My First Game of Victory at Sea

Last friday I had my first game of Victory at Sea (VaS) and an interesting one although I got wiped out without causing much damage to my opponent navy. VaS is a naval WWII game from Mongoose Publishing and we played it using 1:3000 scale ships from Navwar.

My collection of German ships

The game pitted a good selection of British warships against a few ships of the German Kriegsmarine. Although I unfortunately forgot the British vessels (perhaps due to the tragic memory of the devastating defeat I suffered) that won't stop me from listing the German ships used.

German list: (5 pt raid) 

• Scharnhorst
• Admiral Graf Spee
• Köningsberg
• Karlsruhe
• Z23
• Z25
• Z26

We had a third person set up the islands and then we placed our fleets.

Germans and British face off against each other near some small islands

This was my very first game so it took a bit of explaining to get the rules, however they do appear quite simple to grasp, however mastering them is another issue as I soon found out.

Three German destroyers navigate some rocky islands preparing to assault the British.

After playing some Dystopian Wars where the Prussian fleet is quite good at close range I quickly set all ahead flank and closed in on the British vessels. However, in VaS the Germans are best at a distance and once in close proximity I took a pounding from the British cannons that left me wishing that I had kept my distance.

The game in progress

The game ended after about an hour when I lost my last ship, the Admiral Graf Spee to a duo of British coastal ships and their cannons.

Even though I lost I will admit that I find the game interesting and I will certainly be trying more of this. Also according to Mongoose Publishing a new version of VaS may be coming out in the late summer/fall, something I'll be watching closely.