 reduced DD counters in the same hex. Flip one of them to its full strength side and set aside the other off board. Any Minor Damage marker(s) of any of the reduced DDs is placed on the full counter.

Split: take 1 full DD counter. Flip to its reduced strength side and place another one (reduced side) in a free box of any formation in the hex, or in the map if you want the DD to escort another witdrawing unit in the map. A Minor damage marker will go with one of the reduced units, or with both if there were 2 Minor damage markers.

Example: If you merge a reduced DD with Minor damage, with another reduced DD undamaged, the final full strength counter will have a Minor Damage (that one from the damaged ship). In the very strange case of two reduced DD with minor damage both, the resulting full counter DD unit would have 2 minor damage markers, to remember that both of them are damaged. If one Minor damage marker, then it's the first ship the one who is damaged (for handling damage considerations). Do similarly when splitting a full strength DD into 2 reduced DDs.

3.7. Setup of a Scenario

Each scenario will list a number of ships and air units, number of fleet markers (Task Forces and Dummies), land bases (if any), and in some cases special setup conditions for that scenario.

The scenario special setup rules take precedence over the next common rules, and sometimes may put an exception to the regular rules. Follow the setup instructions of the scenario, while complying with the common setup rules of this section:

3.7.1. Fleet formation sheet (Task Forces)

With the ships offered by the scenario, you may create Task Forces by placing the ships on the formations. The only restrictions, apart from those of the scenario, are the following:

Note: Remember that although a full strength Destroyer counter has 2 ships, it's still 1 counter.

The number of boxes of each formation is a maximum, you can't place more counters than boxes.

The formations have special rules. You can see them here and in the player aid.

In a Carrier Task Force you must always have 1 Carrier in the central box, and in the other boxes you may place any other ships except:

Other Carriers
Battleships (BB) due to their lower speeds. The only exceptions are the IJN's high-speed battleships Kongō, Hiei, Haruna and Kirishima.
Tankers (AO)

In a Fleet Task Force you can't have Carriers, and the formation must have at least 1.5 units.

Note: Remember: a full strength DD (or AK) is 1 unit, and a reduced DD (or AK) 0.5 units.

You can't voluntarily bypass these restrictions when splitting/merging/rearranging fleets (see 3.6). You may bypass the restriction on minimum ships to form a Fleet Task Forces when you send other ships to escort a withdrawn ship.

Note: you may end up having a Fleet Task Force with less ships than the stipulated here because: (1) some of they have been sunk or withdrawn, or (2) a Carrier Task Force has lost the Carrier and the new Fleet Task Force doesn't have enough ships. It's ok, and you don't have to replenish it if you have more Task Forces later in the hex. What you can't do is voluntarily move ships out of a Task Force (except when you decide to send escorts with a newly withdrawn ship) if that Task Force is then left with only 1 capital ship, or 2 DD/AK ships.

You may combine two Task Forces (line and/or ring formations) into one Task Force. Simply put one of the Fleet markers onto the Fleet formation sheet of the other.

Suppose you have task forces in boxes No.1 and 2, and want to combine them. To do this you place the TF.2 marker at the side of the "No.1" label in the fleet formation sheet, and will use the TF.1 marker in the map.

If the opponent does a Recon on the (combined) Fleet marker, treat it as a Carrier Task Force if any of the 2 formations is a Carrier Task Force.

Note: why would you want to do that? It's not the usual thing to do, they are from now on obliged to move together (unless they split at night), and it's only one marker (so the enemy only has to recon it). But, this way you save up one fleet marker of the total you can use in the scenario, so you can use more dummies, and being both Task Forces together you may rearrange the ships to offer better defense in case some of them are removed. Or for any other reasons, up to you.

A full strength destroyer unit can be split up as two reduced destroyer units when forming fleets.

About fog of war: the opponent will usually see your formation sheet, and viceversa, but during the setup both of you create the formations simultaneously and hidden from the other.

3.7.2. Aircraft status sheet

All aircraft units are placed in the READY and/or RESERVE spaces of their Carriers and Land bases, with a maximum of 4 air units in the READY space.

Note: A reduced air unit counts as 0.5 units

About fog of war: the opponent will usually see your aircraft status sheet, and viceversa, but during the setup both of you assign the air units simultaneously and hidden from the other.

Example: Let's say that in the Fleet formation sheet's TF.1 you have the Zuikaku. The Zuikaku's aerial units (marked "Zui") then go to the slots of the Aircraft status sheet's No.1. They may go in either the "READY" or "RESERVE" slots. There are no placement restrictions other than: only four units at maximum can go in the READY slot.

3.7.3. Fleet markers

With all your Task Forces and air units arrayed, next up is to place Fleet markers on the map. Both players use 12 Fleet markers (Task Forces and Dummies). You will have one Fleet marker per Task Force (with the identifier number of the formation sheet), and the rest will be dummies. The only restriction is that at least half of the Fleet markers must be dummies

You can stack as many markers as you like on top of each other... but it would be wise not to get carried away. With all 12 markers separate, the opponent will have to search more hexes to find the Task Forces. At the other extreme, stacking all 12 markers immediately gives the fleets' position away.

3.7.4. Recon chits and turn record track

Put all recon chits (54) into any container to allow for random drawing, such as a cup or a bag. Place the turn marker in the correct space as indicated in the scenario information.

3.8. Fog of War

This game was designed for the beginners: the aircraft status sheets and fleet formation sheets can be inspected by all players at any time.

3.8.1. Optional Advanced Fog of War

If you want a higher layer of concealment in your games, you may use this rule if all the players agree.

It's also a special rule for some of the advanced scenarios.

Task Forces:

Your fleet formation sheet can be inspected only by you, so when your opponent declares a raid or starts a naval combat he will not know how much firepower he is up against until the very last moment.
In a Naval Battle, you only need to show your opponent the units involved in an attack after it has been declared, to choose targets and ensure damage is calculated honestly.
In an air Raid, you only expose all the ships in the target hex after completing CAP interception.

