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My name is Dean Halley, and I am designing the Guadalcanal Campaign for Conflict of Heroes: Guadalcanal. And yes, I came up with the catchy title for the game. What with Island of Doom for Crete already in the works I did not see any reason to add another Island game title to the line up. Besides this will cover the entire campaign as it was fought on the ground, so just "Guadalcanal" seemed appropriate.
So what does that mean as a game? There are 24 Firefights ready to be play tested that cover the major actions on the Island from August 1942 to January 1943. I do not know if all of them will make it into the game, because some of them may be good in theory but lousy in play, and we won't know which is which until they are play tested  . But assuming they all pass muster, it will be a good package. Included will be a mini-campaign that link three of the scenarios together, and another one that links two of them. There will be massed Japanese Banzai Charges against hard pressed Marines and U.S. Soldiers, night battles, U.S. artillery rules that allow OBA fire during a Round, an evacuation of C Company 7th Marines by sea while under fire, and lots of other good stuff.
What the game will not include is Firefights for the islands near Guadalcanal that were invaded on August 7th 1942 by the 1st Raider Battalion and 1st Paramarine Battalion. There wasn't room for the maps that would be needed for them. But if all goes well maybe they can be included as an expansion to Guadalcanal like Price of Honor is for AtB. But that is way in the future, if it happens at all.
As of now the maps are being drawn by a graphic artist, and play testing will start soon after they are done. I will keep you posted on the progress. In the meantime enjoy SoS and AtB.
Dean Halley
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Paul Amala
United States
Dublin
California
paul@amala.us
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Very neat - looking forward to this.
Are you including -
1) Naval gun fire support
2) USN/USMC air support (Henderson Field)
3) Historical maps, or generic maps
4) Night combat
5) Ammo supply issues
6) Food & Supply issues for the Japanese
?
Paul A.
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Yoki Erdtman
Sweden
Södertälje
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paulamala wrote: 5) Ammo supply issues
6) Food & Supply issues for the Japanese
Given the small scale, tactical nature and short 5-round battles of Conflict of Heroes (at least to date), I would wager "no," but be pleasantly surprised if proven wrong.
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Kai von der Aa
Germany
Nuremberg
Bavaria
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down range wrote: Conflict of Heroes: Guadalcanal. And yes, I came up with the catchy title for the game. What with Island of Doom for Crete already in the works I did not see any reason to add another Island game title to the line up. Besides this will cover the entire campaign as it was fought on the ground, so just "Guadalcanal" seemed appropriate.
Wow, sounds very good what we can read here. But to be consistent with the other game titles, I assume it will fully named "Conflict of Heroes: Guadalcanal - Pacific 1942"
Because after the name of the box all other titles have a short text for the place and date of the theatre. But the place Pacific sounds big. Perhaps South Pacific? Or it had to be named "Conflict of Heroes: (Any other name) - Guadalcanal 1942"
(and yes, I am a nitpicker and fan of consistency)
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Malte Henkel
Germany
33098 Paderborn
Germany
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Kai is right. There should be something that runs like a red thread through the names of different games in this series. I like his "South Pacific [1942]" suggestion myself.
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paulamala wrote: Very neat - looking forward to this.
Are you including -
1) Naval gun fire support
2) USN/USMC air support (Henderson Field)
3) Historical maps, or generic maps
4) Night combat
5) Ammo supply issues
6) Food & Supply issues for the Japanese
?
Paul A.
Paul,
Naval gunfire - yes. But this was 1942 and it was puny by late war standards (5" guns from Destroyers is the best the U.S. Navy could do at the time).
2) Yes. F4F Wildcats and P400 Air Cobras. They were inferior planes to the Japanese Zero (and German ME-109s and 110s) in all respects except two. The Wildcat could dive faster and it could take a lot of damage and keep flying while the Air Cobra was armed to the teeth with .50 cal MGs, .30 cal MGs and a 20mm cannon. But the dog fights between the Japanese and U.S. planes were limited to the vicinity of Henderson Field for the most part, so there will only be U.S. planes in the Firefights.
3) Generic maps. I tried going with historical maps, but the terrain was to varied to make that viable from the limitation on counters and maps that each game designer has to work with.
4) You bet! You can't do Pacific War games without it. There will be a rule section for Guadalcanal specific rules, and the night combat rules will be there (along with the Banzai Charge rules, U.S. artillery rules, No Quarter combat, and Japanese specific ones).
