It all started one day when I dusted down an old copy of "Victory in the Pacific", an old but fairly reputable Avalon Hill board game giving a simple Naval campaign of the Pacific War going from 1941 (Pearl Harbour) to 1945 (if the Japanese Player lasts that long or hasn't won in 1943).
Rather than use the game's tactical battle system (which is sound but simplistic in flavour) I thought the board game would be an excellent mechanism for generating hypothetical but yet plausible GQII battles. Argh, I sighed wouldn't it be nice to include the other side of the world too. The North and South Atlantic, Arctic Convoys and the Mediterranean. I already have the relevant fleets for these campaign areas. I knew there was a prequel Avalon Hill game to this called "Victory at Sea" covering all this, but where to get a copy?
The E-bay copies I saw were annoyingly expensive.
Then wandering lonely through various blogs and web "Googles" I bumped (I do not remember exactly how) into an on-line store that specialises in digitised copies of these old style board games.
The Gamers Garage Online Store
They had rolled everything up (both games, a connecting set of rules to make a world campaign and the Avalon Hill General Magazine articles) into a bumper package, at a price that made me smile. (No I am not on commission)
I took the plunge and am/was very please at the results :)
The major work is printing the maps off and gluing then together, an activity yet to be done. Also I will be tempted to partly computerise, via spreadsheets/database and a little programming of the game mechanics to cut down (or help) with the paperwork.
Still lots of Pacific painting to be done, and a few more Navwar 1/3000 models to chase down in the full course of time. That might allow for plenty of 1939 to 1941 Northern Hemisphere action first. As a footnote to the first "Victory at Sea" game, the mechanics and ship statistics favoured the Axis so by turning the battles over to GQII it might well be able to address this. Also, by NOT allowing the Italian Fleet to sail unmolested past "Gibraltar" (a huge geographical/strategic 'faux pas' in the original "Victory at Sea") the RN may have a fighting chance to make it through to 1941 to then face a crisis in the Pacific.
Madness I know, but we all love an irrationally large project (and please don't ask for a status painting report on those Goblins from Moria and their HOTT Army).
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