Air units:

Likewise, the aircraft status sheet is kept hidden.
Not the same for the Land-based aircraft sheet, which may be inspected at any time by all.

Withdrawing Ships not in a Task Force:

They may be always inspected at any time by all the players.

3.9. Victory Conditions

Each scenario has its own victory conditions. They can be found in the scenario information.

4. Sequence of Play

TASK FORCE is played in a varying number of game turns, depending on the scenario.

Turns consist of each force moving their units and engaging in combat. When all actions are complete the next turn commences; actions can then be performed anew.

Turns are split into five phases, as follows:

Turn Phases

1. Naval Movement Phase (see 4.1 Naval Movement Phase)

Players reposition their Fleet markers in accordance with their tactical aims.

You may merge Task Forces and/or rearrange their composition. During night turns, you may create new Task Forces by splitting existing ones.

Initiative player acts first, then the other player.

2. Naval Combat Phase (see 4.2 Naval Combat Phase)

Opposing fleets exchange naval gunfire and torpedoes if adjacent to each other.

Attacks are simultaneous.

3. Aircraft Operations Phase (see 4.3 Aircraft Operations Phase)

Aircraft that conducted a raid on the previous turn, or a CAP mission, lands. You may prepare other aircraft for combat action, CAP missions, and launch bombing Raid missions. Lastly any launched Raid mission is resolved, where air-to-air and air-to-surface fighting may occur. Just before the phase starts, both players may merge/rearrange their Task Forces.

Unlike the other phases, a die roll decides which player goes first in this phase. The player who rolls higher goes second. In our experience the player going second has an advantage. Reroll any ties.

4. Reconnaissance Phase (see 4.4 Reconnaissance (Recon) Phase)

Players attempt to locate the enemy fleet.

Initiative player conducts recon attempts first.

5. Administrative Phase (see 4.5 Administrative (Admin) Phase)

Emergency Repairs on ships with minor damage take place. Then, the turn marker is moved to the next slot.

If it's the first Night turn of that day, after moving the Turn marker, all the recon markers (used and on map) return to the recon cup, all the Report markers are removed, and sighted fleets get hidden.

4.1. Naval Movement Phase

In this phase the players reposition their Fleet markers in accordance with their tactical aims.

The Initiative player conducts this phase first, then the other player.

First of all, you may add dummies (only at night), and split (only at night), merge, and rearrange your Task Forces, and merge and split DD units. See 3.6 for full rules and restrictions.

And then, you may move your Fleet markers and withdrawing ships on map.

Lastly, after both players have moved, remove enemy Dummies that are in enemy ZOC.

Note: Just in case you are a novice player, or with experience in other type of games different than wargames, be aware that the direction of movements is unrestricted (at night you can move one hex in one direction, then one hex in another), and also that you can choose not to move your markers, but you cannot pass a move on to the next turn or another marker.

4.1.1. Movement of Fleet markers

Markers can move one hex during the day, two at night. A Fleet marker may be moved in any direction(s) – as long as it does not enter a hex fully covered by land terrain or occupied by an enemy fleet marker, even if it's a dummy, or an enemy withdrawing ship, neither cross a coral reef or a hexside fully covered by land.

Dummy markers can not move into enemy ZOC (3.4).

Note: Fleets may enter a hex with an enemy land base marker, as this marker is placed on map only for easy and quick consultation on the base's status.

Example A shows a IJN fleet's movement options. It's blocked from moving by an enemy marker, and coral reef hexsides.

Example B shows a fleet that's blocked from moving by fully covered land hexsides.

Example C shows a fleet that's blocked from moving by coral reefs on all but one hexsides.

4.1.2. Withdrawals

Ships that are withdrawing because of their damage and their escorts are always on map. You will usually use the numbered Withdrawing marker in their place for convenience because the ships are larger than the hexes. They can be inspected at any time.. They must head for your starting line following the movement rules. If the witdrawing ships are inside a Task Force, then you will use the non-numbered side of the marker in the Task Force display, and the Task Force will head for their starting line. They will follow the Fog of War rules agreed by both players, if any (3.8), in which case they usually cannot be inspected by the opponent (as it's the case for any other Task Force).

4.1.3. Transports (AK)

Transports, or a Fleet marker with Transports, can move only during Night turns, and during odd numbered Day turns.

They can only move 1 hex per turn (day and night).

4.1.4. Moving out of map:

You can move a marker or unit off of the board entirely, from one of the edge hexes. The ships that exit the map cannot return.

You may wish to avoid taking damage, which would allow your enemy to gain VP, or maybe it's a withdrawing ship (in which case you don't have option).

4.1.5. Remove Dummies in Enemy ZOC

When all movement is complete for both players, all Dummy markers that are in an enemy ZOC must be removed from the board.

Note: not all adjacent hexes are in ZOC. And remember that the recon chits under fleet markers will not return to the chit container until the night.

4.2. Naval Combat Phase

Opposing fleets exchange naval gunfire and torpedoes if adjacent to each other.

This phase is resolved for all players simultaneously.

When movement is complete, check if there are any Fleet markers of the two opposing sides in enemy ZOC (not all adjacent hexes are in ZOC) or Fleet markers in an enemy land base hex. If there are, flip all the markers to their back side (showing the TF number), and then one or more naval battles commence.

A Fleet marker may attack (bombard) a land base if it's not involved in a naval battle at the same time. Read the rule 4.2.4 for the conditions and special rules for bombarding land bases.

Note: remember that ships that are on map withdrawing are considered like a Fleet, so they can participate in the naval combat phase

4.2.1. Designate the Surface Battles Composition

All fleets that are adjacent to the enemy fleet(s) must participate in surface battles.

