Prince of Ravens (fiction): I am currently wrapping up my second draft of Prince of Ravens, which will be available in the summer of 2012 as an ebook. Prince of Ravens marks the return of a character of mine that I haven’t written about in ten years: the rogue, sorcerer, and general troublemaker Jack Ravenwild, native son of the city of Raven’s Bluff. Jack was the protagonist of my novel City of Ravens, which I regard as some of the best writing I’ve ever done. As City of Ravens readers might expect, he soon becomes entangled in all sorts of fraud, scheming, skullduggery, and misadventure. I’ll probably make one more light pass on the manuscript in another month or two. Should be fun!

Heroes of Elemental Chaos (D&D design): We’re just finishing up with our typesetting and production on Heroes of the Elemental Chaos, by Rob Schwalb and myself. Heroes of the Elemental Chaos is slated for a February 2012 release—keep your eyes peeled for a couple of upcoming Design and Development articles on DDi, as well as some selected previews. We have some fun stuff in the works for this one: The elementalist sorcerer, the sha’ir wizard build, elemental monk traditions, themes for elemental characters, and more. I’m particularly proud of the elementalist, which is an Essentials-style spellcaster sort of analogous to the slayer. More on the elementalist when we start to preview the book.

Axis & Allies Air Force Miniatures: We’re still on target for a February release of the Battle of Britain starter and the Angels 20 booster set. I am planning to begin weekly previews of a selection of units from the set around January 20^th (just like the Opening Salvo previews for A&A Naval Miniatures). We’re well along with the design and model creation for a second set, and we’re beginning to take a serious look at what we might put in an as-yet hypothetical third set. If you’re interested in AAAFM, take a look over at Forumini and download this month’s newsletter—I wrote a long preview of the game that examines a number of the mechanics and shows off sample units. You can find it at: www.box.com/s/ztkifraremr83dqp1l0a

Axis & Allies Naval Miniatures Set 7: As many of you know, we just released set 6, Surface Action, about a month and a half ago. We are beginning some work on a potential set 7, but we don’t have anything more than that we can announce right now—it’s just a little too early to talk about release dates and set sizes. However, I am very excited by how the set list is shaping up. Many of the “sore teeth” I’ve wanted to fix for a while now ought to be addressed.

Anyway, that’s it for now. I expect I’ll probably pick things up again after the new year, with some previews on Axis & Allies Air Force Miniatures. See you all on the flight line!

Welcome back! This is our final Opening Salvo preview for Axis & Allies Naval Miniatures set 6, Surface Action. This week we'll take a look at two of the heavyweights, the USS Montana and the Sho-Go Yamato. Surface Action releases on 25 October 2011, so it's not long now!   

Sho-Go Yamato

The largest and most heavily armored battleship ever to see service in any navy, Yamato mounted a potent armament of nine 18-inch guns, twelve 6-inch guns, and twelve 5-inch guns on a hull of nearly 70,000 tons. Yamato was commissioned in December of 1941, and soon after became flagship of the Combined Fleet. During the course of the war she underwent several major refits; most significantly, she lost the two wing turrets of her secondary battery, but received additional dual-purpose 5-inch guns, search radar, and antiaircraft batteries.

      Yamato was involved in the Battle of Midway and the Battle of the Philippine Sea, but played little part in either engagement; major battleship actions were few and far between in the Pacific war. Finally, in October of 1944, the remnants of the Japanese fleet staked all they had left on a complicated plan to defend the Philippine Islands from the impending US assault. This was the Sho-Go 1 plan, which led to the Battle of Leyte Gulf. In preparation, Yamato received a distinctive new coat of black paint for the anticipated nighttime engagements, and was assigned to the powerful “Center Force” of the Japanese fleet. The Center Force came under early submarine and air attack; Admiral Kurita’s flagship, the cruiser Atago, was sunk by a US submarine, and Kurita was forced to transfer his flag to Yamato. But the Japanese pressed on, exploiting an American oversight that left San Bernadino Strait unguarded. The Center Force arrived off the coast of Samar in the morning of 25 October 1944 and caught a group of American escort carriers, Taffy 3, completely off guard. In the ensuing action Taffy 3’s escorts bravely held off the powerful Japanese surface fleet. Although Taffy 3 suffered serious losses, the Japanese finally withdrew in confusion. Yamato never got another chance to bring her mighty guns to bear on enemy ships.

