After a solid showing in 2023, Victory in the Pacific earned back its Sand Plaque for 2024. Unfortunately, 2024 attendance was down with only 20 participants (the cancellation of virtually every flight in the country two days before the tournament did not help this). The hope is the new version of the game will be on Kickstarter soon and that will reignite interest. To that end, the default version of game this year was the tournament scenario from the Kickstarter version: Menzel 3cM.
For the second straight year, after five Swiss rounds, Jim Eliason emerged as the only undefeated player at 5-0. He was joined in the Single-Elimination Rounds by Ted Drozd and John Pack, both 4-1, and Bob Hamel at 3-2. John Sharp and Jim Kramer tied for fifth at 2-3. Based on strength of schedule, John earned the fifth place plaque and Jim claimed the illustrious sixth place “sand” plaque.
Jim and Bob squared off in the first Semifinal, a repeat of last year. Playing the Menzel, Jim took the IJN (no bid) but, in a reverse of last year’s result, he was forced to concede on Turn 3 after Bob converted Saigon.
Ted and John faced each other in the other Semifinal and played Menzel 3cM. John, playing the IJN (no bid), was able to take Pearl on Turn 3. Ted was able to hang around all eight turns (his fourth 8-turner of the tournament) but his inability to roll higher than 3 on two dice doomed Guadalcanal and his game.
This led to a showdown between John and Bob. Again, under the Menzel 3cM option, Bob took the USN (for 0.5 POC). On Turn 2, Bob went into the SPO and saved Lae while John disabled 4 Allied CVs. Bob also saved Dutch Harbor at the cost of the Enterprise and the IJN lead increased to 9. On Turn 3, the IJN was busy on the edges while the USN dominated the center of the board. John did gain Pearl and Lae but Bob controlled SPO and the Marshalls while decontrolling the Marianas. The USN lost the Hornet in the process but lowered the POC to 8.
The USN carrier luck ran out on Turn 4 when 3 were lost while Bob captured Kwajalein and Maloelap. But John got very lucky in SPO where he was down to the Hiyo and Hosho against two LBA and managed to win, raising the POC to 13. On Turn 5, the IJN gained 7 more POC but the USN were able to save Guadalcanal, Maloelap, Kwajalein, and Attu. On Turn 6, Attu fell to the IJN while John strengthened his perimeter, raising the POC to 22. Bob’s desperate attempt to break up Indo on Turn 7 failed and he was forced to concede.
The use of a default of Menzel 3cM Option vs. the out-of-the-box rules has had the desired effect of reducing the bids. It will occur a year late for Jim, but we’ll likely switch to straight Swiss next year (without the playoff rounds).
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