Coral Sea

After a few tries Tim and I finally got around to playing Coral Sea by Avalanche Press. It was an interesting game with some issues.

The first issue was the weather. From the opening of the game to when the Japanese were approaching Port Moresby the weather was rainy or worse. Air searches were ineffective until the invasion was underway a little to late for the Allies.

Once the weather cleared, at least cloudy, the Allies attacked concentrated on attacking the transports. After two strikes one transport was sunk and three were damaged. We had some issues with those rules but we were still learning.

The Japanese used land based and seaplanes for effective searches finding the carrier Yorktown. Two waves came in one finishing off the USS Yorktown and the other heavily damaging two cruisers.

Submarines came in handy for both sides in tracking targets and the Allies put a torpedo into the Shōhō. Damaged she limped back towards Rabaul.

So the out come was a Japanese victory with the Japanese holding  Port Moresby and Tulagi and inking the USS Yorktown. The Japanese loses when we called the game was a transport.

This will effect the Battle of Midway in that the USS Lexington will be there in all of her glory, but the Japanese will also have the IJN Zuikaku and Shōkaku with their full aircraft complement.


Now for the issues with the game...

Submarines can spot but it does not appear they can spot for airstrikes. Which they historically did. A rule change and a modifier on the chart would be helpful for the the players and historically accurate.

Clear examples of play and stand alone charts for air attacks and torpedo shoots would be helpful. I was using the charts from their WWI rule set, OK for now but improvements would be welcome by the publisher.

I have seen reviews of these rules showing mixed results. One of the chief complaints was that they were rules for The Great War with aircraft  rules superimposed on them. And not very cleanly. This I have to agree with.

Will I play them again, yes but with some serious house rules. Keep an eye on this blog for the changes.

Do you have any thought on these rules?