1942 (board game)

1942 is a two-player "Series 120" game, part of a series of GDW microgames that had only 120 counters and could be played in 120 minutes. The game covers December 1941–May 1942, when Japan rapidly struck out on multiple fronts against Dutch, British, Australian and American holdings in the Pacific theatre. Faced with a powerful Japanese offensive, the Allied player must play a defensive game and try to prevent the Japanese player from gaining the geographical objectives it needs to win the game.^[1]

The game box (or ziplock bag) contains:^[1]

• 17 in × 22 in (43 cm × 56 cm) paper hex grid map scaled at 85 nautical miles (158 km) per hex
• 16-page rulebook
• 120 counters
• errata sheet

The turn sequence uses the traditional "IGOUGO" (I go, You go) structure except for a special start to the game, when the Japanese player is given a "surprise" turn representing actions taken in December 1941. Thereafter, the game lasts 10 turns, representing the first five months of 1942. Each turn has four phases:^[2]

1. Allied movement
2. Allied Combat
3. Japanese Movement
4. Japanese Combat

The Japanese player earns 2 Victory Points for each surrendered Allied unit, 20 Victory Points for each Allied fortification taken, and 5 Victory Points for taking Hong Kong. The Allied player earns a Victory Point for each surviving Allied unit, and 2 Victory Points for each surrendered Japanese unit. Allied points are subtracted from Japanese points. If the result is greater than 40, the Japanese player wins, and if 20 or less, is an Allied victory. Anything in between is a draw.^[2]

1942 was designed by Marc W. Miller, and was published by GDW in as a boxed set in 1978. GDW reissued the game in a ziplock bag in 1980.^[3]

Command Japan magazine published a Japanese version of the game in Issue 57 (July–August 2004) with artwork by Sawshun Yamaguchi.