War at Sea Starter / Boosters

[bootstrapbill]

Ok, well, after reading Vlad's account of his pulls out of the boosters for regular A & A, I took a closer look at my pulls for War at Sea. Out of 1 Starter and 2 Boosters, the capital ships shake out like this:

HMS Hood
USS Washington
USS Enterprise

I was really happy, but it looks like I would only be able to play Allies. Support and other vessels are all over the map. Only one merchant vessel, Kinai Maru. And Jintsu for cruisers, Karl Zalster and Luca whatever for destroyers. And only Sea Hurricanes and Dauntlesses to put on my carrier. In reality, I think British seaplanes couldn't land on US carriers, the arrestor system was different. I only really have USS Barb to support a Battleship. I hope to trade some so maybe I can either get some Allied support or some Axis capital ships to be able to play

[colringbk]

Thats really funny. The main capital ships I got through the same amount of boosters are:

Vittorio Veneto (IT BB)
Shoho (JP Aircraft carrier)
Kongo (JP BB)

We could duke it out, though a fleet of Italian battleships with Japanese Aircraft Carriers might really confuse the Allied Strategists.

I pulled a few Allied stuff, like HMS Rodney and a lot of American aircraft. I have only one German ship (Z 20 Karl Galster). Mostly, I have IT ships and subs. Really strange. When I think WWII sea battles, I don't think Italian sea campaign.

Were there any Russian sea units in WWII that were memorable?

[holofernes]

Soviet Naval operations in WW2 were... pretty much non-starters.

Found this succinct summary online:
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Relatively little attention was given to building a substantial modern navy in the period between WW1 and WW2. This is understandable given the fact that the Soviet Union was not a major maritime power and that the principal military threats came from neighboring land powers.

The Russian Imperial Navy was remamed the "Workers' and Peasants' Red Fleet"

The major vessels were inherited from the Imperial fleet including a few obsolescent battleships. The Soviet Navy was so weak that the Soviet Union was not even to attend the Washington Naval Confrence (1921) in which the major naval powers negotiated limits on naval construction.

The Soviet Navy participated in the Winter War (1939-40) by shelling Finnish coastal forts. The pre-War fleet played a minor role in the war.

Much of the Soviet fleet was deployed in the Baltic Sea. When the [site won't allow the word [N*a*zi*]'s invaded (June 1941), the Wehrmacht rapidly moved east and seized almost all of the Baltic ports. Soviet ships had to withdraw to Leningrad and Kronstadt where they were impobilized by Finnish and German minefields. Thus imbolized, the Soviets ships were mauled by Luftwaffe attacks.

This situation did not change until the Finns withdrew from the War (July 1944) and the Red Army began to take Baltic ports. Soviet Naval forces in the Black Sea played a role in the defense of Sevastopol and in the subsequent Soviet liberation of the Crimea.

The most important Soviet naval operations were conducted with destroyers and other craft provided by the United States and used for escorting convoys carrying Lend Lease supplies to the Soviet Union.

[bootstrapbill]

There is a new expansion set due in July (?) that may include some Soviet ship. It looks like every nation may have at least one good ship to add to the cause, I saw a show talking about nations building fleets as a cheap powerful way to extend military power elsewhere - Brazil had a larger fleet than some European nations at some point. The US Navy was built in response to reports that any European nation could bombard New York without any opposition.

[bootstrapbill]

colringbk wrote:

When I think WWII sea battles, I don't think Italian sea campaign.

I guess Italian and French battlships were the little mentioned parts of the war. Apparently the Italian ships were well respected and feared as the fastest of the whole lot. I find it fascinating:)

[elsantaclause]

where did you guys buy the sets?

I've seen them online and they seem pretty expensive

[colringbk]

War at Sea is temporarily off of the shelves until Task Force shows up in July.

However, you can normally find some of the other A&A stuff at Borders, sometimes.