As a member of NHMGS one becomes familiar with 18th century naval warfare. Gaming this period has been the favorite of all naval gamers in the area, undoubtedly due to the beauty of the vessels of the period. The system universally used until recently has been Wooden Ships and Iron Men by Avalon Hill for two reasons: 1) it's the most marketed system for this genre, and 2) it's playable. Every serious gamer that has played the system, and some observers that are familiar with sailing, have voiced problems with the system. Although there are more realistic systems (Heart of Oak comes to mind), and more playable systems out there (Frigate is infinitesimally simple) none have been balanced enough to replace Wooden Ships, that is until the release of the latest version of Close Action By Clash Of Arms Games.

The reason I say "the latest version" of this game is that the game is actually over 15 years old. I personally have two earlier versions in my possession from Tempest Games. Close Action (referred to as CA) covers many of the gross omissions in the rules of WS&IM such as morale, marines, and impulse movement (including opportunity fire). Beyond that the system actually tries to address the actual mechanics of sailing in a reasonable and realistic way that is actually playable. This system actually has rules for tacking, freeboard and the slant of the deck when firing windward, or leeward. There are just too many more improvements over WS&IM to list here. The question that needs to be asked here is: it still as playable as WS&IM? To be honest, the answer is probably no, but its pretty close.

Having played such major eng~gements with friends in the area including Trafalgar (once over 3 months), St. Vincent, and the Nile (so many times as to have lost count) using WS&IM running around 8 ships a piece I would have to say that such major engagements should (with the exception of possibly the Nile) continue to be played using WS&IM for the simple reason that there are just too many ships (unless of course you actually have 30 or 40 people available, in which case give me a call I'll be right over!). CA is probably played must comfortably with 2 ships per player. Veteran players may even be comfortable with up to 4 ships apiece, but more than that I would not recommend. There is also the matter of set up. CA has a very detailed Ship Data Sheet that makes the game flow incredibly well for a game with a considerable amount of complexity.

The trade off is the time needed to fill out these sheets is equally considerable. CA is not a game that two people can just spontaneously decide to play a quick beer and pretzel fleet action (I recommend Frigate by SPI for that). CA wasn't designed for that. Even a one on one ship engagement may take a half an hour of paper work to prepare. CA therefore does require some advanced planning, but believe me the pay off is well worth it.