| Game | Victory in the Pacific | Complexity | Low |
| Company | Avalon Hill | Time | 2-3 hrs |
| Period | WWII | Solitaire | Medium |
| Type | Fleet, Abstract | Rating | 8 |
The game is an abstract representation of naval actions in the Pacific Theatre during WW2.
One player controls the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and the other controls the Allied fleets, comprising of American (predominant), British and other Allied ships.
The game begins with the Japanese raids at Pearl Harbour and Indonesia, and consists of 8 turns, during which the American reinforcements will slowly but almost surely strangle the Japanese forces.
The game consists of a mapboard, playing pieces and lots of dice. (6?)
The mapboard depicts large tracts of the Pacific Ocean, divided into different sea areas. Scattered over these sea areas are islands and land masses, which contain the bases from which the players' forces are based.
Unit counters represent individual capital ships of both sides. Also represented are the amphibious forces and land-based airforces.
Markers are also provided for control of sea areas, bases and damage to ships.
Every turn, players alternate deploying forces. Combat occurs when opposing forces are found in the same sea area. Combat lasts until one side withdraws.
Ships can be in "patroling" mode or "raiding" mode. The latter has a shorter reach, and has to be deployed first. However, it allows the player to control the sea area if unopposed.
Land-based air forces are always in "patrol" mode, but to be deployed into a sea area, there has to be a controlled base/port adjacent to the area (representing the presence of airbases.)
Amphibious units represent invasion forces that can be used to capture enemy bases in the middle of the turn.
A submarine unit is provided for each side. At the start of the game, the Japanese submarine is active. Toward the end of the game, it is removed and the American sub comes into play. Subs can attack any surface unit in a sea area, and has 1/3 chance of securing a hit. That makes it dangerous to most carriers. However, since it gets only one hit before being withdrawn, it is never a sure prospect.
Combat is resolved in rounds. Each round is generally divided into "day" or "night" actions. Day actions consist of air attacks carried out by carriers or land-based air units. Night actions are surface actions. Surface ships fire directly against each other. Submarines get to attack in both day and night actions.
In each round, ships/and or planes fire at opposing forces. Each unit has a fixed number of shots which must be targeted at a single target. A shot hits if the die roll is "6" or greater. Some shots get a +1 modifier. Each hit generates damage which is also determined by a single die roll. If the accumulated damage is greater than the armour value of the ship/air unit, it is sunk.
Ports and bases affect the game in two ways: basing for ships and supporting the actions of friendly land-based air units.
At the end of each turn, all ships have to "return to base". Ships anywhere on the board may return to ports. However only ships in areas adjacent to bases may return to them. Therefore, a port is able to support more far reaching operations than bases.
To deploy an air unit in a sea area, there must be an adjacent friendly base/port.
Both ports and bases can be captured by encirclement for two turns. Encirclement means controlling all adjacent sea areas. (I have always found this rule to be a little ahistorical, but hey, it works for the game!) In addition, bases can also be invaded by amphibious units. This is the only way a purely surface force can take out a land-based air: by removing its last base in an area. This makes ports more powerful in defence, as they (and the air units they support) are immune to invasion forces, and must be destroyed directly (often at some risk by carrier forces.)
Players gain victory points every turn for control of sea areas. Important sea areas have greater VP values. Each area is also worth different values to each player.
The player with the greatest victory points at game end wins.
Variants have players bidding VP handicaps to play certain sides. This method is strongly recommended for tournament play.
VITP is an intense and exciting game to play. Game mechanics are simple to learn. If an experienced player is available to teach the rules, a novice can start the game in 30 minutes.
However, the strategy is rather involved. It requires the player to have a good grapse of what are his aims in the game and how to go about achieving them. Because the game is determined by VPs accumulated throughout the course of the game, it is entirely possible (in theory at least) for a player to lose his entire fleet and win due to an overwhelming VP lead.
Some gamers have noted that VITP is heavily dependent on luck. This stems from the fact that it involves a very large amount of dice throwing. I tend to disagree. While independent engagements may hinge upon a couple of die rolls, the effects of luck tend to even out over the entire game. This is from someone who lost more ships he cared to count to an improbable single '6'.