War in the Pacific: A WW2 Roll & Write Game
War in the Pacific: A WW2 Roll & Write Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Important Concept: D3s
The game uses D3s for red dice and resupplying, represented by standard six-sided dice. To determine the result, halve the roll and round up: Rolls of 1-2 = 1, Rolls of 3-4 = 2, Rolls of 5-6 = 3.
Winning the Game
To win, you are trying to force a capitulation on the Japanese by finishing the game with at least 12 capitulation points (CPs). Achieve 16-20 CPs for an Unconditional Surrender.
Losing the Game
You lose if you finish the game with 11 or fewer capitulation points (CPs) and fail to force a surrender on the Japanese.
Game Components
- 1x Rulebook
- 1x gamesheet
- 7x white six-sided dice
- 3x red six-sided dice
- 5x black wooden cubes
- 3x blue wooden cubes
- 3x green wooden cubes
- 1x dry-erasable marker or a pen/pencil
The Gamesheet
- The Timeline: Tracks the campaign's twelve turns with a single box being marked each turn.
- The Nuclear tracker: Tracks your nuclear research and the number of nuclear bombs developed.
- The CPs tracker: Tracks capitulation points to determine when Japan surrenders.
- The campaign event chart: Determines a single event each turn that will help or hinder your campaign.
- The naval assets, air power and bombing trackers: The naval assets tracker monitors your supply and naval resources (black cubes), the air power tracker tracks your air resources (blue cubes), and the bombing tracker tracks your bomber bases.
- The dice pool box: The dice pool is used to keep track of your available dice for the turn.
- The campaign map: Displays the progression paths for each Pacific command group as they advance and capture the Japanese island chains.
Game Setup
- Set the gamesheet in front of you.
- Place two black cubes inside the "naval assets tracker" of the gamesheet.
- Place one blue cube inside the "air power tracker" of the gamesheet.
- Place the seven white dice, three red dice and the extra black and blue cubes at the very bottom of the gamesheet.
The Game Turn
Each game consists of a maximum of 12 turns, with each turn having the following phases:
Campaign Phase:
- Prepare your dice pool.
- Mark off a box on the timeline.
- Roll on the campaign event chart.
American Phase:
- Roll your dice for the dice pool.
- Use your dice to attack islands on the campaign map, conduct nuclear research, bomb Japan or add naval assets.
The Timeline
The timeline tracks the campaign from early 1942 to late 1945. Mark off one box each turn during the campaign phase. When the 12th box is marked (the last box), the game ends at the conclusion of that turn.
American military buildup and D-Day: Several timeline boxes during the early American military buildup and around D-Day in Europe contain one or more red die symbols. When crossing off any of these boxes, replace a white die in your dice pool with a red die equal to the number in the box for this turn only.
The Campaign Phase
Preparing your dice pool
At the beginning of each campaign phase, place six white dice inside your dice pool on the game sheet. Dice quantities or types (red/white) may change due to timeline or campaign event effects.
Mark off a box on the timeline
Starting with the left-most box, mark off a single empty box on the timeline each campaign phase.
After marking off the last box (the 12th box) on the timeline it means it is the last turn and the game ends at the end of this turn.
During the American military build-up and D-day, some timeline boxes show red die symbols. When you cross off one of these boxes, replace the indicated number of white dice in your pool with red dice for that turn only.
Roll on the event chart
Finally, roll a single die and consult the campaign event chart. Events will either reduce your naval assets, grant you a free roll for nuclear research, add a nuclear bomb, remove a die or modify the color of a die in your dice pool for this turn only.
The campaign event chart is printed on the gamesheet with four rows. The die faces shown on each row are read as the roll that triggers that row: a roll of 1-2 is the Japanese naval counter-attack, 3-4 is European priorities, 5 is Japanese air power and 6 is nuclear advancement. (The chart prints die icons rather than roll numbers; the 1-2 row is confirmed by the example below, which rolls a 2.)
| Roll | Event | Effect (this turn only where stated) |
|---|---|---|
| 1-2 | Japanese naval counter-attack | Discard two black cubes from your naval assets tracker. |
| 3-4 | European priorities | Reduce your dice pool by one white die. This turn only. |
| 5 | Japanese air power | Replace a white die with a red die in your dice pool. This turn only. |
| 6 | Nuclear advancement | Roll a D6 and allocate it to the nuclear tracker. OR, if the nuclear research is already unlocked, gain a nuclear bomb (green cube). |
You may use a black cube or/and a blue cube to either add +1 to the roll or even re-roll the die when rolling on the event chart. See the American phase on page 4 for more info.
Example: In this example, you rolled a '2' on the event chart and get the "Japanese naval counter-attack" event. This event reduces your naval assets by two.
