Second World War at Sea: Midway

On the morning of 4 June 1942, fifteen TBD-1 Devastator bombers of Torpedo Squadron Eight took off from the USS Hornet to attack the Japanese carrier force operating off Midway Island. All fifteen of them were shot down as they pressed their attack, yet not a single pilot veered away. While Japanese fighters slaughtered the low-flying torpedo planes, American dive bombers passed overhead and began their screaming dives onto the Japanese carriers, sinking three of them and dooming the Japanese Empire. The sacrifice had not been in vain.

Both Japan and the United States had sought a final, decisive battle for control of the Pacific Ocean. When the Japanese unleashed their MI Sakusen plan to capture Midway Island in June 1942, the U.S. Navy was more than happy to meet them.

Midway covers the turning point of the Pacific War, with 11 separate scenarios, or game situations. These include the Battle of Midway in June 1942, the Wake Island relief operation of December 1941, the retaliatory raid on Wake Island in February-March 1942 and Pearl Harbor. There are options to allow the Japanese to bring in the forces historically allotted to the Aleutian Islands campaign instead of Midway, and the American battleship force that was not risked there but was available.

There are 210 "long" playing pieces, depicting the major fleet units of both sides: battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers and fleet destroyers. There are also 280 square playing pieces, half the size of the ship pieces, mostly depicting aircraft but also smaller warships and markers.