"Help on rulesets plz" Topic

I never played Naval wargame before but I have recently developed an interest in trying one out. Can anyone please give me a rundown of rulesets available for WWII naval wargames and general merits of each. I'm not interested in an 'overdetailed set' (i.e. thousands of tables etc) though don't want a set that's too generic and simple either. Also info on different rulesets for small level ships actions to large fleet (multiple ship actions) would be useful.

All help gratefully appreciated.

TMP link

Look at the WW2 Naval discussion board. That topic cpmes up fairly often and the discussions cover quite a few systems.

The old General Quarters 1 and 2 would work well for you, as would the newer GQ3 too.

Off the top of my head and from easy to complex

Axis and Allies War at Sea
Victory at Sea (Mongoose publishing)
Sea Power 1-3 (Alnavco)
Task Force
GQ 1 & 2 (GQ2 adds WW1)
Seas of War (Free on line)
Fletcher Pratt
GQ3
Fire on the Waters (Free on line)
MicroNauts (GHQ)
SeeKrieg 4 (free on line)
SeeKrieg 5

Command at Sea. Middle to high on complexity. Very comprehensive, yet very playable, especially with smaller actions.

For a first naval wargame I'd recommend Victory at Sea.

Its a good system that's easy to learn and fun to play. Two books out, the core rules and Order of Battle with a huge expansion of the ship classes available, along with a few updates to the core rules.

Check it out:

link

Here's a link to the same place with the prices in $$ depending on which side of the pond you live on.

link

Decision Games' "Battlestations, Battlestations" is a good fast play set with just enough detail to make it interesting. And the best part is….no book keeping required!