Neptune Rising: The Resurgence of Naval Wargaming

My first real foray into miniatures was with naval games and to this day I have almost 325 dreadnought period ships in 1/2400 scale. Even now I love playing naval games and I have been on luck over the last few months with some great naval wargames either hitting the market or in pre-production. Are naval war games making a comeback? Or are these new games just the latest editions in a very popular segment of our gaming community.

Despite being a retired US Air Force guy, I did write my Air Command and Staff College thesis on the emergence of the dreadnought and compared it to another game-changing weapon, the 5th generation fighter. While I won’t bore you with my paper, I did love doing all of the in-depth research about the all-big-gun-battleship. Naval ships represent the largest war machines we build today and their design has a great impact of how the war at sea was fought.

When researching this article I came to some basic facts I want to share with you.

First, naval games represent the most complete faction of our community.

What I mean by this is that every historical naval engagement can be fought on a gaming table. We have rules and models available to game anything from a trireme to a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

A lot of this is due to the fact that naval power can be broken down in distinct periods (eg sail to steam to ironclad to dreadnought to the aircraft carrier). In each period, the advancements in weapons changed very little over time. However, when a game-changing weapon is introduced everything seems to change quickly (ex HMS Dreadnought).

This means that a game system can cover a long period of time and not be focused on a particular conflict in most cases. Another example of the completeness is the vast amount of scales you can use for your games. I have ships in 1/300, 1/600, 1/2400 and 1/6000 scales available to play, and some of these scales can even use the same rules which do not get in other versions of gaming.

Investment

After the initial investment, naval gaming is cheaper than most other types of gaming. Once you have gotten every 1/2400 capital ship available during 1914-1922 (like I do), you do not have to really buy another ship in that scale. Land based games have the ability to get us hooked and then lead us to keep buying armies for a particular game system. You also do not have to invest in expensive terrain like other forms of gaming. Yes some naval gaming does have land masses such as shorelines and islands in them, they are relatively cheaper and can be built after a trip to a crafts store.

Research

Naval gaming is one of the most deeply researched topics you can find. While other historical subjects may have more titles available to read, no other form of warfare has the availability to read about the technology advancements and engineering design as does many of the books on naval warfare. While researching my paper, I became an expert on types of gunnery systems, types of armor, and even subjects like man-to-machine interface. What this leads to are rules that are based on actual statistics when it comes to the values of a specific ship during a specific period. It also leads to rules that use a variable level of detail and still retain accuracy.

Multiple Levels of Warfare

Naval warfare can represent all three levels of warfare in a single game. The Battle of Jutland is a good example of this. It was part of an operational level campaign between fleets in the North Sea, where squadrons fought at the tactical level (ship vs ship) that could have had changed the strategic balance of the war in one day.

Above or Below

Modern naval games can represent three warfighting domains in one game. Want to fight on the sea, over the sea, or underneath it? You can with a lot of naval games that re-create the fighting after the mid-1930s.

While many will debate these findings the one fact that I can state is that naval wargaming is fun and can scratch any gaming itch you may have. The biggest inertia the community is sometimes the graybeard captains that sit across from us at a gaming table.

Everyone has their own favorite rules, periods, scales, etc. and are not often receptive to new games and historical periods. So in this aspect, I guess naval gamers are like all of the others. However, even with that said, naval gamers are some of the best ambassadors on the games they play, and will always make room at a table for someone who wants to learn the game.

Past, Present and Future
Maybe my observation of all the new naval games is misplaced, but let’s look at some of the new and upcoming naval titles that will be hitting the scene in the next few months.

We have covered this game a lot here on NDNG and a bunch of us play it. The game focuses on 1/300 WWII small boat skirmishes that feature US, UK, German, Japanese, Italian and Soviet Navies in action. It’s a fun game that you will play over and over again and it also ties into other Warlord games such as Blood Red Skies and Bolt Action.
Oak and Iron: Firelock Games
A 1/600 age of sail game that focuses on squadrons of tall ships during the Golden Age of Piracy. It’s due out in October 2019. I am pumped for this one and I want to see how it ties into Blood and Plunder for the full surf and turf experience. You can hear our chat with developer Mike Tunez here.

Black Smoke Blue Water:

I spoke with the creator of this game, Dan Kerr at Fall-In 2018 and was attracted to this game. It features the ships of the Pre-Dreadnought period were ship designs were wild to say the least. The game also covers a lot of smaller navies of the period which is a nice touch. I really need to get back in touch with Dan and learn more about this game. You can check out their Facebook page here.

Heart of Leviathan:

We covered this one recently here on NDNG and as you know I am playtesting the game as well as helping the developer with the game. It is a quick play game where Great War dreadnoughts can slug it out. We will keep you informed on this game as it nears release.

What are popular games of the past?

I wish I can really answer that one, to be honest. It’s not for the fact that there are no good games around, its because you have so many good titles that cover so many different periods of warfare. Despite the list being short, I have to admit to owning dozens of naval rulebooks.

Sails of Glory:
This is an older title that focuses on 19th Century age of sail combat. The ships came pre-painted (which are amazing) and has US, British, and French ships of the line to include some of the most famous ships of the period like the USS Constitution and the HMS Victory. I do not know the status of this game because Ares hasn’t put out any new ships in a few years. A fun game to play if you can find it.

General Quarters 3:
Being that this is the third iteration of this game will tell you how long it has been out. The third addition is a such a tight game and I use it to play with my 1/6000 WW2 ships. I like to use the rules to recreate the fighting between US and Japan during Solomon and Leyte Gulf campaigns where we see some great ship on ship duels. The rules are detailed and tight and despite the thickness of the rulebook, its really easy to learn. They also have a Great War version called Fleet Action Imminent that uses the mechanics of GQ3.

When Dreadnoughts Ruled the Seas: Brian DeWitt with Mitch Reed
You won’t find this one in stores since it’s a homebrew set of rules, I worked on with Brian a few years ago. This is the game I use with my huge collection of 1/2400 ships. I have brought this game to many events to play. I like it because I can write any ship I want into the game and it explains why I have the Japanese 8-8-8 ships and the USS Lexington and Saratoga as battlecruisers in my collection. One day I may post this in the user content section of the NDNG forums.

What is missing
As you can see, I do not play naval games past WW2, it’s probably due to the fact that I like the battlewagons and tall sailing ships a lot and that most battles in WW2 and beyond rely on aircraft rather than gunnery and it’s the guns that I like to play with. Another reason for this is that I have not found a great set of rules that can incorporate air with sea power in a manner I feel is accurate and balanced. Also, when you think about it, sea battles with a lot of airpower didn’t have gunnery duels and I made it clear what I like. You may notice that the very popular US Civil War is absent; I would love to get into the Ironclad fights that took place during this period. So, if you have a recommendation on a good set of rules please tell me about it.

So, I wish you all fair winds, following seas and good dice in your naval wargames.