Free Naval Wargame Rules: Crimson Tide

Crimson Tide is a set of free naval wargaming rules. It was designed to cover WW2 in the Pacific, and includes rules for:

• Warships

  • aircraft carriers (light carriers and fleet carriers)

  • battleships

  • cruisers (light cruisers and armored cruisers)

  • destroyers (both AAW and ASW)

  • submarines

• Auxiliary and civilian vessels (oilers, bulk carriers, landing ships and landing craft)

• Aircraft (fighters, torpedo bombers, dive bombers, strategic bombers), both aircraft and land-based.

The rules and all tokens are available for free from this site. All you need to add is the models. I recommend 1:3000th ships from NavWar. I personally started off with their WW2 Japan early and late war, as well as their US WW2 early war and late war value packs. These fit the stats cards I've made. I spent some 120 € (about 160 US$ at the time of writing) altogether for 4 value packs + some extra ships (oil tankers, bulk carriers, Liberty ships...).

At 1:3000th scale, I recommend a playing surface of at least 4 ft by 4 ft, or 120cm by 120 cm.

Download:

• the rules (version 1.1)

• the stats cards (United States Navy  & Imperial Japanese Navy)

• the tokens (sheet 1, sheet 2, US aircraft, and Japanese aircraft)