naval Rules

fullmetaljacket · Post by **fullmetaljacket** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:39 am

I have a question for all of you out there. I'm looking for a set of naval rules that are simple but complex, fun but realastic (well as realistic as a game can be). My group plays mainly with Seekrieg system, love the system its detailed, realistic and fun. Now the issue i have with the system and the only one is, that when depicting sub warfare, and air to ship or air to air it gets a little long in the tooth. Other problem when wanting to do a larger naval encounter ie.. running more than one or two ships at a time, the game can bog down quickly, especially when you only have a 4 to 6 hrs of game time in a saturday afternoon.

So, I guess my question to all out there is there other systems you have tried, that can help mainly with the submarine issue, and the air attacks issues?

I have looked at command at sea, looks just as complex if not more than seekrieg5?

Main thing is I want something fast enough to enjoy but not so fast it becomes to unrealistic. Mainly to be used with larger battles ie.. many ships, planes etc.

Other than that we will stick with Seekrieg for most of our world war one naval battles.

fullmetaljacket

Panzerleader71 · Post by **Panzerleader71** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 2:23 am

I am not a really big fan of naval games, but I can say that CaS is a really good game. It is based on Larry Bond's Harpoon mechanic so it covers everything in detail, so there can be a steep learning curve at first. We had a memeber of my old gaming group who new the rules down pat, hardly had to check the book when he ran a game. He was able to run a good sized game in about a 4-6 hour session.

My experience is that quick, easy AND realistic don't describe naval rules of any kind.

Thomaso827 · Post by **Thomaso827** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 2:29 am

I like General Quarters III. I've had limited personal experience with others, but found GQ3 to give me a good game, historical results, details without overdoing them, and a fun game.

Tom Oxley

Hauptmann6 · Post by **Hauptmann6** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 2:30 am

While I personally love SeeKreig, I've played GQ2 and they work pretty well. I assume this transfers on to GQ3.

fullmetaljacket · Post by **fullmetaljacket** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 2:45 am

Hauptmann6

Not to change the subject but if you would like to come to South Bend Indiana and game with us we would be glad to have you. Especially if you love Seekrieg 5 we game it once a month for sure some times more on saturdays at the local hobby/slash book store in south bend.

If you are interested let me know or PM. Also if you have a group up there we would gladly come up to game with you all from time to time also.

fullmetaljacket

jb · Post by jb » Fri Feb 17, 2012 2:51 am

General Quarters 3, its quite different than GQ1 & the GQ2 (WW1 supplement to GQ1)
Probably not what your looking for if you need to figure out trajectory of each round, BUT it is a great GAME...

Hauptmann6 · Post by **Hauptmann6** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 9:24 am

fullmetaljacket wrote:Hauptmann6

Not to change the subject but if you would like to come to South Bend Indiana and game with us we would be glad to have you. Especially if you love Seekrieg 5 we game it once a month for sure some times more on saturdays at the local hobby/slash book store in south bend.

If you are interested let me know or PM. Also if you have a group up there we would gladly come up to game with you all from time to time also.

fullmetaljacket

I think I was on your mailing list for a while. I really need to take a weekend off and get down that way.

I am still playing IV(well, once every 5 years that I dig out the ships. My group are Napoleonic gamers)

ed*b · Post by **ed*b** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 9:25 am

No subs or aircraft in the rules, unfortunately, but if you want to fight larger surface actions with a fair degree of realism, check out Supremacy at Sea. There is a sample scenario and basic rules (Graf Spee action) available for free on the website which gives a good idea of how the rules work.

Mickel · Post by **Mickel** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 2:02 pm

CAS is in the process of being integrated into an all encompassing set of rules from the beginning of FGDN to Harpoon. Not sure where it's up to in that - it might even be the one completed. I'm not sure I'd recommend it for big battles in a short frame of time because you end up in 30 second turns during combat. I started messing around in Harpoon for carrier ops, and it simply got out of hand.

While I have never really explored SKV air rules fully, the one or two games I did have seemed to work very well. They were fast, but when we compared the results to the historical ones, they came out pretty reasonably. Obviously you wouldn't want them to be identical, otherwise there is no point playing! The authors make it pretty clear that the rules are primarily for surface engagements.

I haven't played GQ1 in ages, and barely opened GQ3 - much to my loss I suspect. I don't even recall if they have air rules in them!

YMMV

Mike

fullmetaljacket · Post by **fullmetaljacket** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 9:06 pm

Thanks all for the suggestions and ideas. Mickel I agree we have been using SK5 for several years now, and I understand the authors state its mainly for surface combat. Just wanting to add some flare and eye candy for the gaming table.

Next question for those that have played CAS and SK5 which is more complex or are they equal? Also Micklet its early but what is FGDN?

Thanks again
fullmetaljacket

foxbat · Post by **foxbat** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 3:23 am

Going to add my 2 â‚¬ cts, and cast my voice for Naval Thunder, which is both simple and retains enough chrome through a well designed crits system. It worked swimmingly, if I may say so, for my Solomons cruisers actions.

Mickel · Post by **Mickel** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 6:23 am

Hi

FGDN - Fear God & Dread Nought - the COA pre-dread/dreadnought period variation of Command At Sea. Covers Russia/Japan plus WW-I. Not got it - couldn't justify the expense.

CAS & SKV are different in their complexity, if that makes sense. I've largely settled on SKV (despite the shell passing through the paint locker detail criticism - which I find largely unjustified). CAS is definitely more complex once you have aircraft involved.

(just to clarify something I'd put in the last post - the 30 second turns in CAS is for a/c - not ship to ship stuff)

Do the GHQ rules cover air/subs? I don't have them either...

Mike