Just read Hornfischer's excellent desription of the Naval Battles of Guadalcanal 12-15 November, 1942 in Neptune's Inferno. Thinking about some naval gaming. I have HPS Sims/ Tiller's Midway & thinking about their Guadalcanal title. Any other options?

For a quick (and better looking) play, you could try the newer Carriers At War from Matrix.   The only complaint about it was the limited amount of scenarios, even though each one had numerous variants.  I really like how streamlined it plays, and that a scenario can be finished in an hour or three.  It has the perfect pace IMO, and the hide & seek of the carrier warfare is an exciting focus of the game.   Still priced at maximum, even though it's been out for about 5 years, though.

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/337/details/Carriers.at.War

There's that grand strategy Pacific war one that Shrapnel has - War Plan Pacific.   I hear it's fun, and not too burdensome like War in the Pacific.  Haven't tried it yet, mainly because it has a fixed screen resolution - although I believe there are some window sizes larger than 1024x so that may not be a problem after all.  Looks to be more on the light side of wargaming grand strategy, and a campaign game can supposedly be finished in a couple hours or less.

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/KE_Studios/WPP/WPP_page.html

A lot of people play War in the Pacific but I never could even get into it's predecessor, Uncommon Valor for very long.  The game takes forever to finish, there is buttloads of buttons to clicky all over, and you'll spend a lot of time giving orders for a single WEGO turn.  There are regularly arguments about some of it's questionable results, and many various fanboys abound on the message boards if you feel like arguing about a game.  So - if you like staring at masses of small-font numbers, and can spend a year or two playing a campaign game of it, then this may be what you want.  Just too slow and ZzzzZ for me to stick with.

Thanks, Nefaro. I was thinking more about Guadalcanal-specific, tactical naval games. HPS sims Guadalcanal should fit the bill. Don't know if any NWS games cover this campaign or not.

Hi Dale, I'm a huge fan of WITP AE, previously I played WITP and UV. I don't have Midway but have Guadalcanal and Carriers at War.

Given the information you've provided I'd recommend HPS Guadalcanal.

Originally Posted By Dale H (2 JUN 2012 8:33am)

Thanks, Nefaro. I was thinking more about Guadalcanal-specific, tactical naval games. HPS sims Guadalcanal should fit the bill. Don't know if any NWS games cover this campaign or not.

Don't think there's much that focuses solely on Guadalcanal, but there are a few that have it as a scenario or two I'm sure.

Originally Posted By Nefaro (1 JUN 2012 8:51pm)

For a quick (and better looking) play, you could try the newer Carriers At War from Matrix.   The only complaint about it was the limited amount of scenarios, even though each one had numerous variants.  I really like how streamlined it plays, and that a scenario can be finished in an hour or three.  It has the perfect pace IMO, and the hide & seek of the carrier warfare is an exciting focus of the game.   Still priced at maximum, even though it's been out for about 5 years, though.

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/337/details/Carriers.at.War

 

Nice summary. I reloaded it and played it again last month. Good game...but that pricetag is daft.

I liked Carriers at War.  I didn't love it, but it is fun and as mentioned you can finish a scenario in about an hour or two. 

I really don't know too many Guadalcanal specific games.  There are some IL-2 campaigns for Guadalcanal, but I don't think that's what you're looking for.  WiTP original had a year-long Guadalcanal scenario that is fun and approachable (maybe 75-100 hours to finish) but I don't know if I can recommend the game for just that scenario.  Sadly, they left the scenario out of AE (I think).

this one sounds interesting, although not for PC but with solitaire play http://forums.navalwarfare.net/showthread.php?32-NWS-Nights-of-Fury-Guadalcanal-Naval-Battles-Information-and-Downloads

sort of a shame that you can get better info secondhand http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/16811/nws-nights-of-fury-guadalcanal-naval-battles

There's uncommon valour...see matrix.

Uncommon Valor is a completely new operational game covering the campaign for the South Pacific from May, 1942 to the end of December, 1943. Air, naval and land battles are modelled with detail

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/216/details/Uncommon.Valor

My favorite would be Task Force 1942 (1993?) but i don't believe you can still find it, even less run it.

Best ever IMHO was Task Force 1942 back in 1992.  I play this using DOSbox and it still holds up very well.  I even managed to snag iDOS for my iPad/iPhone before Apple got rid of it, thus allowing me to play on those as well.  The ability to command groups and give group-specific orders (which they sometimes screw up) makes the game far more sophisticated than the HPS naval games.  Only the recent Steam and Iron is comparable (see below).

