The First Naval Wargame I Ever Played

[Pendrake]

...came from this book:



 I wondered if anyone else has a copy of this now long Out Of Print volume -and- I wondered what were other folks first naval wargame(s)?

[Landlubber]

Other than Battleship, DW is my first naval wargame.  But it's also my first tabletop wargame.

Unless you count first edition Axis & Allies, since I usually played the Allies and was therefore involved in brutal naval warfare with the Japanese.

[MadDrB]

I remember a game I played on the floor with plastic battleships fitted with rubber-band triggered turrets and bridges.  There was a submarine piece which launched plastic discs across the floor, and if the disc slid into a slot along the "waterline" of a battleship then the appropriate piece (turret or bridge) would spring into the air.

But when I was older, in junior high, my first naval game was Harpoon, with all those cardboard counters and rules about ASW and ship-to-ship missiles.  Only after that did I get into games like Wooden Ships & Iron Men, etc.

[Pendrake]

I remember a game I played on the floor with plastic battleships fitted with rubber-band triggered turrets and bridges.  There was a submarine piece which launched plastic discs across the floor, and if the disc slid into a slot along the "waterline" of a battleship then the appropriate piece (turret or bridge) would spring into the air.

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2457/torpedo-run [?]

[MadDrB]

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2457/torpedo-run [?]

That's the one!  I had forgotten the name completely, but I remember those model ships!  The box was huge, and it was kept propped up against the wall behind a closet door.

At some point I must have played BattleShip, but it didn't leave the same impression on me as launching red plastic discs across the floor and triggering battleship turrets to actually fly up in the air.  I wonder why....

I looked at the different editions of Harpoon on BoardGameGeek, and I'm wondering if it was Harpoon 3 that I played--I see 2, which was too early for me, and 4, which didn't come out until 1997.  Of course, I could have been playing the older one--it was owned by a friend, so I don't remember.

I didn't really get serious about naval wargaming until I picked up Wooden Ships, after college, and then I picked up the Ironclads series and have played the range of games from severe conflict simulations to fun tabletop games (in my middle age I find myself preferring the latter).  But it was Torpedo Run that really captured my imagination, especially after watching some episodes of the Victory at Sea documentary series.

[Landlubber]

Torpedo Run!  I remember that game.  Never played it--was too busy with Lincoln logs and Legos--but I do remember the commercials.

About 10 years ago, my mom got my brother and I Electronic Battleship for Christmas...when one of your ships is sunk, you get sprayed with water by a nozzle at the top of the display.  I thought it was a funny touch.

[Ruckdog]

My first naval war game was also my first tabletop game. For me, it was Battlefleet Gothic. I did play a bit of Axis & Allies on the PC, which also inspired me to adopt a ruleset I could use with my military Micomachines on a 4'x8' setup in my parents basement. However, while this had a naval component to it, I'm not sure it qualifies as a full-fledged naval game .

[Pendrake]

My Battlefleet Gothic  story...

I was on my way to a Historical Wargames Convention. Driving. I stopped off at a (now closed ) FLGS and wandered in for a look around. I found a big box of blue-lined (prices slashed) minis blisters in the back. Of course I had to dig.

There were a bunch of Orkfleet BFG blisters all marked down to $0.59 per blister. I knew nothing about BFG but I liked the look of the small ships and thought I might use them for Sky Galleons of Mars as crude Martian ships. I scarfed up all they had except the big giant Kroozers. There were a couple of those in the bin and I left them behind.

So I go to the con, and I sign up for a Space Battle game (I like Space Opera) which was, surprise, surprise, BFG. And I had a blast. I got to run some imperial cruisers and the opposition was a big Ork Fleet. (Very much like what I had just purchased in raw metal.)

It was a fun scenario. There was an Ork Hulk orbiting a planet, an Ork Fleet closing in, a ground battle going on inside the Hulk (Orcs vrs. Ultramarine Terminators), another ground battle happening on the Planet and these scenarios were all linked. (The other two battles were being fought in 28mm on nearby tables.) The high point (for me) was zipping a cruiser into low orbit to make a firing pass on the planet-side orks (this counted as an orbital bombardment on the 28mm table). Good times and I got to play in other games that evening.

So the next day I high-tailed it back to that FLGS but the Kroozers were GONE....

[frpat]

My first naval game was back in the mid 70s with my brother and a couple of friends. Fletcher Pratt's naval rules, 1:600 Airfix ships - and a scout hall floor as a playing surface. Great fun!

[Ruckdog]

Sounds like it! What era were the ships from?

[Camthalion]

I think the first naval game I ever played was man o'war.

[Ruckdog]

I think the first naval game I ever played was man o'war.

You know, I've heard a lot about this game. One of these days I'm going to have to track down a copy of the rules.

[frpat]

Sounds like it! What era were the ships from?

We used WWII only - I remember someone found a model of the Yamato that seemed to be pretty close to 1:600 (can't remember the company that made it) - there were even grandioseplans to convert on into the Shinano!