Matrix Games

New Wargame, Based on the War in the Pacific Engine, Available for Sale!

Matrix Games together with 2by3 Games (www.2by3games.com) and Justin Prince Designs are proud to announce the release of a new stand-alone wargame based on the highly acclaimed War in the Pacific engine.  The year is 1922, World War I has come to a close but tensions still run high.  The United States, fearing the worst, developed a system of plans for a potential war in the Pacific against Japan.  In the real world most of these plans never saw the light of day, but in War Plan Orange: Dreadnoughts in the Pacific 1922-1930, the conflicts that the planners envisioned actually occurred.

War Plan Orange: Dreadnoughts in the Pacific 1922-1930 is now available for sale through the Matrix Games Online Store for US $44.99 as a digital download.  A boxed version will be available next week.  War in the Pacific is not required to play War Plan Orange.

David Heath, Director of Operations at Matrix Games, commented, “War in the Pacific has been recognized by wargamers as a classic since its release in 2005.  War Plan Orange gives us a chance to show off what the engine can do with an earlier time period and what a difference that makes!”

Gone are the strategic bombers and large carrier task forces.  In their place are dreadnoughts, battleships, battlecruisers and biplanes.  Face off ships from World War I and the inter-war years, including (depending on the scenario) hypothetical ships such as the Battlecruiser Lexington, the 18” South Dakota Class, the British G3 and the Japanese Kii.

Justin Prince, Lead Designer for War Plan Orange, stated, “This has been a huge, challenging and incredibly satisfying project for our team.  We are extremely excited about the results and hope you will take a step back to experience World War II as it would have been a decade or two earlier.  It’s not often a chance to replay a conflict like this comes along!”

War Plan Orange: Dreadnoughts in the Pacific 1922-1930, from the team that brought you the critically acclaimed historical air, naval and land combat wargame War in the Pacific, puts you in control of Japan or the Allies (including The United States, Great Britain, The Commonwealth, France and the Netherlands) in a hypothetical post-World War I conflict that would have reshaped the future of the world.  Enjoy the historical accuracy and meticulous attention to detail through one of the most immersive strategic and operational wargame engines ever created.

Two campaigns with three variants each as well as two smaller scenarios (eight scenarios total) cover two hypothetical wars in the decade of the 1920s.

In the first campaign covering the years 1922-1926, battleships are still the dominant naval weapons, with the aircraft carrier being only a military toy still very much in its infancy. The airplane, which had proved a potent factor in land warfare in Europe during World War I, had yet to prove its viability to impact naval affairs.

In the second campaign, covering a war during 1926-1930, the World War I era battleships are rebuilt into forms that would historically be famous in World War II. The Aircraft carrier, while no longer just an experiment, has still not found its niche in naval warfare. Larger, stronger, better armed aircraft now begin to replace the frail planes that had been veterans of World War I.

War Plan Orange: Dreadnoughts in the Pacific 1922-1930, while using the War in the Pacific engine developed by 2by3 Games, is in itself an entirely different game with a very different combat dynamic and eight new scenarios, including multi-year campaigns, to play against the AI or by e-mail with a human opponent.

Game Features include:

New to War Plan Orange:

• Eight Scenarios, 2 campaigns with three variants each, and two smaller scenarios.
• A Historically accurate Air OOB, with over 74 different aircraft types, including wheel and float variants of several different aircraft.
• A historically accurate Naval OOB, with over 311 historic Japanese, American, British, French, Canadian, Australian, Dutch, Chinese, and even Siamese ship classes.
• A Full ship OOB, including every ship of every class modeled that existed in the 1920’s, regardless of whether or not the ships are in any of the scenarios.
• A Comprehensive Land OOB, from French forces in Indo China to the activation order of US Infantry Divisions.
• Every army weapon used by any of the armies of the time are modeled, from the US Army 4 inch Mortar Mark I to the British 60 pound Gun Mk II, to the Japanese 24cm Type 45 Field Gun.
• Early and experimental tank models are available, from the French built FT-17 to the US M1921 Medium tank.
• Historically accurate graphic depictions of ships, including refits and modernizations.
• A challenging AI that provides a tough, fun game.
• An even better PBEM game, accurately reflecting problems faced by 1920’s War Planners.
• No Production System! While War in the Pacific’s production system is retained, it is not used by any of the default scenarios, allowing new players to jump right in playing as the Japanese.
• Accurate Aircraft squadrons, based on World War I and 1920’s documents depicting probable deployments and strengths, as well as historic deployments where possible.
• War Plan Orange provides an accurate representation of the problems facing naval planners in the 1920’s, and is a good representation of the forces available to each nation.
• Open campaigns! In the PBEM variants of the large campaigns, victory points are equal starting out, allowing various scenarios to be played. China, Indo China, the Philippines, anything is possible, with no bottlenecks to restrict players. The AI campaigns do simulate a war based on the real plan; in PBEM players can “Go Wild”.
• “Never were ships!” War Plan Orange features several classes of ships that never saw the light of day, including the Tosa, Kii, and South Dakota class battleships (both a sixteen inch gun and a Tillman inspired 18 inch gun version), and Amagi, Lexington, and G3 class battle cruisers.
• In addition, pre-dreadnought battleships, victims of mass scrapings in the 1920’s, may now have the chance to do what was never granted them and fight for the title of “Kings of the Sea”

Improvements and Changes over War in the Pacific:

• Battleships now incur large amounts of damage when upgrading, and hence need more yard time.
• New Ship Experience routines, particularly with regard to aircraft carriers.
• New Ship day and night experience routines, to account for lack of training and battle experience.
• New random leader experience routines, to account again for little training and practical experience for fighting a Pacific War.
• New Submarine contact and combat routines, including a larger emphasis on surface actions.
• New ASW routines, with significantly reduced hit chances for depth charges *Some, but not all, of this is now found in War in the Pacific*
• New Surface Combat routines.
• Removal of all traces of Radar and 1940’s era equipment (such as Norden Bombsight).
• Minelayers, Cruisers, and Aircraft carriers are no longer replaced when sunk.
• Instead of Minelayer Tenders and Seaplane Tenders, players may now upgrade large Cargo AKs to Commerce Raiders/Auxiliary Cruisers and Q ships.
• Allied Damage Control has now been removed, and Allied ships are just as vulnerable as Japanese ships.
• All Date related restrictions have been removed from the game.
• The Manchukuo Garrison has been lowered to 500, so that Soviets can be activated on purpose, but not accidentally.
• As China and Indo China are now Allied Controlled, Vietnamese units are no longer created for Allied units in these areas.
• Reduced Japanese ASW effectiveness, to account for lack of any home grown ability.
• ALCAN Highway In Alaska-Canada has now been removed. The only way to keep a guaranteed supply flow to Alaska is by sea.
• France is now a fully independent nation, with any base that is French displaying a French Flag.

For more information on War Plan Orange: Dreadnoughts in the Pacific 1922-1930 and War in the Pacific visit the Matrix Games website at www.matrixgames.com and pay special attention to our forums for the latest scoop on War Plan Orange.