Pacific Typhoon

I got to play PACIFIC TYPHOON last night and I'm pretty pleased with it...any of you folks that are closet trick-taking game fans would do well to take a look at it. It's not a wargame at all, but it definitely has a theme and there's tons of historical detail.

It's basically a reprint of AH's ATLANTIC STORM, a game that was fetching ridiculous prices on Ebay for a while but as the title suggests it's Pacific theater. Which is really the game's only big shortcoming to me since I have very little interest in that subject or WWII naval campaigns in general.

But yeah, it's really a trick taking game with shifting partnerships. Each round, the dealer flips two battle cards and calls day or night for the time of battle and then a suit- air, surface, sub, or combined. Then everybody plays a card (that has to be available for the year of the battle, have a combat value for the suit, and be right for the time)for either Axis or Allies. At the end of the round, the side with the highest total value wins and the highest played card on that side takes all the cards and gets to divide up the spoils as he or she sees fit. Almost all the cards have point values and the battles usually have resources that give you extra hand size. You can also discard or dump your whole hand rather than play to a shitty trick/battle.

There's some other cool stuff, like how certain cards are "fated" against others and are basically either trumps that bomb the previously played card it was fated against and the player immediately takes the card as a spoil. There's some interesting strategy in when to play and when not to play, some event cards, and a definite negotiation/diplomacy/betrayal element.

It's a fun game. It won't set the world on fire or anything, but if you're looking for an AT-style trick taking game, this is it.

Excellent review, Michael.

I played this last weekend with a total of 3 adults and 2 kids (12 yr old boy and 14 year old girl). The rules are pretty straight forward (though I didn't read the rules, the game was explained to us). The shifting partnerships make this game.

So long as you can get over the idea that you switch from favoring the Japanese to the Americans/British from turn to turn, the game is a blast.

As you noted, the "fated" cards add much of the theme to the game.

Though very different, it is in a class with Lightning: Midway. In fact, some of the same pics are used in Pacific Typhoon as in Lightning: Midway. Both are fun, thematic card games.

It's an interesting class of games, I think...these kind of wargamey card games...I like them in general. The LIGHTNING games are actually a pretty good comparison.

The thing that gets me is that PT actually uses a trick taking mechanic to come up with a pretty thematic game. It makes sense, you send out particular planes, ships, Admirals, whatever to participate in battles to influence the outcome. The shifting partnership thing isn't very thematic I guess, but it's not really intended to be like that. It's a simple card game first and foremost.

The real fun to me is in trying to lure people to team up with you and then playing something else...or playing a low point value card just to get in on the cut. It's designed to be a very interactive, social game and that's definitely one of it's strongest assets. And the accessibility level is very high so once everybody gets the hang of it (two or three tricks/battles, really) it's an easy play.

VICTORY AND HONOR is kind of in this class too, but it's less thematic at the end and it's more of a "serious" trick taking game.

AS is so very populer with my gaming group and PT is a big hit too... it has some nice historical intricacies that are not apparent to the causual gamer. For example the Japanese cruisers are all better at night, which reflects the Japanese night traing. The new stuff, like Fog really add some spice. My ONLY regret is that the designer didn't include all the Japanese capital ships, and more cruisers. NO Shokaku, Mutsu, and the other Japanese carriers and BB's. Matching up with more allied ships would not have been a problem. Being from Juneau, Alaska, it was very nice to see the JUNEAU included in the game!

This game is always a popular when pulled onto the table.. not sure why I see some people trash this game, its fun, fun, and more fun!

Well, it doesn't have the right level of cardplay for the hardcore trick taking crowd and it isn't detailed enough for the historical wargames lot...so it does kind of fall into a weird space. But that being said, I think it's an ideal AT game- fun and full of drama/disaster, lots of trash talking, alliances of convenience, absurd metagaming...good times.