The late days of 1942 saw two great powers in the Southwest Pacific, the Empire of Japan and the combined forces of the United States and Australia, feeling bruised and bloodied but still strong. While encouraged by their victories and the continued expansion of the empire, the IJA and IJN had both suffered at the hands of an adversary they felt unable to match the might of Imperial Japan. Naval encounters at Coral Sea and Midway had severely diminished the IJN’s reputation as well as the loss five first line carriers. The US Marines and Army forces had successfully landed at Guadalcanal were slowly pushing the IJA off the island, while MacArthur’s troops and his Aussie allies were thwarting Yamamoto’s attempt to seize Port Moresby. Thus the beginning days of 1943 see these two powerful forces standing tall like two proud boxers planning their next move, in an all-out attempt to deliver a devastating knockdown punch.
S3 #112 New Guinea Diaries – McArthur vs Yamamoto* pits the USAA against the IJN and IJAA in a battle of air superiority over the skies of the Southwest Pacific. We will be using the New Guinea terrain and map. The plane sets used have seen extensive flight model improvements over models used in this arena in past S3s. While land and sea maneuvers will be included, the primary focus of this series will be to see who can control the skies of the Southwest Pacific Theater.
* I realize our historians are going to be critical of using Yamamoto. After all, he was commander of the IJN Combined Fleet and not over the IJA forces in the Southwest Pacific. However, he was used for name recognition and drama. Really, who even heard of Lt. Gen Haruyoshi Hyakutake who commanded the Seventeeth Army tasked with capturing Port Moreslby. We ask for your forgiveness in this matter.
This series features the New Guinea terrain and will feature the new revised flight models for the fighters involved. Players will have to fly the good, the bad and the ugly to win. Mainly a fighter vs fighter event but those players so inclined to fly bombers or drive ground vehicles will have the opportunity to effect the outcome of the series by attacking important operational targets.
This event features the New Guinea terrain in the S3 Arena at 8:30PM Eastern/5:30 PM Pacific. Five frames in the schedule. Available squads and their Squad roles