Empire of the Rising Sun

Empire of The Rising Sun (RSN-1995) is a board wargame published originally by Avalon Hill, designed by Bruce Harper with much input by Dave Casper into the naval warfare rules. This is the Pacific War companion game to Advanced Third Reich (A3R), using similar rules, and containing once again a copy of "Ultra" magazine with a synopsis of the game. A previous version, occasionally discussed in the pages of The General magazine, had been in development the late 1970s, but was never published.

The map (designed by Charlie Kibler) is made up of two 31" × 22" sheets with 1" hexes and depicts the whole of the Pacific Ocean including parts of Australia, India, China, Russia & Japan. As in Europe the United States is represented by an off-map U.S. Box, although the Aleutian Islands (Alaska) and the Hawaiian Islands are show on the map. The map is on a larger scale than the European war, so air units have range of 3 not 4, armour Zones of Control cost only one extra movement point (not 2) to move through and do not extend into rough terrain, while exploiting armour must keep to a chain of adjacent hexes, rather than one hex apart. The capture of hexes through attrition is much less likely.

Eastern India and the northern parts of Australia (including Darwin and Cairns) are shown on the map. A (black-and-white) extension map for the whole of Australia was published in "Ultra" magazine in the late 1990s. The game includes rules for a successful Japanese player to force the surrender of India or Australia by transferring units into the relevant off-map box and conducting attrition combat. Strategic Redeployment of forces from one theatre to another (it takes a turn to move from one off-map box - the European US box, the Pacific US box, South Africa, Western India, Southern Australia, SouthWest Pacific - to another) can take several seasons.

Much of the eastern map is taken up by ocean, dotted with island groups - a player need not occupy every single island to control the group, provided no enemy units are present. Units can stay unsupplied in a port or on a 1-hex island without being eliminated.

The summer turn is the monsoon, in which attack or movement into rough terrain is forbidden. In normal weather Allied units (apart from Chindits or stealthy Australians) must stop in rough or jungle terrain, but Japanese can move freely through. However, after the Japanese seizure of Malaya and Burma in Winter 1941, land movement will probably play little role in the game, until the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in the final turns; the land war in China is usually an ongoing attrition and stalemate.

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