We finally got around to grabbing a copy of Steel Dreadnought Games‘ new World War Two naval miniature rules Naval Thunder: Battleship Row along with the first expansion Bitter Rivals. Battleship Row is based on their naval system debuted in their World War One ruleset Naval Thunder: Clash of Dreadnoughts. While Clash of Dreadnoughts fell just shy of beating out Mongoose Publishing’s Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts as our favorite quick-play naval rules, Battleship Row may very well be the set that sends Victory at Sea to the bottom. (more…)
Naval Warfare
Archived Posts from this Category
11Dec09
Naval Thunder: Battleship Row — First Look
Posted by tanker under First Looks, Miniature Wargames, Naval Warfare, WW21 Comment
04Aug09
War in the Pacific – Admiral’s Edition — Released
Posted by tanker under Computer Wargames, Naval Warfare, News and Updates, WW21 Comment
Matrix Games quietly released the War in the Pacific – Admiral’s Edition computer wargame. This is a sequel to the original War in the Pacific with numerous improvements.
Matrix Games, 2by3 Games (www.2by3games.com) and Henderson Field Designs are thrilled to announce that the highly anticipated sequel to the legendary wargame War in the Pacific is now available! Many additional man-years of development from a dedicated and experienced team including subject matter experts and experienced programmers has resulted in an improved War in the Pacific experience across the board. This is the entire War in the Pacific down to individual aircraft, vehicles, ships, guns and squads – more than just a game, it’s an encyclopedia of the war compiled from many sources to an unmatched level of detail. Add in a much improved AI and more secure PBEM play and you have the makings of a new classic!
31Jul09
Naval Thunder: Clash of Dreadnoughts — Review
Posted by tanker under Miniature Wargames, Naval Warfare, Reviews, WW11 Comment
Naval Thunder: Clash of Dreadnoughts: A Game of Naval Warfare 1906-1918 is the premier game from the small new publisher Steel Dreadnought Games. Naval Thunder: COD is a tactical naval warfare miniatures game. It is available as a PDF only publication and it comes with two versions of the main rulebook (both in black and white); a graphics heavy version and a print ready version with no background or images. The graphics heavy version is 50 pages and includes a number of period photos as well as a page of color counters. The print ready version is 45 pages in a basic, straightforward layout with a few tables and graphics. The game also includes a two page quick reference card as well as 45 pages of ship data cards (78 ships) for the Kaiserliche and Royal Navy only. The cards are similar to those in Starmada and fit two to a page (destroyer flotillas one to a page). The cards are clear and contain the relevant information but unfortunately contain no image or even silhouette of the ship they represent. (more…)
14Jan09
The Best Games Not Yet Published, 2009
Posted by tanker under Board Wargames, Computer Wargames, Miniature Wargames, Modern, Naval Warfare, Sci-Fi, WW1, WW2, Wargames[2] Comments
With the New Year upon us it is time, once again, for our annual look at the games we are most anxiously awaiting in 2009. Our 2008 prognostications did pretty well so we thought we would keep the tradition going. As always, there is no guarantee any of these titles will be published in 2009, nor that they will be any good if they are, but we are optimistic. (more…)
12Dec08
Jutland — Released
Posted by tanker under Computer Wargames, Naval Warfare, News and Updates, WW11 Comment
Storm Eagle Studios released its long awaited computer naval wargame Jutland. Jutland is based on their Distant Guns engine. The game comes in two versions: standard and pro. Pro provides a scenario editor. There is a demo available for download and there is also an online tutorial.
Storm Eagle Studios is proud to present the sequel to it’s 2006 Wargame of The Year Distant Guns!
JUTLAND covers the 1916 Noth Sea Naval actions between Germany, England, and France.
Featuring an astounding 900+ historically accurate, highly detailed 3D ship models, Jutland delivers the most realistic, True Physics Ballistics ever released in a commercial wargame.
JUTLAND features as easily accessable user interface that allows the novice game to quickly dive into the game. For the seasoned vertern, it also provides access to advanced features and detail that will satisfy the most demanding Admiral of the Fleet!
