Missile Boat: Tactical Combat On, Over, and Beneath the Sea, 1964-1984
Rand Game Associates (1974)
Designer not credited

Components
Players 1 or 2
Period Modern
Scale Tactical
Turn 6 minutes
Terrain 1 nautical mile
Unit individual vessel or aircraft

Components
Box shrinkwrapped
1 17"x24" unmounted mapsheet
72 die-cut counters
1 rules folder
1 charts and tables sheet

Also Required
Universal Command Series Equipment: Universal Turn Recorder, TAC Cards, 6-sided die.

Counter Manifest
8 ships (4 gray, 4 green)
8 helicopters
6 airplanes
2 submarines
8 forward gunnery
8 after gunnery
8 missiles
8 EW rating
8 movement allowance
8 hull rating

Rand says

“[R]ecreates the conditions of present day naval warfare. The subject matter is that of tomorrow’s headlines, not of history books. Using the capacities and weapons of the actual ships, players can explore the fascinating ramifications of modern naval fighting.

Two players each take the role of a commander -- American, Israeli, Egyptian, Chinese, or one of the dozens of nationalities ... to refight the naval battles of tomorrow, today.”

The reviewer says

“Rand Games, a whole subunit of the hobby of game collecting. They produced two lines of subscription games, the first [nine] folio sized and the next series full sized ... They did an excellent Cambrai 1917 game in their first series, as well as the classic Missile Boat, still the best simulation of small ship missile combat in the hobby, with extensive historical scenarios, a campaign system, and a ship construction system sufficient to allow you to design helicopter carriers if you wanted to ... Fast Attack Boats, Raketny Kreyser, Modern Naval Battles and some of the Fleet Series scenarios are the only competition Missile Boat has.

Considering it covers modern individual surface to surface, surface to air, air to surface, torpedo and ASW combat, it’s amazing someone hasn’t tried to do another and better game on the topic.” Larry Marak in the ConsimWorld discussion boards, as archived at Web Grognards.

Comments

A lot of game in a small package. Low rules density and straightforward mechanics promise a fast and fun game. The scenarios are small engagements with no more than three vessels on a side. Statistics are given for 59 vessels (missile boats, destroyers, submarines, merchant ships, etc.), 10 SSM’s, nine SAM’s and six ASW weapons.

If you don’t own the Universal Command Series Equipment, you can easily improvise. The TAC Cards are two sets of six numbered cards (from 1 to 6). A turn record track with around 30 spaces will take the place of the Universal Turn Recorder.

Collector’s Notes

A lesser known title that is not frequently seen. Boone 4th lists low/high/average auction prices of 10/18/14. In Boone 3rd, auction prices were 5/15/9 and sale listings were 7/40/18.

The other folio subscription games from Rand

Cambrai 1917; Invasion - Sicily; Lee vs. Meade; Napoleon’s Last Campaigns; Omaha Beach; Rommel - The War for North Africa; Saratoga 1777; War of the Worlds II.

Capsule Profiles:

Mad Monks and Relics
Merc
MiG Killers and Expansion Kit
Missile Boat
Mission Aloft
Mythology