Sumner and Gearing Class DD's

[Wishbone]

On a more topical note: The Austro-Hungarian Navy fought small fleet actions at Durazzo and Otranto. While they never engaged a full fleet actions as such, these were rare in this timeframe. I think however, the adriatic cruiser raids would make excellent small scale WWI actions. And Frankly a fleet action between the Italians and the Austrians would be every bit as dramatic as one between the Brits and Germans. Who has the ships to do Jutland, anyway? (Well I do, but not the space, even at 1:6000).

the Med is full of good what-ifs - for example, if Italy had retained her alliance with austria and germany, it would be a theatre in which Britain and France would be navally inferior. Would have been very interesting.

but the cruiser raid on Otrato is great fun. reccomend anyone has a bash at that - light fast ships dashing about the table. great fun!

 

[Soth]

Just writing up the ship sheets alone for Jutland or a 5 part Leyte Gulf would take some serious work.. not to mention cramped writing fingers
when a convention comes to Utah, id certainly be willing to get a VAS game going, im trying to breath new life(New games) other then Dungeons and Dragons here. Ther used to be quite the following for Battletech, but when Fasa went under that killed that.I know there a couple folks here that do the Axis and Allies Naval game, but they are very hard to find folks. Its strange, ive alway been fascinated with Naval combat, but I enlisted in the army and became a paratrooper in 82nd ABN. div, so i guess im just a dumb grunt at heart !

 

[DM]

I've played Jutland several times (including demonstration games at the National Maritime Museum, and most recently on board HMS Belfast). It took us 2 days using a set of computer moderated rules the first time and last time, but we did it in a day using GQ2 and team of about 16 players. Good fun, even if my British light cruisers did get smashed to buggery on almost the first turn!

 

[Soth]

I personally wouldnt mind playing the German Navy, nothing personal to the British, but I like the looks of most of the German Battlecruisers and Dreadnaughts. Keep in mind this just coming from an aesthetic point of view. For World war2, the Italian Battleships and Cruisers are handsome looking ships.I used to play a computer game called Panzer General, and one of my favorite scenarios was Sealion 41. Where the Italian fleet comes out of the med and supports the german invasion of England. Was definately a Hypothetical situation, but quite fun to play.

 

[DM]

I never liked the look of the WW1 era German battleships (not a patch on the very businesslike appearance of the Iron Dukes, QEs, Revenges and the "one offs" - but the German battlecruisers do indedd have very fine aesthetic quality to them - especially the Seydlitz. I have often thought about getting one of those obscenely expensive German collectors 1/1250 models of the ship to put on display

 

[Soth]

I paint the 1/700 Model ships, but they dont make any WW1 in that scale in plastic. They do in resin, and most come from germany, but they are too expensive for my tastes. I wont shell out 200 bucks for Resin models in that scale.I have heard that sometime this year(2008) that one of the model companys is coming out with a 1/700 USS Salt Lake City In plastic. This being my hometown, Im waiting EAGERLY!

 

[Sundog]

There's a fifth book in the series: Exodus, but Weber isn't involved. It's just Steve White and someone called Shirley Meier.

It's good, but be warned, it's only the first part of the story. I'm expecting either a sequel or a trilogy.

Honor Harrington is good, but tends to me more "Fighting Sail in Space" than WWII.

If you want "WWII in space" you're better off reading David Weber's collaborations with Steve White:

Insurrection
Crusade
In Death Ground
The Shiva Option

They're similar to the Honor Harrington's, with a little more focus on the Fleet actions versus the politics. Also, unlike HH, main characters get killed with regularity, so the principle character whose actions you're following changes from book to book, or even in the middle of books.

 

[Soulmage]

Just writing up the ship sheets alone for Jutland or a 5 part Leyte Gulf would take some serious work..

I already have stats for the complete Jutland OOB, for another naval game that is similar in feel to Vas, but would be inappropriate to name here - even though its a WWI game vs. WWII for vas.

I will, of course, buy VaS:AoD when it comes out, but I kinda like actually having 2 slightly different systems for the two different wars.

I'll be running both VaS and *cough* the other game *cough* at GenCon this year if any of you are planning on making it!

 

[Soulmage]

There's a fifth book in the series: Exodus, but Weber isn't involved. It's just Steve White and someone called Shirley Meier.

