Players 2
Playing Time 2 hours and up
Period Second World War era, Naval
Scale Tactical Turn approximately 6 minutes
Map 1000 yards
Unit individual capital ships and heavy cruisers, 2 per unit counter for light cruisers and destroyers

Components
container: ziplock bag or cardboard box
1 12 page rules booklet
400 back-printed die-cut counters in 12 colors
1 22" x 28" one-color featureless map representing a section of ocean

Counter Manifest
58 red British counters
18 dark blue French counters
18 green German counters
2 tan Turkish counters
26 yellow Italian counters
96 blue US counters
44 brown Japanese counters
10 pink Russian counters
8 white informational counters
23 light blue “A Group” cruiser and destroyer counters
17 grey “B Group” cruiser and destroyer counters

SimCan says:

“Battleship is a game type simulation of tactical capital ship combat during the period just after the Washington Naval Conference to the end of World War Two. Battles are presented in the form of scenarios, recreating historical situations in which the players must use the weapons of the period and their tactical skills to duplicate or improve the historical outcomes. However, since battleship combats were rather rare, unit representatives are included covering nearly every capital ship built (and rebuilt) during the period so that players may construct hypothetical scenarios.

[It] is the second part of a two part game system designed to cover the concept of the all big gun ship. Its integrated combat system depicts shell strengths, immune zones, armor placements, gun ranges, and angle of shot without resort to complicated calculations. Detailed rules on movement, command, and other vital factors complete the game. It is completely compatible with Line of Battle (covering 1914-1924) but can be played separately. 10 historical scenarios and 400 counters are included to cover every European, American, & Japanese dreadnought and major reconstruction of the period.”

The Reviewer says:

“[It] is the follow-up/companion to Sim Can’s Line of Battle. Where Line of Battle covered tactical ship combat from 1914-1924, this one covers roughly the period from 1925-1945. Like its predecessor, Battleship is uncluttered, thoughtful, and easy to learn, but it’s also dry, slow, and unimaginative, better suited to a computer program than a board game. The problems of hidden movement and search common to all simple naval games make them more appropriate for video screen than paper maps. Maybe it’s just as well Sim Can is directing its resources to computer simulations only from now on.” Rick Swan in F&M 56.

Comments:

One of a number of tactical naval games from Simulations Canada, this is their last board game release to date. As noted above, it mates seamlessly with Line of Battle providing a complete portrait of tactical naval combat in the era of the modern battleship from the Dreadnought to the Yamato. It can be found at quite a bargain compared with similar ones being produced today. You can purchase it new from Clash of Arms Games (if still available) for under $10 in ziplock, when purchased with other SimCan games in quantity.

Collectors Notes:

Compared to some other SimCan titles, this one is fairly easy to find at inexpensive prices from both Clash of Arms and eBay.

Boone lists low, high and average prices of 5/20/11.67 at auction and 11/ 25/18.00 for sale.

Errata: None published in the SimCan Newsletter.

Steve Newberg says:

[Battleship and Line of Battle] is really one game broken into two halves by war and the Washington Naval Arms Reduction Treaty. The zenith and the decline of the development of the line of battle ship that began with square-rigged sailing ships and ended with Iowa class battleships. The design takes no account of aircraft, it is a study of big gun and armor interaction during movement of firing platforms. To my knowledge it is still the only board game simulation to realistically account for immune zone interactions between combatants. I remain very pleased with this design, even 15 years later. Research and resolution systems from it went into some of our later computer simulations.

As an insiders joke, after the design notes in Battleship I plopped in the silhouettes of the killers of the age of the battleship: missile capable submarines and aircraft carriers. Too bad. The battleship had more majesty.