JUTLAND: Fleet Admiral

ETA Q2 2024

“The result was not long in doubt. The Germans at once showed they were superior in range finding. They were able to “get on to their target and establish hitting in two or three minutes of opening fire.” (… Jellicoe) In contrast, the British were not at high efficiency in gunnery, and overestimated the opening ranges.”

…Captain Thomas G. Frothingham, U.S.R. Author of THE NAVAL HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR Comments on the opening of the battlecruiser battle Jutland

This game project has roots going back to the mid-80’s with Quarterdeck Games publishing about 135 amateur production FLEET ADMIRAL games (1987) and would result in the spin-offs of TSUSHIMA (S&T #130 – 1989) & TOGO: Dawn of the Dreadnoughts (2018).

Heavily modified since these earlier games, JUTLAND: Fleet Admiral results in a tight view of naval combat between the British and German fleets in 1914-1916. It represents years of research and years of playtesting. This is truly a simulation, and not a “game”, yet remains very PLAYABLE. Players may make this simulation as complex and accurate as they wish, or, alternatively, they can be playing a large action in just a couple of turns of watching the game being played. The 18 scenarios allow players to spend 30 minutes to many hours of play. The large fleet actions are best played with several players on both sides.

JUTLAND: Fleet Admiral is the ultimate battleship simulation. This game has consumed hundreds of hours of design effort spread over years; and decades of research and study. JUTLAND: Fleet Admiral was conceived as a game that allows for realistic yet playable surface combat in the Battle of Jutland era. The concept was to design a big game that would give one the sense of the grandeur and scope of the largest surface battle ever fought on this planet and yet not load one down with needless detail. Certain liberties and abstractions have been taken to achieve the overall design goal, but I believe you will find that any sacrifices in the name of playability have been the correct ones.

One of the greatest arms races in history was a primary cause of war in August of 1914. Ships would see action in every corner of the world. It was a war fought by two of the most highly trained navies in history. The Officers and Sailors of these two fleets had worked for years at honing their skills to an unimaginable extent. Both would offer up surprises to the other in the course of the war. But it also must be placed in a context where the vast majority of sailors of both nations, when they came onboard a warship, would find them working with tools and equipment that were new to them, and new to the modern world of 1914. The turbine, the radio, the telephone, powerful long-range “heater” torpedoes – all equipment that had been recently invented and perfected and was not to be found back on the farm or often not in the part of the cities where many of these men grew up.

But JUTLAND: Fleet Admiral does not stop there. Also included are a number of possible hypothetical actions, carefully researched for 1914/1915.

Product Information:

• Complexity: Medium-High
• Playing time: 30 minutes to many hours
• Solitaire Suitability: MEDIUM
• Players: 1-9
• Map Scale: 1000 Yards/hex
• Time Scale: 1 Turn = 6 minutes
• Unit Scale: Individual counters for light cruisers & larger, submarines, aircraft & Zeppelins. Destroyers & Torpedo-boats are flotilla divisions or 1/2 flotillas

Game Credits:

• Game Design: Jack Greene
• Developer: Christopher Heizer
• Project Directors: John Kranz and Jack Greene
• Production Manager: Julian Thomas
• Game Artists: Ian Wedge, Todd Davis, Larry Hoffman
• Box Cover Design: Larry Hoffman

Game Components:

• Six Maps (3 are 22″ x 34″, 3 are 1/2 maps 17″ x 22″)
• 3 3/4″x1/2″ Ship Counter Sheets (with both silhouette and birds-eye view ship counters)
• 1 5/8″x5/8″ Flotilla Counter Sheet
• 1 1/2″x1/2″ Marker Counter Sheet
• 1 Rulebook (88 pages with BIG print)
• 1 Scenario Booklet
• 1 Designer’s Notes Booklet
• 2 Sets of Scenario Roster Sheets
• 1 Set of Scenario Setup Cards
• 13 Player Aid Cards, with some duplicates (3)
• 1 Expanded Sequence of Play card
• 2 Different Colored 10 Sided Dice and 6 Sided Dice
• Box and Lid set