ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET Miniatures rules for fleet actions during the Age of the Battleship, 1880-1945 [With a Foreword by John Brooks, author of Dreadnought Gunnery and the Battle of Jutland (2005) and The Battle of Jutland (2016).] Looking for a fast-play but realistic tabletop simulation that combines a command/signaling system with combat that is as exciting and unpredictable as naval warfare really was? Bored with just moving ships about the table and doing whatever you want, turn after turn, without a mechanism that realisticly reflects the difficulties and rewards inherent in commanding a fleet of ships? Following the first public playtests at HURRICON 2021 last September and a great showing at RECON 2022 in April, ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET is now available from WARGAME VAULT. Download the latest version (5/08/2022) of the AOTF SAMPLE PAGES containing example pages from AOTF. On May 31, 1916 at 1815 hours of the Second Dog Watch, Admiral John Jellicoe ordered the following three flags hoisted from his flagship HMS IRON DUKE: Equal Speed pendant | C | L (Equal Speed Charlie London) These three flags signaled to the many ships of the Grand Fleet to begin maneuvering so as to engage the German High Seas Fleet under the command of Admiral Reinhard Scheer. Interpreted according to the GENERAL SIGNAL BOOK 1915, the meaning of this signal was: “The column nearest SE by E is to alter course in succession to that point of the compass, the remaining columns altering course leading ships together, the rest in succession so as to form astern of the column, maintaining the speed of the fleet.” SO YOU THINK YOU CAN COMMAND A FLEET? We issue this challenge to all naval wargamers right up front, primarily because most naval wargames are focused on players acting as all-seeing captains of a handful of ships, usually permitted to move them about the game table without limitation. While this approach is enjoyable and typically works well for re-enacting smaller battles like River Plate, Denmark Strait and others, it simply doesn’t represent the way it happened in real life. Successfully commanding squadrons and divisions of warships in battle required control and skilled communication from a single source; the admiral of the fleet. AOTF focuses exclusively on surface warfare during the age of the battleship, based on the popularity of surface-only engagements and the difficulties inherent in an accurate portrayal of the additional dimensions required by the addition of aircraft and submarines to the game table. Introducing signaling as a major component of the game was a natural evolution in our design philosophy. While gamers and even some historians tend to think that the “proper” outcome of any wargame is a repetition of the historical outcome, this assumes that the historic result is at the middle of the possible spectrum of outcomes, rather than the extremes. Thus, our design philosophy has always utilized the guardrails provided by individual ship capabilities, thorough research and appropriate application of probability which permits the possible to happen, regardless of the historic outcome. While ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET does share "genetic material" with SEEKRIEG 5, it is definitely not SEEKRIEG 5 or even "Seekrieg Lite". The vast amount of research and data that comprised SEEKRIEG 5 has been distilled into a fast-play system that allows the larger fleet actions of the 1880-1945 period to be fought in a matter of hours. In fact, most games can be completed in two to four hours. AOTF is focused on re-fighting medium to large size surface actions, both historical and hypothetical. It includes all the ship logs (in PDF) needed for the scenarios in the basic game, with additional scenarios and ship logs to be released separately. ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET titles are available in downloadable PDF and print versions from WARGAME VAULT. Please stay tuned to this page for more detailed information. COMING THIS YEAR! NAVAL ANNUALS WITH PRINTABLE SHIP LOGS FOR ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET The AOTF Naval Annual Series is an obvious play on Brassey’s & Jane’s but with actual ship logs for playing AOTF. There will be three volumes: 1885-1906, 1907-1921, 1922-1944. Covers will be color-coded similar to Conway’s (blue, green and red respectively). The bulk of each volume will be comprised of ship logs for each country (alphabetic by country, then ship type, then completion date) preceded by summary pages for each country. Each volume contains a single ship log for each class (using the data of a representative ship of the class for the time period). For ship classes spanning volumes (i.e. all the WW1-era battleships & cruisers like HOOD, CAVOUR, PENNSYLVANIA, etc. that survived into WW2), updated versions will appear in the subsequent volume. The first two volumes will be limited to battleships, battlecruisers, armored cruisers and light cruisers but the third volume will also contain ship logs for destroyers. The AOTF NAVAL ANNUAL SERIES is available in downloadable PDF only from WARGAME VAULT. The first volume (1885-1906) is now available and the remaining volumes, 1907 to 1921 and 1922 to 1945 are scheduled for release Summer and Fall 2023 respectively. Meanwhile, we are providing a free sample of the WW1 and WW2 ship logs in the upcoming releases.Download them using the links below: AOTF Naval Annual 1922-1945 containing ship logs for the Battle of Spartivento (1940). AOTF Naval Annual 1922-1945 containing ship logs for the Battle of Leyte Gulf (1944). AOTF Naval Annual 1907-1921 containing ship logs for the German and British battlelines at Jutland (1916). Please stay tuned to this page for more detailed information. Download a draft sample of the AOTF Naval Annual 1885-1906 containing example pages from the first volume of the AOTF Naval Annual Series and including a number of ship logs for AOTF. While these ship logs are still draft versions, they can be printed and used with AOTF...for free!! EQUAL SPEED CHARLIE LONDON "My first impulse was to form on the starboard wing column in order to bring the fleet into action at the earliest possible moment, but it became increasingly apparent, both from the sound of gunfire and reports from LION and BARHAM, that the High Seas Fleet was in such close proximity and on such a bearing as to create obvious disadvantages in such a movement." [Admiral John Rushworth Jellicoe, RN, commenting on his signal to deploy the Grand Fleet at Jutland]