"Favourite Naval Rules " Topic

In amongst the "pick your favourite five" I don't recall there having been a poll looking at naval rules – perhaps because us naval gamers are a bit marginal :)

GQ I/II
Action Stations
Ironclads
Heart of Oak

Marginal? Surely we are the most erudite of gamers and closest to the mainstream.

A poll would be excellent. GQ in all its iterations, Harpoon, SeaKrieg, Ironclads, Hammerin Iron, Fire When Ready, DBN,Fire as She Bears, Kiss Me Hardy, Battlestations/Battlestaions, Coal and Iron to name a few of the more known. Greek Fire and Roman Fury, a less well known set which should be better known.

I have on occasion complained that Naval rules tend to be "Yahtzee at sea" but I would love to see a large list which might point to favorites or little known gems. Anyone know a simple set for ACW? Just got some fleets for them but dont have any rules yet.

Al

Seapower

Clear For Action for Dreadnought to WWII. Close Action for Sailing.

Seekreig IV and V

SF Sail from the Perfect Captain.

My own suggestions, in no particular order:

Action Stations, Form Line of Battle, Iron and Fire, Fire When Ready, Bulldogs Away (but then again I did write them)

General Quarters I, 2 and 3, Close Action, Fear God and Dread Nought and Probsub.

WRG's "Seastrike" and FGD's "Surface Action".

All the best,

John.

GQ and Under Both Flags

I would add Mongoose's Victory at Sea and Age of Dreadnoughts. Both are fast playing and fit on a fairly small table.

Heart of Oak for Age of Sail

Ironclads for ACW

Panzerschiffes for most any other period, from Span-Am
War up through WWII. It's a simple, in some cases
inaccurate set, but you can play a HUGE game (Jutland)
in a short time and it has specifications for hundreds
of ships and classes, including early Japanese, Russian,
Chinese and smaller nation ships from pre-1900.

Wooden Ships and Iron Men (work for minis too)
Steam and Black Powder (ACW)
Naval Thunder family, pre-dreads through WWII
Fear God and Dread Naught (Admiralty Trilogy for WWI)
SeeKrieg V

Honorable mention to Seapower III, Command at Sea and Heart of Oak

GHQ's Micronauts:The Game

Fletcher Pratt, for the old school adherents.

Rick

Pirates
Limeys and Slimeys

Fletcher Pratt's rules by far

Fletcher Pratt indeed for accuracy, *if* there's available
space and people ! Great set of rules, we used to play
in a parking lot at real scale 1/1200 (and made the same
ID errors using binoculars that probably happened in
RL!).

Rick, do/did y'all play original, 1940, or the re-released
rules ?

General Quarters 1&2 but mostly 3
Battlestations, Battlestations for really big games
Grand Fleet Actions in the Age of Sail

MJ12's Grand Fleets

"Age of Iron" for 1/1200 ACW. A Golden Oldie which gives a fun, fairly quick game.

Dave

My Galley Sally. The boarding rules are good, but the air rules are lacking.

Renaissance Naval Rules and Fire When Ready

Don't really have an interest in Naval gaming. I have watched Larry's homegrown rules being played.

I forgot about Wooden Ships and Iron Men. Still a great game. And I like Roman Seas though it needs a couple of rules clarifications.

I noticed that one person mentioned Harpoon and one mentioned Fear God and Dread Nought, but it seems that the Command at Sea Admiralty Trilogy is not popular – especially the WWII set.

Ironclads & Etherflyers. Great naval game with or without the flyers.
Man O' War.

Wooden ships and Iron men
MTB from Tabletop Games link

I assume those talking about Harpoon are not talking about link

"Attack with Torpedoes" by Dillon Brown; the smoothest playing set of Coastal Forces' rules I've come across. And Dunn's "Baltic Battle" rules for pre-dreadnoughts -for the same reason.

Thanks, Kyoteblue!

And--baring my passing too soon--it SHALL RETURN!

And "Hoorah!" for all the Old Salts who spoke for Pratt's seminal system.

TVAG

Naumachiae
Fire As She Bears!
Under Both Flags

These are favorites, but also like other rules in these same eras.

What do you recommend for Renaissance galleys?

My own designs primarily:

Shipbase III for 1890-1945
Shipbase 7 (currently in development) for 1860-1945
MicroRules (also currently in development) for 1860-1905

As for naval rules I like that I didn't write:

Ironclads by Yaquinto for ACW
Ram Speed by Metagaming for ancients
Several of Terry Manton's rulesets, published and unpublished, for Pre-Dread, WWI, and WWII
Heart of Oak for Age of Sail
Fire When Ready by Metagaming for Pre-Dread

Fire when ready
FG & DN
Those are the only ones I've played.
I also own Ram Speed, Battle Wagon, WS & IM, Frigate, and a couple of versions of Harpoon. One day I'll get around to playing them.

For Renaissance galleys – the "Lanterna" extension to "Spanish Fury:Sail" from the Perfect Captain:

link

GQ 3/FAI (and GQ1 and 2)
Form Line of Battle
Action Stations

And my own home grown coastal rules (which I may actually finish someday…)

Action Stations, Bulldogs Away. Ironclads for ACW, though I am making the move to Sail and Steam Navies from Bay. I've generally enjoyed General Quarters. I played Prevailing Winds for age of sail a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it.

Dystopia

Shipwreck for modern.

WRG Renaissance Rulettes

My own for Napoleonic Naval in 15mm. Wrote the rules about 15 years ago.

Another vote for Heart of Oak.

There was a simple rules set for ACW riverine actions in Miniature Wargames #14 by Andy Callan. Here they are:

link

So simple, I'm sure they can be adapted to other periods as well.

Command At Sea
Spanish Fury, Sail
Wooden Ships and Iron Men
Schnelleboote
DBSA (modified)

LT

Langton's Signal Close Action Fast Play
WRG Damn Battleships Again* (DBSA)

Cheers.
JohnG
*Well yes modified.

Thanks, Cpt!

Fleet Action Imminent (GQ III for WW1).

Yaquinto's Ironclads.

Iron and Fire

Action Stations

Admiralty Trilogy, GQIII, Action Stations, Bulldogs Away, and Ironclads. Although there aren't many naval rules that I won't try/play.

Dave

Seekreig V
Devil at the Helm (Ironclad & Predreadnaught)
Fire and Iron (plus European supplement).
Form Line of Battle.
Away, Boarders! (small ship actions AWI & 1812)
WRG Quick Play Renaissance Galley.
Nauta (ancient).
Naumachiae (ancient)
Trireme (ancient)

Naval Gaming is still my first interest in wargaming.

GQ1
Shipwreck
Battleships' Zenith
Jutland, the old AH game
Bulldogs Away

GQ I /II
Wooden Ship and Iron Men
Limeys and Slimeys

Enjoyed Fletcher Pratt on gymnasium floor
Trafalgar looks interesting as does Beer and Pretzel Ironclads