Midway is a wargame

Wargaming

A wargame is a strategy game that deals with military operations of various types, real or fictional. Wargaming is the hobby dedicated to the play of such games, which can also be called conflict simulations, or consims for short. When used professionally to study warfare, it is generally known as...

 by Avalon Hill

Avalon Hill

Avalon Hill was a game company that specialized in wargames and strategic board games. Its logo contained its initials "AH", and it was often referred to by this abbreviation. It also published the occasional miniature wargaming rules, role-playing game, and had a popular line of sports simulations...

 which simulates the Battle of Midway

Battle of Midway

The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...

, during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The game is designed for 2 or more players and details the battle primarily at the squadron

Squadron (aviation)

A squadron in air force, army aviation or naval aviation is mainly a unit comprising a number of military aircraft, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depending on aircraft type and air force...

 level.

The object of the game rests on the shoulders of the Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese player, who must successfully invade the island of Midway

Midway Atoll

Midway Atoll is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, about one-third of the way between Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tokyo, Japan. Unique among the Hawaiian islands, Midway observes UTC-11 , eleven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time and one hour...

 with the heavy cruiser

Heavy cruiser

The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930...

 Atago

Japanese cruiser Atago

was one of four Takao-class heavy cruisers, designed to be an improvement over the previous Myōkō-class design. These ships were fast, powerful, and heavily armed. The Takao-class ships were approved under the 1927 fiscal year budget as part of the Imperial Japanese Navy's strategy of the Decisive...

within the time frame of the game. The United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 player seeks to prevent this from happening.

Components

The game is played with two playing boards and counters representing the naval fleets

Naval fleet

A fleet, or naval fleet, is a large formation of warships, and the largest formation in any navy. A fleet at sea is the direct equivalent of an army on land....

 and air force

Air force

An air force, also known in some countries as an air army, is in the broadest sense, the national military organization that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army, navy or...

s of the two combatants.

Boards

The two boards used are the search board and the battle board. The bulk of the game takes place on the search board with combat being resolved on the battle board. The search board is actually two identical boards separated by a divider. In this way, the players can see only their own fleet's location and movements, while the opponent's operations remain hidden.

The search board is divided by large square zones which are further divided into smaller square spaces. The battle board uses long rectangular spaces to fit the shape of a to-scale ship.

Counters

Counters represent individual ships and squadrons of planes. Each ship actually has two counters, one fitted for the 1/2 inch squares of the search board and a larger one for the rectangular grid of the battle board. The 1/2 inch plane counters are divided into three types: dive bombers, torpedo bombers, and fighters.

Gameplay

Gameplay in Midway has two distinct segments, corresponding to the two boards: a search segment and a battle segment.

Search

In the search segment, players send out search planes (these are abstract planes and not represented by any counters) to search zones of sea for the enemy fleet. If the zones searched contains enemy ships, the ships' owner must inform his opponent of the exact location, number, and types of ships found there.

After the search has been conducted, players can now send out combat squadrons to intercept enemy ships. For each space in which ships and enemy planes now exist, a battle is conducted on the battle board.

After all battles are resolved, the squadrons return to their carriers to undergo a turn of refitting.

Battle

When planes successfully intercept an enemy fleet, the combat is resolved on the battle board. The owner of the ships first place their ships on the board in any desired formation he deems most advantageous. The attacker then places his planes around the ships to indicate which squadrons are attacking which ships. Dive bombers must be placed on top the ship being attacked, and torpedo bombers must be placed in the space either to port or starboard of the ship being attacked.

The defender then indicates which ships will attack which squadrons. Each ship may attack any squadron within a two space range, not just the one attacking itself. Then through comparison of various factors printed on the counters, and the roll of the die, hits are recorded, and losses are taken.

After this one round of combat the ships and planes are removed from the board, and additional combats are resolved, as required.