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Steel Typhoon
Steel Typhoon
The Second Half of the Pacific War
November 1943 - September 1945
designed by
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Ed Kettler,
Adam Adkins, and John Kettler
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edited by
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Ed Kettler, Larry Bond and Chris Carlson
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published by
Clash of Arms Games
Copyright © 2012, 2014 by Ed Kettler, Adam Adkins, John Kettler, Larry Bond, and Chris Carlson
All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. Made in the USA.
No part of this game may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.
Command at Sea is a registered Trademark by Larry Bond, Christopher Carlson, and Edward Kettler, for their WW II tactical naval wargame. The Admiralty Trilogy is a registered Trademark by Larry Bond, Christopher Carlson, Edward Kettler, and
Michael Harris for their Twentieth-Century tactical naval gaming system.
This digital version of Steel Typhoon has been updated to include all corrections from errata through 30 April 2012.
The designers of Steel Typhoon and Command at Sea are prepared to answer questions about the game system. They can be
reached in care of Clash of Arms, 1804 Hoffmansville Road, PO Box 212, Sassamansville, PA 19472-0212 and via the Internet
at [email protected]. Visit their website at http://www.clashofarms.com.
Cover by Tim Schleif
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Steel Typhoon
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Scenario Notes
Dedication
Acknowledgements
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Map of the Pacific Theater
Battleship and Cruiser Floatplane Availability
Japanese Naval Aviation Units
Hourly Event Table
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Opening the Central Pacific
Wolf in the Fold
24 Nov 43
Makin submarine counterattack
The Gibraltar of the Pacific
16 Feb 44
USN air raid against Japanese bastion
Operation Hailstone: Sweep Around Truk
16 Feb 44
Battleship/cruiser/destroyer action
Operation Hailstone: Counterattack
17 Feb 44
Kates vs. USN carrier task force
Truk’s Defenses
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The Battle of the Philippine Sea: Introduction
Japanese Airfield Data for Philippine Sea Area July 1944
Unexpected Visitors – Plan Johnny
11 Jun 44
US carrier task force vs. Guam’s air facilities
Battle of Philippine Sea: Ozawa's Raids
19 Jun 44
IJN air vs. USN TF and CAP
Battle of Philippine Sea: Turn on the Lights
20 Jun 44
USN afternoon carrier attack
Battle of Philippine Sea: Night Pursuit
21 Jun 44
Hypothetical night pursuit by USN
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The Indian Ocean: Introduction
Carrier Raid: Sabang
19 Apr 44
RN carrier operations
Something is Wrong With Our Bloody Torpedoes
26 Mar 45
Destroyers attack convoy
Battle of Malacca Strait
15 May 45
IJN Haguro meets her fate
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Leyte Gulf, The Greatest Naval Battle: Introduction BaitDiv/CripDiv
17 Oct 44
Hypothetical: IJN cruiser force
hunts crippled cruisers
Battle of the Sibuyan Sea
24 Oct 44
Halsey's USN air hits Kurita's force
Battle of San Bernardino Strait
24 Oct 44
Hypothetical night surface action
Battle of Surigao Strait
24-25 Oct 44
Oldendorf vs. Kurita night battle
Battle off Cape Engaño
25 Oct 44
Halsey's USN air vs. Ozawa.
Battle off Samar
25 Oct 44
Taffy 3 vs. Kurita
San Jose Penetration Force
26 Dec 44
IJN cruisers attack landing force
The Long Road to Lingayen
2-6 Jan 45
Forced passage of Lingayen attack force
Maru-Ni at San Juan
9-10 Jan 45
Hypothetical night attack by suicide boats
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Operation Cartwheel: Breaking the Solomons Barrier
Raid on Rabaul
5 Nov 43
Carrier attack on Rabaul
Rabaul's Defenses in November 1943
Second Air Battle of Bougainville
8 Nov 43
Air counterattack against landing
Rabaul Revisited
11 Nov 43
Attack on Simpson Harbor
Rabaul's Riposte
11 Nov 43
Japanese counterattack against TF 50.3
Christmas at Kavieng
25 Dec 43
USN air raid on shipping
Operation Kon: First Biak Reinforcement
2 Jun 44
Hypothetical night battle
Operation Kon: Battle off Biak
8 Jun 44
Cruiser/destroyer night action
Operation Kon: Third Biak Reinforcement
14 Jun 44
Hypothetical night battleship/cruiser action
Battle Drones
27 Sep 44
TDR-1 drones attack shipping
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The Road to Tokyo: Introduction
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Enemy in Our Midst
20 Nov 44
Midget sub attack against Ulithi
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Operation Iceberg: Counterlanding at Kerama Retto
27 Mar 45
Hypothet. Japanese defense of Kerama Retto78
Operation Iceberg: Tembu (Heavenly Warrior)
8 Apr 45
Hypothetical Japanese battle for survival
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Operation Iceberg: Kikusui 1
6 Apr 45
Coordinated kamikazes off Okinawa
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A Glorious Way to Die: Operation Ten-Ichi
7 Apr 45
Yamato's last sortie
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Operation Iceberg: Sweepers, Man Your Brooms
4 May 45
RN TF 57 attacked by kamikazes
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Surface Sweep
20 Jul 45
Hypothetical post-typhoon surface action
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Special Rules for Handling and Fighting the Maru-Ni
Special Rules for Air Group Attack Integrity
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Bibliography
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Supplemental Annex A Ships
Supplemental Annex A Ships
Supplemental Annex A2 Japanese Merchant Ships
Annex N South Pacific Random Weather Generator
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Command at Sea 4th Edition Errata
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Scenario Notes
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“God View” of the scenario and provide some fog of war.
