MIDWAY
INTRODUCTION
Historical simulation of the WWII battle of Midway.
Two player set piece Dice game.
One player is the Japanese, the other is the Americans.
Flowcharts are used instead of Maps.
MATERIALS
Paper & writing implements.
Six sided dice are required.
Each player must have:
1 copy of the Flowchart
4 copies of the Carrier Box
1 set of chits representing his squads
Chits & Charts are provided at the bottom of the page.
TURN SEQUENCE
There are 2 Phases:
1. Move Phase
2. Attack Phase
MOVE PHASE
The Americans go first, followed by the Japanese.
A squad represents about 10 planes.
Squads are represented by cardboard counters or chits.
Both Players have one copy of the Strike force flow chart in front of them.
Players also have a drawing of the "Carrier Box" for each of their Carriers.
Chits representing squads are placed in the boxes of the flowchart and can
move to adjacent boxes connected by arrows.
Every squad can move once on the flowchart during his players turn.
A squad must move to the next Box if it is not on a carrier or on patrol.
A fighter squad can spend up to 4 turns on Patrol before having to refuel.
Turn squads upside down to indicate that they have moved.
Turn all of your squads right side up at the beginning of your turn.
Squads On Deck can be moved below decks to rearm and refuel.
A carrier can have a maximum of 4 squads in the "On Deck" Box at one time.
A Japanese carrier can have a maximum of 3 squads in its "Rearm/Refuel" Box at one time.
An American carrier can have a maximum of 4 squads in its "Rearm/Refuel" Box at one time.
Treat Midway Island like a carrier.
Midway can have a maximum of 10 squads in its "Rearm/Refuel" Box at one time.
Squads landing on the Carrier Box from the Return I, Takeoff, or Patrol Boxes must chose
which carrier they are landing on. They are then moved to the On Deck box of that carrier.
Squads landing on the On Deck Box from the Return I, Takeoff, or Patrol Boxes are flipped
face down to indicate that they are out of fuel and/or ammo.
Face down squads can only be moved to the Rearm/Refuel Box.
Squads that start their turn in the Rearm/Refuel Box are flipped face up.
Only Fighters may move into the Patrol Box.
Squads in the Takeoff Box may form into stacks called strike groups.
Squads in a Strike group move and search together.
You may have two or more strike groups in a Box.
In order for a Strike Force to move into the Attack Box it must make a successful search roll.
The Americans succeed on a roll of 1-4 on 1D6.
The Japanese succeed on a roll of 1-3 on 1D6.
No search roll is necessary to locate Midway.
If the Search roll is unsuccessful the Strike force may move to the Return I Box, or
the 2nd Search Box. Fighters cannot enter the 2nd Search Box. They run low on fuel and must return.
You may allow fighters to proceed to the 2nd Search Box, but they must ditch after the attack.
Squads moving from the Attack Box to the Return II Box are destroyed on a roll of 1 on 1D6.
If a squad is moving out of the Patrol or Return I Boxes, and cannot land because all the
carrier decks are full or gone, than that squad must "pancake" into the ocean, and is destroyed.
A squad may land on any friendly carrier.
ATTACK PHASE
This occurs if you have any Strike Forces in the Attack Box.
American squads may attack any combination of enemy carriers.
A Japanese Strike force must attack either Midway Island, Task Force 16, or Task Force 17.
Task Force 16 was the Yorktown. Task Force 17 included the Enterprise and Hornet.
The Americans go first, followed by the Japanese.
This is divided into 4 Segments:
1. Interception Segment
2. Anti-aircraft Segment
3. Bombing Segment
4. Damage Segment
INTERCEPTION SEGMENT
All Fighters in the Attackers Attack box may make 1 Attack roll.
All Fighters in the Defenders On Deck, Takeoff, and Patrol boxes may make 1 Attack roll.
A Zero squad will destroy 1 enemy squad on a roll of 1-3 on 1D6.
A Wildcat squad will destroy 1 enemy squad on a roll of 1-3 on 1D6.
A Buffalo squad will destroy 1 enemy squad on a roll of 1-2 on 1D6.
All attack rolls are simultaneous.
A player decides which of his squads are destroyed.
Destroyed squads are placed in a pile known as "The Drink."
ANTI-AIRCRAFT SEGMENT
The Japanese Fleet if attacked may make 4 AA Attack rolls.
An AA attack will destroy 1 enemy squad on a roll of 1 on 1D6.
The American Carriers (& Midway) if attacked may make 3 AA Attack rolls.
