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Fleet Series

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sparty
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« on: July 11, 2014, 08:22:17 pm »

I broke out the old Fleet Series from VG.  It's impressive how fresh that system still feels.  I was able to playtest Breaking the Chains from John Gorkowski and Compass Games, but was very disappointed.

The thing that's always stuck with me for naval wargames is how the Fleet series kind of popped up, set the standard, and faded away.  Some guy in Japan apparently has some well respected games that modernize the components and topics, but there hasn't really been a concerted effort to model modern naval in a hex & counter format outside magazine titles like Red Dragon Green Crescent.

Harpoon has a very unapproachable (read: already very well served by computer games) format. 

There design limitation seems interesting to me because you're getting either a tiny piece of land and a scale at which you can explicitly have rules for sonar dipping or something like that or you get a theater/fleet level game where those pieces are missing.

Balkowski's design seems to get as close to the action from far away as possible.  I wonder ... has anyone seen or heard of a system outside the Fleet games that comes close?  Is the market for those wargames small?
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« Reply #1 on: July 11, 2014, 08:28:24 pm »

I've heard good things about the old Task Force - in that it actually does some things better.
Convincing enough that I picked it up, but haven't played it.

Fleet has never really grabbed me the way I wanted it to. Like some other
VG designs (Gulf Strike, Central America, and even Flashpoint Golan), I respect
the games I lot more than I enjoy them. They all share similar designs actually.
Gulf Strike uses what amounts to the Fleet rules embedded into a broader context.
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« Reply #2 on: July 12, 2014, 07:43:12 am »

that really sounds like a good game system sparty
can I ask, what is it about the game mechanics that makes this such a good game?
I happen to like the original harpoon game, and do not like the computerized (free) version
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sparty
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« Reply #3 on: July 12, 2014, 09:09:34 am »

There are a few things I really like.

  • Substantial OoB - You don't just get the minimum necessary to play the scenarios.  You can build your own scenarios pretty easily and ships also include transport, refit & refuel ships, cargo liners for escort.  It's pretty comprehensive.
  • Strategic Air Missions - A hidden air mission allocation phases happens each morning and covers entire sea "zones" and much of the air war plays out within the context of these strategic allocations making it tense and fun in larger scenarios.
  • Detection vs. Evasion - Breaking the Chains was built around doing away with the whole detection then engagement in favor of an engagement then evasion check.  Both ways achieve the same thing and evasion introduces some variability into your mission planning, but the detection -> engagement seems more logical to me.  Why would I send a wing of aircraft out for an SSM strike against a ship without really knowing where they're at?  This isn't Midway!
  • Impulse by Platform - The impulse system is based on activating subs, surface, or air platforms.  Once activated, that same platform can't activate again (there are a few exception).It's clean and helps keep the pace of what is simultaneous combat going fairly well without introducing a bunch of nitty gritty situational rules.
  • Tactical Nuclear Warfare - Yup.  Pack those ships too tightly and the deployment of tactical nuclear warheads is possible...and you will pay.  I love this concept because it's reflective of a major tactical shift in Modern vs. WW2 naval combat in terms of how task forces are deployed.
  • Sea Denial Rules - This is such a huge component of modern strategic decision-making.  When you are reading about the mess that is the South China Sea and East China Sea right now...you're effectively reading a story about Anti-Access/Area-Denial.  It's very cool that the Fleet series had stipulations for this in it.
  • Scenarios - There are 14 scenarios throughout the system.  They are all pretty great, though you don't get to really take the training wheels off until the Intermediate scenarios.  The advanced Game scenarios include political elements and potential armistice during action They also use the full OoB within the confines of broad strategic goals like Scenario 11: Invasion of Yugoslavia which is a scenario about denying Soviet naval access to the Adriatic Sea.

All in all it's a great package.  Consider that there is a game for 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th & 7th fleets and you're covering damn near the entire planet with this game series.  The rules aren't 100% consistent between games, though there's little need for rules about submarines under an ice shelf or traversing fjords in the South Pacific!  The systems remain pretty much the same so it's easy to move between games. 

Remember that 1st Fleet was rolled into 3rd Fleet.  There's no official 1st fleet.  The 4th Fleet patrols the Caribbean, but again...3rd Fleet deploys in that areas well and the game covers the eastern Caribbean.

So it's pretty comprehensive and the game just plays smoothly. 
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« Reply #4 on: July 13, 2014, 07:06:00 am »

your review of this games mechanics is so thorough that I need time to digest it

I like the idea of an evasion phase but the idea of only 'activating' a ship or sub once during a game is confusing.  I guess I'd need to look at these rules more closely

thank you for an excellent reply
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« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2014, 08:05:22 am »

It's not a surface, sub, or aircraft unit it's all of them at your disposal.  They activate multiple times in a day, but only once per turn which are AM, PM, and Night.

It gives you a pseudo-impulse style movement.  I don't know if anyone did it better than SFB's impulse mechanics though.

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