Victory at Sea
Victory at Sea — Additional Material
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. Read the rest of this entry »
Victory at Sea — Bandits at Six O’Clock
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!
Victory at Sea: Order of Battle — Review
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. Read the rest of this entry »
Victory at Sea — Another View
John and Dan from the All About Miniatures podcast review Mongoose’s Victory at Sea ruleset on their latest show, episode 8. They also compiled some suggestions for increasing realism in the game and provide some useful quick reference sheets. Of course do not miss our own review that also includes an example of combat.
Victory at Sea — FAQ
Mongoose Publishing released an official FAQ for VaS. It is two pages and contains a few clarifications and some errata for IJN destroyers.
Victory at Sea — Coastal Forces
Mongoose just released rules for Coastal Forces for VaS in Signs & Portents Issue 42. It is five pages of rules and stats for all nations giving players Motor Torpedo Boats (MTBs), Motor Gun Boats (MGBs), PT Boats, and MAS craft. Also included are a few trawlers and landing craft. Issue 42 also has part III of the Kriegsmarine Z-Plan ships.
A Trio of Naval Miniature Rules
Three new WW2 naval miniature rules, General Quarters III, Battle Stations!, and Victory at Sea, were all released within just a few months of each other. What is surprising is that it turns out the three rule sets are more complementary than competing. All three rules are designed for use with 1/6000-1/1200 scale miniatures.
All three games provide ample ship and aircraft statistics covering the major nations and equipment. VaS probably has the least and is missing, most notably to us, the U.S. Casablanca class ‘Jeep’ carrier. Thus you need to make up your own stats to fight the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Both GQIII and VaS provide additional craft data on their respective Web sites. Read the rest of this entry »
Burger’s Ship Viewer
I stumbled upon this site and thought it was worth posting about. This fellow has created an online database of ship statistics for Mongoose Publishing’s ‘Victory at Sea’ and ‘Babylon 5: A Call to Arms’ games. You can view and print ship cards for both games. Very useful and very well done.
The View from the Turret 
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