Grand Fleets Rulebook

by Daniel Kast & Kevin Smith

When I got to the ship's side, there seemed to be quite a fair crowd, and they didn't appear to be very anxious to take to the water. I called out to them, "Come on you chaps, who's coming for a swim?" Someone answered, "She will float for a long time yet," but something, I don't pretend to know what it was, seemed to be urging me to get away, so I clambered over the slimy bilge keel and fell off into the water, followed I should think by about five more men. I struck away from the ship as hard as I could and must have covered nearly fifty yards when there was a big smash, and stopping and looking round, the air seemed to be full of fragments and flying pieces.

A large piece seemed to be right above my head, and acting on impulse, I dipped under to avoid being struck, and stayed under as long as I could, and then came to the top again, and coming behind me I heard a rush of water, which looked very like surf breaking on a beach and I realized it was the suction or backwash from the ship which had just gone. I hardly had time to fill my lungs with air when it was on me. I felt it was no use struggling against it, so I let myself go for a moment or two, then I struck out, but I felt it was a losing game and remarked to myself, "What's the use of you struggling, you're done," and I actually ceased my efforts to reach the top, when a small voice seemed to say, "Dig out."

--P.O. Ernest Francis, HMS Queen Mary

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Grand Fleets is a comprehensive miniatures game of dreadnought-era naval warfare. In addition to rules for everything from ships to aeroplanes, Zeppelins to submarines, the rulebook includes:

• Data cards for over 120 ships, plus guidelines for converting any ship of the period to game values;
• Eight scenarios encompassing conflicts from the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 through the opening salvoes of World War Two, including several variants;
• Fifteen pages of weapon data, covering all major gun and torpedo models in use through 1939, over 200 aeroplanes, and more than 20 airships; and
• Optional rules for flotillas, night-fighting, smokescreens, and more!