War at Sea

War at Sea is a strategic board wargame depicting the naval war in the Atlantic during World War II, published by Jedko Games in 1975, and subsequently republished by Avalon Hill in 1976 and more recently by L2 Design Group in 2007.

It is also the basis for the design of the subsequent Avalon Hill game, Victory in the Pacific.

Units represented in the game are individual ships of heavy cruiser size or larger, with provisions also given for convoys, submarines (specifically 'U-Boats'), and air power. Each turn represents a period of roughly six months. The board represents the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, which are divided up into six zones. Control of as many of these zones as possible, for as many turns as possible, is the goal of the game. One player assumes the role of the Allied player, and controls the British, Soviet, and American navies. His or her opponent is the Axis player, and controls the German and Italian navies. In addition to the units representing individual ships, both players have one unit each that represents land-based airplane squadrons, and the Axis player has units that represent squadrons of U-Boats.

Ships are represented by a single counter which typically gives three factors: gunnery, armor, and speed. While these are the essential statistics for surface vessels, this system keeps them all highly abstracted, as each is just a simple number, falling within a range of 0 to 9. Aircraft carriers have a fourth factor, in this case representing the naval air-power on board. The land-based air units each represent three air attacks (against three different targets).

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Wikipedia