It's good, but be warned, it's only the first part of the story. I'm expecting either a sequel or a trilogy.

Thanks! I'll check it out!

 

[BuShips]

I'll be running both VaS and *cough* the other game *cough* at GenCon this year if any of you are planning on making it!

Hmm, let me guess using this method.

If I had a pocket full of U.S. coins and they were all quarters, they'd have on the 'heads' side President Washington. Remembering that he was a General before he was President, you might call those coins "general quarters', correct? :wink:

 

[Soth]

Well, i hope Gencon makes it to Salt Lake City this year. if i have plenty of advance notice ill be going and planning on playing some VAS.

 

[DM]

Don't worry about mentioning other rule sets here. I've done so several times without fear of retribution. Its not as if MGP deny the existence of alternative sets

 

[Soth]

From what ive seen, MGP doesnt seem to mind. they get ideas of what people like of course. a little harmless discussion, and the spymasters get good info! its all a plot by the naval wargamers to take over the worlds oceans.. and.. well yeah!

 

[Soulmage]

I'll be running both VaS and *cough* the other game *cough* at GenCon this year if any of you are planning on making it!

Hmm, let me guess using this method.

If I had a pocket full of U.S. coins and they were all quarters, they'd have on the 'heads' side President Washington. Remembering that he was a General before he was President, you might call those coins "general quarters', correct? :wink:

Well. . . that is an excellent guess. . . too bad its wrong! LOL!! But. . . you had to go with what was statistically probable.

So, since people say Mongoose doesn't mind. . . and its not strictly a competitor to VaS yet, it being a different era and all. . .

The other system is Grand Fleets by a little company called Majestic Twelve Games.

Its a wonderful little system that I absolutely love. Its aircraft rules are a bit weak (understandable since its a WWI system) but it has a wonderful surface engagement model.

It can be played on hexes (with the best hex-based system I've ever seen), or they include conversions in the book for open-tabletop play.

They've got an extensive ship stat generation process. . . so you can convert the real-world stats of any ship 1890's - 1940's into game terms. A guy on the forum sent me files for the complete Jutland OOB, and he's posted files for the complete Royal Navy, High Seas Fleet, plus several other countries that I didn't pay much attention to, but that some around here would probably be interested in.

Anyway, check it out if you're looking for a WWI system to tide you over until Age of Dreadnoughts is released.

 

[Soth]

I saw where someone had posted stats for WW1 where it required VAS. Is that what your referring to?

 

[juggler69uk]

You can download a free demo of grand fleets from majestics home page

 

[BuShips]

Thanks for the suggestion. I had known about Majestic XII regarding their sci-fi naval rules but had forgotten about the WW1 game. I'd heard of the WWI game in the past but never really got down to hunting for it.

I just downloaded it, but have a small nit-pick in only scanning it briefly. They use the term line ahead and then refer to the ships following the lead ship. That's really the term line astern. Line ahead should have the flagship in the stern position, right? The two terms are the same, the only difference being the location of the flag within the column.

Yeah, it's a small thing but it's a core historical term of the period. Just call me BuShips, picker-of-nits. :lol:

 

[Soth]

my only problem with it is this:
"Any of these would be appropriate, keeping in
mind ships might be too big for the hex-grid at
1:2400 scale (HMS Dreadnought would be over 2.5”
long)."
Being as how im gearing up for this stuff in 1/2400 scale, having allready invested a considerable amount of money in that scale.
I'd be interested in 1/6000 but the main suppliers I buy from(Alnavco), I havent seen much 1/6000 on theyre site. wheres the best site to get these from?

 

[BuShips]

Soth, in 1/6000 I'd probably suggest figurehead, although so far I have not ordered myself any. I plan to do so, though.

http://nobleminis.com/Regal/Figurehead/Figurehead6000.html

You can buy them by the "navy". :wink:

 

[Soulmage]

If you go here:

http://www.hotzmats.com/

They have hex mats that you can order from 1 1/2 to 5 inches across. So you should be able to find an appropriate hex size for your scale.

Although I've been using 2400 for VaS, we decided to go with 3000 for GF and have been using the 3" hexes. You might consider going 4" just to be safe if you're going with 2400 scale, but you might scrape by on 3.