If there are doubts about how many battles can be fought, the initiative player decides the composition (which fleet will participate in which surface battle) and the order of the battles.

All the friendly Fleets in a same battle are considered as one Fleet to resolve it.

It is possible to resolve one surface battle in the case where a group of Fleets has all friendly fleets in the ZOC of all enemy fleets.

Example: The initiative player have three options to arrange the surface combat:

A single battle: IJN TF.1 & 2 vs USN TF.1 & 2. Or,

Two battles: (A) IJN TF.1 vs. USN TF.1; and (B) IJN TF.2 vs. USN TF.2. Or,

Two battles: (A) IJN TF.1 vs. USN TF.2; and (B) IJN TF.2 vs. USN TF.1.

In this case, IJN TF.4 must fight with USN TF.3. USN TF.4 cannot participate in the battle including IJN TF.4.

The initiative player must decide now one of these three options:

(A) IJN TF.4 vs. USN TF.3; and (B) IJN TF.3 & 5 vs. USN TF.4. Or,

(A) IJN TF.3 & 4 vs. USN TF.3; and (B) IJN TF.5 vs. USN TF.4. Or,

(A) IJN TF.4 & 5 vs. USN TF.3; and (B) IJN TF.3 vs. USN TF.4.

4.2.2. Naval Battle Procedure

One round of battle is resolved per turn. How a round of battle plays out depends on whether it is a day or night turn. The next procedure applies for Day turns, and for Night battles we apply the procedure too, changing some of the rules. The Night battles changes are two, and are explained in section following this one.

For each battle, follow the next procedure in order:

1. The fleets decide the gun range

Only the ships with the greatest gun range involved in this battle will attack.

So, if one fleet has CA ships and the other CL ships, only the CA ships will attack. If the other would have had CA too, both sides' CA would attack.

Priority order by guns' range (higher to lower): Battleships (BB) → Heavy cruisers (CA) → Light cruisers (CL) → Destroyers (DD)

If both sides agree on a particular ship type, use it instead and include also the ranges of higher priority. If there is no agreement, use the priority order.

Example: if I have both BB and CA and you have only CA and CL, the basic range is BB: only BB may fire. If you want to use the CA range, and I agree to, I can use both the BB and CA, and you the CA. If we agree in using the CL range – (it's a nonsense, but who knows...) – then all of the BB, CA and CL may fire.

Once the line-up of participating ships is decided, you select which ships to attack and which to attack with. The Initiative player declares the targets and resolves fire first, and then the second player does so. Lastly, apply damage simultaneously.

2. The Initiative player's participating ships fix their targets

Select target naval counters and which participating attacking naval counters target them. More than one counter can choose the same target at same time, but one attacking counter may target only one enemy counter. And if three or more counters attack the same target, split them in groups of one or two counters.

Note that we are talking about counters, not ships, so a full strength DD is 1 counter even if it represents 2 ships.

Example: 6 naval counters attacking the same target would split into three groups of 2 counters, and carry out three separate attacks, or 2 groups of 2 counters and 2 groups of 1 counter (four attacks), or 1 group of 2 counters and 4 of 1 counter (five attacks), or 6 groups of 1 counter (six attacks).

Target selection is not restricted to a specific ship class. You can freely choose amongst all the ships of the enemy fleet.

All the targets are decided now, in advance of determining the attack's result.

Note: What differs from air-to-surface attacks (seen later), is that all the targets are decided in advance of determining the attack's result. If you fire on the same enemy twice and the first attack sinks the target, the second attack is wasted.

Remember that a ship with Critical Damage has 0 Firepower.

3. The Initiative player's attacking ships fire

For each attack use the Naval Combat Table. Roll 1D6 (Row) and add a DRM of +1 if the attacking ships are the IJN's (this reflects the difference in the two navies' levels of experience):

Then cross-refer with the sum of all the Firepower values of the attacking ships (Column).

The result is the number of combat Hits that must be applied to the target (see 3.5 Handling of Combat Hits). All the attacks from both sides are simultaneous. This means that you only will adjust for damage during step 6).

4. The second player's participating ships fix their targets

Same as 2), but this time the acting player is the second player.

5. The second player's attacking ships fire

Same as 3), but this time the acting player is the second player.

6. Apply damages from all the attacks simultaneously

Now the damage from the attacks on the ships is applied.

Example: Suppose that in a daytime naval battle, ABDA's TF.7 (initiative player) is in the ZOC of IJN's TF.10. The range of both fleets is CA and ABDA doesn't want to change range because the IJN fleet has more CL. ABDA player decide that the CA HMS Exeter (undamaged) and USS Houston (significant damage) target the IJN's CA Haguro (undamaged). Their combined firepower is 8, so a roll of 4 gives a result of 6 combat hits in the naval combat table. The Haguro's durability is less than the attack strength by 1, so it takes significant damage, but it's not flipped face-down yet, the results will be applied at the end of the battle. Now the IJN's decide that the CA Haguro will target USS Houston, and that CA Nachi will target Houston as well but not as a group with Haguro, so that will be 2 attacks. Haguro's firepower of 6 (as it's not damaged yet) rolls a 4, modified to a 5 because it's an IJN ship, with a result of 5 combat hits. The USS Houston's durability is less than the attack strength by 1, so it will sink (at the end of the battle). CA Nachi's attack is wasted because USS Houston will sink anyways, IJN may roll, but it's unnecessary, and may not change targets. Now there are no more unresolved attacks, so both apply damage: CA Haguro gets Significant damage and is flipped down, and USS Houston sinks and is removed from the game.

4.2.3. Night battles

During night turns we apply two rules. These two rules aside, battles are conducted the same as in the day.

Step 1 - Range: All the ships participate in battle (not only the greatest range ones).

Steps 3 & 5 - Fire: IJN destroyers' (DD) firepower doubles (this represents the increased effectiveness of their "Long Lance" torpedoes.)

