Mediterranean Fury

I liked it but I think Italian fleet (even if is my country!) has too much power and only a little handicap being w/o radar. Furthermore I recently read in a trustable military history magazine that Regia Marina hadn't night binoculars like German Zeiss, nor had Bengal Lights that could reach right distance to be useful. Anyway a good and enjoyable game. I suggest to start on 2nd day.

Mediterranean Fury is a good take at a basic operational-level naval game system for a single extended battle. The spotting system is simple but realistic and supports solo play. No hidden movement as a'la "Flattop". The surface combat system is basic, using "Salvo" style range bands with die-roll winner (modified by ship speed) controlling the range change between rounds. Hits and their impact on speed and firepower are handled in a simple yet realistic way with three levels of damage short of sinking. Aircraft and flak are handled similarly. My only peeve with the rules is how fast damaged ships can be repaired. If the repair roll was made once a day instead of once an hour it would be more realistic, an easy change to implement via a house rule if you're so inclined.

As with most High Flying Dice games there is an amazing amount of realism implemented via the simplest possible mechanics. All the crucial aspects of naval air and surface combat in WW II are modeled, but each in a way simple enough to be described in a sentence or two. Most, but not all, of the resulting tables and checklists are on the helpful player aid cards. The pieces are nice, well worth the minor effort of cutting out with a paper cutter. In short, a first rate DTP game with a lot of depth per page of rules. I got mine pre-mounted, a good choice in terms of time spent setting up.

I wrote a Paper Wars review for MF's latest edition, but it caused controversy, and I am not sure it was ever published.

Despite the beautiful and extremely well organized graphics and what seems to be a very sound game system, I have concerns about the game.

As it is, it appears that if the Italians are undetected at the outset of a 3-day game - a greater than 50% chance - they can sail at night over to Maleme Airfield, bombard/obliterate it, and run home unattacked, with a 5 to 0 Decisive Victory. I believe this flaw had been pointed out in an earlier review.

Mistakes in the side view and spelling of the HMS Gloucester piece I detected were quickly corrected, but I do have concerns about some of the ships' factor ratings. HMAS Perth was a later version of the Leanders but has a factor rating of 3 instead of their 4. Gloucester had 12 6" guns instead of Perth's and the Leanders' 8, but is still rated as only 4. The old Italian battleships were significantly faster than the old British battleships, but are still rated as slow.

There should be more maneuver space north of Crete, to enable circumnavigation of it, and victory points could be awarded for the Italians bombarding Allied shipping in Suda Bay on its north coast.

I hope a significantly revised edition of the game will come out, because I think Bruce Yearian and High Flying Dice have a beautiful, playable, and enjoyable game going in it.

Nice small game. Good level of detail with a short rulebook. Italians are up against it which is historical.Also ideal for conversion to a miniatures campaign.

Possible play balance issue if Italian lurk near edge of map.