At 02:41 PM 1/26/96 GMT, you wrote:
>First of all, thanks to Eric for his account of an ongoing War at Sea game.
>This was my first ever wargame, and I still have a soft spot for it, as the
>wargame that you can play with non-wargamers. Great fun.
>
>Now, I remember hearing before about the War at Sea II expansion kit which
>Eric mentioned. My question to the list is: does anyone have this? Is it
>worth having? If so, do you know where I could get my hands on one?

I have War At Sea 2 (WAS2).

I liked it but the balance is not the same at all.  There are more sea zones
now and minor navies rarely mentioned in history.  Guess this game needs to
be reviewed on my webpage.  This is my next project on Skip's Wargame
Connection, do some more reviews on my games.

Back to WAS2.


SEA ZONES:
Caribbean Sea - West of and connected to N. Atlantic and S. Atlantic.
Allies - 1 POC, Axis - 3 POC  (May be entered on turns 2-8.)
Cape of Good Hope - South of S. Atlantic.  Allies - 0 POC, Axis - 3 POC
Black Sea - North of Mediterranean Sea.  Allies 1 POC, Axis - 1 POC (Turns 3-8)
Baltic Sea - Now worth only 1 POC to Allies.
Mediterranean - Now worth 3 POC to Axis

Barents Sea is worth double POC on turn 1.
North Sea is worth double POC on turn 2.
Mediterranean is worth double POC on turns 3, 5 & 7.
Allied ships may enter


PORTS:
ALLIED:
St. Petersburg - It's repair is 1 instead of 2. (Russian N. port)
Leningrad - Repair is now 2 instead of 1.
Sevastopol - Adjacent to the Black Sea with repair of 2. (Turns 3-8)
Gibraltar - Adjacent to S. Atlantic and Med with repair of 1.
Malta - Unchanged.
Greece - Adjacent to Med with repair of 1. (Turns 2-8)
Alexandria - Adjacent to Med with 1 repair.

AXIS:
Turkey - Adjacent to Med with Repair of 2.
Oran - Adjacent to Med with no repair
Germany, Italy - No change.

BOTH:
Brest - Replaces France on N. coast. May be used by Allies. (Turns 1, 7-8)
The Axis use the port Turns 2-6.
Toulon - Adjacent to Med with 2 repair. May be used by Allies. (Turn 1, 8)
The Axis use the port Turns 2-7.

NEUTRAL:
South America - Adjacent to Caribbean Sea and S. Atlantic.
Africa - Adjacent to S. Atlantic and Cape of Good Hope.

The Allied-French units may go to any Allied port but Leningrad.
Axis-French may go to any Axis port.  Anybody can go to the neutral ports
but must sortie next turn or be interned and lost.  You do not lose 1POC
anymore, you lose the ship.


Changes is rules:

POC:
The POC chart goes 12 POC either way now instead of 10.

AIR UNITS:
WAS2 Land-Base Air (LBA) units are placed differently.  The locations are
written down first.  The LBA markers are split up now.  WAS2 had one marker
for each side, now there are several counters per side which will be covered
in the Order of Battle (OOB) below.  The placement of LBA isn't as
restricted as before.  They may be placed in adjacent sea zones to a
friendly port.  Each air unit is worth two dice of combat.  German LBA
receive a +1drm against enemy ships on the first three game turns.
Airstrikes may be performed against ships that tried to move two zones,
failed and returned to port.

SHIPS:
Undamaged German ships still get a bonus in combat except for U-Boats,
Surface Raiders, Graf Zeppelin, Schliesen and Schleswigholstein.
Minor note - In WAS2 it was recommended that the British player inquire about
the Graf Zeppelin before combat to see if he could shoot at the Graf.  Now
the Axis player must state whether his carriers will fire in surface combat.
There are movement restrictions of some ships.  For example, US ships may
only enter N. Atlantic, S. Atlantic and Caribbean.  French ships are
considered Allied till the end of turn one.  You must then roll for each
ship to see if it goes over to the Allies or becomes Axis.  The chances
depend on the POC situation.  The German Oiler rule changed slightly.  Turn
one success "1-4", turn two "1-3" and turn three "1-2".

U-BOATS & SURFACE RAIDERS:
Excess U-Boat reinforcements MAY be accumulated for later use but no more
than seven can be in play at a time.  Three surface raiders start the game
in any sea zone.  They move like ships but take losses in ASW combat.  I use
the surface raiders as fodder to keep the U-Boat losses down, giving them up
before losing U-Boats.  I have a 3"x5" card with a new surface raider rule
with a date of 27 May 83.  "11.7 Surface Raiders are now a 1-0-3.  They also
have the combat 'bonus' of +1.  Enemy ships get a bonus of +1 against them."
I do not remember where this came from.