4.2.4. Bombarding a Land Base

A Task Force may attack (bombard) a land base if:

It's in the same hex as the land base, and
It's not adjacent to an enemy Task Force. If it's adjacent it will fight a naval battle.

Treat the attack as a naval battle, and refer to the naval combat chart to decide the result. There are some differences with battles between ships:

All the ships and the land base (if it has a firepower value) attack
Any number of ships can attack simultaneously. You do not need to split into groups of two.
Destroyers do not have double firepower attacking the base at nighttime.
No surprise attacks (rule 4.2.5)

Note: There are some land bases that have firepower, and they will return fire.

4.2.5. Surprise Attacks

Apply this rule only for scenarios that explicitly says that, and if both players agree, for some Custom scenarios.

The USN's major ships are equipped with radar, giving them significant advantages in naval combat.

Roll 1D6 just before deciding the gun range (step 1):

A result of 1-2: It's an USN surprise attack
A result of 3-5: It's a normal naval engagement
A result of 6: It's an IJN surprise attack

A surprise attack means that the sides do not fire simultaneously. The side making the surprise attack acts as if it was the initiative player, inflicting damage first, and then the opponent returns fire adjusting for units damaged or sunk.

4.3. Aircraft Operations Phase

Just before this phase starts, both players may merge/rearrange their Task Forces (see 3.6.4), and merge and split DD units, starting with the initiative player.

And then, proceed to the proper Aircraft Operations for the Air units in their Aircraft status sheet:

A. Aircraft Status (4.3.1) - First the aircraft returning from a previous turn mission must land, and the other aircraft may change their status (moved to RESERVES or READY, or flying a mission like CAP and RAID). Unlike the other phases, a die roll decides which player goes first in this step. The player who rolls lowest goes first. In our experience the player going second has an advantage. Reroll any ties.

B. Raid execution (4.3.2) - Then both players execute the RAIDs launched this turn simultaneously. A Raid includes a possible interception from the target, and then if any bomber survived, the target bombing (air-to-surface combat).

C. Return to Base (4.3.3) - Finally, all the aircraft proceed to return to their bases from their missions, changing to a LANDING status that will be completed in the Aircraft Operations of the next turn.

Note: as you will read in the next section, during the last daytime turn you will only be able to move units between the LANDING, READY and RESERVE slots, and during the night turns only between READY and RESERVE. So, the entire phase is practically skipped during those turns.

4.3.1. Aircraft Status

Both players roll 1D6 to decide which player goes first during this step. The player who rolls lowest roll goes first (in our experience the player going second has an advantage), and resolves this step, and then the second player. Reroll any tie.

An air unit changes its status by moving its counter between the different slots of its base (a base is a Carrier or a Land base) where it is based in the Aircraft status sheet. Each slot represents the actual status of the different air units that are inside, and it's usually correlated to a physical location (the READY is usually the flight deck, RESERVE the hangar, the CAP is the air above the base where the air units are patrolling, etc...) The directional arrows there show to which slots the air units can (or must in the case of the "LANDING" slots) be moved.

A "move" is another way to represent the change of status of the air unit.

For example, an aircraft in the "READY" slot can move anywhere but the "LANDING" slots, whereas an aircraft in the "LANDING from map" slot has to be moved to "Reserve."

Note: The "RAID" status have no slot, because the units are moved directly to the map (to the hex where the target of the mission is located).

Each aircraft unit may be moved a maximum of one slot.

Follow the procedure in order:

A. You may move the air units in the RESERVE and READY slots as you wish, with the previous restriction: one slot maximum to an adjacent connected slot following the arrows direction. And also any restrictions of the status/slot. (RAID has some restrictions on whom you can fly a RAID mission, or external CAP mission)

Exception: During the last daytime turn, and all night turns, you can't move units to CAP and RAID

B. You must move the air units in the LANDING slots.

Units in the LANDING from CAP slot may go to either the READY slot or RESERVE slot. Units in the LANDING from Map slot go to the RESERVE slot.

C. And now, you must check that you have not exceeded the total aircraft unit limits per base (Ready + Reserve slots), and total per READY slot:

Max. Aircraft per Carrier
CVL (USN and IJN):	4 units
CVL (RN):	2.5 units
CV IJN:	8 units
CV USN:	10 units
CV RN:	6 units

Max. Aircraft per Land Base: The aircraft capacity of the land bases are shown in their counters.

Max. Aircraft in READY status: 4 aircraft per Carrier/Land Base.

Remember that a reduced aircraft counts as 0.5 units.

NOTE: this limits are based on the scenarios, that are based on battles and campaigns on the earlier Pacific War. If you want to design later Pacific War scenarios (or Custom), be aware that by then the capacity of the Carriers and bases changed.

If the conditions are not met, remove excess units from play (crash/emergency landing):

If the excess is for the READY status capacity, remove first from the units that landed from CAP.
If the excess is in the total of the Carrier or Land base, remove first from the units that landed from CAP and from Map (owner's choice).

Air unit Status:

RESERVE: An aircraft that has returned from an assignment and is undergoing maintenance, or is waiting in the hangar.

READY: A combat-ready aircraft, usually aboard the flight deck or ready to take-off the runway.

Only 4 units maximum can be here at the end of the aircraft status step.

CAP: (Combat Air Patrol) A fighter plane patrolling a ship or land base, or a bomber that take off to not be bombarded while on the runway (this is not CAP, but we include here this option at player's discretion).

If a fighter (not a bomber) is in this slot when an enemy attacks, they will initiate aerial combat.
Any unit will be for 1 turn at most here, because during the Return to Base step they will have to land.

RAID (this include CAP to other ships/bases): An aircraft in the middle of a raid on an enemy fleet or land base, or doing CAP missions to another friendly fleet or land base.

