So, Cruel Seas, a new
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| Coming to some cornflakes near you soon??? |
The play through guides us through the familiar Bolt Action dice system used by Cruel Seas, ship movement and weapons firing. The scenario they use is one of the simpler ones suggested by the rule set and it does seem to play quite quickly, though they don't half like their dice throwing. The torpedo attack described uses a total of 17(!) dice to ascertain one hit and its effect. True, one dice to determine whether the torpedo was a dud or not but 16 for effect. All I can ask is why? I know some rules use buckets of dice (Tactica being one that I have played but I can see why, one dice per figure, you have lots of figures, therefore lots of dice) but it seems to me that the "need" for 16 dice to determine the effect of one hit is plain overkill and extremely gamey. I don't think that you need that many dice and I don't wargame purely for the dice throwing. Never have and never will.
Another observation - the lack of realism, taking this another step away from an historical wargame and more towards a fancy boardgame. Despite being 1:300th scale and a skirmish game, weapons ranges are a lot shorter than reality and the range bands are suitably "unreal". Similarly, the "advanced" rule section contains aircraft that are one shot wonders that have no mechanism for loitering. How advanced to you need to be to understand loitering fighter/bomber cover?
If it feels like I am being too hard on Cruel Seas without even playing it then maybe I am. But there are plenty of other rule sets out there that cover the same type of naval action and to greater detail and historical accuracy. Ok, you don't get pretty models with them but there are plenty of suppliers who will sort out any requirements and scale you need.
That brings me to the add on packs. You can get additional flotilla's for £18 that contains 6 ships. There are also Fleet packs containing 6 to 10 ships (some metal) and one aircraft for £65 (numbers vary depending upon which country you select). Bear in mind that in the US Fleet pack, five of the ten ships supplied are landing craft, so in effect scenery. Finally, there are the Coastal Forces for £95 (discounted from £103). They have between 12 and 16 ships and comprise of a Fleet and Flotilla pack plus a rule set. That might seem a tad pricey but that is a discount instead of buying the separate national forces and the rule set, which alone costs £20 in softback. I do, however, think they are royally taking the piss with the limited edition hardback rule set for £75!!!
The cynical part of me thinks that Cruel Seas will be the Cinderella of the wargames scene for a couple of years before fading away. You can spend a ton of money with Warlord Games or you can do a bit of research and shopping around and get something that'll do the same job for less money. And be more historically accurate. Unless it's just about the game (innit!) in which case the nice packaged boardgame Cruel Seas will do you nicely.
As for the rest of the magazine, well, it was fairly crap, the most enlightening quote being in a profile piece on The Plastic Soldier Company: "... a rule set only exists to sell your miniatures." Whilst I know a few manufacturers who would disagree with that, certainly Warlord are on it like a bonnet!
Well we T.W.AT.S. will not be bothering with that lot then. Perhaps you should share this with the FB Naval wargaming group
ReplyDeleteAn excellent review. I was quite taken by the idea of WW2 coastal forces games but I agree this bunch of stuff looks like another shallow poorly researched and unrealistic money spinner launched in the lead up to Xmas . Re the quote Warlord are only interested in rules and stuff that support the figures they make. I offered to write a French Revolutionary Wars supplement for BP and was told they had no interest in it and who games that rubbish anyway I read between the lines.
ReplyDeleteThank you. That doesn’t surprise, to be honest. Their loss.
DeleteCruel Sea's.... hmmm.. Travel Battle anyone.. yeah, where did that go too..
ReplyDeleteExactly. And my thoughts on that weren’t too kind to it either...
DeleteThat was my thought on reading this. I wrote on Andy's blog that, as an exercise, I managed to cobble a travel battle together using better kit for less money. I'm sure I could do miles better than this too. As an aside, my Great Uncle Albert commanded an MTB in the war (yes: Albert RN!) and I detect the rumblings of rapid underground rotation....
DeleteIt got the itch going until they said 1/300 MTBs and I saw the heavily cluttered demo tables.
ReplyDeleteSo what do you recommend for coastal forces rules?
