The early part of the Great War at sea saw the allies quickly attempting to contain the threat of German cruisers and auxiliaries interfering with troop convoys and merchantmen. It is a fascinating period to game - usually the model count is very modest - with the emphasis being quite asymmetrical. The Germans have to wreak havoc where they can and the allies have to stop them - ideally before they can get back to Germany.
Over the years I have fought many ‘hunt the raider’ style actions and they are always a lot of fun.
Avalanche Press have produced a number of operational/tactical boardgames covering the Great War at Sea (the series name) as well as WW2 and use for the tactical side a set of rules that would be easily transferable to the tabletop - as long as you used a hexagonal grid that is!
Aside from the North Sea and the Mediterranean games they also produced the game you see above. This is global in scale as at the start of the war the Germans have cruisers dotted around the place, all keen to return to the Fatherland whilst the Allies are less enthusiastic about that particular course of action! There is in truth only one scenario at the operational level - the German player must get back to the North Sea whilst the Allies must prevent them - but there are a number of tactical games covering Coronel and the Falklands.
I have been after a copy of this for a while but the second hand prices were too rich for me. A chance trawl through eBay came up with a UK based seller of an unpunched version at a reasonable price and so I happily pulled the trigger!
The Allies - The Royal Navy and representatives from the Commonwealth nations (Australia, New Zealand and Canada), France, Japan and Russia, massively outnumber the Germans (and Austrians) but the sea is a big place and so bringing them into action is a Herculean task in itself.
This type of game is right up my street and I am looking forward to giving it a whirl and naturally, I already have some plans afoot…..
Less of these distractions or you will be locked up in solitary until Developing the Portable Ironclad Wargame is published!
ReplyDeleteHi Simon,
DeleteI know, I know - so I have spent some time this afternoon drafting the plans for assorted ironclads to go to Warbases.
Once I have the last of the plans drafted I can get busy with the models - in fact I may make a start on the masts etc over the coming weekend. They are quite straightforward to build but you need to be careful when doing so.
All the best,
DC