“As I was crossing the compass platform the captain hailed me, not with the usual rigmarole of 'Enemy in sight, bearing, etc', but with 'There's the fucking Scheer! Open fire at her!'… But the name of the enemy ship was of course the Graf Spee.”
– Lieutenant-Commander Richard Jennings, HMS Exeter's gunnery officer during the Battle of the River Plate
Heroic quotes are overrated, focussing too much on the individual or on the big picture. I sometimes feel the same about naval wargames. They are either so sweepingly huge that the tactical battles aren't as fun, or they are so granular that five minutes of combat takes an hour to simulate.
There's The Effing Scheer is my attempt to create an exciting game that doesn't devour your time.
You have half a dozen or less models per side.
Terrain isn't really a worry.
You just need a tape measure, a ruler and some 12-sided dice. Plus this ruleset.
Realistic accuracy and damage (though luck is always a reliably unreliable factor).
Small battles won't last an hour of your time. Even large engagements should be finished in under a few hours.
Historical design decisions are built into the rule mechanics, e.g. the rate of fire of 6" shells over 8" shells means they hit smaller targets more easily, but won't pack as much of a punch against cruisers.
Launching torpedoes, firing, critical hits, changing formation and more are all simplified to speed up play time. Your subordinates are professionals after all.
Critical damage such as loss of power, damaged fire control, fires and magazine explosions are all possible (but not encouraged, unless on your opponent's ships).
Advanced rules cover collisions, night battles, Long Lance torpedoes and more.
Six starter scenarios set across the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Pacific.
Open architecture. How I designed these rules is shown in the Appendix if you fancy constructing scenarios of your own for the miniatures in your collection.
Overall, if you want a game which isn't going to take up all of your time, give realistic-ish results and allow you to roll some dice with friends as you refight the early naval engagements of World War 2, look no further.
—description from the designer
Book, Miniatures, Nautical, Wargame, World War II · Dice Rolling, Measurement Movement, Simulation
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