@Cobalt:
I have been enjoy the on-line Avalon Hill Guadalcanal Campaign so much that I checked a bunch of books out from the library on this fascinating campign and got the board game a few days ago. I’ve run through two games and am enjoying it very much.
Is it me, or is this game very heavy on casualties? There were a couple of huge air, sea, land battles (mostly fighting for New Georgia) and by turn three, both the Japanese and Americans were extremely depleted in assests. It seems like by Turn-3 neither side has enough assests to “island hop” any more.
The campaign was a brutal battle of attrition for both sides in real life. The waters around Guadcanal and New Georgia are probably the two greatest concentrations of sunken WW2 warships on the planet, with the only class of ship missing being the aircraft carrier. Several of those were sunk during the campaign, but none near the islands. I have studied the campaign for over 40 years, and have been to the Solomon Islands, and may be returning. Three books that I would recommend to you are The Struggle for Guadalcanal bu S. E. Morrison, The Battle History of the Japanese Navy by Paul Dull, and The Campaign for Guadalcanal by Jack Coggins. The Coggins book is extremely well illustrated, and filled with explanations on naval weapons and operations.
The idea of using the Avalon Hill War at Sea rules for the naval engagements is interesting. I was thinking of using the SeaPower II rules by Alnavco for the naval battles, and possibly for the air actions. I have not given any thought as yet to other possibilities for the ground battles.