Santa Cruz Islands - A Striking Effectively First scenario

“On the eve of the critical battle of Santa Cruz, in which the Japanese ships outnumbered ours more than two to one, I sent my task force commanders this dispatch: ATTACK REPEAT ATTACK.”

– Admiral William Halsey

This is a scenario for my ruleset There's The Effing Scheer, and its expansion Striking Effectively First, which allows you to wargame early- to mid-war WW2 naval combat. 

The gap between the battles of the Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz contains a very dramatic shift in the balance of power in the South Pacific, one which was accomplished without a single plane howling down on a flat-top. The Americans had sent The Big E back for repairs, but still had Wasp, Hornet and Saratoga on station. Two Japanese submarine torpedo spreads later and Wasp had to be abandoned and Saratoga is sent home. This is as much as the Kido Butai achieved at Midway and the Eastern Solomons combined (sinking one carrier and damaging another). 

And this is what fascinates me about WW2 carrier warfare, despite the overwhelming power of Japanese surface units; Henderson Field and two American carriers were enough to keep these at arms length. Halsey turns this up to 11, not only is he outnumbered in almost every area, he continues going on the offensive with his only two carriers. The fog of war with carrier warfare means that even outnumbered 5-2 in carriers, the Americans could still feasibly pick apart the Japanese force. Unless of course the Japanese spot them first...

There are some similarities to this scenario and the Eastern Solomons in terms of objectives, but the forces are different. The Japanese should be able to defeat the American carriers and secure Henderson Field, but there is always that scary question mark over their objective with the vagaries of 1940s carrier warfare. Will Henderson Field hold out and harry the Japanese carriers? Will the Japanese battlecruisers get a chance to face off against South Dakota? Who will spot the enemy so that they can strike effectively first? I suppose this all comes down to you.

Happy gaming.