"need naval wargame for wife, up from battleship" Topic

my wife and I like to play battleship, more my wife then me, but ill take whatever i can get, i would like to introduce her to some naval miniatures game, but don't know where to go…

i want something a notch up from battleship, something like memoir 44 but for naval ops

any ideas?
thanks
BS

Maybe a good first step would be to just start tinkering with the Battleship rules?

Also, if you think she'd be interested, get her a model ship or a miniature and see if she'd like to paint it.

I have a really simple rule set on my site, free for the downloading, called EasyShip. It uses my 1/9600 "All the Ships" ship counters, which are also free. It might be what you're looking for.

If that's too complex, I have an almost-finished rule set that's even easier, called GUNFIR(E), which I could send you for beta testing.

Mike F.
cke1st.com/m_games1.htm

We used to play General Quarters for a bit. Pretty simple (too simple grumbled a few more dedicated WWII navy guys among us)but has all the bells and whistles, torpedoes, aircraft etc.

General Quarters is also my recommendation.

GQ would be much too much of a jump I'd guess. Try adapting Pirates of the Spanish Main. Buy a handful of 1:3000 ships and have at it. Or just try Pirates straight up (and I've got them on sale at 25% off too: link )

Remember, battleship is a guessing game, not a naval game.

See if you can find a copy of the old AH "UBoat".

AH Midway is another. Has the search feature of Battleship and some simple ship to ship rules

I have a set of pirate / privateer rules based on "Man o War" and designed for use with those cute Peter Pig 1/450 scale ships. Its its intended to be fast and fun so they may be a good intro to something up from "Battleships" (and are kind of topical, bearing in mind whats on at the flicks at the moment in the US (or next week here). If you'd like a copy email me at

david dot manley at btinternet.com

and I'll shoot a set off when I get home – currently away on yet another business trip :(

I have never seen a more successful set of naval rules for recruiting the fairer members of our hobby than "Limeys and Slimeys." Okay, Okay its beer and pretzels and its not WWII, but trust me. If you want to make your Mrs a flea market diggin', ebay surfin', up at 3am priming, "gimme a six momma needs to drop a mast" gung ho, take no prisoners gamer, that's the rules set for you. Once she's hooked on that you'll have an easier time bringing in AH/Jutland, GQ and SeeKrieg IV/V. I've seen mild housewives get a demonic gleam in their eyes after being raked. There was one woman I double crossed in one game. She chased my tail lookin' for payback thru 3 subsequent games. Another had a ship that was finished. She had one gun on a disengaged side. She had 3 crew and 3 onboard fires. She asked the GM if she could chop down her mast so as to fall on her nearest tormentor. Jack Starling has nothing on a L&S wronged woman.

If you can find a copy of Fletcher Pratt's Naval War Game on e-bay or in your public library.

New York, Harrison-Hilton Books, 1940. many reprints,

It a really fun game, the women I have played it with enjoyed it.

You need a large floor or play outdoors.

Each player has to estimate distance to score successful attacks on enemy ships, requires a tape measure.

Ships can be any scale and the playing area can be as big as you please.

It is an absolute blast to play with 2 or more people.

I have played in games with twenty people or more.

Great for barbecues and kids love it too.

IIUC, Limeys and Slimeys is once again available from GFI.

I would recommend Shipwreck! for Modern Navals. Much simpler than Harpoon.

Bob D.

A bit late I know, but I only just joined the group :)

The old SPI game Dreadnought (or the similar 'CA') would be a good starting place. Dreadnought often appears on ebay.

Its only a hex an counter game, and some of the statistics are a bit questionable with the data we have available today, but the rules are simple, and with most (possibly all) the Dreadnought ships ever built, and most major refits covered, there is an endless possibility for scenarios.
Included scenarios cover all sizes of action from Denmark Strait to the big battlefleet encounter at Jutland.

Another choice would be Sea Strike if you can find a copy, a very good game indeed.

Finally Avalon Hill's War at Sea is a very playable, fun. simple game, and the similar Victory in the Pacific too.

Even more finally :) there are also some naval card games, Brawling Battleships (WWi) and Battlegroup (WW2) I enjoy, there is also AH Naval War and 3W Modern Naval Battles.

regards,

Andy

This one is VERY simple (and very LATE so its more for the next guy with the same intentions) but it helped me get a "Battleship-friend" into miniature gaming. My Battleship game had small plastic ships with hitmarkers stuck to them, a little easier than playing only on paper.

Just alter the basic Battleship rules:

-When shooting the player shoots at THREE(3) dots/squares per turn.
-A player MAY move his ships one dot/square per turn, but only in the direction it is facing, OR one to the side (eg. parallel) For example. A 2point ship starts at A2A3 facing aginst A4. It MAY move to A3A4 or B2B3 or not move. It may NOT move backwards to A1A2 !
-If two ships are next to each other they may not move through each other or switch places (battleships are big steel objects!)
-If a ship reaches the end of the gamesurface, eg.A9A10, it is stuck for forward movement (bad planning/seamanship) and can only move sideways.

This makes for some planning as to where to start ships, and a more battle-like game with salvos against moving targets. After some rounds my friend wanted more alterations, bigger map etc. and he finally found himself playing big miniature games.
I still think its fun as a quick game when without time to set up a GWAS, SPI Dreadnought or 1/3000 Miniature game.
Enjoy !

How about the new Wizards Axis & Allies at Sea game?? Looks pretty simple, should be easy to learn.