       Game Play: Much like the Set 1 Yamato, Sho-Go Yamato is a great big beater of a battleship. Her secondary battery is weaker than the earlier version, representing the 1943 removal of half of her 6-inch guns, but her AA is improved. Most importantly, she gains an interesting new special ability, General Pursuit. This represents the controversial command given by Admiral Kurita during the Battle off Samar on 25 October 1944. It allows you to drive the best part of your fleet forward to engage the enemy more closely in one sudden surge, although you can’t use this ability to claim objectives. On the downside, you automatically lose initiative on the next turn—much as Kurita lost control of the attack on Taffy 3 when he released his ships to operate independently. General Pursuit is best used to press home a united torpedo attack with the help of some Long Lance armed destroyers and cruisers; try using it to overwhelm a tough enemy ship in range of several of your own.

USS Montana

Successor to the Iowa-class battleships, the Montana class provided the US Navy’s architects with their first chance in over twenty years to design a new battleship without any treaty constraints whatsoever. When the Iowas were designed, Japan’s abrogation of the London Naval Treaty triggered an escalator clause that allowed the United States to build a 45,000-ton ship with 16-inch guns. With Montana, the following class, all limitations were lifted. The Navy decided to retain the excellent Mark VII 16-inch guns of the Iowa class while adding a fourth turret, a heavier armor scheme, and a new secondary battery. The US 16-inch guns fired an exceptionally heavy 2,700-lb shell; with more barrels and superior fire control Montana’s broadside would have matched or bettered that of the Japanese Yamato if they had ever met in battle.

      However, Montana and her sisters never entered service. Design work on the class was suspended in April 1942; given the building time of roughly 2-1/2 to 3 years for earlier battleship classes, they would have been unlikely to be finished before 1945. In the meantime, the yards needed for the Montana’s construction were busy building the Iowa-class battleships and Essex-class aircraft carriers. In the spring of 1943, the program was canceled outright: The war would be over before the giant battleships could be useful, and the days of the battleship were numbered anyway. Aircraft carriers were now the measure of power, and the Montana remained only an interesting might-have-been.

      Game Play: The Montana is simply the biggest, toughest battleship available to the Allies in non-historical scenarios. The only question in employing her is whether to stand off and make full use of your Extended Range 5, or to pile in to point-blank range and count on your 10 armor to keep you afloat while you rake everything in sight with your good secondary batteries and awesome main guns. Don’t let your Heavy Antiair make you overconfident about enemy air builds; you can still only fire at one attacking squadron a turn, so you can be overwhelmed by multiple enemy squadrons grouping up on you.

Thanks for tuning in to the War at Sea previews! Keep your eyes peeled for a set list, which we'll publish soon. In the meantime, I'll be quiet for a few weeks here, but when I resume I'll take a longer look at the new A&A Air Force Miniatures game.     

Welcome back! Our Opening Salvo previews for Surface Action, the sixth set for the Axis & Allies Naval Miniatures game, continue this week with a look at two light cruisers: HMS Sheffield and Giovanni Delle Banda Nere. Surface Action releases on 25 October 2011.   

HMS Sheffield

A member of the famous Southampton (or “Town”) class of light cruisers, HMS Sheffield was a well-armed, well-protected warship with good speed and excellent endurance. She and her sisters represented an important change in British cruiser design, moving away from the undergunned Leander and Arethusa class designs toward a heavier, more capable ship equivalent to the latest American and Japanese cruisers. With twelve 6-inch guns and a 4.5” armor belt, the Town class ships were more than a match for any light cruisers in the Kriegsmarine or Regia Marina at the outbreak of the war—and some of their heavy cruisers as well.

