Jutland: Fleet Admiral II

The original Fleet Admiral was designed in the mid-1980’s by Jack Greene while running Quarterdeck Games, a small part-time vanity press producing cardboard and paper war-games. The game is a highly-sought after collector's item on ebay; commanding top dollar. Fast-forward to today, and Consim Press is collaborating with Jack Greene on an all-new game to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Battle of Jutland. This game will represent a major step forward in WWI naval warfare, along with high production value (without breaking the bank like the ebay collector's item). Jack Greene was approached three times between 1990 and 2010 on producing the game professionally with a full print run. Now it is to be published by Consim Press. It is occurring now because over the past two years, Jack had an epiphany in approaching the game design. This is an example where historical research led Jack to eliminate player actions that hampered play and to change various values in the ship roster sheets and combat tables (used for resolving combat) to better reflect this deeper understanding of naval combat between Great Britain and Germany in the 1914-16 period. This game project has roots going back to the mid-80’s with Quarterdeck Games publishing about 135 amateur production FLEET ADMIRAL games (1987) and would result in the spin-offs of TSUSHIMA (S&T #130 – 1989) & TOGO: Dawn of the Dreadnoughts (2018). Heavily modified since these earlier games, JUTLAND: Fleet Admiral results in a tight view of naval combat between the British and German fleets in 1914-1916. It represents years of research and years of playtesting. This is truly a simulation, and not a “game”, yet remains very PLAYABLE. Players may make this simulation as complex and accurate as they wish, or, alternatively, they can be playing a large action in just a couple of turns of watching the game being played. The 18 scenarios allow players to spend 30 minutes to many hours of play. The large fleet actions are best played with several players on both sides. JUTLAND: Fleet Admiral is the ultimate battleship simulation. This game has consumed hundreds of hours of design effort spread over years; and decades of research and study. JUTLAND: Fleet Admiral was conceived as a game that allows for realistic yet playable surface combat in the Battle of Jutland era. The concept was to design a big game that would give one the sense of the grandeur and scope of the largest surface battle ever fought on this planet and yet not load one down with needless detail. Certain liberties and abstractions have been taken to achieve the overall design goal, but I believe you will find that any sacrifices in the name of playability have been the correct ones. One of the greatest arms races in history was a primary cause of war in August of 1914. Ships would see action in every corner of the world. It was a war fought by two of the most highly trained navies in history. The Officers and Sailors of these two fleets had worked for years at honing their skills to an unimaginable extent. Both would offer up surprises to the other in the course of the war. But it also must be placed in a context where the vast majority of sailors of both nations, when they came onboard a warship, would find them working with tools and equipment that were new to them, and new to the modern world of 1914. The turbine, the radio, the telephone, powerful long-range “heater” torpedoes – all equipment that had been recently invented and perfected and was not to be found back on the farm or often not in the part of the cities where many of these men grew up. But JUTLAND: Fleet Admiral does not stop there. Also included are a number of possible hypothetical actions, carefully researched for 1914/1915. Product Information: Complexity: Medium-High Playing time: 30 minutes to many hours Solitaire Suitability: MEDIUM Players: 1-9 Map Scale: 1000 Yards/hex Time Scale: 1 Turn = 6 minutes Unit Scale: Individual counters for light cruisers & larger, submarines, aircraft & Zeppelins. Destroyers & Torpedo-boats are flotilla divisions or 1/2 flotillas Game Components: Six Maps (3 are 22″ x 34″, 3 are 1/2 maps 17″ x 22″) 3 3/4″x1/2″ Ship Counter Sheets (with both silhouette and birds-eye view ship counters) 1 5/8″x5/8″ Flotilla Counter Sheet 1 1/2″x1/2″ Marker Counter Sheet 1 Rulebook (88 pages with BIG print) 1 Scenario Booklet 1 Designer’s Notes Booklet 2 Sets of Scenario Roster Sheets 1 Set of Scenario Setup Cards 13 Player Aid Cards, with some duplicates (3) 1 Expanded Sequence of Play card 2 Different Colored 10 Sided Dice and 6 Sided Dice Box and Lid set —description from the publisher