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There is no Naval Competition fought at the RAFWA Championships, yet this is a universally popular genre around our clubs at unit level. Warring with ships can be very absorbing and satisfying, but the detail seen on the table top, in an average club game, would look empty and dull. However, the possibilities are tremendous. We have seen Ancient galleys using ramming tactics, Renaissance galleys adding gunpowder to the formula, and Napoleonic fleets in full sail, re-fighting Camperdown and Trafalgar.

World War 1 juggernauts at Jutland are popular in 1:3000 scale, then the choices blossom with the WW 2 fleets available in that scale. Pacific actions between USA and Japan signal the end of the Battleship’s supremacy with battles featuring the new naval super weapon, the aircraft carrier.

Modern ship actions are slightly spoiled by the advent of the guided missile, but then submarine games come into the picture, where the opponents only see a chart and the umpire, as he carries info back and forth (until that unexpected homing torpedo finishes off your evening’s entertainment).
As the choices of period dwindle, the trend at some clubs now is to fill in between periods. For instance, fighting river actions from the American Civil War, using the earliest steamships and the first subs is popular. Inshore Patrol Craft and Motor Torpedo Boats of WW 2 in a larger scale of 1:600 are always fun games. The “Brown Water Navy” of the US in Vietnam provides interesting scenarios.

One of the clubs has presented a well-modelled and acclaimed game involving a large pirate ship moored in a tropical lagoon at a Caribbean island, complete with smoking volcano and lots of scurvy low-down dirty dogs (25mm scale) to go searching for the treasure!

This genre offers so much scope, is so cheap to make a start in, and is easy to set up. I can feel another game brewing. Set the mizzen, Mr Christian……