The "nuclear advancement" event allows you to roll a D6 and immediately allocate it to the nuclear tracker. If all nuclear research is done (all numbered boxes marked off), instead gain a single nuclear bomb. Add a green cube to the nuclear bomb tracker.
The American Phase
Editor's note: the manual names the blue-cube track both "air power tracker" and "command tracker", and the black-cube track both "naval assets tracker" and "supply tracker". The names are kept as printed; in each case they refer to the same track on the gamesheet.
Rolling your dice
Roll all the dice in your dice pool. You may use the abilities below, in any order, to modify your dice either before or after allocating them to attack, for nuclear research or adding naval assets.
Red dice (D3s)
Red dice always act as D3s when rolled (see the "Important Concept: D3s" section).
Rolling sixes
For each white die that rolls a natural six in the American phase, you may add one blue cube to the air power tracker. The command tracker can hold a maximum of three blue cubes.
If nuclear bombs have been unlocked through research, you can instead use a single '6' result per turn to allocate to the nuclear tracker to add a nuclear bomb (green cube) to the nuclear tracker.
Example: This turn, your dice pool contains six dice, including one red die due to the "Japanese air power" event. You roll: 6, 5, 4, 2, 3, and a red 6. Since the red die is a D3, it becomes a 3 (halved and rounded up). The roll of 6 allows you to add a blue cube to your air power tracker. However, since you already have the maximum of three, you spend one blue cube to re-roll the 2, resulting in a 4. By adjusting the order of your actions, you make a smart play and maintain three blue cubes in your tracker.
To perform an major breakthrough action requiring a roll of 6, you discard a black cube from the supply tracker to modify the 5 by +1 to a 6. You do not however, gain a blue cube from this, as only natural rolls of '6' can be used to gain blue or green cubes.
Using command cubes to re-roll dice
Discard one blue cube from the command tracker to re-roll a single die (white or red). This can be done at any time, including for rolls on the event chart.
Naval bombardment (using naval assets to modify dice)
Discard one or more black cubes from the supply tracker to increase the value of a single die by +1 per cube discarded.
This ability cannot be used to gain a blue or green cube by modifying a die to a '6'.
Naval Assets
You may allocate any die roll of 2 or higher to the naval assets tracker to gain black cubes. The number of black cubes gained is the die value's D3 result (see the "Important Concept: D3s" section). The supply tracker can hold a maximum of five black cubes and any that cannot fit, must be discarded.
Example: If you allocate a white die roll of 3, you gain 2 black cubes. Red die rolls of 1 or 2 cannot be allocated because they count as 1 when converted to a D3.
Example: Before allocating more dice to attacks, you use your two 3s (one white and one red) to resupply your armies. Each 3 provides two black cubes, adding a total of four to your supply tracker, which now reaches its maximum of five cubes.
The naval assets tracker on the gamesheet reads: "Naval assets: white die = D3 x black cube. Cannot allocate any 1's. Used for attacking certain boxes. Used to gain +1 to any die."
Air Power
The air power tracker on the gamesheet reads: "Used to re-roll a single die: die = blue cube." Blue cubes are gained by rolling natural sixes in the American phase (see "Rolling sixes") and are discarded to re-roll a single die (see "Using command cubes to re-roll dice").
Nuclear Research
Each turn, you may assign a maximum of one die from your dice pool to advance nuclear research.
If the die value is equal to or higher than the number in the current research box, mark it off. Progress through the tracker left to right, top to bottom.
The nuclear research grid is printed on the gamesheet as three rows of three boxes: the first row reads 2, 3, 3; the second row reads 4, 2, 4; the third row reads 3, 3, 5, with the 5 box marked "UNLOCKED".
Critical research advances
If the die value is at least double the number in the current box, mark off that box and the next one to the right.
Example: This turn, you decide to allocate a '5' from your dice pool to the nuclear tracker. Place the die in the large traced box at the top of the tracker. The current nuclear research box has a '2' inside and your '5' allocated here is more than double and so a "critical research advance" is achieved. Mark off the '2' box on the nuclear research track and the next box, a '4', as well.
Several turns later, after finally finishing the nuclear research by marking off the last box and unlocking the nuclear bomb, you decide to allocate a '6' to the nuclear tracker to build a nuclear bomb. Add a green cube to the nuclear bomb tracker to show that you now have a nuclear bomb available for future use.
Unlocking nuclear bombs
Once all research boxes are marked off, nuclear bombs are unlocked and can now be built.
Building a nuclear bomb
After unlocking, you may build a nuclear bomb by either:
- Rolling a 6 (instead of gaining a blue air power cube), or
- Rolling the "Nuclear Advancement" event.
