Feb 11, 2023·How to play·28:57·3721·Watch on YouTube

How to Play! MAG 23 Guadalcanal Gameplay & Play-Through

Historic Wings

Watch “How to Play! MAG 23 Guadalcanal Gameplay & Play-Through,” a how-to-play guide for MAG-23 Guadalcanal from Historic Wings on BoardGameVideo.

Description provided by Historic Wings on YouTube:

We show gameplay from MAG-23 Guadalcanal, the WW2 solitaire air war game (historical conflict simulation) from Historic Wings. Scroll down for the example of a full logbook entry from this mission! Instructional video, watch and you're ready to play! Please consider purchasing a copy of the game! US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTYQ8X2G/ UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BTYQ8X2G/ SE: https://www.amazon.se/dp/B0BTYQ8X2G/ #aviation #wargames #boardgames Logbook It is Monday, 24 August 1942, our fourth day on Guadalcanal. Yesterday night, we experienced heavy shelling from Japanese naval ships offshore and multiple salvos hit the runway of Henderson Field. With clear weather, a combat air patrol of four Wildcats was sent up to protect against any surprise attacks. Lt. Campbell, VMF-223’s XO, had Lt. Fox on his wing. A second pair of Wildcats was led by Lt. Harpin with Lt. Quaid as his wingman. We had one Coastwatcher report from Wickham and Kennedy on New Georgia, who spotted six Japanese Zeros heading southeast and called it in. The signal was relayed to Australia, then Pearl Harbor, and finally through the fleet at sea to Guadalcanal. The CO, Major Tango decided to lead the attack with Lt. Lewis as his wingman. Lt. Harrison lead the second element with Sgt. Byrd, one of the squadron’s two sergeant pilots, to fly as his wingman. At take-off, two CAP Wildcats crashed. One of the pilots, Lt. Fox, is injured. The Navy Corpsmen say it isn’t serious and he’ll be back on flight status in three days. As the two Wildcats orbited the field, Lt. Harpin took station on Lt. Campbell’s wing before headng off to the patrol area northeast of the field to guard against any surprise attacks. When it was time to launch the four Wildcats to intercept the incoming raid, one more crashed on take off, one plane suffered an accident. No damage done and no injury, but the plane will be checked by maintenance and the pilot is a bit shaken up. The other three Wildcats forged on, with Major Tango taking Sgt. Byrd as his wingman. Spotting the incoming formation of Val divebombers, the Wildcats dove to attack and caught the Japanese by surprise. In seconds, four of the Vals were hit and spun down in flames. Major Tango got two of the kills, as did Lt. Campbell. That was Tango’s fifth kill, which made him the first ace on Guadalcanal. Lt. Campbell headed straight into the heart of the Zero formation with Lt. Harpin close by. It was two against nine Zeros and the Japanese pounced. The two went into a Thach Weave, and Lt. Campbell caught in his sights and shot it down. The Zeros couldn’t break the defense. Meanwhile, our other three Wildcats made a second pass into the remaining Val divebombers. Lt. Campbell’s valiant stand held off the Zeros allowed our pilots to knock down another two Vals. The remaining three turned for home. Our pilots broke off and the Japanese Zeros followed the Vals to escort them back. On landing, we had three planes suffer mishaps. The CO ground-looped it but no damage done. Lt. Campbell hit a hole in the runway from last night’s shelling and damaged the plane. He was injured, however, and the Navy Corpsmen are saying that he’ll be out of action for two days. Then Lt. Harrison also crashed it, damaging the plane but repairable. He walked away without a scratch. Overall, a good day on Cactus. The boys knocked down six Japanese planes, five of them were Vals and one Zero. Late in the night, two Japanese destroyers came in close and shelled the field – again. This time, they got lucky and hit one of five P-400s, destroying it. A real loss. By morning, they had run back up northwest through the Slot, and were already out of range of our SBDs. A good piece of news was that the guys from Cub ONE did some work on the runway and repaired it up pretty good. So we should have fewer accidents now, as long as the Japanese don’t bomb it more or the rains come. We are told that Marston Matting is coming in the future, which should improve the runways a lot. Thomas Van Hare has published over 450 articles on aviation history since 1997 at Historic Wings - http://www.historicwings.com/. He is an author, including along with Matt Lawrence, of the bestselling book, "Betrayal: Clinton, Castro & the Cuban Five", about the shootdown of Brothers to the Rescue in 1996. Story Research and Photo Credits: National Archives and Records Administration + Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum + US Department of Defense + US Marine Corps + US Navy + US Air Force Music Credits: Limitless - MusicbyAden & tubebackr https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr Creative Commons — Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported — CC BY-ND 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/-limitless Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/RuXuT1xWUUg Copyright 2023 Historic Wings and Thomas Van Hare

MAG-23 Guadalcanal

MAG-23 Guadalcanal

2023Thomas Van Hare

Videos: 18
Creators: 9

Mainly playthroughs. MAG-23 Guadalcanal is covered on BoardGameVideo.com by 1 reviews, 2 how-to-play guides, 10 recorded sessions, and 5 unboxings.

