''Carrier'' is a solitaire

wargame A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...

published in 1990 by Victory Games, a subsidiary of

Avalon Hill Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the compan ...

Description

''Carrier'', designed by Jon Southard, uses a single-player rules system to simulate the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

conflict in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its ca ...

between Allied and

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

naval forces. Several scenarios are included that simulate the

Battle of the Coral Sea The Battle of the Coral Sea, from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces of the United States and Australia. Taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, the batt ...

, the

Battle of the Eastern Solomons The naval Battle of the Eastern Solomons (also known as the Battle of the Stewart Islands and, in Japanese sources, as the Second Battle of the Solomon Sea) took place on 24–25 August 1942, and was the third carrier battle of the Pacific cam ...

, and the

Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, fought during 25–27 October 1942, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Santa Cruz or Third Battle of Solomon Sea, in Japan as the Battle of the South Pacific ( ''Minamitaiheiyō kaisen''), was the fourt ...

. Several other non-historical "what if" scenarios are also offered. The player is in command of the Allied Task Force fighting to defeat the Japanese Navy. Depending on the scenario played, the player's forces can be entirely American, or mostly American with some British Commonwealth elements. The solitaire rules attempt to recreate the incomplete knowledge that admirals had about the exact location of the opposing forces, and subsequent decisions that were taken with inexact or faulty intelligence. In 1992, a new scenario by Alan Arvold, ''The

Battle of Rennell Island The took place on 29–30 January 1943. It was the last major naval engagement between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Guadalcanal Campaign of World War II. It occurred in the South Pacific between Rennell I ...

'', was published in '' The General''.

Reception

In Issue 73 of ''

Fire & Movement ''Fire & Movement: The Forum of Conflict Simulation'' was a magazine devoted to wargames, both traditional board wargames and computer wargames. It was founded by Rodger MacGowan in 1975, and began publication the following year. In February 198 ...

'', Jeff Petraska found the game to be challenging and suspenseful as he tried to find the Japanese fleet and then decide what forces to commit to battle, but he thought that the game relied too much on luck rather than skill.

References

External links

* Victory Games Board games introduced in 1990 Naval games World War II board wargames {{wargame-stub