HPS Jutland Game - Thumbs Up!

[von Nev]

This may be a little off topic but HPS publishes Jutland so I thought I would post it here.

I pulled out "Jutland" and installed it a couple of days ago. It was one of the several games that I won in the raffle at Tiller Con I last year (which reminds me - please remember to check out Tiller Con II).

Just wanted to say that the game really is well done and a welcomed break from the land battles including the recent playtest of M44. As you may know, Jutland was the great WWI naval battle between the Brits and the Germans fought in the North Sea west of the area of Danish Jutland.

I picked up the interface very quickly after doing the starter scenario a couple of times. The AI gives a very good account of itself. The game is in real time (that you can pause or speed up) that shows individual ships, gunfire, torpedoes, smoke screen effects. You can give individual orders to ships determining speed, direction, smoke screens. As you can imagine, you win or lose by getting the fleets well positioned to do the most damage (and take the least) but there is an opportunity for individual ships like torpedo boats or destroyers to make a difference. Last night I had a torpedo boat rush a lumbering British battleship squadron and it sank one and forced the other battleships to turn away. The torpedo boat was sunk too but it allowed the slower German Grand fleet to escape into the night. Overall, the real time aspect and FOW makes for very tense naval battles as the two fleets collide and sling lead at eachother in the fading hours of the day. I really enjoyed the game.

For those that like the land games think of the battleships as big, BIG tanks. ;)

Fully recommend Jutland as a break or to try something different.

Two thumbs up!

Marty