1 players

15 - 60 min

Medium weight

About MAG-23 Guadalcanal, from BoardGameGeek:

MAG-23 Guadalcanal is a book-based game that celebrates the story of Marine Air Group 23, known as the "Cactus Air Force", a ragtag group with planes, pilots, and personnel from the Marine Corps, Navy, and Army Air Forces. Their heroism helped deliver America a much-needed early victory in the Pacific during the Second World War. "The book-based solitaire air war game, MAG-23 Guadalcanal, provides a non-traditional means by which to learn and inculcate history, the fabric of nations and thereby, the fabric of humanity. We can never over-estimate history as an elixir in making Marines, in winning wars or in preserving a nation." -- Arnold Fields, Major General, US Marine Corps (Ret.) Each detail of gameplay provides an accurate picture of the hardships and disadvantages the Marines faced. Courage and determination eventually lead the Marines to overcome Japanese forces and achieve victory. MAG-23 Guadalcanal is a must-buy game for those wanting to learn more about military history and the true story of the Pacific War. -- Edward Russell, Colonel, USMCR (Ret.) It is one thing to read about or watch videos about historic battles. It is something else to actually be in the position of making the hard decisions yourself, which this game enables us all to do. -- Jim Craft, SES, formerly with HQ USMC In this game, you command MAG-23 during its seven-and-a-half-week long deployment on the island of Guadalcanal. You begin with two squadrons – Marine Fighter Squadron 223 (VMF-223) and Scout Bombing Squadron 232 (VMSB-232). Ahead is a trial by fire. You will face the highly maneuverable Japanese A6M Zero fighter, G4M Betty bombers, D3A Val dive bombers, and B5N Kate torpedo bombers – and other aircraft. During your time on Guadalcanal, you manage your forces from Henderson Field. You will be reinforced by pilots and planes from the US Army Air Forces and US Navy. Your main advantages are the ruggedness of the Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat, the Australian Coastwatchers, a primitive radar early warning system, and – above all – the determination and unwavering fighting spirit of your Marines. "Guadalcanal was the only place on earth where you could stand up to your knees in mud and still get dust in your eyes." -- Capt. Marion Carl, USMC, Guadalcanal Ace You will face the jungle, nightly bombardments by Japanese naval ships, infantry reinforced by the “Tokyo Express”, dysentery, dengue fever, and malaria. Japanese artillery will regularly shell your airfield, sometimes hitting your planes, fuel stores, runways, and bivouac. Your hold on Guadalcanal is tenuous. The Marines have a perimeter of a few hundred meters around the airfield. You are frequently under fire. The runway is pitted from shelling, making every take-off and landing a risk. Your pilots must drive the enemy back from the perimeter. If they fail, Japanese infantry will overwhelm the Marines and storm the airfield. The survival of the Marines on Guadalcanal depends on your planes and pilots. You must intercept Japanese raids, strike at enemy ground targets, and bomb and strafe enemy ships. You will face the cream Japanese aviation, including some legendary aces like Junichi Sasai, Toshio Ōta, Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, and others. Your deployment on Guadalcanal begins when you land on the newly opened Henderson Field on Thursday, 20 August 1942. You fly your first mission the next day. It ends when MAG-23 hands off its mission to the next Marine Air Group and departs for Espíritu Santo on Monday, 12 October 1942. Your pilots will wage battles over land, in the air, and at sea to protect Henderson Field, the focus of both sides in the conflict. It will be tough. So many US Navy and Japanese ships will be sunk off the northern shores of Guadalcanal that the waters will come to be called “Ironbottom Sound”. MAG-23 Guadalcanal is engaging, fast-playing, fun, and easy to learn. Most missions can be completed in less than fifteen to twenty minutes. This game is not a simulation of air-to-air combat between individual fighter planes, nor is it intended to be a realistic depiction of the air war; it is an entertaining and educational air war game that allows you to experience the conflict on Guadalcanal – as if you were there. This game is for both experienced and novice war gamers alike. Though dice play a role, the outcomes depend on you. How many of your pilots will make it through to the end? How many will become aces? Will you defeat the Japanese and keep Guadalcanal in American hands? Or will you fail and see Henderson Field overrun by Japanese infantry? Available in every Amazon site worldwide -- some popular links: US: https://www.amazon.com/MAG-23-Guadalcanal-Solitaire-Historic-Wings/dp/B0BTYQ8X2G/ UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/MAG-23-Guadalcanal-Solitaire-Historic-Wings/dp/B0BTYQ8X2G/ THE LOGBOOK, a companion add-on (optional) game aid, is live: US: https://www.amazon.com/The-Logbook-MAG-23-Guadalcanal/dp/B0BW385D5L UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BW385D5L -description from the publisher

Designer

Thomas Van Hare

Artist

Thomas Van Hare

Publisher

Historic Wings

Categories

Aviation / FlightWargame

Mechanics

Card-DrivenAction Selection

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