The Japanese Imperial Navy and Army exploded in a blitz across across the Pacific in December 1941 (which started with a crippling attack on the U.S. Fleet at Pearl Harbor), and by May of 1942 controlled all of Southeast Asia, the Pacific Rim, and everything in the Central Pacific west of Hawaii and Midway Island. It was an exquisite display of logistical planning and execution that shocked the western powers, and brought the United States into World War II. The only large land mass still held by the Allies in Asia or the Pacific when it was over was Australia, which they desperately needed as a staging area for an eventual U.S. led counter-attack.
The Japanese knew how important Australia was to the Allies, but they lacked the resources to conquer it; so Japan attempted to do the next best thing... isolate Australia from the United States by capturing Port Moresby in New Guinea and building an airfield on the island of Guadalcanal. Planes from both locations could disrupt the Allied supply lines, forcing the United States to postpone its counter attack indefinitely.
The United States recognized the threat the airfield on Guadalcanal posed, so as ill-prepared as the U.S. was for any offensive actions, immediately attacked Guadalcanal with the 1st Marine Division, under the command of Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift. The attack caught the Japanese by surprise, and the 1st Marine Division easily took control of the airfield. The Japanese 17th Army, under the command of Lt. Gen. Harukichi Hyakutake, and supported by the japanese Combined Fleet, counterattacked with an ever increasing number of troops over the next four months to take the island back. It was a desperate struggle took place in the air, and on land and on sea as the isolated U.S. forces fought to hold their tiny perimeter around the airfield against the might of the Japanese Empire.
Conflict of Heroes: Guadalcanal recreates this struggle and includes gorgeous beach and jungles maps of the South Pacific, the USMC, Japanese Bonzai Charges, Night combat and much more.
Game Components:
4 - large mounted geomorphic map boards280 - 1" die cut counters, including the USMC, US Army, Imperial Navy units, Airplanes, Landing Craft, Tanks and many more.2 - Track Sheets1 - Summary Sheet1- Firefight book that includes the campaign summary and maps, historical context and 16 firefights for 1 - 4 players.1- Programatic learning rulebookNo. of Players: 2 to 4
Min. Age: 12