I would recommend Action Stations by A&A Game Engineering. They’re decent and can handle a bit of tinkering. They also do modern coastal rules under the guise of Bulldogs Away which are quite neat too.
DeleteFor Models try the Skytrex range in 1/600 they are the ones I used to have Heroics and Ros now seem to have the range
DeleteFree market...don't buy if you don't like (rules or magazines). But do consider that folks buying this and then getting really interested (in the way that you are) helps justify the costs for manufacturers you like!
ReplyDeleteFree market indeed, but I am allowed my opinion and to be able to express it. I do wonder if your assertion is right though. I know quite a few manufacturers and have attended more than a few shows in the last twenty years. I honestly have never heard of anyone picking up a period after playing a lightweight game such as Cruel Seas. Most comments have been centered on "It's the game, innit" line of thought. I'm not saying you're wrong, just never heard of it when speaking to people at shows.
DeleteNot entirely sure I agree that something like CR is even meant as introductory level- at least not to the period. The mag piece and "freebie" are meant as a wallet catcher to induct people into their game rather than the period in general. In the general games market there is nothing wrong with that idea. Historical Wargaming used to be a bit different in the it contained the word historical ie somewhat pertaining to history. In many cases this is no longer true does that mean that for those of us who would prefer that it still have some validity should be silenced upon the altar of your commercial preferences
DeleteNot my commercial preferences, rather, as I suspect you well know, a not huge market with fine margins. I'm unlikely to buy Cruel Seas, although I might buy it for nephews currently immersed in X-Wing if they showed an interest. Looking at the Warlord website, I'm struck by how expensive it is. Heaven help us if they introduce models for Corvettes or Destroyers! Expensive or not though, I don't really see why this would not fit into a definition of historical wargames?
DeleteExpensive it certainly is and the cynic in me thinks this is just to keep the game designers and manufacturers in beer and butties until then "Next Big Thing".
DeleteAs for historical, I have seen this put in two different ways, but I am sure there are many shades of grey out there:
"There is a bit too much gameing in Historical Gaming" and "There is a bit too much history in Historical Gaming". Neither side is right, just down to personal preference. For me, it's history first, gaming coming a poor second, hence my cynicism for something like Cruel Seas and Team Yankee (which led to the ongoing project to make them a bit more realistic).
Absolutely... if we were to strip free expression from wargaming, or indeed blogging, it would be a pretty dull world. There should be a balance point though, or maybe better expressed as a 'stop asking the world to conform to my point of view' point. I mean this mainly in the context of wargame magazines, though it applies to rules too. so, for example, when I started wargaming (early 80's) I bought magazines compulsively. Then I stopped. Why? Because the magazines became less interesting, and more obviously just vehicles for adverts. (this is not unique to wargaming.) Instead, I started reading blogs.. the best blogs, to me, are those where someone shares what they love about the topic (I read good cooking and gardening blogs in addition to the wargaming ones). Blogs that just bash.. the rules, the magazine content, the current fad for asters, anyone who has ever used truffle oil in any context, 'millenials', 'the yoof', get to be a bit dull. You obviously enjoy wargaming... so why not write about what you enjoy?
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point and I agree with you about the content of blogs, though I still do purchase a couple of videogaming magazines just for a bit of flavour.
DeleteAs you may have seen from some of my posts, I do write about what I enjoy. Yeah, I bash Team Yankee a fair bit but only from the point of view that says you can change the rules if you want. The amendments that keep creeping might not be in the spirit of the original game but the core mechanics are there and my additions just add some seasoning. A quick click on the wargaming tag will give you some more rule reviews and the like.
The Cruel Seas post was partially a bashing and partially a bullshit call. It's another move away from the (maybe old school) approach of buying your rules, getting a army or two together and thinking your way to a game on the table. A pre-packaged set (hence the dig at the boardgame format) merely enforces the impression that it's a one stop shop for all you'll ever need, until the inevitable expansions.
I would like to add though, thank you for the comments, I have enjoyed this.
me too - thanks for your patience, and I'll look forward to reading about stuff you enjoy!
DeleteI use Truffle oil once in a while- also Balsamic Vinegar and sun dried tomatoes !
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