| Das Sheep | 13 Oct 2014 9:55 a.m. PST |
Hey everyone, So I have recently been painting some excellent 1/700 waterline ships and was thinking that it would be great fun to have a rules set that allows for small skirmishes between 2-4 ships per side, and is balanced for destroyer on destroyer action. Not really looking for battle ship combat, but destroyers and cruisers. There are also some excellent 1/700 liberty ships and the like I guess I could use for convoy scenarios. So I guess my question is which rule set would best let me represent combat between smaller surface combatants. I have Naval Thunder and Victory at sea at the moment, though I find the 'he who shoots first usually wins' is true with smaller ships at close range for those rules sets. Though they are great for larger engagements. Suggestions?! |
| John the OFM | 13 Oct 2014 10:08 a.m. PST |
SPI had a fun boardgame back in the 70s or 80s called CA.
You could play the actions around Guadalcanal in about an hour. I wore mine out.
Everything SPI is available on eBay if you are patient. |
| freerangeegg | 13 Oct 2014 10:28 a.m. PST |
You're looking for my holy grail.
It's a scale of action I would love to find a good set of rules for. |
| Sundance | 13 Oct 2014 10:40 a.m. PST |
Action Stations is pretty decent for small stuff (below DD size). Lots of shooting and fun. General Quarters is great for DE and up. We have lots of fun with that also. |
| 21eRegt | 13 Oct 2014 12:01 p.m. PST |
Flaklighter works well for coastal craft up to a DD. Never tried DD on DD action. |
| Princeps | 13 Oct 2014 1:54 p.m. PST |
If you can find it, the boardgame Destroyer Captain by Jack Greene (Quarterdeck Games) is what you're looking for. The rules can easily be converted to tabletop play and are really excellent. |
| skippy0001 | 13 Oct 2014 2:58 p.m. PST |
Battlewagon is available. easy to convert to minatures. link |
| vicmagpa | 13 Oct 2014 5:29 p.m. PST |
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| BuckeyeBob | 13 Oct 2014 6:00 p.m. PST |
With 2-4 ships per side, you seem like you'd want a more complex to hit and damage system. IF so, try these 2 rulesets: Seas of War (free rules and ship data at panzer-war.com At first read, you may find the combat procedure daunting, but actually it's pretty straightforward. I think it's a couple of steps less complex that SK5. Another ruleset you may find more in line with small numbers of ships is Fire on the Waters, also free at link |
| D for Dubious | 14 Oct 2014 2:50 a.m. PST |
There was a modification of Victory at Sea for destroyers and smaller than worked quite well, certainly better than the original rules worked for larger ships. |
| Dynaman8789 | 14 Oct 2014 9:54 a.m. PST |
Third for Battlewagon! (I'm ashamed of myself, I usually nominate it first…) |
| freewargamesrules | 15 Oct 2014 11:20 p.m. PST |
Destroyer commander can be found at PDF link |
| Dameon | 17 Oct 2014 2:14 p.m. PST |
I suggest you take an existing rule set that you like and modify the stats for the destroyers. Most rule sets, for example Naval Thunder, are built around the larger capital ships relegate destroyers to one-hit-wonder status. Pump up their hit points proportionally and treat their guns as you would the main guns on the battleships in those rule sets. |
