Strategies for South Pacific: Breaking the Bismark Barrier Scenario in Empire of the Sun

The South Pacific Scenario was initially released in C3i Magazine #30 in late 2016. It was also integrated into the 2nd Edition/2nd printing (or 3rd Printing) of the Empire of the Sun base game that was released in Feb 2019. At the World Boardgaming Championships last year (2018), it was added into the Empire of the Sun tournament event and was very well received. The attendance for the event more than doubled from the previous year and many attendees took the time to discuss the scenario at length after playing it for the first time.

It’s getting a lot of attention and play time for a couple of key reasons. One, this scenario uses the base game rules without modification, so experienced Empire of the Sun players can get a quick fix of the game in less than 3 hours. And two, the scenario significantly lowers the barrier to entry for new players by presenting a relatively simple and focused scenario for Empire of the Sun.

With all this table time, strategies have started to emerge that highlight the fact that although the scenario focuses only on small section of the base game map, it still fully carries its depth. The next (or first) time you sit down with this game, these strategy secrets should help propel you to success.

Each section will open with a brief discussion on the objectives that both sides will be looking to accomplish during that turn followed by some detailed tips to help highlight advantage. Note also that I’ll be discussing South Pacific strategy as it is played at a tournament. Meaning, all draw conditions are considered a Japanese victory.

Opening Strategy (Turn 3)

Other than the Allies attacking into Guadalcanal, this turn is all about positioning. General strategy for this scenario is that the Japanese (JP) start out with the advantage in terms of Port Control. The Allies need to make progress against that in order to win by the end of turn 6 (assuming an automatic victory hasn’t occurred). So the JP are generally playing defense against the Allied offense. However, if the Japanese player sets things up right, Turn 4 can see the JP go on the attack especially against the Allied fleet.

No matter what side you’re playing, there are a couple of important things to keep in mind with the cards drawn in the turn 3 hand. First, pay attention to War in Europe (WiE) cards. The JP have 2 in the deck and the Allies only have 1. If the JP can play both of these WiE cards in 1942 (turns 3 & 4), then there is a very good chance that the Allied fleet in Turn 6 will be delayed in that Reinforcement Phase. A major priority of opening strategy for the JP is to try to prevent that fleet from landing on the board on Turn 6. In short, always play War in Europe cards for event in 1942 when playing the JP. If you’re playing the Allies and the WiE card appears in either the Turn 3 or 4 hand, put it into the Future Offensives queue to save it for the 1943 turns. The Allies want that Turn 6 fleet! In many games, the Allies ​need​ that Turn 6 fleet.

Second is China. Here the JP only have one China Offensive card to the Allied two and the JP can always play any 3 OC for a China Offensive play on non-consecutive turns. Still, the chances of China collapsing for the JP are small, but there is a way it can be done with the right combination of cards. I’ll talk more about this in Part 2.

However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. After the board is setup, the Allies start the scenario with only two drawn cards in hand and one in the Future Offensives Queue, which is #13: Operation Watchtower; and the Japanese start with three cards in hand, drawing two, because one of which is #17: Japanese Counterattack at Savo Island. This sets up the situation that the Allies can choose to play Operation Watchtower from the Future Offensives Queue and go first, but if the allies choose not to do this then the JP player must go first because the year is 1942. Without a doubt, the Allies should choose to go first and play Operation Watchtower. 

There are two reasons for this: First, not going first opens up a good chance that the Japanese could take Port Moresby with a ground attack from Lae supported by JP navy and naval air units. And second, there is, not one, but ​two​,

fool-proof methods to attack and take Guadalcanal with no chance of failure! Let me say that last part again: “… take Guadalcanal with ​NO​ chance of failure.”

In Part 1, I will describe one of the attack sequences and in Part 2, I will describe the other. In Part 2, I will also briefly compare and contrast the two opening sequences to highlights strengths and weaknesses. Let’s get started!

ANZAC Attack (Allies)

The activation/move sequence is as follows and uses ANZAC HQ for a total of 6 activations.

• CA Kent in Townsville (3727) naval move and attack Sarong (3119)
• [CV Enterprise] in Noumea (4828) naval move to 3821 and attack Wewak
• [CV Lexington] in Noumea (4828) naval move to Gasmata and attack Lae
• [CV Wasp] in Noumea (4828) naval move to 4023 and attack Buna
• CA Northampton in Noumea (4828) naval move and attack Rabaul (4021)
• 1st Marines in Noumea (4828) Amphibious Assault Guadalcanal (4423)

To break down what is happening here, since the JP Truk fleet is technically not on the board until Turn 4 and there are no air/naval units in Guadalcanal (so no JP Aircraft Zone of Influence) as per the setup, the Allied player is making use of Op Watchtower to, simply put, pin ​all​ the JP air/naval units on the board. This frees up the 1st Marines to Amphibious Assault into Guadalcanal with no chance of interception or, considering the weak unit garrisoned there, failure due to die rolls.

What is the risk for the Allies? It is fairly minimal. Assuming no Submarine reaction cards get played, the CA Kent will be reduced on a 40% chance and the already reduced CV units will only be sunk on the roll of a 9 by the JP player (10% chance), but there is a 70% chance that the CA Northampton will be eliminated. Still, for the likely cost of a cruiser, Guadalcanal is guaranteed to fall and Post Battle Movement will allow it to be reinforced by the returning fleet.

Given the strength of this opening attack, does it make sense for the JP player to even bother playing Savo island during Reaction? Yes, it is still a good idea to play it for a couple of reasons. One, it allows the JP player to activate the fleet in Rabaul (or the naval air units) so that they can be repositioned during Post Battle Movement. And two, it allows a card draw. The JP really want to have the last card play in Turn 3, for reasons explained below.

