Axis & Allies Naval Miniatures

[Der Leiter]

@djensen:

A&A Naval Miniatures will not be out for some time. Some predictions are August but it might be een later than that.

It will be April at the latest.

@starwiz01:

I am wondering if they make the two sets stand alone, the orginal and now war at sea.  I am going to be a little miffed.  I am hopping to be able to have some good ole island invasions…  But I am sure if nothing else I will buy just to collect the pieces…

They aren’t compatible. You can use both of them on a strategic and tactical maps to play a larger campaign (eg Axis & Allies board) but even then you won’t be using units from both games in the same battle.

[starwiz01]

Oh well,  I guess I was hoping for to much to be able to really combine the two sets.    But I am sure I will have fun any.  Can’t wait till they hit the stores…

[BenitothePanzer]

I have to say WOW, you should see this:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/aam/ah20070129c

The war at sea release will be on March 26th, I need to save some money 'till there  :-D

[Der Leiter]

Preview #2 is up. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/aam/ah20070206c

[Audacity]

I expect I’ll have a hard time resisting!

[djensen]

You should read the articles on the website. I found a site that has some photos of the actual minis with measurements.

http://www.axisandallies.org/node/240

@BenitothePanzer:

I have to say WOW, you should see this:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/aam/ah20070129c

The war at sea release will be on March 26th, I need to save some money 'till there  :-D

[Audacity]

My local store only received three booster packs instead of the three cases of War at Sea that they had ordered.  One case was for me.  Now they’re waiting for the proper shipment.

How are people finding the new game?

[unc_samurai]

I just opened my case last night.  I’m very impressed.  A couple of minis are bent, but there’s ways to fix that.  I apparently ordered a case of Axis Naval Miniatures, I’m one Italian BB away from an Axis set.  Only two Allied minis, Hood and Salt Lake City.

[Guest]

I just bought a starter kit and a booster awhile ago.  I didn’t buy a lot like other people cause I want to see how the game is before I get committed to getting a larger collection.  I do hope I get a battleship or an aircraft carrier.  :-D

[Positronica]

I played Naval Miniatures yesterday.  It was actually pretty fun.  The rules are much better than the Starwars: Starship Battles game that came out a little while back.  (In case you’ve played the game, too).  There’s a decent amount of strategy involved, though the smaller point-size battles you run, the more luck comes into play.  The system includes rules both for doing a small amount of damage to an enemy ship per succefful hit, or for doing enough vital damage to completely destroy a target in one hit.  (The Hood also has its own special “design flaw” rule for getting killed in a single hit.)

In the game I played, I was Japan.  My fleet consisted of the Yamato, two carrers, 7 flights of planes, one sub, one destroyer, and one small sub-chaser.  My opponent played the US.  He had the Iowa, the Washington, the Tenessee, one destroyer, and two subs.

In the early game, as the two fleets were closing, my planes managed to sink one of the subs, get a couple torpedo hits on the Washington, and sink the lone American destroyer.  Once the two fleets came together, I used some skillfull manuevering to draw the Iowa in close and negate its range advantage.  Then the Yamato charged in to point blank range and did enough vital damage to send the Iowa to the bottom in a single salvo.  At the same time, my lowly 4-point sub-chaser took out the other American sub.  My opponent then made the mistake of focusing all his remaining power on the Yamato, instead of going after my carriers and trying to get a point victory.  The Yamato took quite a pounding, but its heavy armor held up long enough for it to chase down and sink both the Washington and the Tenessee, winning the game.

[Audacity]

The lure of a sea battle is great.  I only hope the WoC distribution gets sorted quickly and that I get my pieces soon.

How long did this engagement take to play out?  Interesting that I just picked up a used video of Readers Digest on WWII Naval battles.  In it were the stories of the Battle of the Atlantic, Coral Sea, Midway, Leyte Gulf and Okinnowa.  A neat piece of this game seems to be the ability to use ships named exactly for real ships in the war.

thanks for the battle report.

[Positronica]

@Audacity:

The lure of a sea battle is great.  I only hope the WoC distribution gets sorted quickly and that I get my pieces soon.

How long did this engagement take to play out?  Interesting that I just picked up a used video of Readers Digest on WWII Naval battles.  In it were the stories of the Battle of the Atlantic, Coral Sea, Midway, Leyte Gulf and Okinnowa.  A neat piece of this game seems to be the ability to use ships named exactly for real ships in the war.

thanks for the battle report.

The battle went fairly quick.  Maybe about an hour.  We played with 200 point fleets, instead of the standard 100 points, so things would go even faster probably if you went with only 100.  If you have enough pieces, though, I’d play with 200 or 300 point fleets.  The rules are nice, but there’s still a lot of dice rolling involved.  With smaller fleets, one lucky roll can drastically change the entire course of a battle.  With larget fleets, stuff starts to average out a bit more and good strategy can overcome a few bad dice rolls.

[Guest]

Yay my WaS minis came!!  I didnt get any carriers but I did get an Italian BS.  Here are some pics.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Guest]

More pics.

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[unc_samurai]

@Mechanized:

Yay my WaS minis came!!  I didnt get any carriers but I did get an Italian BS.  Here are some pics.

Is that an Atlanta?  I’ve opened a starter and 13 boosters and have yet to find one  :oops:

[Guest]

@unc_samurai:

@Mechanized:

Yay my WaS minis came!!  I didnt get any carriers but I did get an Italian BS.  Here are some pics.

Is that an Atlanta?  I’ve opened a starter and 13 boosters and have yet to find one  :oops:

Which picture are you referring to?

[unc_samurai]

Picture 2 - just beneath the Vittoro Vinetto

[Guest]

@unc_samurai:

Picture 2 - just beneath the Vittoro Vinetto

Nah, thats a Jap destroyer, not the Atlanta.  Are the stats for the Atlanta any good?

[unc_samurai]

Correction, Picture 3, literally one sector below the V/V.  And I just realized it’s a Gloire.  In that pic it looks like it has an American color scheme.

[Audacity]

Well I’ve now got my War at Sea and have opportunity to play through four games.  I am pretty pleased.  The most dissapointing part is that the boosters only hold 5 models each.  Its mighty hard to collect at that rate.  Now I had ordered a starter set and a case of the boosters meaning that of the 64 possible models I have at least one each of 49 different ones.  Some of course you can use multiples of like the destroyers and U510.  My set includes two Japanese aircraft carriers and two small US carriers.  I was thrilled to get a Bismark but the Hood would have also been great.

I like the play system and as I get to know the special abilities I’ll get better at using them to advantage.

I played through a Sink the Bismark scenario twice now with a 120 point fleets.  the objective for the Germans was to get from one end of the bay on the playing chart to the other while the British fleet had to sink the Bismark.  The Germans had two Battleships, Bismark and Scarnhorst along with two Uboats and a supply ship.  The Brits had a carrier, two swordfish flights, two cruisers, two destroyers and two subs.

First iteration the Germans plowed right through the Brits and got out to sea.  The second time a Sword Fish flight was lucky in getting through the air defence.  From there the Brits pounded the ship (can you say historical?) and won.

I look forward to some big fleet games to try and reduce the effect of chance.