Sensuikan: Eastern Solomons Sept 1942

Japanese Submarine Offensive in the Eastern Solomons September 1942. Sensuikan is a simple strategic simulation of the attempt of the Japanese Sixth Submarine Fleet to prey the U.S. carrier groups engaged, during the opening days of September 1942, in covering important convoys carrying reinforcements and supplies to Guadalcanal. Sensuikan is a solitaire game in which a single Player controls both the opposing forces. The Player will command the Japanese submarine force by playing the role of Vice Adm. Komatsu Teruhisa , who, between August and September 1942, prepared and ordered the I-boats offensive from his headquarters in Truk. By contrast, the Allied escort groups will operate in accordance with a strictly defined set of rules. The specific game scenario will allow the Player to simulate the crucial moments which led on 15th September to sink the carrier U.S.S. Wasp and to hit some units of another carrier group built around the U.S.S. Hornet. As a consequence, the Player will be able to understand the logic of a submarine force whose potential was underestimated even by the High Japanese Command, and perceive the tension of Japanese sub-commanders in their ultimate search for high estimated preys, personal glory and, most of all, respect. Specific rules for random events, like intelligence resources or air raids, will add to the realism of the game. Concurrently, these elements will also offer the opportunity to examine through a different perspective, limits and contradictions to the Imperial Japanese Navy management of its ‘silent service’ during one of the most intense (and largely unknown) phases of submarine warfare of the entire War in the Pacific.