OUT OF MOTHBALLS

SALVO! Battleship Combat, 1939 - 1945 by MICHAEL SMITH

from 3W, Inc.

One 24" X 19" map; 200 Counters; Rules Booklet W/charts, 2 six-sided dice. Published by 3W Inc, P.O. Box 155, Cambria CA 93428. $28.

Reviewed by DAVID SCHUELER

The pinnacle of modern battleship construction was reached during World War II with the Iowa and Yamato classes. In the early 80's the U.S. Navy, looking to save time and money, returned the modernized Iowa class to service. 3W Inc., never one to buy a new tire when a retread will do, has taken a page from the Navy's notebook with the release of Salvo!, a game which appears to be nothing more than a modernized version of the

SPI's 20-year old Dreadnought. On the other hand, Salvo! is about what it purports to be, and at least Grind-'em-out Keith and the Hasheesh Art Department hasn't totally screwed it up.

One has learned to have minimal expectations when opening a 3W game box, and while those minimums were met, I certainly didn't expect what I got. The four color map, which tries to depict four different land masses and open sea resembles nothing more than something my 3 year old niece would have done with a box of crayons. The main problem is that it tries to be everything and ends up being nothing, unless you consider a mess being "something". After resisting the urge to hang the map on the refrigerator - the Gallery for all Crayola Art - I took a deep breath and a quick glance at that bête noir of all 3W games, the counters.

Most of Salvo's counters (133 out of 200) are informational markers, showing speed/heading, damage, ship main battery targets and several other odds and ends (including an air strike marker!). Each ship counter represents 1 battleship, 1 heavy cruiser, 2 light cruisers, or 5 destroyers, and each sports a silhouette of the ship class that the counter represents. The cruiser and destroyer counters represent generic ships from either the Axis or Allied navies and are collectively referred to as "screening units". Most of the counters are actually clear and easy to read, but the black printing on the dark blue, British counters and dark green US counters is difficult to read under the best of conditions. Conversely, the battleship counters are color-coded for the nation they are from, while the screening units are colored for either the Axis or Allied side. Overall, and for 3W this is something of a break-through, the counters look good and do include most of the different battleships that fought during World War II.

The rules booklet is easy to read and well edited (Ed. Be still my heart!!), explaining the rules by following the turn sequence. Beginners and old hands should pick up the system easily and be ready to play a scenario in less than an hour. There are 10 scenarios, arranged in historical order, covering every important battleship action (actual and hypothetical) in World War II, from the British bombardment of the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir to a hypothetical battle between the Yamato and the Iowa. These provide a wide diversity of actions from the Pacific, Atlantic, and Mediterranean theaters.

The turn sequence is a basic, sight/shoot/move type sequence, with a damage control phase thrown in at the end of the turn. It will be completely familiar to anyone who has played SPI's Dreadnought. During the sighting portion of the turn players determine advantage (which is rather easy, if rigidly mechanical, since players simply alternate disadvantaged and advantaged status each turn), and see if their ships are within sighting range of each other. This range is determined by adding a die roll to a base visibility number given in the scenario rules.

Once sighting is done gunfire attacks and torpedo attacks are carried out, which designer Smith handles with informational counters. Main battery markers are now used to show gunfire targets, and these are placed first by the disadvantaged player then the advantaged player. It doesn't take long to figure out that the map is going to have a lot of markers in a fairly short time. One of the factors to consider before plunking down your Poulter-bound bucks is whether or not you can abide this sort of clutter.

Once the battery markers are in place, gunfire is executed in any order … with the results taking effect simultaneously. The gunfire system is pretty much straight out of Dreadnought with damage restricted to two, rather abstract categories of hits: weapons or speed. But fear not, damage can be repaired in the damage control phase at the end of the turn. If a unit takes three hits on each system it sinks, although a ship may also be sunk by a lucky shot ( à la HMS Hood - which can be an extremely irritating occurrence when it happens to you) or a high-odds attack. After gunfire, we get torpedo attacks, the system for which is different from - and simpler than, that in Dreadnought .

Now that the death and destruction portion of the turn is complete, the ships are ready to be moved, after which the game turn ends with each player rolling on the damage control table for damage repair. The damage control system, like the systems that produce the damage, is very abstract ,and the game actually gives you a pretty good chance to repair at least some of the damage you have received (50% chance to repair a weapons hit, 33% chance to repair a speed hit). In addition to this fairly basic, chart-heavy but easy to learn system, there are also optional rules for crew quality, radar, mines, shore batteries, flagships, and command control.

Salvo! uses a solid, simple system which provides a relatively fast playing game with some interesting scenarios. For some, the lack of paperwork will improve the playability of the game, but others may object to the large stacks of informational markers that seem to get in the way (especially if you have more than one unit in a hex). Prospective consumers must also realize that the amount of abstraction necessary to make the game easy to play does eviscerate much of the flavor of naval combat. You want extra chrome? Then you want a different, more complex game. The ultimate impression is that of having bought a magazine game… but without the magazine, and for twice the price.

CAPSULE COMMENTS:

Graphic Presentation: Adequate, better than the usual 3W fiascoes, but still, a mite heavy on the Crayolas.

Playability: Good, the system works well without the use of the paperwork normally seen in games of this type. The rules are well written and should be easily understood by beginners as well as veteran gamers. Playing time runs from 1 - 3 hours, depending on the scenario.

Replayability: Fair. The system is not that stimulating, but the game does include 10 different scenarios.

Historicity: For the level of simulation covered, Good! However, a lot of the battleship differences and distinctions are lost in the generalization of combat strengths.

Creativity: Rather passée.

Comparisons: Salvo! closely resembles two rather aged games: SPI's Dreadnought and Battlewagon, from Task Force Games. Both of these give a much wider coverage of the subject by including battleships from WWI through WWII. The 2nd edition of Battlewagon also allows you to recreate cruiser and destroyer actions, which neither Salvo! nor Dreadnought do. Other than that, they're all three peas in a pod.

Overall: Fair to Good, depending on your interest in the subject. For the uninitiated, not a bad introduction to naval games. For most, though, the limited scope (1939 - 1945) and relatively high price ($28) make it a game only for naval aficionados, who will probably have another system they like better. Had the game included a more extensive coverage, say from WWI on, it would have been an interesting purchase. 3W, however, has opted to suck you into Salvo II for that one.