Command at Sea 1981

MetaHistory #3 - A set of naval miniatures rules. From the packaging:

Command At Sea is a scale simulation of naval battles. Units are single ships. Each ship is defined by its guns, compartments and combat factors. You play by acting as commander of a ship or task group with a mission. You plat the moves, you fire the guns, you assess the damage. And it is all to actual 1/4800 scale.

Command At Sea is not a board game; it is played on the floor. It is as close to real fighting ships as you can get and not be blasted. The scenarios provided are for 3 battles of Savo Island near Guadalcanal in WWII. If you love the big ships or haven't experienced naval miniatures play you won't want to miss Command At Sea.

Level: Very advanced play for 2 or more Ages 18 and up Playability: Complex learning, rapid play system. 3-8 hours playtime Components: 24 ship counters, rules, 20 ship data charts, 20 ship command plots, 4 turn gauges and damage tables.

The base game contains ship information for the US Northhampton Class CA, The New Orleans Class CA, The Atlanta Class CL, Begley Class DD, Benham Class DD and Benson Class DD. The Japanese contain the Iakao Class CA, Furutaka Class CA, Aoba Class CA, Tenryu Class CL, Yubari Class CL, Kamikaze Class DD. Two British Classes are represented the Kent Class CA and the Leander Class CL.

Three Scenarios are included: The Duel (One on One), The Ambush and Savo Island.

Somewhat unique to the game is the requirement to use range estimation to determine to hit targets. An errata sheet was published that is required to play the game. The scale of the game is 1 Inch = 400 feet. This makes for a rather large playing area.

The Design notes indicate that the publisher planned to release fleet packs. To my knowledge none were ever released. The game is limited to the pacific theater of operations around Salvo Island.

This game is NOT related to Command at Sea published by Clash of Arms and later the Admiral Trilogy Group.