Majestic Twelve Games would like to announce the release of the latest product in our line of Grand Fleets products: full-color data cards for the Battle of Jutland.

On May 31, 1916, the dreadnought battleships of Great Britain and Germany met for the first, and only, time. All told, 250 warships carrying upwards of 100,000 sailors clashed in the cold grey seas of the North Sea, with the outcome of the Great War in the balance. By the time the fleets separated the following morning, nearly 200,000 tons of shipping lay on the sea floor.

Now, players can refight this epic engagement with Grand Fleets ship data cards representing the forces of the British Grand Fleet and German Hochseeflotte.

Jutland: Data Cards covers every major warship involved in the Battle of Jutland, from mighty battleships to fast light cruisers: 109 in all. Each full-color data card includes game data and a silhouette of the ship. These cards are the same size as standard playing cards, allowing players to slip them into common deck protectors and track damage with a dry erase marker that will wipe clean after the battle!

Please note that this product includes only the ship data cards; no rules or scenario text is provided. The Grand Fleets: Third Edition Rulebook is required to use this product. For more information, visit our web site: mj12gam.es/gf3

Over the past few days, I've been working on some ideas regarding the inclusion of a "damage location" roll to Nova. Here are the results so far; feedback is much appreciated.

When using this rule, the ship display is modified as follows: draw a box around the middle group of hull boxes; these are no longer "hull" boxes. Instead, these are "system" boxes. Next, divide the number of system boxes in half, rounding up. Place a bullet (•) in that numbered box. Finally, place a second bullet in the last system box. For example, the Imperial Majestic-class BC has 17 hull boxes, divided into groups of 6-6-5. When using this rule, the middle group of 6 boxes become system boxes instead. Bullets are placed in the 3rd and 6th system boxes.

Note that if a ship has armor boxes, these are unchanged on the ship display (although they will operate somewhat differently).

Because this modification increases the relative worth of each hull box, all weapons fire is conducted with an additional +1 bonus to the attack modifier.

When applying damage, any armor boxes possessed by a ship are checked off before moving to any "internal" damage -- this is a change from the current system in which the first group of armor boxes are checked off, then the first group of hull boxes, then the second group of armor boxes, and so on.

Once all of a ship's armor boxes (if any) have been checked, instead of automatically checking off hull boxes, roll one die per hit: 1-3: check off one hull box; 4-5: check off one system box; 6: no effect (the shot was deflected at the last second, or struck a non-essential section of the target).

When you check off a system box containing a bullet (•), immediately conduct damage checks as described on p.14 of the Nova Rulebook. Once all of the system boxes are checked off, any additional rolls of 4-5 have no effect.