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Second World War at Sea
Avalanche Press’ foray
into naval games began with the First World
War. We released Great
War at Sea: Mediterranean in 1996,
and followed it up with sequels in 1998 and
1999.
We waited until 2000 to branch out into
the Second World War at Sea. The
first volume, SOPAC, sold out in
2004. It had hard-mounted gameboards, an obsession
for us at the time, and covered the air and
naval battles around Guadalcanal in August
through November 1942.
Second World War at Sea follows
the same basic principles as Great War
at Sea. Each game has a variety of scenarios,
from a dozen in Eastern Fleet up
to 50 in Bomb Alley. Almost all are
for two players. Each scenario lists the ships
and aircraft available, the goals each player
needs to achieve in order to win, and the
amount of time available.
Scenarios are based on historical missions,
some of which resulted in battle, all of which
could have. Missions include amphibious invasions,
convoy escort, commerce raiding, shore bombardment
and more. Players find enemy fleets and stop
them from accomplishing their missions, while
achieving their own ends.
Play usually begins on the operational map.
This map covers the theater of operations
and is divided into square zones, offset in
a “brick” pattern. Each zone represents
an area 36 nautical miles across. Players
form their ships into fleets and aircraft
into flights, and move them on this map. Their
moves are pre-plotted on log sheets, so that
a player does not know what the enemy has
done.
Even though the player can see the enemy
fleet counter on the map, he or she still
must determine whether its ships are spotted
by friendly ships or aircraft. If this occurs,
play moves to the tactical map, where battle
takes place.
Ships are rated for primary, secondary and
tertiary gunnery (big, medium and small) and
torpedoes. They maneuver on the tactical map
and fire on each other with these weapons.
Ships are also rated for size and armor. Heavy
armor can only be penetrated by torpedoes
and primary guns, light armor by those plus
secondary guns, and areas with no armor can
be damaged by all weapons. When a ship loses
all of its hull boxes, it sinks.
Aircraft are rated for air-to-air combat,
range and endurance, altitude, land attack
and naval attack. In air-to-air combat, each
player rolls one die for each factor. On a
result of 6, a hit is scored and the aircraft
unit is reduced in strength. If already reduced,
it is eliminated.
Ships are rated for anti-aircraft fire.
Attacking planes that survive this can hit
them with bombs and torpedoes. Planes are
powerful, but fragile.
Other aspects of the game include submarines,
minefields, motor torpedo boats and still
more. It’s not a complicated game (most
game functions involve rolling a 6) but it
does simulate a rich tapestry of naval history.
Our second game, Eastern
Fleet is based on the 1942
Japanese carrier raids into the Indian Ocean,
against the British Eastern Fleet. The map
covers the area from India’s west coast
to Sumatra and Malaya. This game has British
and Japanese forces, with a tiny handful of
Dutch and American ships.
For our third game, we covered the most
important naval battle in history, Midway.
Midway includes both the Pearl Harbor
operation and the climactic battle of Midway,
plus a number of other scenarios like the
Wake Island relief expedition. There are a
number of alternate orders of battle provided,
as neither side could be completely sure just
which enemy ships might appear over the horizon.
Italian
sea power
The fourth game was the most ambitious.
The first three games showed one campaign.
Bomb
Alley covered the entire
Mediterranean Sea, from the outbreak of war
in 1940 until the end of contested naval operations
in 1942. Bomb Alley has many more
pieces than the other games, with Italian,
British, German, American, French, Romanian,
Soviet, Polish, Greek and Australian ships
making appearances. There are many more aircraft
present than in the Pacific theater games,
but neither player can count on their availability,
as land operations may take precedence.
The massive Leyte
Gulf is the most ambitious game we’ve
ever attempted. This is a huge game, with
hundreds of ship counters, clouds of aircraft
and three maps. It was the first game to proceed
through our Classic
Wargames program. It covers history’s
largest naval battles, the 1944 clashes at
Leyte Gulf and the Philippine Sea, plus a
number of lesser-known operations. And of
course the finest moment of the U.S. Navy,
the incredible heroism of the action off Samar.
Strike
South covers some of the same geographical
area but instead is focused on the rapid Japanese
advance through the Philippines and Dutch
East Indies in 1941 and 1942. The Battle of
the Java Sea, the last sortie of HMS Prince
of Wales, the heroic last fight of the
USS Houston and more are covered. As
a historic study this is perhaps the most
fascinating of the series, showing clearly
the audacity of the Japanese advance.
Bismarck
covers the German Navy's commerce raids of
1939 through 1941 into the North Atlantic.
This is the game fans have demanded since
the first volume appeared, and they won’t
be disappointed. American, British and French
warships hunt the grossly outnumbered Germans,
who do have the vast gray Atlantic in which
to hide.
Arctic
Convoy introduces the brutal battles
between the Royal Navy (with Soviet and American
help) trying to escort convoys through to
Murmansk and Archangel, and the German warships,
submarines and aircraft trying to stop them.
Black
Sea Fleets is a book supplement, covering
the Black Sea forces of the Soviet Union plus
those of Turkey and Romania with 210 new die-cut-and-mounted
playing pieces and a wealth of scenarios and
background articles.
Cone
of Fire is our only game
for both Second
World War at Sea and Great
War at Sea. The fleets of South America join
the wars, with six maps and 42 scenarios.
More games are planned after
these, so we expect to be making Second
World War at Sea games for some time
to come. It’s a fun and fascinating
experience; pick the campaign that interests
you the most and try it out.
All games are playable separately.
Articles and free downloads:
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