Carrier Battle: Philippine Sea

About this board game

Carrier Battle: Philippine Sea is a solitaire wargame for one player with an approximately 300-minute play time, simulating the largest carrier battle in history during the June 1944 invasion of Saipan.

As the U.S. commander, you maneuver your task forces and conduct air searches in a tense contest to locate the Japanese carriers before they discover and attack your own. Japanese movement and attack timing are controlled by simple game mechanics, creating an unfolding challenge without requiring a second player.

Enemy air strikes remain hidden until they are detected by radar. Once a strike is spotted, you must scramble your fighters to intercept it, turning each search and detection into a critical moment. The game focuses on the uncertainty and pressure of carrier warfare while keeping the opposing side manageable for solitaire play.

The game includes nine scenarios, with four learning scenarios that introduce the rules through programmed instruction using slices of the real battle. Five additional scenarios are full-scale and fully replayable games:

• One-day scenarios covering each day of the action
• A two-day scenario covering the entire battle
• A hypothetical scenario based on different U.S. plans
• A hypothetical scenario in which Midway was never fought and Japan brings the full Pearl Harbor striking force

This variety lets you learn progressively before tackling the complete historical engagement or exploring alternate possibilities. The scenarios also provide multiple ways to revisit the battle and test different approaches to searching, maneuvering, and defending your carriers.

Based on Carrier: The Southwest Pacific Campaign – 1942-1943 from Victory Games, published in 1990, Carrier Battle: Philippine Sea is a new, standalone wargame released in 2023.