      HMS Sheffield had an active and successful war. She participated in the hunt for the Bismarck in May of 1941, during which she was attacked by Ark Royal’s Swordfish. Fortunately, she dodged all 11 torpedoes dropped against her. In December of 1942, HMS Sheffield fought in the Battle of the Barents Sea, dueling the German heavy cruiser Hipper and sinking the destroyer Eckholdt. A year later, she participated in the Battle of the North Cape, pursuing the battlecruiser Scharnhorst in the opening stages of the engagement and trading salvoes with her. The Sheffield’s last action of the war was Operation Tungsten in April of 1944. She escorted a powerful group of carriers as they launched an airstrike against the battleship Tirpitz in her lair among the fjords of northern Norway. HMS Sheffield remained in service in the postwar period until she was decommissioned in 1964.

      Game Play: Few fleets are designed around your choice of light cruiser, but Sheffield possesses a great deal of overall utility and would look good in almost any Allied fleet. She can easily fulfill the light cruiser’s primary jobs of killing destroyers and providing antiaircraft protection for more important units, and her Evade Torpedoes ability (courtesy of Ark Royal’s Swordfish) gives Sheffield an important defense against the dreaded banes of light cruisers—submarines and Long Lance-armed destroyers. The decision on when to use Evade Torpedoes really depends on your opponent’s fleet; obviously you want to entice your opponent to waste as many torpedoes as possible on Sheffield when you use the ability, but if you wait until you see an attack worth evading, you might not ever make use of the special ability. Try to save it for a torpedo attack of 3 dice or more; at that point you’re approaching a 50% chance of taking a torpedo hit that will cripple or kill the ship.

Giovanni Delle Banda Nere

Laid down in 1928, Banda Nere belonged to the di Giussano-class of light cruisers. This was the first group of the Condottiere-class cruisers, which eventually numbered twelve ships in five distinct groups. Italy’s naval architects at the time were obsessed with maximizing the speed of their cruiser designs in order to match (or beat) similar designs under construction in France, Italy’s principal naval rival. Banda Nere and her sisters were indeed very fast, approaching 37 knots, but they sacrificed sturdiness and all but the most minimal armor protection for their excellent turn of speed.

      Banda Nere was involved in the Mediterranean war from its very beginning, participating in the convoy action that led to the Battle of Calabria (9 July 1940). Ten days later, her light armor very nearly proved her undoing at the Battle of Cape Spada (19 July 1940), where she barely escaped HMAS Sydney and five British destroyers. In March 1942, Banda Nere fought in the Second Battle of Sirte, where she landed a serious blow on the new British cruiser HMS Cleopatra, knocking out her radar and after turrets. However, on the day following the battle, heavy seas damaged the Banda Nere. She was sent to La Spezia for repairs on 1 April 1942, but a few miles off the volcanic island of Stromboli Banda Nere was torpedoed and sunk by the submarine HMS Urge.

      Game Play: Banda Nere is an inexpensive light cruiser that can certainly handle enemy destroyers, but the most interesting elements of her design are the two new special abilities she brings to the table. The Fast ability gives you a chance to run down (or run away from) virtually any other ship in the game. Unlike many other movement-increasing specials, Fast does not have any limitations about claiming objectives… because it’s unreliable enough that you just can’t count on getting that third sector of movement exactly when you want it. The Straddle ability provides Banda Nere with a consolation prize for missing on your opening salvo. You’ll never work up to punching holes in Iowa with Straddle, but it does provide a handy bonus for dueling other medium-armored ships. Try using Straddle with a long-range opening shot just to establish the pattern, then close in on the following turn and add the bonus die to a close-range attack against the target you’re engaging.