Feedback on the Fred Jane Naval Wargame

Bob Cordery 16th November 2007, on The Minatures Web Site Message Boards

There is a suggestion in John's re-print as to how to make strikers that work. The originals looked like wooden flyswatters, and would be difficult to reproduce.

When I recreated Jane's Naval War Game for the Conference of Wargamers many years ago (a session I repeated this year alongside Richard Brook's talk about Fred Jane and his work), I made mine from laminated squares of wood, with a pin eccentrically placed in each one. Players pick a striker from the box every time they 'fire' and return it to the box as soon as they have finished. They do not, therefore, get to work out where the pin point is.

I have played many naval wargames, but Fred Jane's rules are, to my mind, the best. No need to measure ranges, no need to look up complicated tables, and the effects of gunfire can be adjudicated very quickly – what else would a player want?