From: Brian McCue Subject: Shot and Shell, brief description Like Ironclads, 3W's Shot and Shell strongly resembles Wooden Ships and Iron men, except for Civil-War-era steamships. You plot movement by writing orders, move (this is a simultaneous-move game), and blaze away. Hits erode armor (if any) and eventually start damaging the ships' innards. Ships can also flood and catch fire. Fires can be fought, but tend to grow and eventually do lots of damage. There are also critical hits. If you don't like shooting the enemy, you can try ramming. This is a lot of fun (there's an impulse-movement table to facilitate it) but, as in real life, it's hard to ram anything that's not dead in the water or moving very slowly. (Adding to the fun is the fact that even the water may not be dead in the water--there are currents.) There are land fortifications in this system and I'm pretty sure Shot and Shell has some of them. These games play fairly easily, and the written orders and simultaneous moves mean that you don't spend a lot of time waiting for something to happen. The gunfire is far more accurate than was historically the case, so the ships start to take damage relatively promptly. The only down side is that some people don't like written orders. Also, because much of the game's interest and excitement derive from outguessing the enemy, solitaire play is much less fun than playing against other people. A big advantage is that almost any number can play, by (realistically) dividing the ships up among the players. Ideally, each player would get one ship, and there would be no communication after the game starts. For what it's worth, I enjoy Ironclads (and, equivalently, Shot and Shell) a great deal. Brian McCue bmccue@ota.gov