Command at Sea

WWII Naval Miniatures Rules

Reviewed by Clifford Sayre Jr.

Metagaming has published a set of 20th Century naval miniatures rules written by Glenn Preston and Joe Gibson, The rules are a contemporary version of a range estimation gunfire system. The model and playing scales are both 1:4800 with each game turn equal to one minute of real time. The rules are complete and ready-to-play with cardboard ships, ship data cards, ship damage forms, turn templates and packaged in an attractive box. Only dice and a tape measure are needed to play.

Unfortunately the rules are poorly organized and difficult to follow. For example, it is not really clear until page 7 (although there are some earlier hints) that one is dealing with a range estimation game system. The box description does state, up front on the outside, that the level of play is "very advanced" and the playability involves "complex learning rapid play system" . . . which seems like a contradiction of terms. The rules are written in naval gamer's patois which would make them difficult for a novice to follow.

The rules read like a set of club rules which have evolved over an extended period of time, with neat little embellishments which I am sure are fun for the initiated, but flypaper for the newcomer. For example, although many of the one hundred tries in the Hit Location/Critical Hit Table are fairly succinct, a few, like number % get rather convoluted:

    96.) Secondary Turret Top: Secondary Turret Explodes; 30% chance that a Secondary Magazine Fire occurs, in which there is another 20% chance of a Secondary Magazine Explosion; an 80% chance that flooding magazine extinguishes fire (1 flooded compartment), 70% chance that no damage occurs other than the loss of the turret"

There are twenty-four different armor thickness sites which may need to be considered although most vessels in the game (DDs, CAs and CLs) will have only eight to sixteen different possibilities. The use of a 1:4800 distance scale (1' = 400 yards) means that one needs a parking lot or gymnasium to play (e.g., 8" guns may fire 40 feet). There are calculations to execute like: "Number of hits = number of shells in splash times target size of target ship times target angle factor times shell confusion factor" where, for instance, "Target angle factor equals (Target Angle/900) plus 0.2". Each hit is evaluated individually for location, penetration, damage, etc. The ship damage plots have boxes to keep track of flotation compartments destroyed in the hull, on the main deck and in the superstructure.

The numbers of compartments might be something like 12/12/4 for a destroyer to 50/50/16 for a heavy cruiser. There are ship counters and ship data for twenty-four Japanese, U.S. and Australian destroyers, light cruisers and heavy cruisers for Pacific scenarios in WWII. Torpedo hits are obtained using an intercept system whereby the firing ship launches the missile and the missile and target must be at the same place at the same time in order to have a chance to hit.

The Introduction states that aircraft rules and a more accurate simulation of torpedo fire control will be published in the future in a tournament version of the rules. The present Command at Sea rule booklet is digest-sized and runs twenty-eight pages (which includes tables and optional rules). There are no strategic or campaign rules in this game. The rules do not have any particularly novel or innovative features which might appeal to a naval buff for adoption or adaptation to his own favorite rules system. I regret to say that I cannot recommend this set of rules as providing anything that is not available elsewhere in a better-organized format with greater clarity (see my article on rules in COURIER II-6).

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