Newbie with a few quick questions

[Bismarck's Bane]

Hi guys, I have stumbled accross VAS and I'm thouroughly delighted

Both myself and my father and father in-law have been looking for a sea based wargame for years and have been put off by all the overcomplicated systems already out there. As my grandfather sailed on the Hood I am excited to see that this game covers that era. I have a few questions about the game though.

1. I see that the rule book comes with counters, so I am I right in thinking that everything I need to start playing comes with the book?
2. If I wanted to use miniatures, what scale ships would I need?
3. Where is the best place to get these from?
4. Is there an active tournament scene at the minute, as coming from fantasy wargaming the tournaments are a major plus in my enjoyment of the games

Many thanks in advance

 

[The Greek]

Hi guys, I have stumbled accross VAS and I'm thouroughly delighted

Both myself and my father and father in-law have been looking for a sea based wargame for years and have been put off by all the overcomplicated systems already out there. As my grandfather sailed on the Hood I am excited to see that this game covers that era. I have a few questions about the game though.

1. I see that the rule book comes with counters, so I am I right in thinking that everything I need to start playing comes with the book?
2. If I wanted to use miniatures, what scale ships would I need?
3. Where is the best place to get these from?
4. Is there an active tournament scene at the minute, as coming from fantasy wargaming the tournaments are a major plus in my enjoyment of the games

Many thanks in advance

1. Dice and tape measure are needed. The second printing does not have counters, but there are pages with them on that you can photocopy.

2. Anything you feel comfortable with. People have preferred scales that they like to use, the game itself allows anything resonable for a tabletop.

3. If you do not have a local wargames store (these seem pretty rare) try a wargames show (there are plenty in the UK I go to) or the internet. I buy from Magister Militum myself.

4. We do run occassional tournaments, and so do some shops in the UK (several owners also like and play the games!). Also if you have a local club then you could have a tournament there.

BUT...I prefer longer campaigns to tournaments myself, and the book has rules for these.

 

[Bismarck's Bane]

Excellent, thanks for the info. I have just seen on ebay some Axis & Allies ships that look pretty good. Might have to check these out, in the mean time need to find myself a first print of the rule book

 

[Brass]

Excellent, thanks for the info. I have just seen on ebay some Axis & Allies ships that look pretty good. Might have to check these out, in the mean time need to find myself a first print of the rule book

A problem with the Axis and Allies ships is that they are in a strange scale (1:1800) which is not currently used by any other manufacturer. This would make it difficult to expand your fleet(s) if you want to add ships not currently in the A&A set, which is quite limited. Because the initial A&A release has been sold out for a while you may also find the price of some of the rarer items (e.g., Yamato or Enterprise) is pretty steep. This may change when the set is re-released in August. The only real advantage they have is that they come prepainted.

Mind you, I own the whole set myself .

If you aren't afraid of doing a minimal amount of painting there are a number of companies that make ships in the "standard" scales that you might want to take a look at: (not an exhaustive list by any means)

1:2400 scale (one of the most popular)

GHQ. (www.ghqmodels.com) the Rolls-Royces of 1:2400 scale. Beautiful but fiddly; lots of small parts to break off or lose. Expensive (and their price has just gone up again). Good selection of ships for most nations.

Panzerschiffe. (www.panzerschiffe.com) very basic resin models. They are recognizably what they are supposed to be and are cheap (I think the most expensive model is $6.00US). Since I do a lot of demo and convention games and the average gamer seems incapable of picking up a ship without breaking something off, these are my current models of choice. Covers the major combatants pretty well plus a few oddball fleets like the Greeks and the Spanish Republicans and Nationalists.


1:3000 scale

Davco. available in the States from The Last Square and in the UK from Spirit Games, among others. Nice little ships that sometimes suffer from molding problems. They're not too expensive and should have everything you need.

Navwar. I don't know too much about them but I have a few and they're pretty nice. Like Davco, the price is right but there are occasional molding problems.


1:6000 scale (an up-and-coming scale)

Hallmark/Figurehead. I own a few of these little rascals and they are very nice indeed, well-detailed for the size and quite inexpensive, not to mention that you can fit a decent-sized squadron into an Altoids tin. The main problem with them is that are tiny. If your eyes can stand the strain, you could probably do Leyte Gulf on a card table.

If the idea of painting models puts you off, well ... that is why (insert name of favorite diety here) invented spray cans. With the possible exception of GHQ, you can turn out a perfectly acceptable paint-job for gaming purposes by spraying the model in an appropriate base color, which will almost always be some shade of gray. If you really get into it, you can always go back and add more detail later.

Needless to say, this is entirely my opinion and you mileage may vary.

LT

 

[juggler69uk]

There are probably a few people out there who will part with their counters. And have a good handful of "not too big" dice ready

As to miniatures,

Personally I feel the A&A ones are a little too big for a tabletop (unless its big) and some ships are nearly as long as torpedo range, plus there isnt a large range of models in the set, and getting them may prove expensive. on the plus side they are ready painted.

1/2400 scale do have nice models but again can be a limited range

1/3000 scale (i favour Navwar) seems to give a nice sized model with a large range available

1/6000 lets you fight on a smaller table but again the models seem somewhat limited in range

 

[Brass]

There are probably a few people out there who will part with their counters.

Actually, I have two complete sets still unpunched and looking for a good home .

LT