"Why play naval wargames?" Topic

Hi,

My friend asked me why play naval wargames as unlike land battles the terrain is all the same (No hills to hide behind, just water).

How would you answer this question?

Many Thanks

Rich.

Hi,

My friend asked me why play naval wargames as unlike land battles the terrain is all the same (No hills to hide behind, just water).

How would you answer this question?

Many Thanks

Rich.

Less terrain to make and buy! The ships look really cool and usually 3+ players are easily handled. I do think a campaign system would make it more interesting than just "bring a fleet and battle". There's also a part for chance to appear and ruin a plan, like getting a magazine explosion or blowing away the bridge.

oop's internet playing up and not refreshing on tablet

too many post

rich

Why play golf with the holes so far away, bring them nearer and make them bigger.

Why not?

Why play land games with all that stuff on the table just getting in the way of a good fight?

79thPA beat me to it.

Good fun with historical refights, and nice looking vessels.

What's not to love about that.

Little required in the way of actual "terrain" for most scenarios is a bonus, though of course for some it can add to the enjoyment too, e.g. islands, fjords, coastal strips, mouths to rivers and estuaries, etc., etc..

Try campaigns-- the best naval wargames that I fought were the result of campaign maneuvers.

Battleships with big guns = Tanks with big guns, with the objective to pound your opponent into oblivion.

Lots of cool scenarios.

The fastest terrain you can think of to set up.

If he likes terrain, play coastal warfare! Islands, coastlines, rocks and sandbars shall one bring.

All of the above are valid. A naval game is always my groups back-up game if something falls through. I heartily agree about the comment from khanscom about campaign games.

I've heard this a few times over the decades. It's one of those Dunning–Kruger effect things. If you don't know anything about naval warfare, it seems very simple!

But maneuvering formations is critical and tricky. You want to control the range, you want to control aspect, but your ships aren't perfectly maneuverable and your opponent gets a say, too.

Wind is a huge piece of terrain.

Smoke and fog have a huge effect.

Torpedoes are terrain. They're moving, but they fill a similar roll, creating more dangerous areas on the map.

So if you know nothing then yeah, we just take turns rolling to see who's first to get enough hits to win. But I've lost my last several games to bad maneuvering specifically, so don't tell me there's nothing to it.

Depends on the period. If you do Ancient Naval battles were frequently fought next to one or more shores, Salamis would be a great example.

The lack of terrain remains an actual advantage if you're starting out. Remember naval gaming has a much lower bar to entry than land gaming. I could spend say $40 USD on models and fight an historical action light the Denmark Straights. Land warfare is a lot harder to start from scratch.

Of possible interest?

Interesting Naval Computer Wargames

link

Armand

WRT to Tango01's post above on "Interesting Naval Computer Wargames", a better link is

johntillersoftware.com/NavalCampaigns.html

My above link no longer works; here's the new URL:

wargameds.com