Units are moved to "RAID" if they are going to attack or send CAP to other Fleets/Land bases:

A. Sending CAP to another Fleet / Land base If you are going first (only), you can declare you are doing CAP for another friendly fleet or land base. Send the fighters (there can't be bombers) to the target hex on the map, and it must be within 5 hexes. You can only send CAP to a hex with Fleet marker(s) if at least one is detected or partially detected.

B. Raid (Bomb) an enemy Fleet / Land base You may declare a Raid against an enemy fleet or land base. Send the air units to the target hex on the map, and it must be within 5 hexes, or 4 hexes in the case of the Douglas TBD Devastator. You can only Raid to a hex with Fleet marker(s) if at least one is detected or partially detected.

There won't be option to retreat after initiating a CAP or Raid mission.

Raids against Land bases have some special rules. See 4.3.6 rule below.

Land base units may execute long range raids. See rule 4.3.7 below.

Special rule for the Mitsubishi A6M "Zero": You can split a full strength unit into 2 reduced units (by using an extra counter) so you can send both to different missions (RAID & both types of CAP). You can merge any Zero units at any moment, or keep them split.

Note: try to remember the home base of the extra counter, it will have to return to its home base if possible.

LANDING: An aircraft returning from a mission (from CAP on its base, or from a Raid or CAP on map).

Air units are moved to the corresponding LANDING slot of a base during the Return to Base step (see 4.3.3), and then, at the next turn Aircraft Operations phase (see 4.3.1), the surviving units will land, moving them to the RESERVE slot (for refueling/maintenance), or even the READY slot (if from their own CAP, because aircraft returning from raids or external CAP take longer to reprepare).

During the Return to Base step, a unit from a Raid or external CAP Mission will return to the LANDING from Map slot, and a unit from CAP to the LANDING from CAP slot. They will do enter the LANDING slots of their home bases.

If it's not possible to land on their home base, you can land them on a different base (complying with the same requirements), and in that case:

They are placed on the LANDING from Map slot (even if they were on CAP Mission on their home bases).
An aircraft whose home base is a land base can't land on a Carrier.
If it's not possible to land on any base, the unit will be removed from play (crash/emergency landing).

4.3.2. Raid execution

Now that both of you have finished moving your aircraft, let's move on to the serious part of the Operations phase.

Both players execute the Raids launched this turn simultaneously.

Firstly, reveal all the Fleet markers in the target hex. They are from now on fully detected: set aside the Recon chits and the Patrol markers (the recon chits will not return to the chit container until night).

And now, for each target hex, resolve that Raid. There may be an air interception, and then a bombing of the ships / land base in the target:

1. The defending air units intercept the bombers (Air-to-Air combat)

All the Fleets and land bases in the target hex must intercept a raid against them with all the fighters that are in their CAP slots.

Exception: for a raid where the bombers are only B17 (even if they have fighter escorts), the IJN fighters don't have to intercept them unless they want to.

Allied Radar: the Allied player may move fighters in a target's READY slot to CAP, to be included in the fight, if those fighters didn't change their status this turn (they started the phase in the READY slot).
CAP from other bases: you must include all those fighters that are in the hex that were sent as a CAP mission from other Fleets and land bases.

Note on Allied Radar: Even when the Allied Fleets go first they don't need to send fighters to CAP preventively. The radar gave the Allies the benefit of not suffering a surprise attack (in theory). Unlike the Allies, the IJN Fleets going first should plan the CAP missions or risk suffering a surprise attack.

Resolve the Air to Air Combats (see 4.3.4)

2. The surviving bombers attack the target's ships / land base (Air-to-Surface combat)

The attacking Bombers that weren't intercepted, or those that were intercepted and got a "*" result in the air-to-air table and survived, bomb the target. The fighters are not used here.

Resolve the Air to Surface Combats (see 4.3.5)

Note: the order in which you resolve the Raids doesn't matter, but if you want one, the player that acted first in the phase decides.

Note: the Raid is resolved per hex, so aircraft that raid from different bases attacking the fleets and/or bases in the same hex are considered a single group, so they are intercepted and attack together. All the fleets and bases in the same target hex are considered a single group too (but they are still different formations for anti-air fire considerations, of course), so any CAP from Carriers (or external) in the hex protects all the ships, and any ship may be targeted by the air units.

4.3.3. Return to Base

Now that the Raid has concluded, the surviving air units (raiding or doing CAP) return to their bases to refit and prepare for more missions.

Both players return to base their aircraft simultaneously. Move all the aircraft on the map and on the CAP to the corresponding LANDING slots of their bases, or to another bases if their base is unable to receive aircrafts.

This step is resolved even if there were no Raids this turn, because there may be units in CAP missions (in the CAP slot or in the map).

The conditions to land in a base (put the air units in a LANDING slot of a base) are the following:

The aircraft must land at its home base (its Carrier, or land base) if possible.
If it's not possible to land on its home base, then another base may be choosen, but it must be within 5 hexes, or 4 hexes for a Douglas TBD Devastator air unit
An aircraft whose home base is a Land base can't land on a Carrier.
The base must be able to land aircraft (landing capablities are sometimes disabled when a base sustains damage).
The base must have enough free space

A unit landing on its home base:

from a Raid or CAP Mission in the map, will return to the "LANDING from Map" slot.
from CAP, will go to the "LANDING from CAP slot".

A unit that have to land on a different base will go to the "LANDING from Map" slot (even if they were on CAP Mission on their home bases). From now on the home base of this unit is the new base.

Exception: There is an edge case where an air unit can't land in its home base because the base has a minor damage that resulted in a "can't land". If the base repairs that minor damage, the air unit may land later there in the return to base from another mission.

If it's not possible to land on any base, the unit will be removed from play (crash/emergency landing).

4.3.4. Air-to-Air Combat Procedure

This is the sequence for air-to-air attacks when there is a raid interception: first the patrolling air units engage the raiding air units, and then the air combats are resolved.

