Flat Top

A Highly Detailed Operational Game of WWII Carrier Combat
Two-players – Many hours
Designed by S. Craig Taylor
Second Edition Published by Avalon Hill (1981)

The following is a transcript of an interview between Long John Sliver and his long-time friend, da Pyrate.

LJS: Is this really your 75th review here on the BGG?

DP: Aaaarrrhh! That it be.

LJS: Why did you select Flat Top for review #75?

DP: Because Flat Top is a big game. It truly is a game that is both as wide and deep as the ocean over which the very same campaigns that it simulates were fought.

LJS: While most of your reviews indicate you are quite familiar with the games in question a couple look as though you may not actually have played them. Have you actually played Flat Top.

DP: Many years ago on top of a mountain, but played it I have.

LJS: Tell me about the components of the game.

DP: There be a lot of cardboard in this flat box: Two mounted map-sheets, each measuring 22” x 28”, over 2,000 counters representing planes, ships and markers; a 36 page rule book with rules, scenarios, design notes and historical commentary; 4 operations cards; 3 player aid cards; a thick pad of mapsheets to allow the secret plotting of moves - being a professional pirate I really enjoy plotting.

It be one of the few games where the components won't actually fit back into the box once the counters have been cut of of the counter sheets.


LJS: What do you see to be the essential value of the game? From what I have heard from other pyrates is that the game is just a lot of hard work and not really much fun at all.

DP: The pyrates making that sort of comment aren’t real pyrates. Real pyrates love their games and love their history. And further more, don’t mind putting in some damn long hours on their games to get the full benefit from them. Flat Top is a game that is highly detailed. By that I mean not only is each game turn representing an hour of real time but each game turn is also broken into 10 distinct phases: weather, air operations, task force movement plotting, shadowing, task force movement execution, initiative, plane movement, combat, repair and time record phase. This sort of detail gives the player a deeper understanding of many aspects of the historical campaign that you just don’t get from quick and easy-to-play games. If I had me choice I’d make that sort of lily-livered pyrate walk the plank as they just make the rest of us pyrates look like a pack of pansies.

LJS: Is it hard to find the time to play a game such as Flat Top?

DP: Luckily the designer, a Mr S. Craig Taylor, put a lot of thought into this and gave the players a lot of options regarding how long the game would take. There are five scenarios. The longest, Coral Sea, runs from 0600 May 4 until 1800 May 8 (109 turns). The shortest, Rings Around Rabaul, from 0600 February 23 until 1800 February 23 (13 turns). With each of the four main scenarios as well as a full operational versions there is a shortened battle version which does away with a lot of manoeuvre and concentrates on the combat aspects: these battle scenarios are each 18 turns long.

LJS: Would you be kind enough to reminisce regarding when you have played the game and what you thought about it, as a gaming experience?

DP: Well, you’re not going to finish the game in the time it takes to finish off a single pot o’ grog. You either need to make sure you have plenty of vittles or be prepared to sail away every now and then and continue the game each time that ye return to port. The game has several subsystems and aspects to the operations. There are the naval systems that related to movement. This is normally plotted secretly. You normally don’t know, for sure, where the enemy ships are. If you can make a visual sighting via aircraft you make have some information, but, just like in real life, the reports are not always accurate.

I remember when I had a Catalina make a sighting, it was his main battle group. Then they sailed into a storm and I lost sight of them for a couple of hours. Later they came out of the storm area and I found them. I foolishly did not ask for details, I just assumed it was the same group. It turned out only to be a couple of small warships. I sank them but I had lost the chance to launch my main attack against the right target.

The aerial subsystems relate to searching for enemy ships and launching attacks. This presents a couple of interesting features. In the first place your planes will be in the air for several turns. They have only a limited range due to fuel considerations. It is possible that your carrier-based planes may take-off with the expectation to land later at a rendezvous, only to find that the carriers can’t make it there on time due to any number of possible reasons. If there is no rendezvous there will be quite a few splashes as the planes land in the drink. Another interesting aspect is that the planes are armed with specific types of bombs as they takeoff (high explosive, armour or torpedos). Each type of bomb is most effective against a particular type of target. Sending planes with high explosive to attack land-bases is fine. However, they will not be able to do much against a better target than may become apparent as the high explosive simply will not do damage to ships.

The game emphasises how much forward planning and coordination was necessary for these types of naval-air operations to be a success. You can’t keep changing your mind about targets as the nature of the situation changes which each new piece of information.

LJS: Would you recommend Flat Top as a game for most wargamers?

DP: Definitely not! Most gamers just aren’t tough enough for a game like Flat Top. Today’s gamers are not as strong, mentally or physically, as those that were around 30 years ago. Back in my day gamers could fight their wars 24/7/365 and do it with a minimum of food, as long as we got our daily ration of grog. Today’s gamers have got it too easy, big counters, PBEM, computer assistance, fast food delivered. It takes a real gamer to play a game like Flat Top and most of today’s gamers just aren’t up to it. It takes someone who has a real interest in the history and someone who has the patience to play the game to the very end. Lots of today’s gamers just want to roll dice and spill blood. There is a lot more to Flat Top than that.


“Dead Men Tell No Tales!”