It’s great to see Sam Mustafa’s latest ruleset “NIMITZ” come out – it’s Sam’s take on WW2 Naval Fleet Action. I’ve been looking forward to seeing this released – Sam always has a fresh approach to rules writing that I enjoy and I find usually gets a good balance between playability & fun, and realistic outcomes (i.e. is this how you’d expect such and such an encounter to turn out) with minimal gamey tactics, etc. An expansive campaign system, Halsey, is also included that can incorporate as many players as desired.
I’ve played Sam’s Lasalle for Divisional/Corps level Napoleonics for sometime (although not recently; and the original version – not the new V2 which I have but am yet to play); and helped play test Maurice (17th Century), Longstreet (ACW) and Blücher (Napoleonic Grand Tactical) – the first two of which I especially like and are my preferred rules for Marlburian/War of the Spanish Succession (WSS) and the American Civil War respectively. I’ve also liked the look of Rommel for more strategic WW2 land games and mini campaigns – it and Blücher (with its Scharnhorst campaign pre-game) both look great for those levels of games.
The rules are introduced thus “Nimitz is a tabletop game of battles across the seas and oceans of the Second World War. Command squadrons and entire fleets as you zoom in for intense surface actions or zoom out to play entire campaigns across hundreds of miles of ocean and land. Choose one of five major navies: Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, or the United States.” And yes the lesser navies vessels will also likely be available over time with free fleet lists for them. I’ve purchased both the PDF (from Sam’s Website) and a hardcopy from Amazon (AU) – also available from US, UK, and 7 other countries. My print on demand soft cover rulebook has just arrived from across the ditch today!
I’m hoping to give the rules a good read over the next couple of weeks or so as work and other activities permit, and will post a follow up with my initial thoughts and summary of how the game works as compared to General Quarters, Victory At Sea, etc. All going well I hope to get an initial game in by or at Easter, and also post an AAR for that. Meanwhile you can access Nimitz at Sam’s Website (i.e. buy PDF download version) and you can download for free the fleet lists and quick reference sheets (including sample content and the introductory Operation Freya scenario’s vessels).
