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Axis and Allies War at Sea, Any good?  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
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Made in us
Major





Central,ILL. USA

I have been looking at this game for awhile now and the models look good . Seems like a fast playing WW2 Fleet batles game.
Does anyone play this or played it before?
Just curious before i start buying into it..

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Made in jp
[MOD]
Anti-piracy Officer






Somewhere in south-central England.

I haven't played the game. The models are 1/1800 scale, and 1/900 for the aircraft. They would be useable with alternative rulebooks such as General Quarters III (Old Dominion Game Works) or Victory at Sea (Mongoose Publishing). You can also get 1/1800 ship models off Shapeways 3D printing website.

The concept of the game is collectible, so if you buy expansion packs you get a random selection of ships from various nations. This means if you want to assemble a specific fleet, you want to team up with some pals to be able to swap the ships you don't want. Maybe there's a web site for doing this.

The usual scale for WW2 naval is 1/3000 (NavWar UK), or 1/2400 (GHQ, USA). Obviously any scale ship model can be used by adjusting distances. You can play a small game of naval on tabletop even with 1/1800 scale. If you want to play a big game, you need a floor, owing to the huge range of weapons. WW2 offers a lot of scope for historical and "what if" scenarios of all sizes.

War at Sea looks pretty expensive if you buy it just for the models, even though they come assembled and painted. Maybe the expansion packs are better value as they contain more models and not the map and rulebooks.

As I haven't played the game I can't comment on the rules. My guess is that probably they are relatively abstract and simple compared to General Quarters, but they probably play faster. I would advise you to try and get a game in with someone who owns it, to see how you find the rules, and try to price up the possible total cost of models if you want say 25 ships in your fleet.

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We're not very big on official rules. Rules lead to people looking for loopholes. What's here is about it. 
   
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 col. krazy kenny wrote:
I have been looking at this game for awhile now and the models look good . Seems like a fast playing WW2 Fleet batles game.
Does anyone play this or played it before?

We've recently been playing a bit of this in our local group and its proving really popular. The miniatures are overall pretty nice (unless you are a real rivet counter) and the rules are fast and fun. If you are looking for a "serious" WWII naval simulation its probably not for you but as a fun naval game its hard to beat. If it maters to you, the rules are also designed to be played of a square grid, although I know a lot of people use hex grids instead with no problems.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
The concept of the game is collectible, so if you buy expansion packs you get a random selection of ships from various nations. This means if you want to assemble a specific fleet, you want to team up with some pals to be able to swap the ships you don't want. Maybe there's a web site for doing this.

Well... it was collectable with random expansion packs but the game has actually been OOP for a while now. Anyone starting the game these days is most likely going to be buying their miniatures individually from resellers online. The only remaining problem with the previous collectable nature of the game is that some of the more desirable ships (aircraft carriers and battleships, mostly) were rare items and command premium prices ($30 or more) now.

The usual scale for WW2 naval is 1/3000 (NavWar UK), or 1/2400 (GHQ, USA). Obviously any scale ship model can be used by adjusting distances. You can play a small game of naval on tabletop even with 1/1800 scale. If you want to play a big game, you need a floor, owing to the huge range of weapons. WW2 offers a lot of scope for historical and "what if" scenarios of all sizes.

War at Sea adjusts for this by using relatively short weapons ranges (main guns usually have a range of three "grids" which IIRC is around 6-8 inches). We played a Coral Sea scenario with around 20 ships per side recently on a standard 4x6 foot table. If anything the board was too big as it took too long for the ships to get in range of each other.

War at Sea looks pretty expensive if you buy it just for the models, even though they come assembled and painted. Maybe the expansion packs are better value as they contain more models and not the map and rulebooks.

As I said some of the more rare ships are going for a premium, but with some luck and patience you can build quite a collection of cruisers, destroyers, and aircraft for a few dollars each.

I would advise you to try and get a game in with someone who owns it, to see how you find the rules, and try to price up the possible total cost of models if you want say 25 ships in your fleet.


If you want to build an American or Japanese pacific fleet right now (probably the most popular option) I'd look at spending $30 each for your carriers and battleships, $10 for cruisers, $5 for destroyers and $5-10 for fighters and bombers. The British, Italians, and French are generally a bit cheaper as they are not as popular. You can play more for particularly desirable miniatures but on the other hand good deals are also not that uncommon, if you are willing to wait for them while monitor places like Ebay. Certainly, it would be cheaper to buy unpainted metal from GHQ or some other maker.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/03/30 21:16:43


 
   
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Warwickscire

Love the game, though not played for a while. It's pretty easy to get into, rules wise, but now that it's been discontinued, rarer models and stat cards are harder to come by. Though, there's an Axis and Allies forum dedicated to keeping the game going and there's plenty of Shapeways products to keep you going along with scans of the game cards. Also, many of the common and uncommon ships are dirt cheap to get into and there's plenty of unopened boosters still out there if that's your poison.

Play wise, it is a pretty simple and fast paced game and there's a huge variety of ships to choose from. There's also plenty of options for tactics and maneuver. Was in the middle of a Malta campaign a while back which was following a series of escalating convoy runs and air engagements which was available on the above said forums.
   
 
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