Panzer Campaigns – Japan ’45 : screenshots

Autre nouveauté de taille le week-end dernier sur nos écrans, voici environ sept ans après le précédent titre le 22ème volet de la série Panzer Campaigns. Qui aborde ici le théâtre du Pacifique en commençant par la relativement peu connue opération Olympic, projet hypothétique de débarquement au Japon qui n’a évidemment jamais eu lieu. Mais qui aurait été un difficile et coûteux engagement pour les USA. Si la Normandie et son bocage n’ont plus de secrets pour vous, voilà qui indéniablement devrait vous offrir un terrain aussi dense que dépaysant.

Wargame qui sera d’ailleurs suivi par un second intitulé Japan ’46, et se focalisant lui sur l’opération Coronet (qui aurait été la suite de l’opération Olympic).

Pour plus d’informations sur Japan ’45, voyez  cette page chez l’éditeur ou le site du studio.

Communiqués

Hit the beaches!

John Tiller Software & Wargame Design Studio are pleased to announce the release of the twenty second title in the Panzer Campaigns series – Japan ’45! It’s been over 6 years since a new title has been released in this series, but we’re confident this new entry will not disappoint. Join us in the foray into a completely new theater with the Pacific waves around your troops as they storm the beaches and begin the daunting task of crushing the home defense of the Japanese. This title covers the planned « Operation Olympic » – the first step in invading the Japanese islands. This title allows the players to explore just how costly this planned invasion would have been.
Scenarios

Panzer Campaigns: Japan ’45 Operation Olympic covers the entire campaign to take southern Kyushu from November to December 1945:

– The landing on Tanega-Shima – 1 thru 3 November 1945
– The Invasion Phase – 4 thru 6 November 1945
– The Breakout Phase – 7 thru 10 Novemeber 1945
– The Linkup Phase – 14 thru 17 November 1945
– The Final Phase – 19 thru 24 November 1945
– Japanese Counterattacks – Mid December 1945

The 44 scenarios range from small actions such as the 6-turn, second day fighting at Ariake Bay to the super-large 283 turn « Take Kyushu » scenario. The wide variety of scenario length and size will give the players a stiff challenge! Weather conditions range from normal to mud. The terrain on Kyushu can be as much of an obstacle to victory as the enemy forces.

For further details & screen shots visit the product page:
http://www.johntillersoftware.com/PanzerCampaigns/Japan45.html

Panzer Campaigns Japan ’45 – Operation Olympic Released!

Hi All,

We’re excited to release the 22nd game in the Panzer Campaigns Series; Japan ’45 – Operation Olympic.

This game release is dedicated to Dave ‘Blackie’ Blackburn who passed away in January 2016. Dave was instrumental in building many of the Tiller games from 1999 to just before his passing. Dave was the ‘Blackie’ in the Saunders and Blackie partnership that built essentially all the Panzer & Modern Campaigns games for John Tiller Software. Vale Dave!

This game has been both the longest and quickest in development of the series. Longest in that it was started by a (reluctant) Glenn Saunders on a request from John Tiller back in the ‘noughties’ and quickest in that Bill Peters took over the game back in the summer of 2018 and completed it in approximately 9 months! Bill inherited a map and order of battle, but no scenarios other than a ‘Getting Started’ test. The game ships with forty-four scenarios, testament to Bill’s efficiency and his ready team of play testers who quickly helped identify the best way to model the various considerations for a landing on the Japanese Home Islands.

Japan ’45 is specifically focused on the invasion of the Southern Japanese island of Kyushu. The Allied aim was never to fully conquer the island, but to take enough land to build airbases. This was to provide sufficient air cover to cover the invasion of the main island of Honshu. The game covers the landings using the planned forces for Operation Olympic, an operation that was only cancelled with the dual dropping of the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Japan ’45 is built to the same standard as the ongoing Gold updates to the Panzer Campaigns series and ships with;

– A game scale of 1 hex = 1 km, 1 turn = 2 hours, and with battalion and company size units.
– 44 Scenarios covering all sizes and situations, including specialized versions for both head to head play and vs. the computer AI.
– The master map covers most of the island of Kyushu (87,720 hexes) where Operation Olympic would have taken place.
– The order of battle file covers all of the forces that would have taken part in the campaign.
– Order-of-Battle and Scenario Editors which allow players to customize the game.
– Sub-map feature allows the main map to be “chopped” up into smaller segments for custom scenario creation.
– Gold standard images for unit art on both sides, including guns and vehicles covering all of the forces of the Allied and Japanese armies involved in the operation.
– Design notes which cover or include the production of the game, campaign notes, sources and a scenario list.
– Gold standard game graphics including terrain, in game counters and 2D & 3D units as well as the toolbar icons.
– Gold standard sounds.

The teams at Wargame Design Studio and John Tiller Software are excited to bring you this new Panzer Campaigns title after a seven year hiatus and are confident, it won’t be as long before the next one.

You can see more on the game, download the design notes and maps as well as purchase it at the John Tiller Software website, here; JTS Japan ’45 Page

Following are some screenshots taken from the game (all can be clicked to view full size);

We hope you enjoy this latest release…