5) Ammo supply. No. It was a problem but one that was kept in check because the Japanese were so uncoordinated in their attacks; allowing the U.S. to respond to one threat at a time. And to do otherwise creates ASL type rule creep, and I want to avoid that. But for the record I Love ASL and have played it for 15+ years. But CoH is more about forcing players to make tough choices in extremely fluid situations (as a Company Commandeer is forced to do), and I want to keep the focus on that.
That being said though, there will be a Firefight offered that examines what would have happened if the Japanese October offense had actually gone according to plan. That will force the U.S. players to allocate their limited number of OBA Cards among three different Firefights that are being played at the same time. I imagine the U.S. players will be hard pressed then...
6) Surprisingly... yes. But not directly. Hows that for being cryptic? The Japanese suffered more casualties from starvation and disease than from battle. There are many reasons for this, but in the end, the Japanese effort to re-take Guadalcanal was competing with the Japanese efforts to capture New Guinea, and New Guinea was the bigger priority.
The way that plays into Guadalcanal is by just reducing the number of APs the Japanese squads receive while activated (i.e., from 7 to 5 or 6 or limiting the number of APs they receive when rolling for APs). But that doesn't happen until the Firefights in January of 43. The Japanese soldier was tough and he fought on very well while hungry and sick.
And as for the name. The game actually covers August 1942 to January 1943, so bringing the time frame into the title would be a mouthful: Conflict of Heroes: Guadalcanal August 1942 to January 1943. I went for simpler is better. Besides, Guadalcanal is only 90 miles long and 25 miles wide, so there is no confusing it with any other Battlefield in the world. :)
It is going to be blast. Any questions I missed I will try to answer this evening after work.
Dean
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Michael W.
Canada
Toronto
Ontario
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I'm looking forward to seeing the series move to the Pacific theatre!
ArrrOOooo!
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Kai von der Aa
Germany
Nuremberg
Bavaria
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down range wrote: And as for the name. The game actually covers August 1942 to January 1943, so bringing the time frame into the title would be a mouthful: Conflict of Heroes: Guadalcanal August 1942 to January 1943. I went for simpler is better. Besides, Guadalcanal is only 90 miles long and 25 miles wide, so there is no confusing it with any other Battlefield in the world.
Dean, I understand your objection, but also Guadalcanal is surely a name most American wargamers know, I'm not so sure with Euro-centric wargamers.
Compared to eventually coming titles it would also be good to see at least a rough timeline classification just by giving the years without naming the months (no one needs the months, because also Kursk namend 1943 also if the action in the firefights take place only at some weeks or months in spring/summer). So I suggest "Guadalcanal 1942-1943". That also would fit to the AtB title with also naming the years 1941-1942 also if the campaign starts in late summer 1941.
Perhaps you may think about in the next months or so...
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Kai,
"Guadalcanal 1942-1943" sounds good. I will run it by Uwe, but understand that the picture on the box cover is done and it would require some modification to it. So maybe it can be done at this stage and maybe not.
Dean
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Kai von der Aa
Germany
Nuremberg
Bavaria
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Ok, thanks!
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Curtis Thornock
United States
Idaho
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While naming consistency is nice...
If it delays the game's release, please do not bother. Just bring us the game!  
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Curtis,
There would be no delay, as the components (box art, counters, maps, rules, etc.) are done by separate individuals. Guadalcanal is in the infancy stage of development, so don't expect to see it before late summer. Price of Heroes and First Men In are in the queue before it, so I imagine you will see them first. But rest assured that we will be working on Guadalcanal to bring it to your table ASAP.
It is my intent to insure there are no errors in the game and that the Firefights are exciting (as nail biting decision making) and interesting with plenty of replay value. So that may slow it down a bit too. I am amazed how much work is needed to bring a game to print, and how easy it is to misspelled words and not see errors in Firefights and Player Aids. Our brains are wired to see what should be there sometimes instead of what is. That is why proof readers are so important to the process, because they have not looked at the same Firefight for a hundred times, and see what is there instead of what the developers may think is there. But again that is months down the road, but when we get to that point it will not be rushed.
Take acre all
Dean
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Kai von der Aa
Germany
Nuremberg
Bavaria
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down range wrote: Price of Heroes
Cheaper in the dozen?
