Against the Odds magazine provides a view of military history from different perspectives. Each issue contains articles from game designers and other historical writers that take a broad view of the events surrounding historical battles. Each magazine also includes a professional printed full game.

ATO 2008 Annual - Operation Cartwheel. The Japanese fortress of Rabaul had 60,000 soldiers, over 350 miles of tunnels, many airfields, and heavy defenses of all kinds. It was the largest case of the “bypass and let them wither on the vine” strategy the Allies pursued in the Pacific. And in fact, MacArthur considered it too large to bypass...too important to leave behind. He was overruled.

Operation Cartwheel was a miniaturized version of Allied Grand Strategy in the Pacific—a multi-pronged advance aimed to make it difficult for the Japanese to focus their responses... a jumping from air base to potential-next-airbase. Most of all, the novel concept that not every Japanese stronghold needed to be attacked at all. Some 13 different invasions or operations were included, with flexibility for adjusting both timing and target as the situation demanded. In fact, the original goal of Cartwheel was the capture of Rabaul. After much discussion in the highest levels (including the Combined Chiefs of Staff, Roosevelt, and Churchill), and overruling MacCarther’s own objections, Cartwheel’s final objectives shifted to the Admiralty Islands, bypassing Rabaul and setting the stage for the invasion of the Philippines.

Operation Cartwheel eventually included the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, the death of Yamamoto, Bougainville, multiple parachute drops, a Japanese counter-invasion, and the leap-frogging strategy up New Guinea. It involved the top commanders on both sides, sometimes working in close harmony and sometimes at ends.Now, you can take charge of difficult decisions. The Allied commander must juggle resources at the end of a long, thin supply line. He must take risks to succeed. The Japanese commander must counter Allied strikes...fighting to delay, while always seeking the chance to strike back and make Allied risks more costly than they can afford.

This boxed set of Operation Cartwheel includes one maps, 288 counters, rules and charts. A bonus game covering Gazala 1942, with mounted counters, is also included.