Great War at Sea series

The "Great War at Sea" series of board wargames released by Avalanche Press features operational and tactical-level naval combat in the period of the early battleships and dreadnoughts (various titles cover from 1898-1930). Each game in the series comes with a common rule book and tactical map, as well as game-specific operational map, counters and scenarios.

There have been nine games in the series to date, and it was the basis for Avalanche's spin off series the "Second World War at Sea", as well as a proposed new series dealing with ironclads. It has proven very popular, with the third game being Avalanche's sixth best selling titlecite web | url=http://www.avalanchepress.com/valhalla.php | title=Valhalla of Games | publisher=Avalanche Press] . Also, two of the titles have received Origins Awards.

Overview

The focus of "Great War at Sea" series games features two levels of play: the "operational" game, where fleets move and conduct missions on a map of the area where the game takes place (this map uses "staggered squares"—technically a hex grid—presumably to save space as the squares are the exact same size as the fleet counters, and only a few counters are on the board at a time); and the "tactical" game, where the individual ships maneuver and fire on a generic open sea tactical map.

Turns in the strategic segment are about 3 hours, and fleets are given missions when they set out. With many missions, the entire route and actions must be pre-plotted at the beginning, with some more flexible assignments (usually raiding or searching) only requiring two turns of advance planning. Each force is represented on the map with a single counter, so the composition is not known to the enemy. Raiding forces are not placed on the map until they do something (like attack merchant shipping), or is found by searching enemy forces. So, much of the game is spent with forces going about pre-determined missions while reaction forces attempt to find them and force them to battle, or to abort their mission.

Once two forces "do" find each other, combat is resolved by means of a light tactical system. Each ship bigger than a destroyer has its own counter, while destroyers and smaller vessels have counters that can represent one to three ships.

There is a certain amount of record-keeping in the system, with hits from combat being recorded against gunnery, hull or speed factors. Fuel is also tracked, with provisions for refueling in port as well as at sea. For combat, ships are primarily rated as having primary, secondary and tertiary gunnery factors, which have different ranges and ability to penetrate armor to do damage.

Boxed Games

"Mediterranean"

"Mediterranean" was the initial release in the series, and has been released in a second edition.

"Northern Waters/Jutland"

Originally released as "Great War at Sea: Northern Waters", "Jutland" was released in December 2006 as a second revised edition of the original title.

"U.S. Navy Plan Orange"

The first of what would become a popular 'sub series' "Plan Orange" received the 1998 Origins Award for "Best Historical Board Game". [cite web
url=http://www.originsgamefair.com/awards/1998/list-of-winners
title=Origins Award Winners (1998)
publisher=Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design] Studying the actual plans of the United States Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy, "Plan Orange" attempts to recreate what a war in the Pacific would have been like in 1930 if there had been no Washington Naval Treaty.

Set later than any other game in the series, it includes extra rules for dealing with air-to-air combat, and aircraft carriers. The operational map covers from Formosa (Taiwan) to Kyūshū and the northern Philippines.

The counter mix provides many of the forces that would historically have been available in 1930, as well as some of the battleships and battlecruisers that had been canceled due to the Washington treaty, while those that had been converted to carriers because of the treaty still appear as such (except for the battleship "Kaga", which appears as such, and the "Amagi" which was canceled after being wrecked in an earthquake, appears as a carrier).

"Plan Orange" will be released in a new version sometime in 2007 or 2008.

"1904-1905: The Russo-Japanese War"

Covering the naval portions of the Russo-Japanese War, this volume received the 1999 Origins Award for "Best Historical Board Game". [cite web
url=http://www.originsgamefair.com/awards/1999/list-of-winners
title=Origins Award Winners (1999)
publisher=Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design]

"U.S. Navy Plan Black"

"U.S. Navy Plan Black" was based on the plans developed for a conflict against Germany should she emerge victorious in WWI. It includes many ships canceled by the Versailles Treaty, and an operational map covering part of the Caribbean. As "Plan Gold" features a larger map covering the same area, "Plan Black" is out of print, and will not be reprinted, short of a major revision.

"1898: The Spanish-American War"

Detailing the naval actions of the Spanish-American War.

"U.S. Navy Plan Red"

Based on hypothetical War Plan Red for fighting the Royal Navy, and possible actions in Canada.

"Cruiser Warfare"

"Cruiser Warfare" is about merchant raiding in the early parts of WWI as practiced by long-range cruisers. Instead of a normal operational map, it features a world map, with different areas to move between.

"U.S. Navy Plan Gold"

Based on hypothetical plans for fighting the French Navy, "Plan Gold" features an operational map of the Caribbean. It was produced under Avalanche's "Classic Wargames" (preorder) program and was released in mid 2006.

"Cone of Fire"

"Cone of Fire" contains both "Great War at Sea" and "Second World War at Sea" pieces for South American nations. It was produced under the "Classic Wargames" program and was released in March 2008.

"Pacific Crossroads"

"Pacific Crossroads" is the new introductory game for "Great War at Sea" and covers a conflict between the United States and Japan during the early part of the 20th century. It uses a small box size and comes with a new edition of the series rules and shares a sheet of counters with "Coral Sea".

Future Games

Three future "Great War at Sea" boxed games have been mentioned in the "Gold Club Insider" for inclusion in a future Classic Wargames round. The April 2008 Gold Club Insider also mentions an introductory Great War at Sea game to be announced sometime in 2008.

upplements

"Great White Fleet"

"Great White Fleet" was an early supplement to the series, with 20 new operational scenarios generally set from 1898 to 1908. They all require multiple products to play (usually the operational map from either "1898", "1905", "Plan Orange" or "Plan Black", as well as counters from one or more of those and "Northern Waters"). It has a more detailed battle system for pre-dreadnoughts (emphasizing command and control issues), as well as new (unmounted) counters on the back cover, and an operational map covering the southern Philippines (meant to connect with the "Plan Orange" map). As "Plan Orange", "Plan Black", "1898" and "1904" are all out of print, Avalanche has let the book go out of print with no plans of making it available again.

"Dreadnoughts"

"Dreadnoughts" is another supplement for the entire line of "Great War at Sea" games, with counters for new ships, scenarios, and advanced rules for tactical combat. Dreadnoughts focuses on the South American dreadnoughts, such as Brazil's Minas Gerais class battleships, the Brazilian battleship Rio de Janeiro, Argentina's Rivadavia class battleship, and Chile's battleships. Several Austrian warships are also included, such as an aircraft carrier, the "Projekt V" class fast battleships, the "Projekt VI" class light battlecruisers, some more cruisers, and some other battlecruisers. Spain's second and third generation dreadnoughts are also included, as are some Russian cruisers and Turkish battleships.

"Zeppelins"

"Zeppelins" is a supplement released in July 2007 with new 2/3" by 1 1/3" counters for various airships of different countries. It includes articles about airships, new rules for the use of these new airships and new or modified scenarios from previous games using the counters.

"Sea of Troubles"

"Sea of Troubles" is a new version of the old "Plan Red" game, but is set in the Caribbean Sea and uses the "Plan Gold" map. It was announced on November 19, 2007 and is scheduled to be released in December 2007. It contains the same pieces as the original game, including British G3 battlecruisers, N3 battleships, and the American 1919 class battleship.

Future Supplements

Avalanche Press has stated that it would like more "Great War at Sea" supplements to be available.

References

External links

* [http://www.avalanchepress.com/line_GWAS.php Avalanche Press' "Great War at Sea" Page]
* [http://www.boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Great_War_at_Sea_series "Great War at Sea" series] at BoardGameGeek