| Attackcamel | 21 Jun 2015 8:54 a.m. PST |
Alright guys, I have dragged the forums for a few hours now, and I have not been able to find a solid answer. I'm thinking hard about running a nice big scenario game for my local club, and maybe a little con that we throw. My idea is for a theoretical Italian navy "last sortie" against the Salerno landings, a nice surface action… I would love to include the air battle that would be raging overhead between the Luftwaffe with the remains of the Italian air force trying to attack the allied shipping, fighting allied carrier planes! I have a whole pile of 1/2400 scale ships and I can have anywhere from 4-6 ships per side to 20 or more! I think having a separate allied/axis air commander would be pretty cool as well, but not required. I'm looking for something good and easy to teach to those who don't know the rules. Something that at least tips it's hat to historical reality, but is fun to play! Thank you for any info that you guys can come up with! Sidenote: My go to game has been GQ3 with a spattering of Naval thunder. I don't think Naval thunder has any air rules, not sure though. I know the GQ3 rules can support almost anything I could dream of, but I need something a bit better for first timers! Thanks again! |
Skeets  | 21 Jun 2015 10:01 a.m. PST |
Ben King wrote a set of naval rules for WW2, but I don't recall if there was an air component. I remember using them for a campaign quite a while back and found them easy and simple, but not probably appropriate for players REALLY into naval wargaming. I think I still have it somewhere, I'll see if I locate them. |
| Bashytubits | 21 Jun 2015 11:21 a.m. PST |
Decision Games Battlestations Battlestations would work for what you have described. |
| Big Red | 21 Jun 2015 12:07 p.m. PST |
You might want to check out GQ 1. It is comprehensive but not as detailed as GQ3. A while back, I have used GQ1 to run several Air/Sea mini-campaigns including a Malta Convoy and Dutch East Indies scenarios. |
| Ed Mohrmann | 21 Jun 2015 1:20 p.m. PST |
For your surface battles, check out Panzerschiffe's
rules. Pretty simple. For the air component, see if you can find a copy of
_Blue Sea, Blue Sky_, which is the Mediterranean for
WWII. Originally published as an add-on for the
_Squadrons !_ set of rules for WWII air combat. Has the stats for Italian, British, US and German
aircraft and some designed air combat scenarios. |
| Desert Fox | 21 Jun 2015 1:28 p.m. PST |
I have seen the Avalanche Press series War at Sea adapted to miniatures on the tabletop. Good intro to naval gaming for newbies. |
 Extra Crispy  | 21 Jun 2015 4:30 p.m. PST |
The Ben King rule set is called Task Force. It is pretty decent but has no air rules I can recall. I have them on sale for $13.50 USD (normally $18 USD): link Here is a summary of Task Force – they share a lot of the same mechanics with his WW1 set. I have used his WW1 set with complete noobs and they get it right away…. link |
| gregoryk | 21 Jun 2015 7:35 p.m. PST |
The operational air rules for GQIII are pretty easy to wrap your head around. As you noted GQIII is very comprehensive, and has virtually everything needed in a naval game. |
| Attackcamel | 23 Jun 2015 6:36 p.m. PST |
Thanks for the suggestions guys! I have given Battle stations Battle stations a good hard look, and its looking like a leading horse right now. I still have to rip into the meat of the rules though. I will have to check out task force and war at sea. Also I can't find a set of GQ1 or 2 anywhere! If its able to be googled, its hiding well! I have not considered 2 seperate rules, I don't know too many air rules, not my current scene! The only worry I would have is getting a good way for the rules to interact when the planes attack ships and vice-versa! As far as GQ3 goes, it an awesome set of rules, and using it would be great… But I just think it would be a bit much for a new crew of players (in theory) with alot of ships (probably) with limited gaming time! |
| gregoryk | 26 Jun 2015 12:23 p.m. PST |
The operational rules for GQIII are novice friendly. Also, GQIII has arelatively easy learning curve in our experience at conventions. The concepts of one d12 per every main gun is rather simple. Teaching it has been easy. |
| gregoryk | 26 Jun 2015 1:41 p.m. PST |
Check out, section 4.5,campaign aerial operations of GQIII. |
| Bashytubits | 26 Jun 2015 9:29 p.m. PST |
Make sure you download the Battlestations Battlestations errata sheet from Decision Games Attackcamel because there are some typos in the rules and charts. |
| lapatrie88 | 05 Jul 2015 7:56 p.m. PST |
The original post was uncertain on this point, but Naval Thunder do have rules for air to ship and air to air combat. Air Attack strength is allocated one die to flights of four aircraft, so the rules are intended to play out quickly for reasonably large bodies of aircraft. I have not tried playing an air strike, and don't know how they compare with GQ3 in terms of realistic feel. |
