This is my go-to game for WWI fleet scale naval games. This game is by no means a rivet counter - but has enough meat in it to really feel like you are controlling fleets in WWI. The card activation system makes each game unpredictable which adds to the suspense. Gameplay is relatively quick with squadron sized battles taking about half an hour to major fleet actions taking a few hours.

You will need dice (lots of d6's) and a standard deck of cards to play this game. You'll also need some time and access to a colour printer and a good pair of scissors to prepare all the counters you need to play.

I am really enjoying this game right now. Very comprehensive and not an ounce more complex than it needs to be to deliver. Games play relatively fast. SMR2 has both a pre-game "strategic initiative" and ship "morale" rules. Both are new to me in a Naval game but I quite like them and they are both quick to resolve.

This game has rules for ships, subs and aircraft - which can all be on the board at the same time. It also has point values for all. Quality of crew and commanders is a significant factor in the game and these further alter the "point value" of a ship. Perfect for playing pick up games.

My miniature collection currently only covers WWII, but SMR2 has me shopping around for WWI miniatures!

The base game comes with no ship stats or scenarios. However there are 9 scenarios that can be downloaded free from their website, and these come with the stats for the ships in the scenarios.

This is now my go-to game for all 15/28mm sci-fi gaming. I find that most other "Design-it-yourself" sci-fi games are either too simple or too complicated for my liking. ViDe strikes a nice balance. Additionally most other games have either no point values (not very handy if you want to play pick up games) or have point systems that are easily exploited. ViDe uses points to build balanced forces, but does not let players min-max to the point the game becomes broken.

ViDe FC uses the same core rules as the WWII game. I see this only as a good thing as that is an excellent set of rules to build upon. They keep both sides in the game, minimize time spent doing simple tasks (like moving units through difficult terrain), keep infantry in the spot light with a long list of available combat actions and have the best morale rules I've ever used in 20 years of table top gaming. New to this version are command points and overwatch for even more tactical choices.

There is a large list of sci-fi unit types and an even larger list of sci-fi weapons. While all basic troopers in WWII had the same stat line, ViDe FC has different types of humanoid infantry units with different levels of protection and additional abilities to reflect the technological impact of advanced personal armour. In addition to tracked and wheeled vehicles, there are also hover tanks, VTOL units and walkers - all in a variety of sizes and relative technology levels. New weapons include: several varieties each of lasers, plasma cannons, missile launchers, sonic weapons, rail guns, guided mortars, particle accelerators, microwave guns and kinetic pulse weapons.

So if you have a bunch of minis hanging around from games that have gone by the wayside (or hey even if you have some new sci-fi minis!) I highly recommend this set of rules.