Besides, I don’t have an awesome gaming computer to run all the great graphics of those other games indeed, my MacBook struggles even when running Table Top Simulator! That’s OK I use the many nice counters from my Clash of Arms Harpoon 4. That said, I like the player manipulation of the model, even if it costs me some playability. I agree with many critics who say the game can be made more ‘playable’ if in a computer version, much like Command: Modern Air/Naval Operations (CMANO). The Harpoon series, because it leans more heavily into the simulation than gaming aspects of the design, can seem chart-heavy. There is nothing wrong with that as long as the ‘abstraction’ is done purposefully. Many time in wargames, the model is simplified or heavily abstracted in the name of playability. I argue that Harpoon, being more a simulation, by necessity uses a more complex model that requires more player manipulation. Well, I challenge them to consider if they are judging the series as a war game or a simulation wargame. Or how it is much easier to spoof a Former Soviet Union air search radar on an exported missile boat in the 1980’s than it is to detect a modern Low Probability of Intercept (LPI) surface search radar.Ĭritics of the Harpoon series often cry the game is unplayable. bomb as it transforms from a ‘dumb’ unguided bomb in Vietnam to a laser-guided version in the Gulf War to a ‘smart’ GPS-guided munition of today. Thus, one can see the difference between a 500 lbs. A simple “Generation’ rating for many weapons and combat systems (such as radars) accounts for how ‘smart’ they are. In the cat-and-mouse games between US and Russian submarines, which is better?Īs much as Harpoon V is a simulation, I have to give kudos to the design team to trying to make the game more ‘playable’ without losing ‘realism.’ The key to this balance is in the ratings system of platforms, weapons, and equipment that takes into account different technological eras. Consistent rating systems and evaluations of the capabilities of modern naval vessels, aircraft, submarines, and helicopters make it possible to achieve realistic results when simulating known situations, by extension Harpoon 5 also achieves realistic results with hypothetical scenarios.Īre carriers powerhouses or sitting ducks?Ĭan transatlantic convoys survive in a modern wartime environment? Harpoon 5 is a system of detailed but comprehensible rules covering the many facets of modern naval actions. Harpoon 5 handles all aspects of modern maritime combat: surface, sub-surface, and air. The face of naval warfare changed forever! The era of modern naval combat began on Octowhen Egyptian missile boats launched four Soviet made Styx surface-to-surface missiles and sank the Israeli destroyer Elath at a range of 13.5 nautical miles. It is planned plan to issue a new edition, Harpoon 5, sometime in the near future consolidating this knowledge and standardizing Harpoon with the other products. Although the system has remained fairly stable, naval technology has continued advancing, and there have been further developments in the game systems as more information has been acquired. First published in 1980, it has undergone several major revisions, with the last, Harpoon 4.1, being printed in the late 1990s. Harpoon is the flagship of the Admiralty Trilogy Group’s games. Look at how the current publisher describes Harpoon V: What keeps me coming back? Well, the Harpoon series is less a game and more a simulation. My Harpoon Collection (original image courtesy Admiralty Trilogy Games)
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