"TV Show-"Whale Wars" thinking about game possibities." Topic

Hi everyone;
Just watched the show "Whale Wars" on Animal Planet or Discovery the other night and since I'm an avid gamer, started wondering if I could simulate the action on the table top.

It would of course be a small action scale game with skirmish potential between crews of whaler and anti-whaler crews.

hmm; what scale would I go with to allow a Whaling Factory ship to share a table with Inflatable Speed boats and also have miniature crew members.

Last week I also watched Shadow Force, which had Mercenary's teaming up with Liberia to stop poaching on the high seas.
I guess that show will feature missions on land and sea.

Anybody else see these programs and think the way I do about gaming them.
Thanks
Joep

I was thinking the same thing.

I think 15mm or larger would probably be best, for the boarding actions, but you could go with a smaller scale for the trawler battles, e.g. 1/300th – 1/600th scale. 15mm provides a decent size for the crew figures, but keeps the trawlers from being too huge, especially if you scale them down a bit.

Of course, if you go too small, the inflatable boat will be too tiny to be nicely represented on the game table, so 6mm – 12mm is about the smallest you would want to go, if you want to include it.

Obviously, special rules for various tactics, e.g. using water cannons to repel boarders, attempting to foul the enemy's props with a rope and buoys (25% – 30% chance, perhaps), playing chicken on the high seas with trawlers, etc.

Shadow Force seems to have some possibilities too.

You could just use a standard set of modern rules for that, if it includes 1:1 figure combat.

Coming up with a set of rules for the captain's and crew's reactions will be needed, e.g. a small chance of resistance to the boarders. Two separate reaction charts, e.g. initial resistance to being boarded, and increasing possibility of resistance over time.

Rules will also be needed for anti-boarding tactics, and trying to shake off the inflatable by evading and ramming. Hand-to-hand combat, and persuasion/intimidation using verbal coercion, and psy-ops.

One of the last issues of Minature Wargames had rules to play out a "Whale Wars" game to include many of the items listed above.

Presence or absence of media would affect reactions.

Must balance a gamer's "kill the enemy" inclination with real world "what should I do to keep my job, even though I am really mad" decisions.

I would not have a problem with the boats being out-of scale with each other (or real life), but looking okay with the figs. Many colonial games do this with "compacted" model boats.

Lemax sells whales.

I was the author of the set of rules mentioned above. They appeared ina recent issue of "Miniature Wargames" (sometime about August I think) and were based on my previosu set that covered the Cod Wars.

PS – I'm currently working on a set covering modern piracy.

Make sure you include how to "pirate" a super oil tanker from a rubber boat (from today's news), Dave.

Don't forget the seemingly inability of modern naval powers to prevent such acts also.

Dan

Yes, and negotiation rules for dealing with the authorities/naval personnel to obtain a huge cash payment to keep from scuttling the vessel, and creating a natural disaster.

I imagine rules for wiring money to a secret Swiss, or Cayman Islands bank account may be needed as well.

Of course, tight rules of engagement, media personnel second-guessing every move made by the navy/marines/special forces, and a higher than usual TO&E ratio of lawyers to military personnel will be needed to properly hamstring the "good guys", in order to reflect the appropriate level of play balance in the games. Seems the pirates hold most of the cards in that respect currently, helping to keep these incidents dragging on for months.

I came into this thread picturing whales with torpedo turrets mounted on their backs… or 'windscreens' with teams of divers harnessed to the whales and armed with harpoon cannons…
big plastic whales from the pet store mounted on telescoping rods to show the depth/height… maybe a bunch of rubbery deep ones with tridents for them to fight.

It seems the Australian Navy will be going on a two month hiatus soon, so a small group inserted by kayaks, or using diving gear for an underwater approach could sneak aboard a frigate, and put out to sea during the New Year's Eve festivities, with little, to no notice.

That would significantly improve the anti-whaling capabilities in the southern hemisphere.

Then, they just need to reach an agreement with a friendly local nation in need of a navy, and that also wants to protect the whales, say Fiji perhaps. Alternatively, they could operate out of a small port in South America, or the Antarctic.

No doubt, a well-armed frigate would be a little better anti-whaling vessel than a trawler, or inflatable.

Of course, the plot is pretty far out there, but if Somali pirates can take over a moving supertanker from small fishing boats, I see no reason why divers or kayakers can't take over an insufficiently manned naval vessel during a New Year's celebration, while tied up to a dock.

I was expecting Killer Whales with frickin' lasers mounted on their heads.

I am working on a Cod Wars game in 1/700 scale using the great miniatures from Paul at Decapod Models on shapeways. I even have a few Royal Navy ships from MT Miniatures. As ramming is used in my game I thought it would be good for a Whale Wars game also. But the problem is getting the ships in 1/700 for this game. I have found one guy on shapeways that does two Greenpeace ships in 1/700 but would love to find someone who can make all the Japanese Whaling fleet ships and the Sea Shepherd ships. I picked 1/700 as most of the action is at close quarters and looks great on the tabletop. So if anybody knows where to get some ships please let me know?

The Whale wars ships are on my (long) list of things to make for shapeways.. maybe sometime next year.