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Curtis Thornock
United States
Idaho
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down range wrote: ... That is why proof readers are so important to the process, because they have not looked at the same Firefight for a hundred times, and see what is there instead of what the developers may think is there.
Take acre all
Dean
Well Dean, I'll be happy to proofread for you folks. Just after I take that ACRE. 
All kidding aside, I'm a law enforcement officer whose Sergeants and fellow officers have always asked me to proofread their reports before they submit them to administration and/or the courts. I really would be happy to proofread for you folks when you are ready to go to print if you like.
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See what I mean. :D And that as just a post on BGG.
Cutis,
That will be great. Uwe will make the final decision on proof readers, and We will keep you in mind.
Dean
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uwe eickert
United States
Helena
Ohio
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Hmmmm.... Guadalcanal - South Pacific 42-43
It might work. Any other ideas while we are at it?
But whatever the name, it has to stay away from the sword being swung by the offices! LOL
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Kai von der Aa
Germany
Nuremberg
Bavaria
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uweeickert wrote: But whatever the name, it has to stay away from the sword being swung by the offices! LOL
Still hoping the old box design with live forth, there would be no problem with the officers sword...
Even if the title is longer, I prefer
"Guadalcanal - South Pacific 1942-1943"
First of all I'm a nitpicker (or better: perfectionist?) and second with adding the century number "19" there is consistency to already published titles, already announced titles and sure for coming titles with a 21th century theatre (can't imagine a game "Afghanistan 09").
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down range wrote: There will be massed Japanese Banzai Charges against hard pressed Marines and U.S. Soldiers, ...
*DROOL*!
Stop posting here and get back to work!
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Yoki Erdtman
Sweden
Södertälje
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uweeickert wrote: Hmmmm.... Guadalcanal - South Pacific 42-43 It might work. Any other ideas while we are at it?
You might want to drop the "South" and ride the buzz of HBO's new show The Pacific. Better yet, call up HBO, drop in a few of the characters from the show and get the game endorsed as the official game of the show.
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Adam D.
United States
Suquamish
Washington
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Heck you could even have it out before the show ends (wink).
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uwe eickert
United States
Helena
Ohio
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LOL, I wonder how much that would cost! But then again, HBO might give me the rights for free?!
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Stephen Paschal
United States
Hawaii
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As to putting in South Pacific in the game title, it is true that it has a familiar ring to it, but many of the Island battles fought in the Pacific were in the central and north pacific regions,Guam, Saipan,Tinian Iwo Jima, and Okinawa to name a few. So if COH does games on those battles,(and in my view they should) then those regions of the Pacific would also appear in the game titles?
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Kai von der Aa
Germany
Nuremberg
Bavaria
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I think the name of a series is a kind of formula with a high recognition value. For CoH I think the formula is like:
Conflict of Heroes: "Buzz name" - "Location" "Year"
So the location part can be a land, a region, a town. If the buzz title is already a famous location, then under the location can also another name be used, perhaps with a wider meaning. Just to show what I mean I give some examples (also alternate titles):
Conflict of Heroes: Iwo Jima - West Pacific 1945
Conflict of Heroes: Attack on the sulfur fortress - Iwo Jima 1945
Conflict of Heroes: Raising the Flag - Iwo Jima 1945
(Sulfur fortress sounds like the dungeon of a fantasy B-movie)
Conflict of Heroes: From Hell to Hell - Marianas 1944
Conflict of Heroes: Windtalkers - Northern Mariana Islands 1944
Conflict of Heroes: Landing at Saipan - Mariana Islands 1944
(Most wargamers will also know the movie Windtalkers)
Conflict of Heroes: At Japans Doorstep - Okinawa 1945
Conflict of Heroes: Battle of Okinawa - Ryuku Islands 1945
Conflict of Heroes: Operation Iceberg - West Pacific 1945
(Typhoon of Steel is just to near to Storms of Steel and certainly should Okinawa be in)
and so on...
perhaps some of it will comes to light
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Kai,
Your ideas are great! I will consult with you first the next time I need a title.
Take care,
Dean
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Kai von der Aa
Germany
Nuremberg
Bavaria
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down range wrote: IKai, Your ideas are great!.
Thank you.
I'm thinking about translating the windtalker story in one FF scenario with the Japanese goal to catch the "Indian" counter...
BANZAI
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