21Sep08
A Wave of New Naval Warfare Games
Posted by tanker under Board Wargames, Computer Wargames, Miniature Wargames, Modern, Naval Warfare, WW1, WW21 Comment
Well it has been well over a year-and-half since we did our first naval wargaming review in our A Tsunami of Naval Warfare Games article. At the time we were surprised at the number of new naval titles that had been released. Even more surprising is that the trend has continued.
Modern Naval Battles
A couple more card games were released. GMT Games released Pacific Typhoon, a simple card game for 3-7 players (it plays better with more players rather than less) that covers naval combat in the Pacific in World War Two. In a unique twist each player plays both the Allied and Japanese sides. This allows for lots of backstabbing as players vie for leverage to help ‘their’ side win. A new publisher, DVG Games, released Modern Naval Battles – Global Warfare. This is an update to the original 1989 game and includes the material in that game’s two expansions. MNB-GW covers naval warfare during the Cold War, Falkland Islands War, and Post-2000 era. Neither of these games are a simulation but both are interesting, fun games. (more…)
08Aug08
Silent War
The Armchair General has a short, but useful, review of Silent War. Silent War is Compass Games’ solitaire WW2 board wargame on Allied submarine warfare in the Pacific. The game features individual missions as well as a grand campaign. The game is very good overall and has very nice components. It is reminiscent of Avalon Hill’s classic B-17 Queen of the Skies. If you like WW2 naval games or are looking for a good solitaire game it is worth checking out.
The Wargamer has an even more in-depth review of Silent War.
Also keep a look out for Steel Wolves in 2009. Steel Wolves is the Silent War system taken to the U-Boat war in the Atlantic.
[Updated: 14AUG08]
04Aug08
Victory at Sea — Additional Material
Posted by tanker under Naval Warfare, Publications, Victory at Sea, WW2Leave a Comment
Victory at Sea
Mongoose Publishing has done a good job supporting its WW2 naval miniatures game Victory at Sea. Besides the initial expansion, Order of Battle, they regularly publish new material in their free PDF magazine Signs & Portents. Below are the VaS articles from the latest issues. (more…)
07Mar08
Victory at Sea — Bandits at Six O’Clock
Posted by tanker under Miniature Wargames, Naval Warfare, News and Updates, Victory at Sea, WW21 Comment
The latest edition of Mongoose Publishing’s Signs & Portents pdf magazine, issue 54 (now in a new combined format), has additional aircraft stats for their WW2 naval miniatures game Victory at Sea.
Nine pages of material add almost 300 aircraft to VaS. Much of this material consists of the ‘missing’ stats from the original work done for the Order of Battle expansion. Why it was not simply provided there is anyone’s guess but it is great to have it now. New rules are provided for level bombing and, finally, skip bombing! Oddly, rules for guided missiles, such as the German Hs293, are also included. Another mystery is the inclusion of the early jets, such as the P-80, F-86, and Mig-15. Perhaps this is a peek at what will be available in the modern version of the VaS rules? It does allow players to make-up some interesting Korean War scenarios.
Overall this is a very welcome addition to the VaS system and we finally get our B-25s!
28Jan08
Victory at Sea: Order of Battle — Review
Posted by tanker under Miniature Wargames, Naval Warfare, Reviews, Victory at Sea, WW2[4] Comments
Order of Battle is the latest expansion for Mongoose Publishing’s Victory at Sea WW2 naval miniatures game. Order of Battle is a 111-page hardcover book. It also includes ten pages of black and white ship counters that can be photocopied and cut out for use instead of miniatures. [Note: You can also order OoB as a downloadable PDF.] Unfortunately, Mongoose continues to have quality issues. I have seen three copies of the book including one ordered direct from Mongoose. Two had significant warping of the cover and crinkled pages at the binding when opened. The one direct from Mongoose is much better but still has a ‘wave’ to the cover when viewed end on. If Mongoose cannot get these issues under control they should simple use soft covers.
Order of Battle provides one page of new rules that mostly makes official what many users had been doing as house rules — Most significantly, observation aircraft are no longer used except for ASW operations. (more…)