Each nuclear bomb built adds 1 green cube to the nuclear tracker.
Using nuclear bombs
When bombing (see "Strategic Bombing"), you may spend 1 green cube to use a nuclear bomb.
The nuclear bombs box on the gamesheet reads: "May attach a green cube when bombing. If any die rolls are 5+, = two CPs (instead of only one)."
Strategic Bombing
Capturing bomber bases
Each time you capture an island with a bomber icon, mark one box on the bombing tracker.
Example: After capturing the island of Kwajalein, mark off a box on the bombing tracker due to a bomber icon being present.
Launching a bombing raid
Once at least one box is marked, you may assign a die roll of 4+ to launch a strategic bombing raid on Japan.
Roll one die per marked box on the bombing tracker. If any die rolls a 5+, mark 1 CP on the CP tracker. Even with multiple successes, only 1 CP is marked per raid.
The bombing tracker on the gamesheet reads: "Place a 4+ here to bomb Japan. Roll a die for each bomber icon marked off. If any rolls of 5+, mark off a single CP."
Example: This turn you decide to bomb Japan by allocating a '5' to the bombing tracker. You have four boxes already marked off and so will roll four dice for the bombing. You don't have any green cubes and so cannot use any nuclear bombs during this bombing raid. You roll a 1, 3, 4 and 6. Luckily a '6' was rolled and the bombing was successful, and you mark off a single box from the CP tracker.
Using nuclear bombs in a bombing raid
Before rolling, you may attach a green cube (nuclear bomb) by discarding it from the nuclear tracker.
If any die rolls a 5+, mark 2 CPs instead of 1. Even with multiple successes, only 2 CPs are marked per nuclear bombing raid.
Attacking Islands
Campaign map and command group paths
The campaign map features two command groups, Central and Southern, each with arrows and dotted lines indicating their progression paths. To advance along a path, you must capture islands by marking off all the numbered boxes above them and unlocking the next island in that path. Guadalcanal and Tarawa are considered unlocked at the start of the game.
Attacking islands
To attack an island, assign one die at a time to an island that is already unlocked. If the die value matches or exceeds the number in the current box (starting with the top row, left to right) above the island, mark the box off. You may attack the same island several times during a turn or divide your dice to attack along both command group's paths.
Major breakthroughs
When allocating a die to attack an island: if the die value is at least double the number in an island's box, mark off that box and the next box over in line.
Example: You roll your dice pool: 6, 5, 3, 2, and a red 6 (converted to 3).
Example: This turn you decide to allocate a '5' and '6' to Guadalcanal. Use the 5 to double the value of the 2 in the first box, allowing you to conduct a major breakthrough and mark off the 4 box as well. Then, attack with the '6' to mark off the final 5 box in Guadalcanal. Guadalcanal is now fully marked off and is thus captured and grants you one CP to mark off on the CP tracker. Capturing Guadalcanal also unlocks the next island along Southern command's path, which is Bougainville.
Capturing islands and gaining CPs
Once all numbered boxes above an island are marked off, the island is captured. Mark off the large beige island box and mark off one box on the CP tracker for each rising sun icon in the captured island box. In addition, if a bomber icon is present, also mark off a box on the bombing tracker. The next island in the command group's path is now considered unlocked.
Sea transport and escort duties
Before marking off a box with a naval icon, discard one black cube. If you cannot discard a black cube, the box cannot be marked off and the attack is cancelled. This rule also applies to major breakthroughs (see above).
Example: At the start of the game, Southern command begins with the island of Guadalcanal unlocked. To advance, attack and mark off all three boxes above Guadalcanal. Once completed, mark off the island itself to unlock Bougainville. Meanwhile, Central command starts at Tarawa. After capturing Tarawa, you can progress to the island of Kwajalein.
Ending the Game
After marking off the 12th and final box on the timeline, the game ends at the conclusion of this turn.
Winning the game
Count up all your marked off CPs on the CP tracker. If you have at least 12 capitulation points (CPs), you win the game with ahistorical outcome. Achieve 16-20 CPs for an unconditional surrender. The Japanese emperor is deposed and Japanese aggression is curbed for the next 150 years.
Losing the game
You lose if you finish the game with 11 or fewer capitulation points (CPs) and fail to force a surrender on the Japanese. The Japanese hang on to eventually sign a conditional surrender.
Hard & Easy Modes
Hard Mode: In case you wish to have a much more difficult challenge, start the game with no blue cubes in the air power tracker and no black cubes in the naval assets tracker.
Easy Mode: To make the game less challenging and easier, start the game with three black cubes and three blue cubes in the respective naval assets and air power trackers.