"Is there a set of rules for me?" Topic

Hi, what I would like for the rule set to be able to do.
1. Use 1/700 scale ships (Japan vs. US in the pacific)
2. Would like to use destroyers as a most common unit in the game, but still be able to sneak in something larger into a game once in the while.
3. Be able to use planes and subs in the game.
4. Game will have to fit on 10 by 6 foot table.

Are there any rules that would fit the bill?

Thanks for any info you may have.

You'll have a serious "scale" issue with the battle looking like it's being fought on a duckpond, but you know that already. However, to answer your question, the following would work, with perhaps some simple range adjustments:

General Quarters III: You'll probably want to double all ranges but it would work fine and has rules for both aircraft and subs.

The Ben King "Task Force" fast play would also work if you triple all measurements, but may be a bit too deadly for the scale game you're looking at.

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

Check out the new rules directory at
DeepFriedHappyMice.com

Hi, I am also a 1/700 naval wargamer. I have used Grand Fleets from Majestic 12 Games with success. The gent who was involved with their creation kindly provided me with some WWII ship stats especially those from the Pacific. I have run several games using them and enjoyed it immensly. I don't own the new GQ. I have played the older version and I know that it wouldn't be suitable for 1/700.

The other rule set I am looking at for this scale is Mongoose's Victory at Sea. I think it should work well.

How many ships do you have? Here is a link to some pics of my games I posted.

link

Thanks,

John

Grand Fleets or Victory at Sea would be your best bet rules wise. . . 1/700 on a 6x10 table is a really wierd scale combination!

I would recommend Victory at Sea highly for it (Make sure you pick up the Order of Battle supplement) Fun ruleset and the first one that makes aircraft easy to play with, too imo.

Thanks for the replies,

What would be a advantages/disadvantages between Grand Fleets and Victory at Sea rules?

Soulmage, why is it weird ?

John, all i got for now is 2x Flecher DD, 2x Japanese DD (don't recall the names at the moment) and a CL (had them for longtime), just came back from a Hot Lead Con, and would like to be able to do some naval games and I love the visual of 1/700 ships.

Grand Fleets is WWI, Victory at Sea is WWII.

That being said they are roughly the same complexity, and I like Majestic XII games a lot.

The Japanese are Probably Fubuki-Class, or possibly Kagero-Class.

If you want fast playing VaS is a good ruleset. It has enough detail where each class feels different enough but without cluttering it up too much. If you want a more granular level of detail you might try the new Seekrieg (5th edition)

The Grand Fleet rules look quite nice to me, but I love Starmada, and they're in the same family. The folks at MJ12 occasionally make vague noises about extending the game to WWII (as well as to expaning Spitting Fire), but nothing's come of it – perhaps now that the new edition of Starmada is finished they will get to these less pressing tasks. I believe you can still download the trail version of Grand Fleets for free to give them a read through.

Doug

Another 1/700 gamer here… but predreds only.

Ok, to correct a couple of things. Grand Fleets includes a WW2 scenario in it (thanks a little I believe to my tireless lobbying efforts to persuade the guys in charge that the rules DO work well for WW2).

Grand Fleets and Starmada are not alike except for how damage is allocated. IIRC Starmada took that mechanic from GF (Dan or Kevin can correct me if I'm wrong about it).

I have actually played about 6 or so games using GF for WW2. Cruser and destroyer actions up to fictional Iowa vs Yamato class battles. The rules work fine although I admit to having a very different approach to plunging fire and penetration than Dan does.

I was already a collector and modeller of 1/700 scale ships when a local friend of mine (who also is having a new line of extremely nice figs being produced by one of the best scupltors in the hobby) contacted me about some 1/700 ships.
To make a long story short his very good friend had passed away and he gave me the gentleman's painted ship collection. There are easily over a 100 ships and 100's more painted aircraft. The ships have extra metal photo-etch parts addded. This guy was a master modeler. I proudly maintain this collection.

Oh, recemtly there have been Batltimore, Northampton and Cleveland class cruisers released for the USA. They start at about 20 bucks. The Cleveland is the most expensive at about 30 bucks. Most Japanese ships can be found for the war (check Ebay for good deals). Also may I humbly suggest taking a look at ships for the Atlantic? They are really cheap. British BB's are as cheap as 12 dollars.

Sorry to ramble on. This scale is one of my passions!

Thanks,

John

VSB have you taken a look at the 1/600 Pre-dread range at Old Glory's website? Awesome! They are on my agenda!

Thanks,

John

"VSB have you taken a look at the 1/600 Pre-dread range at Old Glory's website? Awesome! They are on my agenda!"

I have, and in fact last summer I did one as a workbench project for TMP. TMP link

Still sticking with 1/700 though, as they are a tad smaller and more detailed (Not sure if I am a modeller or a gamer first). 1/700 ships are easier to scratchbuild (for me anyway).

Jeez John, those are impressive photos – nice work!

FWIW, we used to do 1/600 and 1/700 (combined scale) in my parents' backyard on the grass….

--
Tim

I use a few 1/600 ships to fill in the gaps (mainly British cruisers).

Thanks for the compliment.

John

I think I will try VaS, both look like good games but VaS comes with all the ship info for ww2, while GF would require doing some conversions (that could be fun to do if I had more know how on naval warfare). One think I notice that in VaS DDs main guns (4 to 5") are all reduced to 1 attack die with 360 deg fire arc, I guess its OK if you play with big ships, but I wonder if that is too much of the abstract in destroyer action. How does the GF handle the guns on smaller ships?

To play at 1/700 scale, do you just x2 the ranges and play as the rules are written?

I did find my models, the Japanese are made by Tamiya, (Yahagi CL, Shiratsuyu DD and Shikinami DD), the US Fletcher DDs are still in a plastic bag, both are sealed in the same bag, would anybody have any idea what make the may be, the flat is not red (like with the Tamiya models), they are very light gray plastic and there is 2 of them in the package. I have also found a sealed bag with Japanese planes, there is some "seaboat" planes, they look big in the scale, as well as 2 engine (could be a light bombers), will have to figure out what they are.

"Grand Fleets and Starmada are not alike except for how damage is allocated."

Didn't say they were – said there was a family resemblance.

Doug

Doug, I know that you are aware of the differences. I meant to let others know who may not have.

Sorry for the confusion.

Thanks,

John

Yep, use 2x the ranges as a starting point. Tweak as desired. The Flecthers aren't Tamiya. I forget who made them but they made several sets of DD's that had 2 ships per pack. Germans, US and Japanese, IIRC. Maybe Fujimi, Hasegawa or Skywave.

Thanks,

John

"I forget who made them but they made several sets of DD's that had 2 ships per pack."

I think it was early PitRoad or Skywave.

Victory at Sea is a good system. It is true though that Grand Fleets will give you more granularity.

Creating the ship stats for Grand Fleets is pretty easy actually. There's a step by step process guide in the book, and you don't need any more detailed info than you can get off of wikipedia by looking up Fubuki Class Destroyer for instance.

If you give VaS a try and decide you want a little more detail, I would go ahead and take a little bit of time to go the Grand Fleets route. You won't be sorry!

Soulmage, thank you very much for the information, since I am familiar with the Starmada, I think I will give GF a go, and try to figure it out how to make it work with 1/700 scale, and play with ship design, making the ships for the game of the models I have, hope it will work.

Or you can email me and I can send you some WW2 ship info.

johnleahy55 at yahoo dot com.

Thanks,

John