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General Quarters III


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General Quarters III
$44.95

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General Quarters 3rd Edition (Loose Leaf)


In the six years since the release of General Quarters the Third Edition, I’m happy to report it has been embraced by gamers around the globe, enhancing almost every aspect of the system while retaining the simplicity and playability of the original General Quarters. Along the way, many of you have contacted us through the ODGW Forum with insightful questions, helpful suggestions and requests for new rules to simulate even more aspects and weapons of Twentieth Century naval warfare. These, along with some of our own ideas have resulted in the Amendment 1 and 2 download files. But, amendments become inconvenient after a while. Because the program used to typeset General Quarters the Third Edition did not lend itself to creating change pages, it became necessary to re-typeset the entire text, while incorporating the amendment changes and chart updates to provide an integrated rules set. General Quarters version 3.3 consolidation is the result.

The amendment changes and a host of new optional rules have been integrated into the basic rule sections, requiring renumbering in couple of cases to retain a logical progression from the basic rules to the optional rules. A handy summary of these and other revisions is available on-line in the GQ 3.3 Master Rules Index which lists the changes and also provides a history of the Chart updates. I have made it a point to retain the original Welcome Aboard introduction and Designer’s Notes for historical continuity, along with this new preface to GQ 3.3.

During the integration process, I’ve also taken the opportunity to tighten up many of the other sections to enhance clarity. The torpedo attack process has been revised to utilize the Gyro Angle method (Amendment 2) throughout the rules in place of the older, more time intensive approach and the Ship Turn Indicator has been revised to use compass points (Amendment 1) to provide a “saltier” feel and consistence with Fleet Action Imminent, the WW I companion. In addition to the amendment changes, I also added some new things for GQ 3.3. These include an optional rule Section 1.5.16 to better simulate the reduced accuracy of extended gunnery ranges, optional rule section 3.1.8 for British U class subs, and optional rule Section 3.13 which provides new, streamlined procedures for simulating submarine attacks on convoys to reduce the tedium and time consuming plotting normally required for hidden movement. The new procedures makes convoy scenarios faster and more playable and can be used in conjunction with Mal. Wright’s groundbreaking Convoy series to simulate the tactical approach to contact.

In addition, we have posted the Merchant Ship System (MSS), an integrated system for merchant ships on the ODGW website. Gamers often dismiss merchants as mundane targets, mere “sea trucks” – until they suddenly need them in a scenario or campaign. In fact they are the reason for many clashes and their loss or survival determines success in an engagement. Bruce Wright and I have already prepared a number of Convoy Ship Logs and data on more than 400 merchant ships for you to download. Use in conjunction with rule Section 1.18.5 to track the value of merchant ships and their cargos in a variety of different situations. And Mike Baulch has provided a series of generic merchant ship color counters, along with convoy escorts and subs, in four popular scales to print on cardstock for those who haven’t yet launched their own miniature merchant fleet. Thus, the MSS provides everything you need to add merchant ships and convoys to your campaigns and tactical scenarios.

A number of great downloadable Supplements are also available on the ODGW website. The navies of China, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Siam, the USSR, Spain and Sweden are all covered, along with the Cherry Trees, capital ships scrapped as a result of the Washington Naval Treaty. Each supplement download includes informative articles, special rules, combat charts, CD Cards, aircraft Formation Cards, ready-to-use Ship Logs and small craft data along with multiple scenarios. Together, GQ 3.3 and these supplements provide unprecedented coverage of the navies of the first half of the 20th Century.

The separate GQ III Decisions at Sea series has also inaugurated an innovative campaign series built around a fast paced decision-based system that eliminates tedious map plotting, and bookkeeping. Check them out!

Many thanks to Adrian, Bruce, Chris, Gregory, Jim, John, Mike, Mitch, Nicola, Ralph, and Terry who have all generously volunteered so much of their own time to make all this possible and help our hobby grow.

Finally, a big thanks to Norm Harms for his many years of inspiration and support. Indeed, he’s a major reason I undertook the re-design of General Quarters in the first place after all those years. Norm’s busy with many projects of his own these days, but he’s always got a moment to answer a question or provide data from his vast nautical reference library. Norm is a true friend and a pillar of our hobby.

In summary, the GQ version 3.3 and related supplements and campaigns provide you an enhanced and expanded simulation of naval warfare in the first half of the Twentieth Century, and this allied with the ever expanding supply of miniatures and play aids available in the market ensures our hobby is vibrant, strong and better than ever. I like to think the spirit of Fletcher Pratt is looking on, pleased with what’s happening in our hobby.

Alamitos Bay 2012

Product ID: 04-102

*** Loose-Leaf - US 3-Hole Punch Only ***
ISBN-13: 978-0-9788648-1-1
ISBN-10: 0-9788648-1-6

$44.95

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Sudden Storm (Loose Leaf)


Sudden Storm is a naval and land campaign book in the GQIII Decisions at Sea series about a hot war between the US and Japan in 1937. There is no radar, electric torpedoes, PT Boats, 24" Type 93 "Long Lance" [sic] torpedoes, US magnetic torpedo exploder problems, decks filled with AA guns or VT Fuses, long range airplanes, heavy bombs, drop tanks or self-sealing fuel tanks. Battle lines and big guns still rule. This is the war the ships were designed for!! This is the war the crews have trained for!!

