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Naval Gaming

Our club definitely loves naval games, but the interest ebbs and flows through the years. We've tried a number of rules, from Heart of Oak all the way through Harpoon 4. Surprisingly, we've run very few campaigns for naval wargames, but we have done some very large historical battles over the years, including one set in early 1942 in the pacific that had over twelve players! Our love for complexity and sometimes simpler games also shows itself during these periods as we fluctuate from rules such as the Command at Sea series all the way to the Trafalgar rules for age of sail games. One thing is for certain, however, is that if a naval game comes up for a vote, there's never any shortage of players or interest in the period.

We'll Play Anything Once...

 

A Large Number of Varied Interests

With most of us having been in the hobby for well over three decades it would be safe to assume that we've played a lot of different games! This trend continues to this day as we try to play many things that don't always get top billing here at our web site or on game nights. This could be a 1/6000th WW1 naval battle, a French & Indian skirmish, a 28mm 30YW battle, or any number of other periods that members have rules, figures, and terrain for. With so many varied interests, ranging from Dark Ages skirmish to science fiction, the group has a wide assortment of games that we can put on. As the years have gone by we usually focus on the periods highlighted on this web site, but we do try the occasional obscure period from time to time. Naturally, this changes as often as our collections and interests do! In the past we've had armies for Teutonic knights against Mongols, Warmaster Fantasy, several factions for Warmachine, ran large campaigns for Harpoon 4, played our share of WH40K, and had massive armies for Adeptus Titanicus and 40K Epic. Interests wane, collections get sold off, and then the money gets plunged into a new period. The one rule that we've always had is that for a period to get featured on game night there must be enough stuff so that the entire group can play. This does tend to curb the obscure periods that some of us are into, so they get worked on individually or in small numbers until they're ready for a club game night. This also has the tendency to curtail the crazier ideas we've often had, so in the end this is one of the best policies we've designed!

More Periods

With so many varied interests in the group you would expect there to be just as many plans for upcoming projects and you would be right. We already have large forces in 28mm for the 30YW, are looking at some Dark Ages forces for Saga, a desire to get back into the ECW, sci-fi ground combat, a few of us are interested in Mexican-American War, and we're always interested in a good fantasy combat system. As always, there are far more ideas than we have money or time, which is what in the end helps to control our gaming urges! With the large amount of rules, figures, terrain, etc., coming out for so many periods, I expect this trend to continue as a big part of the gaming hobby is thinking about new projects.