The Japanese carriers were accompanied by 2 Battleships, 3 cruisers, and 30 destroyers.
The American carriers were escorted by 6 cruisers, and 9 destroyers.
BOMBING SEGMENT
All bombers and Torpedo squads surviving may attack the carriers.
Attacks will hit a carrier on a roll of 1-X on 1D6, where X is equal to the AS(Anti-ship) value
of the squad as given in the Squad Lists.
A carrier can dodge a Torpedo attack on a roll of 1-2 on 1D6.
DAMAGE SEGMENT
Roll 1D6 on the Following table to determine the extent of the Damage by a Torpedo or Bomb hit.
1-4 Out of Action: Hull Breach, Fuel Fires, Munitions Explode
5-6 Immobilized: No search roll necessary, Cannot dodge torpedos
If a carrier is immobilized by a bomb attack, there will also be a Deck Fire:
Reduce On Deck Box capacity by 2 Squads & Destroy 2 Squads on Carrier.
An Out of Action (destroyed) carrier may take hours to sink or may even be salvagable.
If a carrier is destroyed so are all squads onboard.
Midway Island is impervious to Torpedoes, however, every bomb hit will destroy one of its
4 Runways on a roll of 1-4 on 1D6. Like carriers, Midway has an On Deck capacity of 4 squads.
JAPANESE SETUP
The Japanese have 4 carriers with the following squads:
Carrier Zeros Kates Vals Judys
Soryu 2 2 2 1
Hiryu 2 2 1 1
Kaga 2 2 2 1
Akagi 2 2 2 1
AMERICAN SETUP
The Americans have 3 carriers with the following squads:
Carrier Wildcats Devastators Dauntlesses
Yorktown 2 2 2
Enterprise 1 1 4
Hornet 2 2 2
On Midway Island there is 1 squad of each of the following: Catalinas
Avengers, Brewster Buffaloes, Marauders, Vindicators, and Flying Fortresses.
There are also 2 Wildcat squads and 2 Dauntless squads.
STRIKE FORCE FLOW CHART
One per player.
BOXES: DRAW ONE-WAY ARROW TO THESE BOXES:
ATTACK RETURN II
2nd SEARCH ATTACK; RETURN II
SEARCH ATTACK; 2nd SEARCH; RETURN I
RETURN II RETURN I
TAKEOFF SEARCH; CARRIER; PATROL
RETURN I CARRIER
PATROL CARRIER
CARRIER TAKEOFF
CARRIER BOX FLOWCHART
One per carrier.
BOXES: DRAW ONE-WAY ARROW TO THESE BOXES:
ON DECK TAKEOFF; REFUEL/REARM
REFUEL/REARM ON DECK
AMERICAN SQUAD LIST
# Squad AA AS Type
7 Grumman F4F Wildcat 3 - Fighter
5 Douglas TBD Devastator - 2 Slow Torpedo Plane
10 Douglas SBD Dauntless - 3 Dive Bomber
1 Avenger - 1 Torpedo Strike Planes
1 Brewster Buffalo 2 - Obsolete Fighters
1 B26 Marauder - 1 Twin Engine Bombers
1 Marine Vindicator - 1 Scout Bomber
1 Flying Fortress - 1 High Altitude Bombers
1 Catalina - 1 Flying Boat
JAPANESE SQUAD LIST
# Squad AA AS Type
8 Mitsubishi A6M Zero 3 - Fighter
7 Nakajima B5n Kate - 2 Torpedo Plane
7 Aichi D3ai Val - 3 Dive Bomber
4 Yokosuka D4Y Judy - 3 Dive Bomber
OPTIONAL HISTORICAL CONSTRAINTS
The Japanese must attack Midway immediately with at least 9 bombers & 4 Zeros.
Midway must attack the Japanese immediately with everything except fighters.
This must be followed by a second attack on the Island.
The American carriers must coincide the attacks of 4 Strike forces with the return of
the second wave of planes to attack Midway.
The Japanese may only send attackers after being attacked by carrier planes.
Their first counter-attack must be against the Yorktown.
The Americans get a free torpedo attack on turn 17, made by the submarine USS Nautilus.
The sub hits on a roll of 1-3 on 1D6.
VICTORY
Destroy all of your opponents carriers.
COUNTER SET
The following counter set and boards were created by Janne Thörne:
Janne has also made counters for Cannonade.
Download Midway Counters
Download Midway Strikeforce Flowchart
Download Midway Carrier Flowchart
Midway Review by jon parshall at the Imperial Japanese Navy Homepage