"Pearl Harbor Game" Topic

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I have previously posted some questions to TMP about a game I was putting together for Parl Harbor. I set it up at our local game store yesterday and had a very interesting time. The board is pretty much finished, I need to go back and do some detail work.

It was a really nice day here and I was unloading it from the car and setting it outside and a friend commented, you should just run it outside. That was a great idea.

I was going to run the game bu then decided not to do it and just leave it set up. During the day, a lot of people began to walk by the board and comment on how nice it was. A lot of younger people asked what it was and I explained to them that it was PH and that this wednesday was the 70th anniversary of the attack.

Soon, a group walked by and the kids were interested in it and then parents came by and told the kids that this is where their grandfather had died. They explained that he was on one of the ships that had been torpeoded. They talked to the kids about it for a little while and continued down the street.

Later, an older woman came by and stopped and stared at the board for a long time. I told her what it was and she said she recognized it. I was afraid (not wanting to comment on her age) but asked her it she was old enough to remember it. She told me she was 77 and definately remembered it. She lived in a nearby town and said came from a large family.

She said her family was stunned to hear the news. She said the next day her two older brother left to join the military. The younger of the two had to fake his identity because he was only 17. She said one went to Europe and then at the end of the war in Europe was sent to the pacific. The older brother served in the navy in the Pacific.

She also was telling me about the local area which is a major chemical production area. During the war the area produced a lot of military munitions and other items. We have an area called the "Ordnance Park" which used to produce naval guns.

She told me what it looked like during the war years. She also told me that another local area used to made weapons such as boyonets and other things that I cant recall. Never suspected this but it was great to learn about the local area in the war years.

She wwas also connected to the Rosie the Riveter Project. Her Sister in Law had been one and had participated in the local documentary they recently did. She gave me her info and wanted me to call her and she said she would give me a copy of the documentary.

Another guy came by and told us that his dad had been in the Navy on the day of the attack and was about 100 miles outside the harbor and the japanese planes flew over his ship. He said that the crew was confused and had no idea what was going on until they heard over the radio about the attack.

When I was picking up the game and a guy came by and looked at it. He was telling me how nice it was and then told me he was an Engineer and did things like this for projects he did. He started telling me about 3d printers and google sketchup. That was funny because I started working with the google sketchup a couple of weeks ago. It is a 3d design program. Seems to be easy to learn and use. He told me that

A lot of people came by and commented on the board. Most of the older people thanked me for making it. I was amazed how many older people did this.

Wow, that is impressive!!

My great aunt lived in Honolulu when the attack happened, she remembered it vividly -- first being surprised at all the planes with the funny looking markings on them, and then terrified when the attack commenced. And I think my wife's grandpa is one of the few US citizens who met a Japanese imperial officer -- and didn't have anything bad happen to him. He was in Nome, Alaska during the war and owned a general store. A Japanese sub landed a shore party early in the war, he says they walked around town, took pictures and were generally very polite. He remembers giving a Japanese navy officer some cans of peaches when the party came into his store. After they left Nome, a bunch of folk skipped town and camped on the tundra until they got word that the US military was going to station a garrison there.

What game system did you use, btw?

Thanks SB!

I made up a Homebrew quick play set so that I can run it at conventions and our local game store for casual players. Have played it a couple of times and the rules seem to work well.

I use the sinking of the mini sub by the Ward and the radar station 1 hour warning to do a "what if". The Americans are on alert but it is still a Sunday, in peace time, so the units will only become fully active on a role of a 6.

I wrote a quick program that rolls for each unit every turn. I run that prior to the game and have a printout that speeds things up.

Great story also. It is interesting to hear the little stories about things that happened in the war that you don't see published in the histories of the wars.

I played in a Pearl Harbor game at a convention that the GM ran like a video game. You paid .25 cents to play. For each quarter you were allowed 4 Kate torp planes, 4 Val dive bombers or 5 high alt. level bombers.

You could take aircraft until the total used in the game was equal to the attack force on Dec. 7th.

You then made your attack on ANY ships in Pearl Harbor. A total of damage points inflicted was kept and extra points were awarded if you sank a ship. The points were based on the how important the ship was, ie: a battleship sunk was worth more than a sunk destroyer. Points were lost for each of your aircraft shot down by AA.

It was a walk up game and only took a about 10 to 15 minutes to conduct the attack. When all the aircraft were used up the player at the con with the highest score for damage points won all the quarters taken in.

Great concept and a great game. Played in 1/2400 with 1/600 planes. I took 3 Kates at one of the battleships, but didn't sink it and the last Kate sunk the hospital ship, USS Solace.

I didn't get any extra points for that, but I figured the American press would say the Japanese sunk it anyway, so why not.