1. Interceptors engage the Raiding aircrafts

The intercepting player decides the pairings of aircrafts that engage each other:

One unit of interceptors engage one unit of raiders.
If the raiders have fighters, they are intercepted first.
If there are more raiding fighters than interceptors, you must still intercept every fighter. This means taking on multiple units with one interceptor, distributing as evenly as possible (so no interceptor pairs with 3 fighters until at least all the other interceptors have paired with 2 fighters).
Once all the raiding fighters are engaged (if any), intercept bombers choosing a mix of (a) Torpedo and (b) Horizontal and Dive Bombers (B and DB) as evenly as possible (1 T, 1 B/DB, 1 T, 1B/DB... or viceversa)
If there are unengaged interceptors after all the raiding aircraft have been engaged, target single raiders with multiple interceptors.
The intercepting player can decide not to pair with B17s.

Special rule for the Mitsubishi A6M "Zero": Either raiding, or intercepting, you can split a full strength unit into 2 reduced units (by using an extra counter). You can merge any Zero units at any moment, or keep them split.

Note: try to remember the home base of the extra counter, it will have to return to its home base if possible.

2. Resolve all the air combats

The intercepting player resolves each engagement (pairing of interceptor(s) and raider(s)), one by one. The order doesn't matter. For each combat:

Use the Air-to-Air Table. Roll 1D6 (Row) and cross-refer with the Air-to-Air values difference (Interceptors' - Raiders') (Column).

The result is given as:

Results with an "R" affect the Raider, results with an "I" affect the Interceptor.
A Number refers to the steps lost by the "R" or "I". Any steps lost in excess once all the affected units in that pairing are shot down do not carry over to other pairings.
An * means that an intercepted bomber (if it was a Bomber) that doesn't end up shot-down (if any damage) may continue with the Raid mission.

Note: an intercepted (paired) Bomber will not bomb the target in the air-to-surface step unless the result is a * and it's not fully shot down (it still has 1 step after this combat).

Example: Refer to the picture. The USN raiders have two F4Fs, two SBDs and two TBDs. The IJN interceptors have four reduced Zeros, that the IJN player decided to split up from two full strength Zeros. The Zeros intercept the fighters (F4Fs) first, and have two more units as leftover to intercept with. They cannot attack both of the more powerful dive bombers (SBDs) because they must mix between T and B/DB, so they target one SBD (DB) and one TBD (T).

Now the pairings are resolved in any order. Let's see what happens with one of the reduced Zero against the SBD:

Interceptors' air value – Raider's air value: 3-2 = 1.

Refer to the +1 column in the air-to-air combat table, and roll a die. 3a. If the roll is 1 we get R2. This means 2 steps of damage for the raiders. Therefore, the SBD unit is shot down or too badly damaged to continue fighting. Remove the counter from play. 3b. Instead with a roll of 2 we get R2 / I1, i.e the interceptors take 1 step of damage as well. 3c. With a roll of 6 we get R1 / I1 *. The asterisk means that if the raiders involved in the pairing (in this case it's only the SBD) are not shot down after that 1 step of damage, they will go on to attack their target (this applies for torpedo, dive and horizontal bombers.)

The rest of the pairings will be resolved one by one.

4.3.5. Air-to-Surface Combat Procedure

This is the sequence for air-to-surface attacks: first the attacking player chooses a surface target (ship or land base) and a group of attacking air units (bombers), then the surface unit defends with ant-air defences, and lastly the surviving air units attack the unit.

Once an attack sequence is completed, the next group of attackers and target are chosen, and so on. While the air units can only attack once each, the enemy ships can be targeted however by different groups of air units.

1. The air units select a target

The attacking player chooses a target from all those ships (or land base) in the hex, and then one or more attacking bomber units (not fighters) from all those in the air raid (even if they came from different bases).

Multiple air units can attack as a group the same ship/land base.
Each air unit can attack only once, enemy ships/land bases can be targeted more than once

Note: It is possible to combine an unlimited number of aerial units into one group to attack the same target, but a reasonably good strategy is to combine units for an anti-ship rating of 10 or 12.

2. The target fires anti-air defenses

Before the attacking air units can get their bombs or torpedoes away, they must face anti-air fire from their target. This can lead to aircraft either missing their target or being destroyed. A target will respond with anti-air fire each time it is attacked—even if attacked multiple times.

Skip if the target has a Critical Damage (because it has an Anti-Air value of 0).

Use the Anti-Air Table. Roll 1D6 (Row) and cross-refer with the target's Anti-Air value (Column).

Add to the anti-air value the anti-air of their immediate adjacent ship's in the formation

Exception: a target ship on the outside of a ring formation uses only it's own value (don't count the Carrier)

Example: When attacking the left-side destroyer the anti-air rating used is 1+4 (i.e the target's + the neighbouring Prince of Wales'). Similarly, when attacking the Repulse you use 4+3+0.

Example: A) Only the Kirishima's own anti-air rating without any addition from the neighboring Shōkaku. B) If the Shōkaku is attacked, the rating used is 3+3+1+1+1.

The result is given as A/B, where:

A is the die roll modifier (DRM) for the next Air-to-Surface die roll. The higher it is, the higher the chance the aircraft's payload fails to hit its target

B is the Air Steps lost by the units in this attacking group. It's the attacking player who apply the result to the air units, but in the case of both Torpedo (T) and Bombers (B, DB) types in the group, the losses are applied equally between air unit type (consider B and DB the same type).

Example: an air group attacking a ship consists of 1 full strength bomber T type, and 1.5 (one full strength and one reduced) bomber B type air units. They receive a result of 1/2, so the air-to-surface roll will have a +1 DRM, and now 2 steps are lost by the air units. One step lose must go for the T, flipping it to the face down side, and the other one for one of the B (the player may choose to destroy the reduced B unit, or reduce the full B unit).

