Wow, my paypal account is going to be very busy soon!

Those are really nice looking cards Dan.  Nothing like solid play aids to look at while you are not playing to make you want to get back to playing!

I can't help but ask - I see there is an anti-air line on there - any chance we'll get to use those against live targets?

-Tim

Great news!

I will definitely buy the PDF rules for this.  Any chance you'll be selling the ship cards printed on card stock?  While I don't mind  printing off rules in B&W on regular paper, it would be a shame not to get to play with those beautiful cards on a decent material.... and getting them printed off at kinkos (instead of at work/home for the B&W) would be brutally expensive.

-Tim

I guess it just depends on what your definition of "better" is.
Most hex-based systems will be fairly similar with respect to movement.
I was wanting a system that had a faster resolution of gunfire, though, so larger games could be played.
I think so far we've done a pretty good job of approximating the results of GF 1 or GF 2, with one die roll.
In Ulsan, for example, we've been able to play to a conclusion in 20 to 30 minutes. In either of the current versions it would normally take an hour or more to reach a similar conclusion.
I don't know that I'd say any of the versions of GF are better than any of the others.
I do know that GF 3 is a lot faster playing, with a lot less dice rolling.
Kevin

Not just WWII...

Look for news after the first of the year.

Abstractly...  :mrgreen:

They will not be maneuvered on the table, and will be used more as "expendable resources."
The basics (currently) are:

1) The phasing player allocates bomber attacks.
2) The defending player allocates intercepting fighters.
3) Surviving bombers are placed on the table next to the ship they're going to attack.
4) Ships defend with AA.
5) Surviving bombers drop their payload (bombs or torpedoes).
6) Surviving bombers are then removed and return "home."

Kevin

I'll see if I can answer the following, but take my answers with a grain of salt.
Unless we're talking racing games...  ,  Dan is the final authority on content.

I believe that aircraft are going to be abstracted enough that there probably won't be nationality differences. We might be able to tweak the dice totals of different aircraft types slightly, but probably not.

Yep, and the quantity will be based on target ship size.

Yep, and the effectiveness of that support will reduce as the distance between the target and supporting ships increase.

Probably not. Again the level of abstraction will be great enough that there wouldn't be much distinction, if any, between land and carrier based aircraft.

That's currently the plan.
But again like aircraft they'll be abstracted and handled more like "expendable resources."
Kevin

This is one area that may (or may not) cause a bit of grumbling. But I've concluded that there's just no point in including carriers per se...

At the distances involved, they would never be on the same table as enemy ships -- and carrier-vs-carrier actions like Midway would be seriously boring, being nothing more than die-rolling exercises. Further, at the time scale involved, there's no opportunity to reasonably recover, rearm, and launch a second strike.

Perhaps I mis-spoke (mis-typed?)

Carrier OPERATIONS will not be modeled. However, carriers as ships/targets will certainly pop up.

You are officially OFF Santa's "nice" list.

Thanks for the answers.

Some comments:

1) Perhaps taking carriers will allow your side the possibility of buying more aircraft resources than someone who doesn't bring them?

2) Full on stats for airplanes doesn't sound in the works, but you could possibly have national advantages/disadvantages with the possibility of there being slight bonuses to represent certain types of aircraft.  Not necessary but it can be fun.

3) Subs as a resource sounds cool.  If there is anyway you can wing it that WWII german subs have some cool advantage/synergy/can buy more - that would be cool.

Looking forward to the game.  Are you going to cover all of Pre-dread to WWII in one game?

-Tim

My questions for GFIII are roughly the same as for GFII:
1.) will there be ways for us to add our own 'fantasy' ships or historic 'never-were's'... or will the formula be secret?
2.) will there be one or two books, which get dropped for another game soon after?
3.) will there be projects planned, posted, then dropped (like the GFII Ruso-Japanese war book)?

I invested my money in GFII when there wasn't a lot of it (the price of the book was 10% of a week's check!) and then, suddenly, it was left unsupported. If I go out on a limb and invest the money in GFIII- which looks pretty, and seems to have a lot of 'ease of play' potential- will it die off just as soon?

While I'm much impressed with the joint venture with ADB for Starmada, I'm disappointed that a naval combat system that beats out GWaS by leaps and bounds was, unfortunately, left in the dust of flashier projects.