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?
Simultaneous-plotting hex-based naval game based on actions near Guadalcanal during WWII. Ten scenarios are provided, five historical and five balanced "tournament" situation.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Read the full game description
Simultaneous-plotting hex-based naval game based on actions near Guadalcanal during WWII. Ten scenarios are provided, five historical and five balanced "tournament" situation. Scale is 600 yards/hex. Gunfire and torpedo fire are figured in "factors" per turret, with all guns of the same caliber firing on a single target rolling once, using a range-modified ordered-pair of dice against a table, for number of hits. The location of each hit is then determined by another ordered-pair roll against another table. Each ship has a damage sheet showing its gunnery and torpedo layout, and giving number of factors for each turret/mount. It also serves as the damage record sheet for the ship, and specifies armor thickness over protected locations (e.g. belt, primary turrets, secondary turrets, bridge). A ship sinks when its last hull box is marked off. The game is basically set up for two-player ftf, but short rules for PBM, moderated two-player, and moderated multi-player are provided. The second edition, Iron bottom Sound 2 (note post-WWII spelling of title), was published by Moments in History in 1998. Some significant rules changes (torpedo rules in particular) and a different scenario mix. Includes a night convoy battle in the Mediterranean.