Help: WWII miniatures Naval Rules

Started by Citadel, June 16, 2012, 10:53:58 AM

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Citadel

Looking for a good set of rules for miniatures.

Please include links if available.

Thanks in advance!

bob48

What period are you interested in?

For early 20th C stuff, then one of the most enduring rule-sets is that by Fletcher Pratt, although I'm not sure how available they are these days.

If I recall, they were originally designed for quite large scale models, and used to be played on ballroom floors, but years ago I played a scaled-down version using small scale metal models, and that worked quite well. Unfortunately, my copy of the rules went AWOL during a house move.

However, no doubt some of the other guys here will know of more up-to-date rule sets, or you could have a bash at a Google search and see what you can find there.
'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'

'Clip those corners'

Recombobulate the discombobulators!

bob48

Oops - why did I not notice that you specifically mentioned WWII? Doh!

Sorry 'bout dat....however, my comments are still valid I think.  ;)
'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'

'Clip those corners'

Recombobulate the discombobulators!

Jack Nastyface

#3
My first introduction to "miniatures friendly" naval rules was with AH's Jutland.  I think it still stands up if you want some fairly straight-forward naval action, and I am almost positive that there are WWII mods readily available.  Back in the day, I liked the fact that Jutland mixed a strategic (basically a search process) and a tactical (ship to ship combat) phase.  Of course, it doesn't include airplanes (which is critical for a true WWII naval combat experience...but less so for a dedicated ship-to-ship WWII combat experience) and there are some minor "conveniences" taken with the rules that make the game slightly ahistorical (namely...there is no penalty for converging fire on a single ship.  In WWI/WWII, ships determine range, etc by spotting where their rounds would land.  If multiple ships were firing on the same target, it became very difficult to see "whose splashes were whose" so adjusting fire would be problematic.  Minor point, I know...but that's why I am a grognard.  Deal with it.)

I've played the following rules at the 2012 Trumpeter Salute in Burnaby, BC.  http://www.supremacyatsea.com/.   Overall...not bad.  Considering I had not read through the rules before playing, I was able to MOSTLY figure out what was happening.  The hits / damage table is perhaps the most difficult thing to figure out...but once you get the hang of it, it becomes rather intuitive.

General Quartes (by C-in-C games) still gets good reviews.  It is based on the old Fletcher Pratt rules...worth checking out.  See what the guys at TMP have to say...they're a groggy lot as well.

If you want to play on the cheap (like me) you may want to check out many of the WWII naval sets available at freewargamerules.com.  If you haven't already invested in minis, I would also recommend finding some "top down" drawings/ counters of WWII ships and printing them out for playtesting.

Now, the problem is, how to divide five Afghans from three mules and have two Englishmen left over.