We Must Tell the Emperor: The Great Pacific War 1941 to 1945

We Must Tell the Emperor is a game of the Second World War in the Pacific and Asia in which the player takes on the role of the leadership of Imperial Japan.  The game has been partially developed and is currently available as a demo that allows you to play the first 30% of the game.  Emperor uses the same States of Siege system as some of the project's other games like Levee and Israeli Independence.  However, there are caveats that prevent the development and release of the full game.  First, we have been unable to contact Steve Carey, the designer and copyright holder of the game to acquire permission to proceed.  Second, this game does require players to essentially roleplay as Japan's military leadership which students and instructors may find uncomfortable or even reject.  Such feelings are entirely valid and raise questions about the limits of game and historical perspectives.  While one might assert that "it is just a game," the game does place the player in the role of a national government engaged in war crimes and genocide.  One could certainly argue that all such games have instructional contexts in which they should not be used (e.g. one might reserve a game for college students and not play it with high school students), but are there games that have no place in the history classroom?  (Conflicts of Interest, the SDHistcon journal of historical boardgaming, recently published a roundtable discussion on this topic, "Gaming the Unpleasant."

• Play the Demo

Resources:

• Introduction and Review of the boardgame (YouTube)
• We Must Tell the Emperor boardgame Instructions  (PDF)
• Entry for the Boardgame at Boardgamegeek.com

Original Publisher's Description: "We Must Tell the Emperor brings Victory Point Games' unique States of Siege(TM) game series (first introduced in Darin Leviloff's groundbreaking Israeli Independence design) to the grand scope of the Pacific Theater during WWII. As the Military and Political leader of Japan, you must drive the enemy 'Fronts' far away from the Home Islands while also securing enough precious resources to maintain your Empire. If the war cannot be brought to a successful conclusion early on, then the burgeoning Allied strength will unleash a hailstorm of steel upon the player that will require the utmost test of skill, nerve, and luck in order to survive."