I would not mind getting a copy of wooden ships and iron men. I don't play board games but do tend to collect a couple in case I ever want to. Wooden Ships & Iron Men is one of those I would like to have, however it is out of print it seems. Is their a replacement or another publisher which has the rights to reprint the game?
Used copies are available here:
https://www.nobleknight.com/P/2147430463/Wooden-Ships-and-Iron-Men-2nd-Edition
first edition is cheaper:
https://www.nobleknight.com/P/6609/Wooden-Ships-and-Iron-Men-1st-Edition
And there are a bunch of used copies on Ebay. Not sure what the equivalent store is in Europe.
Flying Colors and all the expansions from GMT Games is a decent replacement.
Would you say it is missing anything wooden ships and iron men had?
I will look for it.
It doesn't have the same level of granularity or complexity as WSIM but it's still pretty good.
Cannot find flying colors easily either. Is sails of glory any good? That one at least I can get hold of.
Or even black seas.
I see the internet is suggesting "close action" from the 1990s as being even more in depth than WSIM.
Quote from: Destraex on October 08, 2025, 03:59:08 AMCannot find flying colors easily either. Is sails of glory any good? That one at least I can get hold of.
Or even black seas.
I see the internet is suggesting "close action" from the 1990s as being even more in depth than WSIM.
Flying Colors (1st edition is pretty cheap at Noble Knight (although if you are in Europe, I'm not sure what shipping costs would be). It was a nominee for 2005 Charles S. Roberts Best Pre-World War II Boardgame, so it isnt' bad. (7.6 on BoardGame Geek https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/8730/flying-colors. You can get the 3rd Edition, with the SoL expansion for $169 (yes, that is expensive) here: https://www.amazon.com/GMT-Flying-Colors-Actions-Deluxe/dp/B08GTHRF3D
I like Sails of Glory quite a bit but it does have a few really odd rules that I've house-ruled against.
Collision damage is excessive but it only affects friendly-on-friendly collisions. I suspect this is to punish poor manoeuvre planning while still encouraging players to close for boarding actions.
It's very easy for a player to exploit this rule and, if one side is sailing their ships in a line astern formation, to sacrifice one ship by charging in an breaking the line. The collision between enemy ships causes no ramming damage but it will cause all ships behind the one stopped by the collision to plough into one another in a daisy chain of stupidity. If you play by the rules as written, you can cripple an entire squadron like this.
Thanks guys. I will hopefully eventually get something. Still really keen on wsim. Will have to keep an eye out.
I think I just found wsim is available on tabletop similator. That might be the way to go.
If you are looking for lots of new scenarios, Close Action is a miniatures game that has many supplements, each with 25.The author is about to print a new supplement, Jenkins Ear and Austrian Succession.
Close Action is based on WISM but much more complex and detailed. The scenarios easily fit the board game.