Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
From the publisher Iron Bottom Sound III is a re-launch of Jack Greene’s award winning tactical naval combat game of the fighting in the Pacific in 1942-43.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Read the full game description
From the publisher Iron Bottom Sound III is a re-launch of Jack Greene’s award winning tactical naval combat game of the fighting in the Pacific in 1942-43. This game has been extensively updated from the original and includes twelve scenarios (and additional new rules) as well as additional ships for future scenarios to be made available on line at Quarterdeck International’s ConSim World (CSW) site. Iron Bottom Sound III includes corrected scenarios from earlier versions, several 1943 actions, one Channel action between the Brits and the Germans, as well as two revised 1928 hypothetical actions between American and Japanese battleships and battlecruisers. The Japanese and Germans have slightly higher Victory Point value as their loss is tougher on them than the Allies. This boxed bookcase style game (and a STOUT box at that!) weighing OVER a kilo contains the following components: One 22.5” x 22” dark blue MOUNTED map. Two cut out islands - one is Savo in the old traditional daylight hour’s style and Kolombangara in nighttime shades. Two FULL countersheets. The ship counters, in Japanese and English, have top views on one side and silhouettes on the reverse for player’s choice. No generic images either, but the ACTUAL ship is displayed. Two COLOR 11” x 17” combat charts, one in English, the other in Japanese. Two 32 page rulebooks with scenarios with one ONLY in English. They represent my gaming philosophy of BIG print, plenty of room between lines (translation: EASY TO READ) – and the rulebook portion INCLUDING all optional rules are only 17 pages. A 24 page “Ship Log” booklet with the scenario Roster Sheets for playing the scenarios in both English and Japanese, generic ship logs for making your own (as done in THE ROYAL NAVY) and a movement/attack log, all suitable for photocopying. Game counters include all the ships and EXTRA ones too. Also torpedoes, smoke screens (NEW), fires, decoys (NEW), wrecks, fired markers (NEW) and starshells are included. Ships included are the YAMATO, MUTSU, NORTH CAROLINA, COLORADO, the battlecruiser LEXINGTON and more.