This is a really great rule set. Slightly more depth than General Quarters and (in my humble opinion) much more fun to play.

I love the mechanics. They work really well, are simple, intuitive, well balanced and above all FUN!

I find that the game is historically sympathetic without having to go into unnecessary detail that would slow down play and possibly detract from the fun. Much of the historic and technical detail is abstracted into the rule set and this seems to work well whilst providing battles that play and end as one would broadly expect.

The points system for the orders of battle works and the battles/outcomes are never one sided - even when everything is going against you (as happened to me this weekend).

Tracking in game can be achieved in one of two ways, the first using small dice in dice cells and the second by way of tracking sheets for the ships. I find both work really well, although I prefer the tracking sheets. I plan to make some small laminated cards to match with the ships in my (rapidly growing) collection. Then I can just pull out the ships and their respective cards and get playing, tracking on the laminate with a china graph pen or a white board marker. All I need to do is wipe the laminate clean at the end of the game.

In light of the comments from a reviewer about too many tokens being on the board - I really feel this is a non-issue. Tracking sheets keep the bulk of the tokens off the board if you don’t want to use dice cells. I find splash tokens aesthetically pleasing (you can buy little plastic water spouts). However, for purists, I see no reason why all tokens on the board could not be moved onto the tracking sheets (I have seen this done in other rules) in order keep the board completely clear.

Subsequent releases of Washington Treay period ships (essentially late WW1/inter-war) and other nations has really added a lot of deapth and flavour to the game.

What would I like to see next? Some rules to support a campaign (in the same vien as the core rules, ie fun and fast but sympathetic to the period) and some WW2 rules.

To summarise: A great rule set that deserves to be played in many clubs by period enthusiasts and noobies alike. Given the extremely low cost of entry (in terms of rules, models and tokens) I can see this becoming popular fast in my local club!

My compliments to the rule set author.