Wooden Ships and Iron Men

Thumbnail Analysis Game Review

by Don Lowry


Speaking of Battleline Publications, here is a game originally published by them now purchased and re-published by Avalon Hill. It comes in a box with a full color picture (painting) on the cover of "the first recognition of the American flag by a foreign government, February 14, 1778" by Edward Moran and a big yellow seal announcing it as an "offical bicentennial war game commemorating our 200th anniversary." However, I found no confirmation anywhere inside that this designation is really "official" - i . e. blessed by the Bicentennial Commission.

The box contains: two 14"x22" board Sections (to be placed together) in 3 shades of blue; a 10 1/2 x13" sheet of 1" x 1 1/2" (and a few square) die-cut ship and misc. counters - basically all have a white top view of the ship against a medium-blue background but all have a color strip under its ID number to indicate nationality (red: British, white: French, gold: Spanish and Venetian, light blue: American): an 8 1/2" x 11" 36 page rules book; an 8 1/2" x 11" card containinq various tables; a thick pad of 8 1/2" x 11" ship's log sheets; and one cube die.

Unfortunately I don't have a copy of the original Battleline version handy for comparison. However, the rules themselves seem substantially the same, but refined and expanded upon (see PANZERFAUST #64 for a review of that version). Basically it is a naval miniatures game of the sailing era transfered to a hexgridded board. Each counter represents one ship and occupies two hexes. There are Basic Game Rules, Advanced Game Rules and Optional Rules, 23 scenarios (one of which is subdivided into 5 subscenarios running from single-ship duels to huge fleet. actions such as the Battle of Trafalgar, how to design your own scenarios, a sample game, and designer's (S. Craig Taylor) notes. One basic difference between this version and the original is the inclusion of scenarios from the American Revolution (1776-1784), in addition to the Napoleonic period (1793-1815). Another is the division of the map into zones of various shades of blue - some scenarios designate some of these areas as land. W.S.&.I.M. sells for $8.00 and is part of Avalon Hill's regular wholesale line, so it should be available wherever you can find their other games.

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© Copyright 1976 by Donald S. Lowry
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