The game
Okinawa is a wargame about one of the last battle of the pacific war, in April-June 1945. The Japanese were fortified inside bunkers and caves in the south part of the Island. This battle was a tragedy, with many military and civil killed. After the war, Okinawa became an American controlled territory until the 15th May 1972, when it was given back to Japan. But there are still today some large US military camps, making some tension with the local citizens.
There is a large document Okinawa, the last battle on the US army site. A well designed page, in French, is available on the site les pages de Nezumi.
This game has uncommon rules: the Japanese player chose secretly where to put his force on the Island. The American player lands and search. As it was during the famous battle, the Japanese are entrenched in caves, bunkers, etc.
Of course, Okinawa is first of all a game and the terrible aspects of this battle are not simulated.
This game will be later enhanced and pubslished by Eurogames.
The illustration
The illustration is signed by Enea Riboldi. You can easily see a Japanese aircraft with a torpedo. In reality it was mainly kamikaze attacks, see for instance pictures from the site Okinawa, the last battle. More than 1900 kamikazes died in Okinawa.
Opening of the box
The box contains the rulebook, the map, a die, 166 counters, a set of sheets to write the Japanese position, 2 wheels: one to solve combat and one for artillery/calendar, 1 "legend" page.
The map
The map represents the Okinawa Island. The mountains and beaches are well differentiated. Be aware of the scale effect: in fact, the Island is quite big: more than 70 miles long (more than 100 km) - 1 hexagon = around 2 km.
The counters
The rules
The rulebook contains 14 pages in 4 languages (Italian, English, German, French). The English translation is not very good but remains understandable.
The Japanese units are placed secretly and written on an Island map.
The game is unbalanced and the US player has to find and eliminate all the Japanese units before the end of the calendar (between the 1st April and the 21st June, corresponding to 27 game turns). On the calendar is also indicated the number of Kamikaze units available during each turn. This calendar is written on the Artillery wheel.
The American counters are put on any beach, with a limit of 2 counters per hexagon. Then they move and when they move on an Japanese occupied hexagon, they go back one hex, staying in contact with the Japanese. Another way to find Japanese counters is to use special Artillery fire called "mopping-up shots".
An enhanced rule was published for with the Eurogames release of the game in 1989: The Eurogames rules in French.
The articles in Casus Belli:
A very negative article on this game was published in Casus Belli n°6. The main remarks were about the poor translation quality and a non realistic rules: for instance Kamikaze with to much power and the famous "mopping-up shots" used to find Japanese counters.
The article on Okinawa and Sicily 43 in Casus Belli 6
A second article was published in Casus Belli n° 54, for the Eurogames release.
The article on Okinawa (Eurogames) in Casus Belli 54
An article published in Fire & Movement n°23
Some price (2004-2006):
This is a very common game.
| N° EBAY | Price EBAY | Country | Date | Remarks |
| 5921785173 | EUR 30,50 | France | 27 sep 2004 | |
| 5922392643 | EUR 25,50 | France | 27 sep 2004 | |
| 5924529025 | EUR 15,50 | France | 10 oct 2004 | |
| <5927826829 | EUR 27,50 | France | 26 oct 2004 | |
| 5934139710 | EUR 38,50 | France | 21 nov 2004 | new |
| <5938796577 | $ 79,99 | USA | 08 dec 2004 | Not sold |
| 5938852340 | EUR 30,50 | Italie | 09 dec 2004 | |
| 5944391142 | EUR 14,50 | France | 24 dec 2004 | |
| 5944182892 | EUR 25 | France | 26 dec 2004 | |
| 5950400387< | $ 28,88 | USA | 23 jan 2005 | |
| 5950653009 | $ 36 | USA | 23 jan 2005 | unpunched |
| 5953571804< | EUR 26 | Italy | 06 feb 2005 | |
| 5953617225 | EUR 19 | Austria | 09 feb 2005 | not sold |
| 5168507483 | $ 32,55 | USA | 1 mar 2005 | |
| 5169220536 | £ 9,99 | UK | 6 mar 2005 | |
| 5962315277 | EUR 5 | France | 16 mar 2005 | |
| 5963179813 | EUR 20 | Belgian | 23 mar 2005 | |
| 5193139791 | EUR 15 | France | 10 may 2005 | |
| 5194539069 | EUR 7,50 | Germany | 16 may 2005 | |
| 5195086221 | EUR 13,50 | France | 18 may 2005 | |
| 5195444867 | EUR 51 | Italy | 19 may 2005 | |
| 5976759688 | EUR 70 | Italy | 29 may 2005 | not sold |
| 5976778347 | EUR 49 | Italy | 30 may 2005 | |
| 5203078360 | EUR 60 | France | 5 June 2005 | not sold |
| 5202733595 | $ 41 | Italy | 7 June 2005 | |
| 5978743579 | EUR 65 | Italy | 9 June 2005 | not sold |
| 5211159507 | $ 32,5 | USA | 28 June 2005 | |
| 5215406524 | EUR 27,5 | France | 13 July 2005 | |
| 5236483246 | EUR 45 | France | 5 sept 2005 | |
| 5238633539 | EUR 24,99 | France | 11 sept 2005 | |
| 8706574196 | $ 12 | USA | 15 oct 2005 | |
| 8714508137 | EUR 70 | Italy | 5 nov 2005 | |
| 60114453257 | EUR 31,51 | France | 13 nov 2005 | |
| 8723154652 | EUR 51 | France | 23 nov 2005 | unpunched |
| 8731985469 | EUR 40 | France | 2 dec 2005 | |
| 87457320299< | EUR 36,50 | France | 11 jan 2006 | |
| 8752317945 | $ 48 | USA | 23 jan 2006 | |
| 8755951555 | EUR 35,50 | France | 2 feb 2006 | |
| 8766640752 | $ 21,15 | USA | 19 feb 2006 | |
| 8788016521 | $ 69,99 | USA | 1 apr 2006 | |
| 8808151743 | $ 900 | USA | 14 may 2006 | unpunched |
| 6062167654 | EUR 24,50 | France | 8 june 2006 |
OKINAWA overview
reference: W105
Game for 2 players from 15 years on
The game lasts from 2 to 4 hours
Difficulty: 3 (average)
Date: 1979
Remark: on the "jeux et stratégie" fiche, There is 2 hearts, that means "We like it a lot".
Links:
OKINAWA on La caverne
OKINAWA on Boardgamegeek
OKINAWA on Isimulacrum
OKINAWA on Trictrac
A similar game:There are only few games on Okinawa:
- an SPI game from 1975 :
Okinawa (Island War, SPI) on Boargamegeek
- The Wargamer N°55 magazine (July 1986):
Okinawa (The wargamer) on Boargamegeek
These 2 games cover only the south part of the Island. The Wargamer magazine includes a 10 page article on the battle, called "The last samurai" and ending with "Forcing the Americans to pay a good price for victory, Ushijima had served his Emperor well in the tradition of the last samurai."
The game from this magazine is a classical and historical wargame, including a campaign and 4 smaller scenarios about "assault on fortified zones". The rules are complex and are 27 pages long.
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