Second would be NWS WC-NAW. This is an excellent, but very dry, simulator which has many scenarios dealing with the period in question.  Seems highly accurate, but it plays slowly.

http://forums.navalwarfare.net/showthread.php?5-WARSHIP-COMBAT-NAVIES-AT-WAR-INFORMATION-AND-DOWNLOADS

Third would be Fighting Steel with Fighting Steel Project 10.43.  FSP renders the game Windows 7 x64 compatible.  You can also get Thunder at Sea from the NWS website, which is really amazing and has a Guadalcanal campaign which works very well (as well as a bunch of other WWII campaigns).  Thunder at Sea is a strategic wargame which uses FS to game out the tactical combat.  It works brilliantly.

http://forums.navalwarfare.net/showthread.php?6-FIGHTING-STEEL-PROJECT-THUNDER-AT-SEA-DOWNLOADS-AND-INFORMATION

Fourth choice would be HPS Guadalcanal.  I hate how torpedoes must be launched "by hand" (unlike TF1942, you can't simply order a group to use it's torps as appropriate) and the total lack of any friendly AI to help out. 

Lastly, if you want to play the *best* naval tactical game yet made, then get "Steam and Iron" by NWS.  They have a demo here:

http://forums.navalwarfare.net/showthread.php?2328-******-INFORMATION-AND-DOWNLOADS-THREAD-******

Try the demo, and I guarantee you'll be hooked.  It has the most amazing AI (friendly and enemy) that I've ever seen in a wargame.  I can't wait for the eventual WW2 iteration.  BTW, it uses an engine very similar to Thunder at Sea.

Hope this helps

In WITP AE, the only scenario I play is Guadalcanal (PBEM)...

WITP (or even Uncommon Valor) is not just about naval surface action, not only about carrier operations... The inclusion of land combat and logictics explains the reason why and how the naval battles of the other games mentioned in this thread took place.

Action Stations! by Zimm is also a superb game for depicting WW2 surface gunnery actions.  It is free at:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/NavWarGames/files/ActionStations%21/

Thanks, guys. Fantastic stuff. Just what the doctor ordered.

Got to agree about SaI. Great game.

Just remember that SaI is WW1 and not WW2.

I agree. I left it out because WC-NAW is really its spiritual successor and improves upon it in nearly every way.  Still, for years it was the best tactical naval sim out there.  I still have my huge Amiga manual for it somewhere.  I must have read that manual a dozen times or more.  The game is tough to play by today's standards, but it's definitely the most detailed naval sim of all time.

Example:  you can assign a back-up director to start computing a solution on a target so that, if your main director gets plastered, you can switch over with less accuracy loss.  Now *that's* detail.

Trouble is, that same detail makes the game a bit overwhelming when you're talking about 10 ships per side.  That's why I loved TF 1942:  It gave very similar results but with much less work.  I was able to focus entirely on tactics, with little friction from the game mechanics/interface.

Originally Posted By Herman Hum (4 JUN 2012 8:43am)

Action Stations! by Zimm is also a superb game for depicting WW2 surface gunnery actions.  It is free at:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/NavWarGames/files/ActionStations%21/

First wargame I ever saw (never knew there could be such a thing) was walking through an ER in the early 70's & some there had an Avalon Hill title about Guadalcanal set up for play. There, I just took a trip down Memory Lane & dated myself.

Boardgames would be great! Bring 'em on.

Originally Posted By oldewarrior (4 JUN 2012 7:01pm)
Any interest in board war games on the topic?

Originally Posted By Dale H (4 JUN 2012 7:53pm)

 Boardgames would be great! Bring 'em on.

For board games, I suggest Carrier:

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1679/carrier

If you want THE best game on the subject, it's Tokyo Express.  And it's specifically designed for solitaire.

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1681/tokyo-express

I played this to death in the early 90's and it was awesome.  Check it out.

Originally Posted By kondor999 (4 JUN 2012 10:06pm)

If you want THE best game on the subject, it's Tokyo Express.  And it's specifically designed for solitaire.

 

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1681/tokyo-express

 

I played this to death in the early 90's and it was awesome.  Check it out.

That's a good game.  I'm playing the WitpAE Guadalcanal scenario PBEM against a Jap

opponent who is a better player and the results can be shocking.  I'm winning

but maybe not for long. 

Originally Posted By Herman Hum (4 JUN 2012 8:43am)

Action Stations! by Zimm is also a superb game for depicting WW2 surface gunnery actions.  It is free at:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/NavWarGames/files/ActionStations%21/

That's DOS-based.