*** Loose-Leaf - US 3-Hole Punch Only ***

Product ID: 04-303

$39.95

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Fleet Action Imminent (Loose Leaf)


WWI version of General Quarters 3.

*** Loose-Leaf - US 3-Hole Punch Only ***

Product ID: 04-104

$24.95

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The Solomons Campaign (Loose Leaf)


*** Loose-Leaf - US 3-Hole Punch Only ***

Product ID: 04-301

$39.95

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Post Captain (Loose Leaf)


There have been a number of fine games written to simulate the great fleet actions that decided the fate of nations. But, these battles can be counted on two hands. For every fleet action, there were a hundred frigate, sloop and small ship of the line engagements that turned “command of the sea” into the daily reality of using and controlling the sea lanes.

It is time for a game that focuses on the single ship duels and small squadron actions that were the main fare of sea officers - a game that provides you an opportunity to highlight seamanship and experience the differences in armament, crews and types of ships along with the details of sea tactics in this era. POST CAPTAIN has been developed to do just that.

It enables you to simulate convoy actions, commerce raiding, cutting out expeditions, gunboat clashes, and shore raids along with a variety of single ship duels and small squadron actions. Boat and cargo handling, challenge and deception, current and tide, floating batteries and shore defenses, kedging, mortar bombardments by bomb vessels, prize crews, stern way, blanketing and wind shadow and the less well known types of sailing rigs and vessels are all covered

Set during naval warfare in the period 1793 - 1815 ( the height of Age of Sail Era - the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812) and is designed for naval miniatures of all scales.

*** Loose-Leaf - US 3-Hole Punch Only ***

Product ID: 06-101

$14.95

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North Sea Campaign (Loose Leaf)


Under Admiral Tirpitz, with the active encouragement of Kaiser Wilhelm, Germany committed to a naval construction program designed to challenge British control of the North Sea. In less than two decades the resulting Anglo-German Naval Arms Race was one of the primary causes of the Great War.

Within weeks of the outbreak of war in August 1914 millions of soldiers were engaged in combat. On the Western Front German armies violated Belgian neutrality to gain easy access to northern France. While this gambit did open a promising route to Paris, it had a fearful political price as treaty obligations brought England into war.

For a few weeks in the later summer of 1914 it looked like German armies might capture Paris, scoring a knock-out blow. When they failed, and a stalemate descended all along the front from the Swiss border to the English Channel, the North Sea became the only other theater that offered a way to quickly bring the war to a conclusion.

For a variety of reasons, including the British advantage in capital ships, a major fleet action did not occur until Jutland in May 1916. Still, there were numerous occasions early in the war when the fleets could have clashed, and the stakes were high indeed. Churchill later described Admiral Jellicoe, commander of the Grand Fleet, as “the only man on either side who could lose the war in an afternoon,” an indication of the importance for England to maintain control of the North Sea.

This campaign game, focusing on the early war, offers players a chance to fight out a series of actions that helped shape the campaign, and that offered the possibility of a major fleet action.

Players will face both strategic and tactical decisions with the fog of war (sometimes literally on the North Sea) may confer advantages or devastating disadvantages.

The campaign is compatible with virtually any miniatures rule set. The strategic decision model provides replayabililty as no two campaigns will be the same, especially combined with a wide variation in possible tactical encounters. And there is always the possibility that control of the North Sea will come down to one afternoon.

*** Loose-Leaf - US 3-Hole Punch Only ***

Product ID: 04-304

$24.95

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Defending The Malay Barrier (Loose Leaf)


Defending the Malay Barrier, The ABDA Campaign is a historical naval campaign of the first months of World War II in the Pacific, specifically in the area of the Southern Philippines and Netherlands East Indies (NEI). It is based on the General Quarters Third Edition (GQ 3.3) Decisions at Sea campaign system introduced in Old Dominion Game Work's (ODGW's) The Solomons Campaign (TSC) and Sudden Storm, The Japanese American Naval War of 1937. While designed for GQ 3.3, it can be used with any World War II naval miniatures rules. In cases where direct references to GQ 3.3 are made, players using other rules will need to "translate" those references to the other rule system being employed.
  • Recreate the 1941 - 1942 Japanese campaign for the conquest and the Allied ABDA Command's defense of the Malay Barrier
  • Accurate Orders of Battle adaptable to any naval game system
  • Mapless search method that requires no plotting
  • Tactical battles generated by unique decision tree method
  • Maximum replayability provides new challenges every time
  • Options for Force Z, Dutch Battlecruisers and more
*** Loose-Leaf - US 3-Hole Punch Only ***

Product ID: 04-305