"Wow! Didn't know how good I had it!" Topic

Ok. . . I LOVE rule systems. I love to read them, see how they work and try to figure out why. . . and of course I can't actually play a game without coming up with at least a few ways in which it could be improved.

WWI naval is my latest miniatures gaming passion. I never really looked at it too hard until I pretty much tripped over the Grand Fleets rules by mj12games. I downloaded the demo, liked what I saw, and ordered the rules that night.

Since that time I've had a BLAST playing with these rules. They capture everything I wanted in a WWI (or any other era) ship game. Excellent flavor, rules that capture the tactics of the day, engaging fun and fast paced, enough detail to make ships really feel different from each other, not so much detail as to bog down the game in minutia.

But. . . I now have these huge fleets of painted WWI models. . . given my predilection for rules I just HAD to cruise the internet looking for rules like sex addict looking for hookers.

Well. . . there are LOTS of rule sets out there I discovered. (I have WWII fleets also).

. . . and I learned to really appreciate what I already had. Some rule sets were overly cluttered with detail on things I really don't care about and that I don't believe make for an exciting game. Others were so abstract ships are just given attack and defense values. . . there's no real feel for "I'm shooting a 10 gun broadside of 12" guns!"

Meh. Keep 'em.

I'll stick with Grand Fleets and love it. Maybe I will check out VaS:Age of Dreadnoughts when it comes out. . . ok I'm sure I will buy it. . . but will I actually play it over my beloved Grand Fleets???? Its going to have to be really awesome to get me to switch.

For the curious, Grand Fleets is a little more detailed than Victory at Sea. Its about as detailed as the casual gamer would want to get – but still easy enough that battles of significant size can still be taught and run to completion in a convention setting.

Oh. . . crossposted to the WWII forums also because although originally designed as a WWI rule set, the system can handle WWII surface actions just as well and some WWII scenarios are included. Aircraft aren't its strongpoint though, so its definitely a surface action-only rule set. Great for some "What if" matchups that almost, but never happened in WWII.

I like Ben King's "Dreadnought" which a member of my old gaming club put on computer. The computer does all the die rolling and record keeping. It eliminates a lot of that "I'll pull them out because they're one hull box away from losing more speed" type gaming. On the computer a player can easily run 10 capital ships plus 4-6 destroyer flotillas.

I read VaS but it is far too generic for me. After all it is essentially the same game as their space combat game!

I'll have to take a look at GF too – like you I'm a rules junkie!

Did you take a look at Fleet Action Imminent the GQIII adaptation for WW1? What did you think of that?

Mark "Extra Crispy" Severin
Owner, Scale Creep Miniatures
scalecreep.com

Check out the new rules directory at
DeepFriedHappyMice.com

OK Mark, that sounds like you should write a review of Dreadnought for your rules directory. How long do games take?

I confess I didn't take a look at FAI. . . but its based on GQ. I find GQ to be a little too abstract for my taste although I know a lot of people seem to like it. I'd be interested in giving FAI a try sometime though of course. LOL!

I have been playing Grand Fleets since before it was released. I mainly use it for WW2. I have a bunch of WW1 ships but find I'm drawn more to WW2 and Predreadnought. I have also bought most other sets out there. I have all Ben King's except for the Age of Sail version.

I use my 1/700 scale WW2 ships for GF. I am planning on buying Old Glory's 1/600 Predreadnoughts to use with them. I want to do Yellow sea!

Thanks,

John

Age of Iron has a somewhat similar feel as Grand fleets. Not the same mechanics. It covers Predread and WW1.

Be nice to see Kevin release some scenario books for Grand Fleets!

Thaks,

John

From what I hear he's thinking about releasing a 2nd edition. Basically the same just some tweaks to the math/numbers. Armor ranges from 0 (unarmored) to 10 (super armored) and so forth. Since Kevin has been pushing the WWII angle, I wouldn't be surprised to see it incorporate more WWII ships/scenarios, as well as more of that in future supplements.

My only problem is my WWII fleets are all 1/2400 scale I bought for VAS. Way to large to use on a hex grid (I know it can also be played w/o hexes, but I prefer the "neatness" that hexes provide.)

If I were to get into GF WWII I'd have to buy all kinds of new WWII ships in 1/3000 and start from scratch on that angle. OTOH. . . I could probably get quite a bit of money for my painted up VAS ships! Of course. . . getting my wife to start painting a whole new fleet of stuff we already have would probably be the hardest part! :) Chicks just don't understand these subtle differences! LOL!!

Soulmage, you didn't mention it but are you using 1/6000 WW1 ships?

My WW2 ships are 1/2400 and 1/700. You can't find hexes that large for 1/700 so use hex templates placed under the ship.

Thanks,

John

I'm using 1/3000 for my WWI ships mounted on 3" bases and playing on a 3" hex mat, works pretty well.

Hmmm. . . I guess a hex template of some kind would work for my own 1/700's. Hadn't thought of that. Any idea how I could get one?

I just created one.

Thanks,

John