3. The surviving air units bomb the target

If there are any surviving air unit in the group, carry out the bombing attempt with them.

Use the Air-to-Surface Table. Roll 1D6 (Row) and add all the applicable (if any) DRMs from these two:

Anti-air defenses: + DRM from the previous Anti-Air result (if any).

Stationary target: -2. This modifier applies only for target in dock (Scenario 1) and any Land base.

Then cross-refer with the sum of all the Air-to-surface values of the air units in the group (Column).

The result is the number of combat Hits that must be applied to the target (see 3.5 Handling of Combat Hits).

4. If there are still bombers that have not attacked, repeat the sequence from step 1.

Note: you have a complete example of air-to-surface combats in the Scenario 1 from the Scenario book.

4.3.6. Raiding a Land Base

Raids on Land base units go as usual, plus some special rules:

Horizontal bombing is used rather than torpedoes, all the Torpedo (T type) air units have air-to-surface values of 2 and are considered B type (Horizontal Bombers) units for all the rules (air-to-air, anti-air, and the next rule below). A reduced strength "T" being used as a "B" has an air-to-surface value of 1.
Precision bombing: If there are no intercepting fighters in a Land base raid, the bombers (B and DB) have their air-to-surface values doubled, and in the case of B-17s tripled.

Note: one intercepting fighter unit is enough to avoid the danger of multiplying bomb values.

4.3.7. Long Range Raids from Land Bases

Aircraft units whose home base is a land base may execute Raids at an extended range, further than the 5 hexes carrier-based aircraft are limited to. Those units have this number (their "cruising range") above their model denomination. Consider other units who started a scenario in a land base as having those ranges too.

IJN Unit	Range
Zero / Betty / Nell	18
Kate / Val	12

USN Unit	Range	USN Unit	Range
B17	18	SBD / TBF	10
B25	14	F4F	8
B26	12	P39 / P40	6

Raids to other land bases may be executed at those ranges, and raids to Fleets at lesser ranges (8 hexes) as we will see now:

4.3.8. Raids from Land base to Land base

Land-based aircraft can raid land bases within their cruising ranges. The raids take longer the further away the target is, as follows:

Within 8 hexes: Raid executed in the same Aircraft Operations phase.
Within 9-16 hexes: In the next Aircraft Operations phase.
Over 16 hexes away: In two Aircraft Operations phases' time.

Place the aircraft units with delayed attacks on the turn track, in the box of the turn they will execute the raid. They will be put on the map that turn to remember that they participate in the Raid execution. Once a target has been set an attack cannot be called off. The Return to Base takes an equal amount of turns.

You cannot send aircraft on missions that force them to resolve the Raid at night, neither if the have to return to base at night.

Example: In the turn 3 you launch Betties and Zero from Rabaul to attack Henderson Field. The distance is 17 hexes so the journey takes two more turns (4 and 5). The raiders arrive on turn 5, and the return to base takes two more turns from there (6 and 7). On turn 8 the aircraft will move from "LANDING from map" to the RESERVE slot.

If at the turn of arrival there are Fleet markers in the land base hex, they may choose targets between ships and the base, as usual, but the "T" (torpedo) type air units are still considered as Bomber units (B) with an Air-to-Surface value of 2.

4.3.9. Raids from Land base to Fleets

A raid against a Fleet within 5 hexes still resolves at usual, but air units with extended ranges may raid a Fleet up to 8 hexes, if their crusing range allows them to.

If they raid at a range of 6 to 8 hexes, they have to check if they locate the target. Roll 1D6 for each extended Raid in this table just before any CAP interception in the target:

Distance	Success
6 hexes	2-6
7 hexes	3-6
8 hexes	5-6

If they don't locate the target, they won't participate and will return to base when all the other raids have finished.

4.4. Reconnaissance Phase

Players attempt to locate the enemy fleet. The idea of recon is to ascertain the enemy fleet's location, searching hex-by-hex.

The Initiative player conducts this phase first, then the other player.

The recon phase is skipped:

At night
On the final two daytime turns
Once all the enemy fleets are discovered (it makes no sense to do recon when there are no hidden fleets)

Summary: First of all, you may place randomly drawn Recon chits (without looking the result) on the hexes you want to scout. And then, your opponent will inspect each Recon chit one by one and reporting the result of the reconnaissance based on the chit's back side and the type of Fleet marker.

4.4.1. Searching for Enemy Fleets

First of all, you may place recon chits on the hexes you want to scout. The recon chits are drawn randomly from the recon container, and you can't inspect the back of the chit (the one with the result of the reconnaissance), and put on the hexes on their front side (the "Search" one).

Who can "send" scouts? "Active" Carriers and land bases available at the start of the turn (so, if a Carrier is sunk, or a land base destroyed, in the naval combat or raid phase, they are still counted because they sent the scouts before).

And to which hexes? Scouting range is 8 hexes, that means that markers can be searched within 8 hexes of a carrier or land base (counting "1" from the hexes adjacent to them). You scout hexes, so stacks are treated as one marker in that you only need one chit to search an entire stack.

And how many of them? It differs by scenario, but here you have a summary of it...

Allies:

2 hexes per CV and CVL (Exception: CVL Hermes can't scout).
1 hex per land base in scenarios 6 & 7.
2 hex per land base in scenario 10.

IJN:

1 hex per CVL.
1 hex per CV for scenarios before Midway (included).

Note: Scenario 8 and 9 are supposed to happen before Midway.

2 hex per CV for scenarios after Midway.
1 hex per land base.

Hexes per Base	CV	CVL	Land Base
IJN	1 (Scen. 5, 6, 8 & 9)	1	1
IJN	2 (Scen. 7 & 10)
Allies	2	2 (Hermes: 0)	1 (Scen. 6 & 7)
Allies			2 (Scen. 10)

Note: Custom scenarios (hey, they are custom!) may have a different number of hexes per carrier/land base.

