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.
Like all games, the scenarios are endless. i think I’ll make my next War at Sea a very littoral adventure with nothing larger than a destroyer ducking through the islands. the battleships are fun but they couldn’t be everywhere.
I’m prepping a couple of fleets for next week that are 150 pts each. In one I’m going very heavy on the aircraft with 50 % of the units being planes. In the other fleet I’m going battleship heavy.
Has anyone played enough scenarios to see any patterns as to what might be better.
Axis Fleet, 3 x battleships - Bismark, Scharnhorst, Vittaro Veneto and 1 x cruiser - Koln.
Alled Fleet, 2 x carriers - Princton & St Lo, 2 x cruisers - Sydney and Ajax, 1 x destroyer - Javelin,
Allied Aircraft, 3 x Swordfish, 3 x Devastators, 2 x Dauntless and 1 x Hurricane fighter.
Both fleets 150 points. Aim - control single objective marker in center of open sea.
Allied limitation, only three carrier based flights meaning that turns 2 and 4 that six flights were rearming on land. For preservation the carriers did not move from their initial positions until turn # 4 as there were chased down.
Allied Intent, swarm the enemy fleet with at least four flights per sector. That way the enemy fleet of two ships in that sector may shoot down or cause two flights to abort while the other two could continue to attack.
Axis limitation, no air.
Axis intent, to muscle their way into the allied fleet and blow it out of the water. This was accomplished on turn 2 when the two allied cruisers and the allied destroyer were ripped apart by surface gunnery. leaving only the aircraft carriers to go after the objective (not).
throughout the aircraft tried hard but only caused minor damage to the battleships. Surprisingly, none of the antiair fire managed to shoot down any allied aircraft though about 40% of all attacks were forced to abort.
I’m going to play this through a few times to see if it is still all in the dice.
Are there any similar experiences out there? The Battle of the Coral Sea was won by air power alone as no surface gunnery occurred. I’ll have to check the books to see if there were Battleships involved.
We fought through this again with the same fleets. Only difference was a series of islands across the center of the chart and three objectives, one in each of the safe passages created between the islands. At one point line of sight was blocked by an island.
Still too much in the dice I think. No aircraft shot down and few aborted.
One allied cruiser sunk
All four Axis ships sunk in four turns. The air attacks were extremely effective as the only surface damage to an Axis ship came from a cruisers torpedo
So I’ve played out these two fleets again in the same setting with the islands. This time the battlship heavy Axis fleet powered through the Allied fleet. Two of three battleships were damaged but not crippled. The entire allied fleet was sent to the bottom.
I wonder if there is two much firing for the amount of movement allowed. This particular scenario is easily completed in 4 turns. Playing this game verses the AAM land based troops seems too easy. In the land AAM you get the options to move or shoot and can introduce heros or paras at appropriete times.
How do we make it less chancy?
So I’ve played out these two fleets again in the same setting with the islands. This time the battlship heavy Axis fleet powered through the Allied fleet. Two of three battleships were damaged but not crippled. The entire allied fleet was sent to the bottom.
I wonder if there is two much firing for the amount of movement allowed. This particular scenario is easily completed in 4 turns. Playing this game verses the AAM land based troops seems too easy. In the land AAM you get the options to move or shoot and can introduce heros or paras at appropriete times.
How do we make it less chancy?
Carriers alone cannot beat BB consistantly… u must add subs which can deal with BB! Not sure the point level, but with 2-3 battleships im asuming you were using 150-200pts or more… Japan & German subs are the best, the UK sub isnt half bad either! In a 150 pt fleet try 5 subs… dont fear destroyers they are pathetic, subs really only fear other subs and planes.
Hi, I’m a new italian member.
I’d like very much this game and I ask you if there are a complete list of stats cards with all characteristics.
thank you
Hmmm, “dont fear destroyers they are pathetic, subs really only fear other subs and planes.” Now I am going to have to get the game and rules just to determine why this is the case. I figure if I do not like the rules, I can always use the miniatures for some of my other naval game rule sets.
Hmmm, “dont fear destroyers they are pathetic, subs really only fear other subs and planes.” Now I am going to have to get the game and rules just to determine why this is the case. I figure if I do not like the rules, I can always use the miniatures for some of my other naval game rule sets.
The destroyers are really fragile when put up against BB or aircraft in this game. Subs only have to fear ships with ASW weapons which are the Destroyers and aircraft mostly. Several of the subs have abilities that allow them to attack other subs. My experience with the game is that it is pretty balanced. I haven’t played any other Naval minis games though to be able to speak to how it compares. All in all a light fun game and it has the Enterprise! :-)
You are probably aware already but the rules can be downloaded at this link:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/aam/waratsea
Someone else asked about Stats for the units but to the best of my knowledge there isn’t a database for what is on each unit’s stats card. I suppose if you search on the AH boards you might find someone with a link to a database but AH does not have one set up.
I suppose this is a bit tardy but I don’t look at this board often on the forum.
The subs are way overpowered in this game, with their surface speed being used for their underwater speed. If I start playing, I suspect that one house rule will be either no submarines, or a sub must stay in the square it starts in, if it moves, it is on the surface and fair game for every ship within range. I have War at Sea, and I am building a data file that eventually I will post online.
Is it possible to capture the Objective with the submarines?
In the rules, subs can not hold sea objectives. In many home grown rules subs have objectives that count as victory conditions.
the 2 games are completly seperate from each other and I can see no way of combining the 2
Have you heard of the site:
Hmmm, “dont fear destroyers they are pathetic, subs really only fear other subs and planes.” Now I am going to have to get the game and rules just to determine why this is the case. I figure if I do not like the rules, I can always use the miniatures for some of my other naval game rule sets.
Destroyers are Not Pathetic. When the game first came out, yes I would completly agree with you. But since set II, the revised some of the rules. DD are a very powerful ASW unit and make great Objective rushers
Today I was specially registered at a forum to participate in discussion of this question.
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@Deaths:
Hmmm, “dont fear destroyers they are pathetic, subs really only fear other subs and planes.” Now I am going to have to get the game and rules just to determine why this is the case. I figure if I do not like the rules, I can always use the miniatures for some of my other naval game rule sets.
Destroyers are Not Pathetic. When the game first came out, yes I would completly agree with you. But since set II, the revised some of the rules. DD are a very powerful ASW unit and make great Objective rushers
Not to mention in mass with their torpedoes they can bring down BB’s
