Nightmare Island - May-August 1944

Nightmare Island: the Battle for Viak Island is a moderate complexity level wargame simulation of the US invasion of Biak in 1944.The invasion of Biak island was the culmination of General MacArthur’s New Guenea campaign that began nearly a year earlier with Operation Cartwheel and the reduction and bypassing of the Japanese fortifications at Rabaul and Truk. MacAurthur’s campaign had earlier stumbled out of the gate, with bloody battles at Bruna and Sanananda along the Northeastern coast of New Guinea in late 1942 and early 1943. Shocked at the butcher’s bill run-up in those fights, MacArthur initiated an “island hopping” campaign that bypassed Japanese strongholds and not attacking the dug-in defenders head-on. After a relatively easy landing the GI’s encountered fierce opposition by the veteran Japanese 36th Infantry Division, supported by garrison troops and tanks. Things for the Americans quickly went from bad to worse.