Note: Until their overwhelming defeat at Midway, the IJN did not perform diligent reconnaissance. We reflect this by allowing the USN to search two hexes per carrier, but only one hex per carrier for the IJN unless a scenario takes place after Midway (June 4th, 1942).

Note that the range and number of scouts depends on the base they are launched from, so if an Allied CV has 3 enemy fleet markers within 8 hexes, and another CV has none at range, you will only place 2 chits even if theoretically you could place 4).

4.4.2. Reports from the scouts

And lastly, your opponent will inspect each Recon chit one by one, without showing the back side to you, and reports the result of the reconnaissance: The chit will either have a "Detected!", "?" or "Misdirect", and the report that will be given to you is as follows:

"?" Result: The opponent will say always "No Contact"

Low clouds, broken communications equipment, interception by enemy fighters—any such incident might have thwarted them.

"Misdirect" Result: The opponent will say...

If it's a Dummy marker: "No contact."
If it's a Carrier Task force: "Fleet Task Force sighted."
If it's a Fleet Task Force: "Carrier Task Force sighted!!!"

"Detected!" Result: The opponent will say...

If it's a Dummy marker: "No Fleet sighted.". The opponent will show you the Dummy marker along with any chits underneath it from previous searches. These chits are not returned to the chit container until nightfall.
If it's a Carrier Task force: "Carrier Task Force sighted!!!"
If it's a Fleet Task Force: "Fleet Task Force sighted."

Put the chit face up (Search) underneath the Fleet marker after searching it. Keep them together when moving the marker.

Note: The Recon chit is placed underneath the Fleet marker so both of you can later confirm (when the Fleet finally reveals as Task Force or Dummy) that nobody cheat. If you are people of honor, it's not needed to have the chit accompanying the marker, in that case, set it aside, do not return it to the recon container (until the rules say that you replenish it, at night)

If the report results in a Task Force sighted:

Put a Report marker with the Fleet, they will move together until the Task Force is finally revealed (by naval combat or air raid).
If the Task Force has only one ship, this must be reported. Scouts would be unlikely to mistake this fact. (Reminder: a full strength destroyer or transport unit is two ships).

Note: In the case of Misdirect and Detected you will be unsure if this is a genuine sighting, but you must know that the ratio of "Detected!" to "Misdirect" chits is 5:2. This means that searching a fleet marker twice and getting the same "Task Force sighted" report both times gives you an 86% chance of the report being true.

If you have more than one Fleet marker in a hex, then read the result for each Fleet marker.

Note: Beware having more than one fleet marker stacked with a Dummy in the same hex, because in case of Detected! and Misdirect your opponent will have the practical results of a Detected! (i.e. in the case of a Misdirect he will know that the Dummy is a Dummy because there will be "Task Force sighted" and "No Contact", and in the case of Detected there will be "Task Force sighted" and "No Fleet sighted"). Even if there is no Dummy stacked, and there are a Fleet TF and a Carrier TF, the opponent will know there is at least a Carrier TF there. So, according to this search system, the players will not usually stack fleet markers.

4.5. Administrative Phase

1. Emergency Repairs on ships with Minor damage take place:

First, all ships with a minor damage marker in its "Emergency Repairs" status remove the marker.
Then, all ships with a minor damage marker flip them to the "Emergency Repairs" status.

2. Then, the turn marker is moved to the next slot (and flip the marker to show which side has the Initiative).

3. And lastly, if now after moving the Turn marker it's the first Night turn of a day (turns 11 and 23):

All the Recon chits (those used and those on map) return to the recon container.
All the Report markers are removed from the Fleet markers.
All the sighted Fleet Markers get hidden (flip over their flag side)

5. Special Units

5.1. Aircraft

5.1.1. B17

The B-17s attacked from an altitude beyond the range of anti-air guns.
They are exempt from the anti-air step.
The IJN's fighter don't have to intercept them if they don't want to.
They carry out only one attack and then retreat to off board, off game.
When attacking a base, If no CAP in the base, B17 units have their Air-to-Surface values tripled.

5.1.2. Zero

You can split a full strength unit into 2 reduced units (by using an extra counter) during the Aircraft Operations phase, at the planning, and also when raiding or intercepting. You can merge any Zero units at any moment, or keep them split.

Note: try to remember the home base of the extra counter, it will have to return to its home base if possible.

5.1.3. Douglas TBD Devastator

They can only raid a target within 4 hexes of their base. And same for returning to a base: 4 hexes.

5.2. Ships

5.2.1. CV Lexington and CV Saratoga

Treat as DD during Naval Battles. They cannot bombard Land bases.

5.2.2. British CV (Indomitable, Formidable, Illustrious)

Their flight decks are fitted with armor-plating. Not subject to bomb damage amplification checks.

5.2.3. BB

Battleships cannot go in Carrier Task Forces (ring formation).

Exception: IJN Kongō, Hiei, Haruna and Kirishima

An icon marks Battleships that may not go in Carrier Task Forces.

5.2.4. BB Yamato

Yamato had 46cm cannons—completely outclassing the 40cm or 36cm cannons of other battleships. The Yamato's superior firepower is reflected with one of two optional perks.

The IJN player chooses one of these when naval combat begins:

One-sided attack: Only the Yamato will attack. You can't choose this on night turns.
Strike twice: As usual in naval battles, use the largest gun range type or the type(s) agreed by both players. The Yamato does 2 attacks: they may be against the same target but do not add twice the firepower in the same attack.

5.2.5. CL Ōi and CL Kitakami (Torpedo Cruisers)

Those were cruisers armed with long lance torpedoes. The firepower ratings [4/8] are meant for [daytime battle and base bombarding / nighttime naval battle].

Note: The 8 is because the use of long lance torpedoes during the night, as if it was a DD, and thus the value is still 4 for bombarding a land base (day and night).