Ah … perhaps I should have been clearer. I'm not looking for a board game that will generate the battles, and then we go to tabletop minis to resolve them. I'm looking for campaign rules.
By this, I'm thinking something akin to what Battlefleet Gothic had. You create a fleet of, say, 4000 points. Then you roll up a scenario and field maybe 1500 points each. The campaign rules include earning repair points, so that damaged ships are refurbished, slaughtered crews can be replaced, etc. You might also earn build points, so that slowly, over time, you can finally add a new ship to your fleet.
It gives one a reason to retreat and let the other guy take the field, in order to save a crippled ship. If it takes four games to earn enough build points to buy a single battleship, you are not so inclined to always fight to the death with all your ships.
The campaign would then be to play say, 10 games. As your ships get damaged and require repairs (which takes time, so they are not always ready for the next battle) you find you need to dole out critical resources more sparingly.
The loss of a DD or two as escourt is not nearly as hard felt as the loss of that aircraft carrier or battleship.
Anyway, THAT is what I meant by any campaign rules. As it stands now, we play one-off WAS games, always to the death, because losses don't matter. Fun games, but we want more.
Steve
's first experience with 1:4800 scale naval models.
