War @ Sea: July 07 Rules Clarifications

The newest Update and Clarifications (formerly called Rules Clarifications) came out this month. We have have made them available at https://wargamingforums.com/downloads/War_at_Sea_Clarifications.pdf (the pdf requires the FREE Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the file. You can get Acrobat Reader for FREE HERE).

The new clarifications combine the old one, eliminating the need to have the old one, and introduce several major updates.

As players know subs, aircraft, and battleships are 3 of the most used, some would say overly used, models in the game. Every fleet seems to have a lot of subs, or a lot of aircraft, or a lot of battleships. These dominate the games and some would argue they unbalance it.

The new clarifications remedies that. There are roughly 3 major updates that every War at Sea gamer has to pay close attention to.

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War @ Sea: 8/1/07 100pt Tourney @ Battleground Games

On Wednesday, 8/1/07, at 7ish pm (between 7 and 7:30ish) the first ever War at Sea Tournament will be held at Battleground Games in Abington.

The tourney has a $5 buy in cost that will go towards prizes. The tourney is 100pts and uses standard official War at Sea rules. The Rules Clarifications are available at https://wargamingforums.com/downloads/War_at_Sea_Clarifications.pdf (the pdf requires the FREE Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the file. You can get Acrobat Reader for FREE HERE).

Rule Set: You need the Advanced Rulebook (zipped PDF), it comes with the Starter box, and the Rules Clarifications to play. The Quick Star Rules (zipped PDF) can help you learn how to play if you haven’t before.

Prizes: All participants will receive 1 Promo War at Sea ship. The winner will receive the total $$ in store credit. The more people who play the more store credit you can win. If 3 people play then it is $15 store credit, 10 = $50 store credit, 20 = $100 store credit, etc.

Fleet Restrictions: All normal fleet restrictions and regulations take place. No fleet can exceed 100pts.

Points: Your fleet cannot have more than 100pts of models.

Questions: Visit the official Battleground Games forums: War @ Sea Tourney: 8/1/07 thread.

War @ Sea: Back in Stock!

Tonight I have happy news. This Friday War at Sea will be instock at Battleground Games. I am sure that your FLGS will also have boosters and starters available for purchase by the end of this week.

When the game ran out of stock Wizards of the Coast promised that more product would be on store shelves in September. Not too long ago I was informed by Derek Lloyd, owner of my FLGS Battleground Games, that WoTC moved the date up to August.

This is great news for all of us. Those of us who got into the game on the late side can now get a full set. And collectors who want to reach those historical maximums now have a chance of getting the ships they need.

Although I do not know how much product will be at the FLGS near you, there will be 2 cases at Battleground, this is just the first of many shipments. War at Sea is now officially in stock and will be continually available for sale.

If you’ve never played War at Sea before use this chance to get an intro game from a veteran. If you like the game, why wouldn’t you, pick up a Starter and a couple Boosters to get going. You’ll be hooked before you know it.

This is also a prime time to start a new league or begin running tourneys. War at Sea is back in stock and happy days are here again.

War @ Sea: Carrier Aircraft Capacity?

All the games made by Avalon Hill try their best to be entertaining, fun, and historically accurate…to some degree. How does their newest collectible mini game, War @ Sea, as part of the Axis & Allies line (per Wizards of the Coast and thus Hasbro) hold up to historical accountability?

The book states that, as most historians know, the Japanese fleet attacking Pearl Harbor had 6 carriers acting as mobile bases for the aircraft making the attack. The carriers: Akagi, Hiryu, Kaga, Shokaku, Soryu, and Zuikaku, launch a collective total of 183 aircraft for the first wave. The book clearly says that the 6 carriers brought 441 aircraft to the fight. 183 were launched in the first wave and 168 in the second.

The Akagi, the only carrier of its type, had a complement of 91 aircraft according to Wikipedia. We see on the card that the Akagi can carry 3 aircraft. This works out to each aircraft model in War @ Sea representing 33 1/3 actual aircraft for this vessel. Additionally, we can see that the Akagi carried almost 21% of the aircraft brought to attack Pearl Harbor. For those interested in the actual composition per wave Wikipedia tells us that 29 Kates and 9 Zeroes participated in the first wave. 18 Vals composed Akagi’s second wave of attack.

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Torg: Tuesday Game Review

No, today isn’t Tuesday but this is a review of an old game named Torg that I’ve been newly introduced to.

My friend Murf is a RPG fanatic and the both of us, plus my other friend Steve, have been commiserating the inability to find a good RPG.  I haven’t played since I was 9 or so and having been away from pencil and paper RPGs in 16+ years is a burden.  There are many cobwebs to clear from the recesses of my mind.

I was pleasantly surprised a week ago with a phone call from Murf who wanted me to join a great newly run game called Torg that his pal Teddy was putting together.  I was skeptical until Murf explained the game.

Torg is unlike any other RPG you have ever played.  The Earth has been invaded by aliens and every country/continent is altered to reflect a different period in history with a film twist.  Most of North America looks like Jurassic Park. The UK looks like Robin Hood and Braveheart.  France is a cyberpapacy like a more religious Bladerunner (or like 40k by Games Workshop).  Indonesia has turned into every horror film you can imagine in a Victorian setting, can we say Jack the Ripper meets Dracula?  Egypt has become the 1930s complete with The Godfather, Indiana Jones, and Flash Gordon.

All this variation intrigued me so I joined the game.  This past Tuesday our band of 3, Steve opted to not play, met and began our first adventure.  Although only 2 of us were there we had a lot of fun.

Murf the fighter and I the scholar worked together, saved a damsel in distress from dinosaurs, rescued her father, tricked the lizards into giving us a precious device (that can save the world), had a journey to the center of the earth and out again to Egypt, stole a plane from a Pharaoh and blew up 2 Spitfires.  4 hours of play brought us to whatever comes next.

Although we need more players, who doesn’t, the quest has been challenging but not too difficult and all around fun.