Old School Table Top Simulations

rubenandthejets · 07-01-09, 10:31 PM

Does anyone play any table top naval combat simulations? You know, with scale model ships, tape measures and dice on a ping pong table painted blue?

I remember playing a couple at my old wargaming club in Perth, Australia back in the day.

Trafalgar had a very different result thanks to some lucky dice rolls that took out the main and mizzen masts of HMS Victory at long range. The added bonus was in the shambles of falling rigging a certain one eyed, one armed officer was knocked on the head!

In other words, although it is pretty rare to roll a lot of sixes in a row, sometimes it happens!

Without their gallant admiral and with some top knotch gunnery at extreme ranges that slowed the Royal Soveriegn and the other leading ships of the two British lines, the Franco Hispanic fleet managed to make their rendezvous with Boney and invade Britain.

I watched a few pirate battles as well.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone still gets into this style of gaming....

Torplexed · 07-01-09, 10:46 PM

I played a few box game equivalents long ago. Avalon Hill's Jutland and Bismarck both had miniature like rules, but used printed cardboard counters instead of metal miniatures. The biggest hurdle given the staggering range of battleship naval rifles was finding a large enough flat surface to play on. (a gymnasium floor would have been ideal) There was a similar game called Wooden Ships & Iron Men for recreating actions from the era of sailing ships. However, it used a game board with a printed hexagonal grid to regulate movement and range instead of a ruler or tape.

Janus · 07-02-09, 05:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Torplexed

The biggest hurdle given the staggering range of battleship naval rifles was finding a large enough flat surface to play on.

A while ago I came across the VASSAL Game engine:

Quote:

VASSAL is a game engine for building and playing online adaptations of board games and card games. It allows users to play in real time over a live Internet connection (in addition to playing by email). It runs on all platforms, and is free for personal use.

I think I even got to know about this VASSAL from someone from these forums or maybe from the battlefront.com forums, I can't remember.

Sailor Steve · 07-02-09, 12:35 PM

I've played Clear For Action, SeeKrieg and a few others. They are all good but not to my personal taste, so I've been working on my own highly detailed WW1 (and hopefully someday WW2) rules for nearly 20 years now. I even made models of the entire Majestic and Canopus class battleships in 1/2400 scale and am working on the Formidables from time to time.

So yes, tabletop games are my first love.

07-01-09, 10:31 PM	#1
rubenandthejets 中国水兵 Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 279 Downloads: 20 Uploads: 0	Old School Table Top Simulations Does anyone play any table top naval combat simulations? You know, with scale model ships, tape measures and dice on a ping pong table painted blue? I remember playing a couple at my old wargaming club in Perth, Australia back in the day. Trafalgar had a very different result thanks to some lucky dice rolls that took out the main and mizzen masts of HMS Victory at long range. The added bonus was in the shambles of falling rigging a certain one eyed, one armed officer was knocked on the head! In other words, although it is pretty rare to roll a lot of sixes in a row, sometimes it happens! Without their gallant admiral and with some top knotch gunnery at extreme ranges that slowed the Royal Soveriegn and the other leading ships of the two British lines, the Franco Hispanic fleet managed to make their rendezvous with Boney and invade Britain. I watched a few pirate battles as well. Anyway, just wondering if anyone still gets into this style of gaming.... __________________ HMAS Sydney III "Thorough and Ready"

07-02-09, 12:35 PM	#4
Sailor Steve Eternal Patrol Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: High in the mountains of Utah Posts: 50,369 Downloads: 745 Uploads: 249	I've played Clear For Action, SeeKrieg and a few others. They are all good but not to my personal taste, so I've been working on my own highly detailed WW1 (and hopefully someday WW2) rules for nearly 20 years now. I even made models of the entire Majestic and Canopus class battleships in 1/2400 scale and am working on the Formidables from time to time. So yes, tabletop games are my first love. __________________ “Never do anything you can't take back.” —Rocky Russo

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07-01-09, 10:46 PM	#2
Torplexed Let's Sink Sumptin' ! Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 5,823 Downloads: 43 Uploads: 0	I played a few box game equivalents long ago. Avalon Hill's Jutland and Bismarck both had miniature like rules, but used printed cardboard counters instead of metal miniatures. The biggest hurdle given the staggering range of battleship naval rifles was finding a large enough flat surface to play on. (a gymnasium floor would have been ideal) There was a similar game called Wooden Ships & Iron Men for recreating actions from the era of sailing ships. However, it used a game board with a printed hexagonal grid to regulate movement and range instead of a ruler or tape.