Jutland 1916: "100th Anniversary" Game Using Avalon Hill's "JUTLAND"

On May 21st, 2016, I hosted a game of Avalon Hill's "JUTLAND".

This venerable old game was published in 1967. I think it has worn very well indeed as our game demonstrated. The event was planned by Harmon Ward, President of our local HMGS. Harmon commanded the Imperial German Hochseeflotte (High Seas Fleet). I commanded the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet. Mark Deliduka was the Game Master/Umpire for the game. The Strategic segment of the game required each of the commanders to plot the activities of their respective forces. Mark then compared our secret plots and revealed any contact. As it happened, the Hochseeflotte was discovered by the larger part of the RN's Super Dreadnoughts. The remainder, plus the detached Battlecruisers, joined the battle later in the day, having stayed within steaming range of each other. The result was a very exciting fleet engagement. We fought for most of the game day but need to continue the fight on the next game day.

The tactical engagement is fought on any convenient space. I used x3 6 foot tables and a felt ocean game mat. Hexes are not required but we found them helpful. 

Here are a few photos of various parts of the large fleets in action.

Victory in the Pacific

For my son Will's birthday, we celebrated by playing (or trying to play) a favourite from long ago, Avalon Hill's "Victory in the Pacific", a true classic.

Although Will, Cate, John and I played this classic endlessly when they were children (trying for 6's, 6's, 6's) we made the classic mistake, forgetting that the US fleet can sustain double damage in the Pearl Harbour raid. That's why Will looked so unhappy and I, erroneously, looked quite pleased.

This is just one of those games that you never sell, never replace.

The Longest Day

I recently came across some information on one of my favourite games from 1980: Avalon Hill's "The Longest Day". This is a huge game, even by the standards of the time, with 1,500 counters and 7 mounted map boards of the whole D-Day theatre.

I played this a couple of times with my old gaming friend, USMC Gunnery Sergeant Columbus O. "Sonny" Williams.

I just found a source for some replacement counters. In place of the monotone originals with "German" style graphics, the counters use lots of colour to distinguish Divisions and add more contemporary graphics for the AFV's. If I ever play this again, the new counters will make unit organization and cohesion much easier.

Here is the download link:

http://frogofwar1.free.fr/download/TLD.zip

J. M. Constancias is listed as the contact person for this organization. Should J.M. ever read this, a very big Thank You is in order for refreshing this venerable game. 

http://www.frogofwar.org/?Pr%E9sentation

Here is a small sample of the excellent counters art:

A full size laminated map is available from AH General, together with a DVD containing many articles from "the General" magazine, plus rules, charts, etc. Here is the link:


http://www.ahgeneral.org/gameparts/tld.htm

If you decide to produce counters for yourself, this site has some excellent hints on how to do it:

http://privatewars.kyth.org/making_your_own_counters.htm