Also, an important tip for Allied Post Battle movement. To help prevent a follow up attack on Port Moresby, don’t just return the entire fleet to Noumea. Send the CA Kent to Port Moresby and the three CVs to Guadalcanal, Gili Gili and Townsville respectively. A successful attack on Port Moresby requires the Japanese player to maximize the ground attack bonuses in the hex to offset the mountain terrain penalty. That means pinning all the Allied navy and air units and eliminating any enemy naval/air units in the hex before the ground attack takes place. With the CA Kent now in Port Moresby, the Allied fleet all spread out and the Guadalcanal – Gili Gili air corridor opened up because of the fall of Guadalcanal, it makes a follow up ground attack into Port Moresby a low-percentage option for the JP.

Setup for the March (Allies)

The path to victory for the Allies in this scenario can go down two paths (and neither are mutually exclusive). One is over land and the other is over sea. In the early game, the Allied navy is relatively weak which makes capturing islands difficult unless they are undefended (i.e. Ponope & Nauru). However, there is plenty of allied army units in eastern Australia that can be redeployed to Port Moresby or Gili Gili in turn 3, so that they are set to march north up the New Guinea coast in Turn 4. Remember, starting in turn 4, the Allies have to make 2 Progress of the War in order to avoid taking a PW loss.

The JP can defend against this by redeploying all the JP army units to Lae to hold the line or at the very least to slow down the advance that will start in Turn 4.

Move Combined Fleet HQ (Japanese)

At the end of Turn 3, the JP should have the last card play. Use it as an OC play to Voluntarily Withdraw the Combined Fleet HQ from the Palau hex (see 6.13 of the rulebook for more detail) to the turn track. All Japanese units will remain in supply from South Seas HQ during the Attrition phase. During reinforcements in Turn 4, put Combined Fleet HQ in Rabaul.

This will accomplish two really big things. During the Empire of the Sun event at WBC 2018, a large number of JP games were lost because the Japanese HQs were captured, usually on Turn 6 when the the bulk of the Allied fleet appeared during reinforcements. It’s too hard for the JP in the late game to protect both Palau and Truk and still keep enough units in the Solomons and New Guinea to protect ports, so moving Combined Fleet HQ to Rabaul goes a long way to closing the door on an automatic victory for the Allies. That’s the first. 

Second, it puts the ports in the New Hebrides in range of a Japanese HQ (Espirito Santo, Efate & Noumea) for supply. This means that if they are captured in a JP attack, they can be held until the end of the game to count towards a Port Control victory. This essentially opens another front for the Allies to worry about and forces them to leave units back there to defend those ports, keeping units farther away from where the Allies want to use them.

Opening Strategy (Turn 4)

On turn 4, the JP fleet arrives in Truk (4017). The JP air and naval forces are now at their strongest and the JP player should use them to press for an advantage. This turn will see the Japanese go on the offensive either hunting down the Allied fleet or picking up a port space. In very rare games, it may even be possible for the Japanese player to capture Allied HQs.

First a word about Political Will. JP Political Will (PW) victories are uncommon because they can’t be achieved just by denying Allied Progress of the War for every turn. The PW marker starts at 4 and the Allies will only lose 1 point on turns 4, 5 and 6. So at least one of the other conditions (ideally two) must happen in order for a Political Will victory to be worth a shot. Furthermore, there are no cards in this scenario that will affect PW for either side. This turn is the JP’s best chance to destroy the Allied fleet and collect that PW point which will put more pressure on the Allied player to make Progress of the War.

For the Allies, you must protect the fleet. To do this, spread them out as much as possible and be very careful about committing them to battle in this turn. This works because more battle hexes increases the number of Air/Naval battles that the JP will need to prosecute in order to destroy them all and it only takes a single .25x result die roll result to likely deny the JP from sinking an Allied ship.

Meanwhile, the Allies must make Progress of the War this turn and again since the fleet is going to be avoiding battle, which means ​not​ escorting marines for Amphibious Assaults, the best chance to do this is on land. In the previous turn, the Allies staged US and Australian Corps and in the Replacement phase of Turn 4 and one of those reduced US Corps should have been brought to full strength.  Use them to march up the north coast of New Guinea and capture Buna and Lae.

Those Allied ground units are strong. How does the JP defend against this? By placing Air units nearby so that they can turn that road into…

Hell’s Highway (Japanese)

Observe the map graphic and the placement of the JP air units. The numbers on the map correspond to the number of air units that can reach those spaces without moving. The idea here is to use low Ops cards (OC 1 or 2) to launch surprise air raids on those hexes. If the JP can land a punch on undefended Allied ground units then steps can be reduced without risking the JP ground units.

It’s important that the air units be activated in place to increase the chances that the intel check die roll falls in the JP favor.

+1 Port (Japanese)

For the JP player, if the Allied fleet looks likely to survive, change tack and go on the offensive to pick up a port to compensate for the loss of Guadalcanal. If Gili Gili or Guadalcanal can be taken, give those priority, because taking one of those ports cuts the Gili Gili – Guadalcanal – Espiritu Santo Allied air corridor. If not, consider a port in the New Hebrides (Espiritu Santo, Efate or Noumea – again, with Combined Fleet now in Rabaul, those hexes are now in range to a JP HQ to be supplied) or the ports in Eastern Australia (Cairns or Townsville). Grabbing another port makes it harder for the Allies to collect enough ports in the end for a Port Control victory.

That’s it for early game! In Part 2, I will pivot to the end game strategies, discuss Turns 5 and 6 in depth and discuss more about China. Stay tuned.

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Articles in this Series: Part 1 Part 2