Hypothetical scenarios are identified in the introduction to the
scenario, and variations are suggested near the end of some
of the scenarios.
There is a wealth of sources about World War II in
the Pacific, and research is opening new areas and new
perspectives. For example, John Parshall’s Shattered Sword
revealed that several of the widely held Western views on
the Battle of Midway are flawed. Sources sometimes conflict
with each other, and often only basic data exists, but not the
operational constraints. We have used the best sources and
cross-checked to “fill in the blanks” to provide an accurate
picture of the forces, the environment and objectives for each
scenario.
Victory conditions are a challenge for some of the
scenarios, as the outnumbered, out-trained and materially
weaker Japanese player needs to be able to extract some
measure of personal satisfaction even though the scenario is
unbalanced.
There are many people who have made all or part of
World War II a lifetime passion. Some served in the war and
remember these battles as much more than maps and lists of
units. They will probably spot errors or gaps in the information
on these pages. Please contact us through Clash of Arms and
share what you know, or at least point us to a reference we
may have missed. We always answer the mail.
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This supplement provides scenarios for the second
half of the Pacific War, from November 1943 until VJ-Day.
The attrition warfare in the Solomons gives way to the
island-hopping campaigns of the Central Pacific and up the
northern coast of New Guinea. The clash of naval titans in the
Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, drives the
once unstoppable Japanese empire back to its home islands.
The Japanese resort to increasingly desperate measures
to break the will of the Allies before the empire completely
crumbles.
The first half of this drama was covered in Rising Sun.
Larger battles, such as the Philippine Sea, are broken down
into a set of smaller scenarios. Players can choose to play the
scenarios individually, or can start at the historical placement
with the forces and proceed through the entire battle. We
have tried to provide a balance of scenarios to help depict
this struggle, not only between enemies, but also the hostile
environments in which it was fought. There are surface, air
and submarine actions, but also the special attack units that
added a new dimension to the horrors of war. The naval
battles in the Pacific were fought to destroy, isolate, disable
or capture enemy bases, and it was boots on the ground that
wrested control from a tenacious and dug in enemy.
Some of the scenarios are fictional, variants or
hypothetical to provide opportunity to evaluate “what if”
situations but also to keep the opponents from having a
Dedication
To Lorenzo Pandes, Philippine guerilla, career US Navy petty officer, and a wonderful husband and father: 1925-2009.
To Lieutenant Commander Leo Bauer, Sr., USN (Ret.), WW II VP pilot, teacher, mentor, husband and father: 1917-2011.
Acknowledgements:
This product would not have happened without a lot of hard work, perseverance, late nights and several playtest sessions
as we worked on some of the aspects of naval warfare unique to the Pacific. Special thanks to Pat Hreachmack, my brothers
John and George, Adam Adkins, Andy Doty, Peter Grining, Dave Schueler, Steve Thorne, Jay Wissmann, the Admiralty Trilogy
Staff and team, and to my loving and devoted wife Mercy who puts up with my many hobbies.
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Battleship and Cruiser Floatplane Availability
Roll once for each ship. All the floatplanes will be
of the same type, although that was not always the
case historically. Tenders, such as the Chitose class,
often had a mixed air group.
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In many cases, the historical records do not list the
types of floatplanes carried on warships during a battle.
Where we have such information, it in included in the
scenario's order of battle. If there is no information, players can use the chart below to randomly roll for the type
of floatplanes carried.