CONVOYS:
There are five convoys now.  Tiger and Torch convoys are new.  Tiger starts
in England and is headed for Alexandria in the Med.  If disabled goes to
Gibraltar, if disengaging may go to any port except Alexandria.  Torch
starts in United Stated and headed for Malta.  If disabled returns to
England, if disengaging returns to any adjacent port or England but not
Malta. There is one Axis convoy from Italy to Oran, both in the
Med.  If disabled or disengaged, it must return to Italy.  The original
three Allied convoys are worth 1 POC if they go to England instead of St.
Petersburg.

FROGMEN & X-CRAFT:
Italian Frogmen can attack any one Allied ship in the Med, Malta, Gibraltar,
Greece or Alexandria before surface combat.  It adds one to the die roll.
It may act as a U-Boat in the Med instead with a sunk or disabled destroying
it.  Frogmen may attack turn four or five.  The British X-Craft can attack
any German ship in Germany BEFORE movement.  Die effects are 1 = no effect,
2,3 = ship may not move, 4-7 is a HIT.


ORDER OF BATTLE:
{Only additions or changes listed}

BRITISH:
Start: At England, Malta, Gibraltar, or Alexandria.
CA: Berwick (1-1-7), York (1-1-7)
CV: Furious (0-1-6/2), Hermes (1-2-4/1), Argus (0-0-3/1)
LBA: Bomber Command (2-4, replacement)

FRENCH:
{There are alternates for French and German ships for folks that think some
ships aren't as good as shown in the game.  The suggested ones are listed
first.  The British must remove some ships to battle the Japanese.}
Start: Brest or Toulon.
BB: Richelieu (5-6-7 or 5-6-6 or 4-6-6), Dunkerque (4-3-7 or 3-3-6),
Strasbourg (4-3-7 or 3-3-6), Bretagne (3-3-3), Lorrain (3-3-3), Provence
(3-3-3), Courbet (2-3-3 or 3-3-3), Ocean (2-3-3), Paris (2-3-3 or 3-3-3)
CA: (all are 1-1-7) Algerie, Colbert, Dupleix, Duquesne, Foch, Suffren,
Tourville
CV: Bearn (0-1-6/1)

At the End of Turn One:
BB: Jean Bart (3-6-7 or 3-6-6 or 2-6-6)

GERMAN:
Germany:
BB: Schliesen (1-2-3 or 1-1-3), Schleswig-Holstein (1-2-3 or 1-1-3)
LBA: Luft I (replacement)

Any Sea Area:
Surface Raider: (0-0-3) Atlantis, Orion, Pinguin

ITALIAN:
Italy:
CA: (1-1-7 or 1-1-8) Bolzano, Trento, Trieste
LBA: Regia Aeronautica (2-4)


Turn Two:
BRITISH:
Convoy: Tiger 1-3-3)
LBA: 2nd AF (2-4)

GREEK:
BB: Kilkis (2-2-3), Lemnos (2-2-3)

AMERICAN:
{All American ships this turn but may only move to the Caribbean turn two
and three.}
BB: Arkansas (3-4-3)
CV: Ranger (0-1-6/4)

GERMAN:
Germany:
BB: {Alternate Bismark (4-7-6)}
LBA: Luft II (2-4)

Italy:
LBA: Luft III (2-4)

Turn Three:
BRITISH:
England:
CA: London

England or Alexandria
LBA: 1st AF (2-4)
Remove: BB (4-4-3), CV (1-2-4/1)

RUSSIAN:
Leningrad:
CA: (1-1-7) Kirov, Maksim Gorki
Sevastopol:
BB: Paris Commune (3-3-3)
CA: (1-1-7) Molotov, Voroshilov

GERMAN:
Germany:
{Alternate Tirpitz (4-7-6)}

Italy:
Convoy: Afrika Korps (1-3-3)


Turn Four:
BRITISH:
England:
CV: Indomitable (0-3-7/2)
Remove: BB (4-5-6), (3-3-6), (4-4-4), 4 x (4-4-3), CA (1-1-7), CV 2 x (0-2-7/2)

ITALIAN:
Italy:
Frogmen: (1-*-* or 3-*-* or 1-0-* or 1-0-Med)

Turn Five:
BRITISH:
England:
LBA: 8th AF (2-4)
Remove: BB (4-4-4), CV (0-2-7/2)

England or Alexandria:
9th AF (2-4)

United States:
Convoy: Torch


Turn Six:
BRITISH:
England:
X-Craft
Remove: CA 2 x (1-1-7), CV 2 x (0-2-7)

Turn Seven:
BRITISH: {from removals}
BB: 2 x (4-4-4), 2 x (4-4-3)

ITALIAN:
Italy:
CV: Aquila (0-2-6/2 or 0-3-6/2)

There are two spare British carriers counters not identified in the game.
Implacable and Indefatigable (0-3-7/2)


Skip Franklin
skip@ionet.net
Skip's Wargame Connection
http://www.ionet.net/~skip/