"Best Rules for Carrier Battles in the Pacific?" Topic

I've had some experience with the surface combat rules from Command at Sea, Micronauts: The Game, and GQ 1, 2, and 3. But I'm looking at fighting carrier battles in the Pacific. Which rules do think cover this aspect of naval warfare the best?

GQ would be my go to

Or, and it's not really as crazy as it sounds, Full Thrust.

Great spacefighter rules, and ship rules for that matter, which can easily be adapted back to air/naval games, since essentially the latter really inspired the former.

Stats for regular fighters, attack fighters, torpedo-armed fighters, interceptors, etc., etc..

Most spaceship rules are really off-planet naval rules.

The old Avalon Hill Midway/Coral Sea games are great fun.

The board game Flat Top from Avalon Hill. For me the really interesting part of a carrier battle is the search for the enemy and miniatures are just not good for that – since having them on the table shows where they are.

GQ. You don't micromanage aircraft. Or the old AH games, as mentioned.

Another vote for Avalon Hill's Midway + variants.

I actually used the WOTC rules for combat resolution, but the key was to make the game double blind. Now this was for WWII battles.

Moderns although similar, involve a longer ranges, and a lot more sophisticated search radar and jamming. In essence though the same concept applies.

To clarify, I'm interested in which miniatures rules are best for covering Pacific carrier battles.

What does WOTC stand for (other than Wizards of the Coast)?

WOTC means just what you think

I wouldn't use GQ3 it is complex. I had intended to use it but it's way to complicated. GQ1 is simple but, if you are using GQ3 for combat results,
you would need to translate

AH Flat Top. Great game, and unforgiving. Make a mistake and you are done.

Avalon Hill – great naval games.

Saxophone, if you really want to do carrier versus
carrier battles especially Midway, etc., then you'll
need to investigate Blue Sky Enterprise's 'Red Sun/
Blue Sky' rule book for that.

That contains several scenarios for Midway and other
1942 Carrier battles and is the ONLY system I've
found which can accmodate the large numbers of attack
aircraft (dive-bombers, torpedo bombers and light/
medium bombers) involved in those actions.

If the US launches a max effort, you can be handling
up to 108 SBD's, 54 torpedo planes and 24 to 36
escorts. Same with a Japanese counter-strike.

CAP for either side would run to another 24-36
defenders.

I've run Midway (each side's strikes/defense) and
you really need a system which handles a large
number of planes without problems.

Same for Santa Cruz, etc.

Or play a boardgame, as suggested upthread. Flat Top
(Craig Taylor's original design) is the best.

These rules would work for that:
link
For example: You can resolve a matchup involving 30 Zeros against 30 Wildcats in a matter of minutes. It is based on the statistical ratings of the aircraft involved (not formations, altitudes, intercept angles, etc.).

SK5 will work, no error. But it really isn't designed
for air to surface combat with miniatures, unless the
density of the mini's is low (USS Ranger's attacks
at Casablanca would be perfect for SK5).

For an operational level campaign look at Avalanche Press' Second World War At Sea (SWWAS) series of board games. link They will provide a limited intelligence map campaign to set up your tactical battles. Several of the games are being updated so availability may be limited. The series also includes a tactical system, but (warning) it is a board game.

For a tactical miniatures game, I second Ed's recommendation of Red Sun/Blue Sky. link On one evening I flew a squadron of TBD's (18 AC, 1:300) against a Japanese cruiser (1:1200?) and got two hits.

I highly recommend Victory at Sea plus the expansion Order of Battle. Very, Very playable, easy to learn, and handles Carrier Battles very easily and a LOT of fun without having to spend an entire weekend playing 4 turns. RPGNOW has a great bundle deal on the PDFs that also include the WWI rules.
link