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Japanese Aviation Units
The Japanese used different terminology than the US to define aviation units, and to make matters more
confusing, some Japanese terms for different organizations translate to the same English terms. In some cases the
term is the same for both land-based and carrier units.
Naval Aircraft Organzations
Air Fleet (Koku Kantai) - Administrative
Mobile Force (Kido Butai)
Mobile Fleet (Kido Kantai) - Used after the Battle of Midway
Carrier Division (Koku Sentai)
Air Flotilla (Koku Sentai) - Land-based
Air Group (Kokutai) - Carrier or land-based naval unit made up of VF, VB, VT
Air Formations
Pre-1944
1944-45
Squadron (poss Daitai)
18 - 27
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Division (Chutai)9 8
Section (Shotai)3 4
Pair (Buntai) --2
Army Aircraft Organizations
Air Army (Kokugun) - Administrative
Air Division (Hikoshidan) - Administrative and Operational
Air Brigade (Hikodan) - 3 or 4 Air Regiments
Air Regiment (Hiko Sentai) - 3 or more Air Companies
Air Company (Hiko Chutai) - 3 Air Ssections
Air Section (Hentai) - 3 aircraft
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Hourly Event Tables
Many of the Pacific battles were fought over hours or even days, and units outside of the direct control of
the tactical commander played roles in determining the outcome of the engagement. The Hourly Event Tables are
designed to inject variability into the scenarios, forcing the opponent to respond to or ignore a potential threat. It
also gives the players something to contend with during that lull between launching and recovering strikes, some
“moments of terror” to intersperse with the hours of monotony. There are two tables, one for the Allied forces and
a second for the Japanese, and availability will be shown in the appropriate Forces section of the scenario, along
with the Threat Level to be used.
Night
N/A
N/A
Snooper with radar
Submarine
Submarine
Night Raid: single radar equipped attacker
Night Raid: 3 attackers, 1 flare ship with radar
Hourly Event Table - Japanese
Roll
Day
1 - 4 N/A
5 Submarine
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Nuisance raid - D10/2 attackers
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Small raid - 6+D10 attackers, 4+D10 escorts
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Medium raid - 10+D10 attackers, 8+D10 escorts
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Large raid - 20+D10 attackers, 8+2D10 escorts
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Major attack - 40+2D10 attackers, 20+2D10 escorts, multiple waves
Night
N/A
N/A
Snooper with radar
Snooper with radar
Submarine
Night Raid: 3 attackers, 1 flare ship with radar
Night Attack: 6 attackers, 2 flare ships with radar
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Hourly Event Table - Allied
Roll
Day
1 - 4 N/A
5 Submarine
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Nuisance raid - D10/2 attackers
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Small raid - 6+D10 attackers, 4+D10 escorts
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Medium raid - 10+D10 attackers, 8+D10 escorts
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Large raid - 20+D10 attackers, 8+2D10 escorts
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Major attack - 40+2D10 attackers,
20+2D10 escorts, multiple waves
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Threat Level Modifiers: High: 0, Medium: -1, Low: -2.
Event Timing: D10*6 minutes into the hour
Procedure: Roll D10 each hour, adjusting for the Threat Level. If “N/A” is rolled, no action occurs. For other results,
roll D10 to see when during the hour the event occurs. If an air event occurs beyond aircraft range, ignore it. Modified rolls less than 1 are “N/A”. Submarine contacts: roll D10, 1-5 it is a real sub, 6-7 it is a “biologic”, 8-10 a false
contact. False contacts and “biologics" are maneuvered until the enemy spends D6 Tactical Turns investigating.
EventSetup
Day Air
Medium altitude, 10D10 nm (or limit of detection) from center of enemy formation,
Attacks
roll D6: 1: 001-060, 2: 061-120, 3: 121-180, 4: 181-240, 5: 241-300, 6: 301-360
Night Raid
/Attack
Low altitude, 4D10 nm (or limit of detection) from center of enemy formation,
roll D6: 1: 001-060, 2: 061-120, 3: 121-180, 4: 181-240, 5: 241-300, 6: 301-360
Nuisance
raid
Low altitude, 4D10 nm (or limit of detection) from center of enemy formation,
roll D6: 1-2: 30-60 right of threat axis, 3-4: on axis, 5-6: 30-60 left of axis
Snooper
Medium altitude, 8D10 nm (or limit of detection) from center of enemy formation,
roll D6: 1: 001-060, 2: 061-120, 3: 121-180, 4: 181-240, 5: 241-300, 6: 301-360
Submarine D10 nm from center of enemy formation, D6:1-2: 30-60 right of track, 3-4: on track,
5-6: 30-60 left of track, periscope depth at day, surface/periscope depth at night