Hi, while waiting of SoG,
is there a good boardgame or tabletop system for the 1st World War? Miniatures? Something else?
Please let me know.
Naval wargame 1st World War
Hi, while waiting of SoG,
is there a good boardgame or tabletop system for the 1st World War? Miniatures? Something else?
Please let me know.
General Quarters is, IMHO, an excellent set of rules. There are versions covering WW1 and WW2. The WW1 version is entitled "Fleet Action Imminent" (FAI). Not hyper-detailed, very playable.
The earlier versions of GQ (1 and 2) are more abstract - still goo fun though. GQ2 is the version that covers WW1.
Alternatively - Fear God and Dread Naught" from Clash of Arms - very detailed (down to number of hydrogen cells in airships!)
This is what I was afraid of. Just when I thought I settled into limiting myself to Age-of-Sail naval wargames, several folks here introduce us to some WWI-era games that I feel compelled to check out. So much fun to experience, yet so little time.
I played Cordite and Steel several years ago. Here's the BGG link about it:
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1...dite-and-steel
I've also played Seekrieg:
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/6...fourth-edition
Here's a link with a list of WWI naval games:
http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/66...-i-naval-games
I've played Naval Thunder: Clash of Dreadnoughts and enjoyed the balance between detail & ease of play. Rules handle nicely single-ship, squadron, and (small) fleet encounters during and immediately before/after the Great War. Naval Thunder: Rise of the Battleship is the same system, but covers the pre-dreadnought era (1880s-1906). RotB is my favorite, but all three (the title game, Naval Thunder, covers interwar and WWII periods) are good.
http://navalthunder.com/
Last edited by fast.git; 02-27-2013 at 19:28. Reason: Added bold & italics for emphasis.
If I were to look at a WWI naval game, would something like AH's Jutland be a good source for ship counters even if using another rule system? The reason I am asking is because I do not think I would want to start collecting another set of minis - that I want to reserve for Age-of-Sail, but it might be fun to play a WWI scenario every now-and-then. So basically I am asking in addition to rules, what would be a good game to provide a nice collection of ships?
Also if you are interested in WWI I highly recommend you get a copy of Jane's Fighting Ships of WWI. Like all Jane's books it is loaded with drawings, photos and complete data on the subject. You should be able to get a copy (the reprint not an original) for just a few dollars so be careful of people selling them at ridiculously high prices.
Well, that is a lot of information. Of course I had a look at boardgamegeek and found a list of games, but I want to hear also your opinion. I think Jütland is interesting, and there is a game called Bismark, but it is not clear if it is a stand alone game ore an extension to a series. The next problem is to buy such a game here, but I know a dealer, that I meet every year in Essen at the gamefair. I think I can ask him too. Thanks for the answers.:)
Top link, thank youOriginally Posted by fast.git
Yes you could use the counters for Jutland (or Bismark) for other naval games and both come up frequently on ebay. Also Minden Games has numerous naval games of WW1 and 2, Avalanche Press have dozens of games on this genre with beautiful counter art of just about every capital ship from Cruiser up ever launched, proposed or imagined.
See
http://www.avalanchepress.com/line_WWIISea.php
http://www.avalanchepress.com/line_GWAS.php
http://minden_games.homestead.com/
Jutland requires a lot of floor space unlike the games from Avalanche Press or SPI (Dreadnought, CA, USN (strategic Pacific), Solomons Campaign) or Simulations Canada (LIne of Battle and Battleship..they also did modern naval), Victory Games (Carrier and Tokyo Express both of which are solitaire) then you have Flattop by Battleline, redone by Avalon Hill, then Midway by avalon Hill and CV by Yaquinto. If you want American civil War naval then Ironclads by Yaquinto is a classic. XTR magazine did Jutland, Strategy & Tactics magazine did The Far Seas both naval WW1.
There are hundreds of naval board wargames and this is just a small sampling for you. Don't you wish you had never asked!!
Many of these games are out of print but all come up on ebay regularly the only ones that are quite expensive are the two from Victory Games, and they did a modern naval war series as well- 2nd Fleet, 3rd Fleet, Gulf Strile, 7th Fleet, 5tth Fleet etc
Don't you wish you had never asked!!
I see, yes....:confused:
This is very helpful. Thank you for the comment on the quality of counter art by Avalanche Press. If I were to jump in, I would want to go the counter route regardless of rule type, so this recommendation/comment is enough for me to look at those games - same with the spacial requirements of Jutland.
Just *don't* get _Nine Navies War_ -- great concept, but the game itself sucks out loud.
Dang! Now I wish I still had my old AH Jutland and Midway games. Jutland was one of my favorites as a kid, along with Tobruk and Gettysburg.
I post it here, but we can also open a new thread:
A new 1. WW Game !
Axis & Allies 1914 !!!!
http://www.axisandallies.org/p/more-...4-world-war-i/
have a look.
This could be interesting. I hope it has enough WWI flavor to make it distinct from the WWII versions of the game; otherwise, it could feel like a simplified A&A edition.
How does it compare gamewise with WaS and VitP? i heard it was similar
Oh dear god -- if it's at-all accurate, this is going play like watching grass grow....
And I thought the WW2 version was dull.
It's a strategic-scale game; movement and combat are heavily abstracted. Each side draws at random chits featuring port names; when a port comes up, the player has the option to deploy all, some, or none of his ships to "sea zones" adjacent to that port. This leads to the first major failing: It is possible, and in fact likely, that the players can spend the entire game dodging each other's fleets, and thus go an entire game without ever once actually engaging in combat. *BORING*....
Combat reveals the second failing: Each ship rolls [n]d6 to attack, where [n] = its attack factor. Problem: Assuming the Grand Fleet and High Seas Fleet ever meet, the British player alone on the first turn of combat alone has to roll *OVER 200 D6S*. The German player is not much better off. Worse, the only d6 result which does actual damage is 6 (a 5 sends the target scurrying back to port); thus, it takes forever to resolve a fleet action. Players who know this will take the course outlined above, and *avoid* combat.
A third problem: This designer is overly fond of Random Events. There is a random roll to see if the Russian North Front collapses, another for the Russian South Front, another for the Middle Eastern Front, and still another for the Spanish Front*. And absolutely *none* of these random rolls is in any way whatever affected by the naval war -- the Entente player can completely crush the Central Powers naval forces, and still wind up losing if the rolls defined above go against him. "Uh-huh... uh-huh... *HUH*!?"
[*: This is an alternate-history game. Somehow, Germany pulls off in '14 what it pulled off in '40, and is able to defeat France before Britain can get involved. The Western Front is pushed all the way back to Spain, with essentially a replay of the Peninsular War from the Napoleonic Era occurring. France's fleet is divided between "free" and "occupied" France. Off-stage, Japan has changed sides on seeing German victory, and is confronting the US in the Pacific; the US can get into the War on Britain's side, but it requires Yet Another Random Roll, and only half of any US ships will be available -- the rest are off-map engaging Japan.]
In short: It's a game where combat is infrequent, if not nonexistent; when combat does happen, it is the worst kind of "combat Yahtzee"; it's far too reliant on Random Events; and it demonstrates the designer had not the first clue as to how the naval war affected the land war.
WWI I have to pull out my Jutland game. Haven't played it in years.
Have fun, lucky Bob ;)
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