IJN Combined Fleet 1894-1905

Two players fight the naval battles of the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, from Pungdo in 1894 to Tsushima in 1905, under one set of rules.

One counter is one warship. One hex is 1,000 meters and one turn is ten minutes. Over a hundred ships of the Japanese, Chinese and Russian navies are included, each rated separately for firepower, range, torpedoes, armor, maximum speed and hull strength, so that ten years of warship development can be read off the counters.

The rules are short and the only die you need is a single D10: add the modifiers to the roll and read the table. What comes out of it is a fleet action that behaves like the real thing.

- Guns that cannot pierce the armor do little damage. - A ship that changes course loses her firing solution and shoots worse. - A division that loses its flagship can hardly be commanded.

Command points are limited, so each turn you choose which division gets its orders. Initiative is fought for every turn, and the side that holds it moves and fires first. That is what lets you cross the enemy's T - or lets him cross yours.

Five scenarios are included:

1. The Eve of War: Pungdo (1894) 2. Decisive Fleet Action off the Yalu (1894) 3. The Port Arthur Squadron Sorties (1904) 4. Pursuit off Ulsan (1904) 5. Decisive Battle: Tsushima (1905)

The counter sheet also holds ships that appear in none of the scenarios - Satsuma, Aki, Tsukuba and Ikoma, which did not reach the battle line in time, and Russia's newest battleships - so that players can build scenarios of their own.

Owners of the game can download the English rule book, play aid and scenario sheets, and a VASSAL module, from the publisher's website (the password is printed on the back cover).

-description from designer