Black Swan #84 - Infamy Avenged

Infamy Avenged: Operation Hailstone is a simulation wargame about the United States' Task Force 58 raid on Truk Atoll on February 17th and 18th, 1944. The Japanese had turned the Atoll into a fortress with airfields that could support hundreds of fighters and bombers. Seeking to protect the upcoming invasions of Eniwetok and Marshall Islands, Admiral Raymond Spruance targeted Truk to eliminate the threat the atoll posed to the American offensives, as well as potentially luring the Japanese fleet into a decisive action at sea.

Historically, the US raid against the Truk Atoll was a decisive victory. Although the Imperial High Command had withdrawn the Combined Fleet from this harbor in anticipation of just such an attack, the scale and destructiveness of the US raid was shocking. The Japanese lost 15 warships (3 cruisers, 4 destroyers, 3 auxiliary cruisers, 2 submarine tenders and 3 other smaller warships), 32 merchant ships, 270 aircraft, and over 4,500 killed or missing. Task Force 58 suffered 1 aircraft carrier damaged (USS Intrepid), 1 battleship (USS Iowa) and cruiser (USS San Francisco) slightly damaged, 25 aircraft lost, and 40 killed. In terms of loss and damage, the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor was more than avenged. Truk, as was the other Japanese island fortress at Rabaul, were effectively out of the war and rendered impotent for Japan's defense.

The game is meant for two players with one attacker taking on the role of the American attackers and the other the Japanese defense forces and can be played in about an hour to an hour and a half for a standard game. It is also good for solitaire play with the player taking the US side.