I have been looking for a set of WW2 naval rules for a while now ,I wanted something quick play but with some realism ,I read a couple of reviews of Naval Thunder by steel dreadnought games and took the plunge buying the main rules Battleship Row and the Bitter Rivals `Supplement .
Battleship rules contain all the rules plus fleet lists for The USA and Japan plus some scenarios for these fleets ,the Bitter Rivals introduces the fleets for Germany ,France ,the UK and Italy and again suitable scenarios plus a couple more for the US-Japan forces.The rules are only available in down load PDF's but when you buy them you get a link to a data base of printable ship cards as well . The rules are nicely laid out and seem simple to follow with movement and firing done by ship type ,battleship then cruisers then destroyers so the smaller vessels have chance to react .Aircraft and submarines are dealt with off table to represent attacks made before the surface actions which seems realistic . All die rolls are done on aD10 .
There are lots of additional rules so you can make the game as complex as you wish including crew quality ,faulty torpedoes ,smoke screens and friendly fire. I really ike the look of these and plan to get my fleets launched as soon as possible and will then do a more in depth review .
The main rule book is 67 pages including scenarios for Komandorski Islands and 2nd Guadalcanal ,you also get sheets of counters and pre printed play sheets and rostas and aircraft attack sheets and some data cards . Bitter Rivals 43 pages including scanrios for the river plate ,North Atlantic,Denmark Straights,Sink the Bismarck Barents Sea,Operation Catapult ,Calabria,Cape Spada,Cape Spartivento,Savo Island,Cape Esperance,1ST Gaudalcanaland Empress Augusta bay ,all scenarios have force lists ,maps and special rules.Again some data cards are included .