Passed Inspection: Great historical depth. Over 50 scenarios representing fleets from every possible nation. Game play is smooth and steam-lined

Failed Basic: Tactical battles lose some of the period flavor by ignoring the role of formations. Linear combat

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Jutland, the monster naval battle of World War I, was the pivotal, steel fisted round in the heavy-weight title match between the champion, Britain’s Royal Navy, and the upstart contender, the German Kriegsmarine. It is this May 1916 slugfest that lends its name to Avalanche Press’ latest board game in The Great War at Sea series; Jutland, War in the North Sea and Baltic, 1914 – 1918. While the game certainly has the player lace up their gloves for the famous battles like Dogger Bank, Helgoland, and game’s namesake, there is so much more in this weighty box. The players are given a ring-side seat for a full blow-by-blow account of each and every battle actually fought, or that could have been fought, in the North Sea and Baltic. The game presents a cornucopia of diverse scenarios representing actions that involve not just the British and German navies, but the Swedish, Dutch, Danish, French, American and Russian fleets as well. All of this is presented in a high quality package, with a well conceived rule set that is less about mechanics, and more about fun game play.

The Great War at Sea series is a naval board game rule set that sits snuggly between grand strategy, and detailed tactical combat. Jutland plays out on a colorful strategic map of the North Sea and Baltic. On this map, players plot the path of fleet markers that represent, submarines, zeppelins, aircraft, minor ships and groupings of up to 50 capital ships. Movement, once plotted, is conducted simultaneously over a turn representing four hours of real time. When two fleets spot each other, a tactical battle ensues.

Tactical battles are where the real fun of Jutland lives. For large scenarios, where each side might have 40-50 ships in a fleet, a shortened basic combat system is available. In this basic system, each player fires their ships at the opposition based on the overall range of the opposing fleets; long or short. Each ship is rated for primary, secondary, tertiary guns and torpedo mounts. A simple gunfire system allows players to quickly fire, then record damage on the targets based on type of gun firing. Ships are rated for armor type, and relative ability to take damage. Advanced combat adds a hex based tactical map, where ship speed and range of individual ships play an important role.

The game is stream-lined enough so that even large battles like Jutland itself can be played within the course of a few hours. This is a wise design choice as it allows the game to go back and forth between the strategic and tactical games with ease. At the same time, the game provides enough detail so that historical nuances become important elements in game play; the fact that German battle cruisers are able to take far more punishment than their British counter-parts, as an example. But because the tactical rules are abbreviated, players who want to plot shell fall patterns, turning radiuses and chase salvoes are certainly going to crave more detail.

While the rules for tactical battles are optimized for fast play and minimum record keeping, results still feel very historical. In one Dogger Bank scenario, concentrated German long range fire on the BC Lion yielded enough damage to slow Lion down to a crawl. The German BCs, with superior accuracy, quickly diced Lion up, while the remaining British ships scampered away to fight another day; but not before they pounded the AC Blucher into a watery grave. This is very close to actual historical result.

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