War Plan Orange: Dreadnoughts in the Pacific 1922-1930 Released

Matrix Games together with 2by3 Games 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: