"Suggestions: Rules for pre-Dreadnoughts? " Topic

Good day to all

I have hit a wall with my pre-dreadnought collection, and it languishes, simply because I have not found a set of rules that can satisfy me. This saddens me when I see the contrast with my Napoleonic naval, in which I blast away happily with Kiss me Hardy.

This it has time to ask for the collective help of the TMP people

The ships are 1/2400 scale.

What do I want

- Primarily interested in the Russo-Japanese War and 1st Balkan War
- A game closer to beer and pretzels than a simulation.
- Firing by guns. This is the era before central gunnery control, and some of the ships never got it (Greek Hydra ironclads for example). Also it is an era of ships bristling with different sizes of guns with interesting arcs etc. I would like a game where those guns are different, and those arcs matter.
-Ship differentiation. I wish my Branderburgs to different from my Hydras etc. Ships stats available, or easy system to create them.

All the rules I have tried to date, have failed on one or nmore of these criteria. The closest to satisfying me where the WTJ rules, but there fast rules do not differentiate guns and arcs enough, there full rules are bit too much for me right now, and they lacked stats on the greek and ottoman navy.

So any help will be appreciated. It not need meet all the criteria, but as many as possible!

With Respect
KTravlos

Try something like these:

link

Beautifully done ships Jim!
Joe

I think this may be what you want. It has the various type of firing arcs for different gun configurations.

link

And it is free!

Plus they have a quicker play version as well.

wtj.com/games/quickfire

Warning: I have never played either set but did look at them as I was searching for a pre-dreadnought set of rules.

Jim

Does Naval Thunder work for you? It seems to fit your criteria (individual guns, arcs, fast play). They have a version called 'Rise of the Battleship' that is specifically Russo Japanese War, and you can get an expansion that covers other navies.

navalthunder.com

You can buy it at Wargame Vault.

link

I would recommend Perfidious Albion. We have had a lot of fun with these rules.

Mark

link

How can you save and print the WTJ rules?

Naval Warfare Simulations might have something for you. Naval Warfare WW1 has a Tsushima expansion. Steel and Resolve is an update of Naval Warfare WW1. Both games can be played solitaire and are pretty easy and fun.

Regards,

Scott Chisholm

navalwarfare.org

cmdr kevin

choose print page or print from your broswer and save as pdf

thank to all

I decided to give Perfidious Avalon a try. They got the main ships for the Ottomans and Greeks

I decided to give Perfidious Avalon a try.

LOL! I think you meant Perfidious Albion. Unless you found an Arthurian variant I don't know about. :-)

I wasn't going to mention Fire When Ready (by David Manley) because it doesn't really meet your beer & pretzels requirement, but the ship data is the same for both Perfidious Albion and FWR, so you might also give FWR a try. My local group found FWR to be somewhat slow, a little too bloody, a lot of fun and with a great "period" feel. It's best at about 2-4 ships per player, double or triple that for players who really have the hang of it. I expect you'll find Perfidious Albion about the same.

- Ix

I have looked at 6 sets of Predreadnought rules just lately , "Steam and Steel", "Full Ahead" , "Tsushima", "WTJ 1900 rules" , "Perfidious Albion" and "Fire When Ready" It was very interesting to see the different approaches to Gunnery and Damage. I didnt fully understand the mechanics of "Full Ahead" but they looked very interesting. Overall my favourites were "Fire When Ready" and "Perfidious Albion". I really liked the damage recording charts in these rules but couldn't see why the below waterline hit probability was so high so I will probably go with "Fire When Ready".

KTravlos: A little late responding but I have recently finished painting up my 1/3000 Balkans War fleets. While I own all the rules mentioned above, I was left wanting something a bit different. As it turns out, a local gaming friend of mine has his own series of rules, When Dreadnoughts Ruled the Waves" that seem to do those things you ask for. I just played the Battle of Lemnos with three others. It took a little less than 2 hours, and was a blast. Google the rules name and you can find reviews.

Hi Prince Alberts Revenge,

I'd be interested to see the rules you speak of. I am on a similar quest for rules as KTravlos. Despite my best efforts, I had no luck with googling 'When Dreadnoughts Ruled the Waves'. Thanks for any link you can offer.
Cheers
Alan

Alan, here are a few links:
link

The author, Brian, is a member of this group:
novag.org

If you need any additional information, you can email me at: lecoqfou at gmail dot com

Looks like the first link no longer works.

I was able to obtain a copy of When Dreadnoughts Ruled the Waves…have yet to play them, but they definitely fit many of the requirements mentioned above.

Hey guys thanks for coming back to this. A recent replies to your threads alert would be great. I will take a look at the When Dreads ruled the seas .

I agree, I missed PAR's reply – thanks for that (would be great if the link could be updated). I'm forever searching for pre dred rules!

Another vote for "Fire When Ready"

Try "Damn Battleships Again". It's very much a beer and pretzel type game. It's free (downloadable), no record keeping, and we've had fun dicing for flag captains' characters prior to the main game; a combination of chivalrous commanders and paintwork fanatics can really make a difference to the game.

Hi Pater Grigorie. I did try it but found it a bit too abstract for me. But I do agree that of all the pre-dred games it is the most beer and pretzel type and goo fun.

Highly recommend Naval Thunder espeically for this period.