        A new Pacific General scenario is available:
                PORT MORESBY ( CORAL SEA )

   This was created by John Heidle using the New Guinea map with the Pacific 
General battle generator.  The 20 turn scenario attempts to simulate the 
strategic effortz by the Japanese to take Port Moresby, including the battle 
of the Coral Sea.  PM/CS is historical in the main, unlike the New Guinea 
scenario that came with PacGen. 
   This scenario is best played as the Japanese.  If you play as the human 
Allies against the Japanese AI, the AI will not attempt to sail naval 
transports to Port Moresby.  It may or may not attempt to take Milne Bay.
If you play the Allies side, give the computer Japanese AI the maximum 
prestige and experience.  Or tweak the scenario in other ways via the battle 
generator, saving it under a different name. 
   The scenario starts out with the Japanese trying to sail naval transports 
to take Port Moresby.  This action precipitated the battle of the Coral Sea.
The Japanese commander must decide whether to continue pushing ahead the 
eleven naval transports targeted for Port Moresby.  Historically, the Japanese 
commander turned this convoy back when the battle of the Coral Sea took place.
This scenario starts out with the battle of the Coral Sea near Milne Bay, the 
only place on the New Guinea map which allows for a deep sea naval passage.
   The Allied commander must decide how to engage this force.  The Allies have 
a slight carrier aircraft inequality, but have far fewer surface ships.  The 
Allies will have a significant airpower advantage when they fly Australian 
fighters and bombers from Australia.  If the Allies can turn back or destroy 
the Port Moresby bound naval transports, they should decisively win the 
scenario.  It is almost impossible for the Japanese to land at Milne Bay and 
travel on the ground in time to take Port Moresby. 
   Both sides are sending reinforcements to Papua New Guinea.  The Japanese 
are sending a small force to take Milne Bay and a larger force to take Buna, 
the launching point for an attack over the mountains towards Port Moresby.
The Allies are sending Australian reinforcements in two separate convoys toward 
Milne Bay and Port Moresby.  The infantry units are roughly battalion sized 
and comprise over 90% of the ground forces.  Most of the ground action is 
Australian versus Japanese infantry.
    The three Japanese landing forces have their names changed to add their 
destination { <PM>, <mb>, or BUNA }.  The Allies have their Milne Bay landing 
forces similarly designated.  The Australians are also sending five brigades 
to reinforce Port Moresby.  In Pacific General, it is impossible to time naval 
transports except by varying the distances involved.  I changed the Allied 
naval tranports to a slower speed transport for these reasons.
    My primary reference source is the West Point History Series volume "The 
Second World War:  Asia and the Pacific", T. E. Griess editor.  
    GAME DECISIONS:  Naval and carrier aircraft are historically pretty 
accurate, except for destroyers and light cruisers which I cut in half (due to 
PacGen's reinforcement ability for coastal ships).  The Australian airforce is 
basically a guess on my part.  This battle took place over 8 months, with the 
Allies slowly building up strength.  There is sufficient Australian airpower 
to either deter the Japanese land-based aircraft coming down from the north 
or to punish the Buna landing forces.  My only information about the Japanese 
Port Moresby landing forces were that they were in eleven naval transports, so 
I guessed what that force mix would be.  Many of the Japanese units have 1* 
and a few have 2* experience and will face inexperienced Allied units. 

Comparison with the Pacific General original New Guinea scenario:

    The original scenario is bizarre.  It assumes that the Japanese naval 
convoy sailed to and took Port Moresby after the battle of the Coral Sea.
Then somehow the miniscule Allied forces in Papua New Guinea moved north and 
recaptured Lae & Salamaua (taken by the Japanese in March 42), even though the 
Japanese had large forces in the area as nearby Rabaul became the main 
Japanese base in that area in 1942. 
     The map provided also does not do justice to the difficult terrain in 
Papua New Guinea.  Historically, the Japanese landed near Buna on July 22 and 
attempted to take Port Moresby via the Kokoda trail.  Near Kokoda were an 
vital airstrip and a deep river ravine, neither of which are on the game map.  
The Japanese pushed infantry and mountain artillery forward, but both they and 
the Australian militia opposing them could not use motor vehicles in this 
difficult terrain.  The Japanese got within forty km of Port Moresby before 
Australian reinforcements arrived to push back the unsupplied and starving 
Japanese to Buna.  At Buna, Australian and American troops combined to push the 
Japanese out of that area of Papua New Guinea in January 1943. 
      Historically, the Japanese twice tried to take Port Moresby, first by 
the naval convoy route which resulted in the battle of the Coral Sea, second 
by the overland Kokoda trail route from Buna to Port Moresby.  If the Japanese 
took and held Port Moresby, they could have threatened or invaded Australia.
Just like at Guadalcanal, when each side realized what the other was doing, 
they both poured troops into the area and long battles ranging six or more 
months took place before the Japanese were eventually pushed out.


        ORDER OF BATTLE and other info

CORAL SEA:  Japanese navy main force = 6 destroyers, two heavy cruisers, and 
two fleet carriers, Shokaku & Zuikaku with 123 aircraft.  The Port Moresby 
taskforce has the small carrier Shoho which had 21 aircraft, with four heavy 
cruisers and six destroyers.  The Japanese carrier aircraft are sized as five 
Zekes, five Vals, and two Kates. 
    The US navy had the Yorktown & Lexington which had 141 aircraft, 5 
cruisers & 11 destroyers.  The Yorktown had 24 Wildcats, 38 Dauntless and 13 
Devastators.  The American carrier aircraft are sized as four Wildcats, five
Dauntless, and two Devastators.  
    Approximate aircraft losses in the battle of the Coral Sea:
       US lost 66 aircraft, Japanese 77
       Carriers sunk:  Shoho and Lexington

Land-based aircraft (game info):  the Japanese have 3 fighters and 2 bombers 
in the North. The Allies are flying over 4 Australian fighters and 2 bombers.  
There are two additional American bombers (B-17 and PBY) which historically 
were involved in that area. 

NEW GUINEA:  historical ground action

BUNA area (July):  Australian forces ==  39th Militia Battalion and 21th 
Australian Brigade. Japanese landed four regiments with a HQ force of 
battalion, engineers, and mountain arty.  Five Aussie brigades with a few 25 
pounders later reinforced Port Moresby, then pushed the Japanese back towards 
Buna. 
  By August 19 there were 22,000 Allied soldiers at PM and 9,500 at Milne Bay.
  Milne Bay:  August 26   Aussie 61st Militia Battalion faced 1900 Japanese.
Kittyhawk fighters, 7500 Aussies, and 1000 US construction troops were a
few Km back.  Japanese reinforced by 800, but were easily defeated and 
evacuated by Sept 5/6.

IMPORTANT:
To play this scenario at all, it is imperative that you are using the
enhanced equipment roster for Pacific General.  The roster adds many
new units not available in the "official" releases from SSI, which this
scenario uses.  The roster is fully compatible with the Pacific General
main game, scenarios and campaign, so there's no reason why not to use
it!  The enhanced equipment roster can be found on the web at the
Pacific General Armory... the site's address is:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/sgt_stryker/pacgen.htm

INSTALLATION:
After unzipping this file, copy or move the "moresby.scn" file into 
the "save" directory of your Pacific General folder.  To play, choose 
the "Start a Scenario" option on the main screen... next choose the 
"Load Homemade Scenario" button from the bottom of the screen, then 
select the "moresby.scn" file and you are ready to play!

    John Heidle   HEIDLE@NSTAFF.SUNYERIE.EDU  27 OCT 1997
