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FLIGHT! German raiding squadron led by Adm. Spee desperately flees an overwhelming British force at the Falklands. Historically, only Dresden survived the battle.

Sample of 'Cruiser Warfare' ship status sheets

German AC Blücher fires entire broadside at enemy convoy, using dice of different colors matches to gunnery factor types

'Cruiser Warfare' with initial setup of all fleets on the board. Can you see them all? No? Neither can players!

Closeup of Far East setup. Low enough angle that you can make out the counters, but still highlights just how HIGH CONTRAST this map is!

Great War at Sea: Cruiser Warfare (2004)

Players

2–4

Best: 2

Playing time

30–30 min

Age

12+

6.65

Average rating

109

Ratings

2.65/5

Weight

#13767

BGG rank

Outside top 5,000

Designer:Michael Bennighof, Brian L. Knipple

Artist:Shane Ivey, Peggy Gordon, Terry Moore Strickland, Susan Robinson

Publisher:Avalanche Press Ltd.

Average rating, ratings count, weight and rank are sourced from BoardGameGeek (BGG).

Game DNA

Strategy7.0

Luck7.0

Interaction5.0

Complexity5.3

Theme5.0

This game's strategy, luck, interaction, complexity and theme.

NauticalWargameWorld War IHexagon GridArea MovementDice Rolling

Overview

In the summer of 1914, Germany’s East Asia cruiser squadron’s superbly-trained crews of long-service professionals made Admiral Maximilian Graf von Spee's small fleet the envy of the China station. But when war broke out, this tiny force found itself far from home and threatened by the powerful Japanese navy, many times the size of the German squadron. Spee decided to force his way home around the world. After an epic journey across the Pacific, his cruisers met their end off of the Falkland Islands in a final battle.

Cruiser Warfare gives the Great War at Sea series its greatest scope yet: the entire world. British, German, Japanese, Italian, Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Dutch ships begin as they did in August 1914. The German player must disrupt Allied commerce and try to get the cruisers home if at all possible. The Allied player must track them down and destroy them before they can wreak havoc.

Cruiser Warfare’s map divides the world into sea areas, with modified search rules allowing German and Austrian ships to look for prey, and Allied ships to hunt them. Once contact is made, combat is resolved using the standard game rules.

Cruiser Warfare: Final Edition comes in our popular Playbook format and includes the playing pieces from the first edition (we had several hundred of each in storage), a new map, new full-color play aids, and an all-new book with revised rules and scenarios, additional scenarios plus historical background.

Cruiser Warfare: Final Edition is a complete game: everything you need to play (except dice) is included in the Playbook.