Second World War at Sea is a game series produced by Avalanche Press

Avalanche Press

Avalanche Press is an American company that publishes board wargames and has published some role-playing game supplements. An extremely prolific company, they have produced many respected contributions to the wargame community, most notably The Great War at Sea and Panzer Grenadier series, as well...

 covering naval combat during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The series is based on Avalanche Press' Great War at Sea

Great War at Sea series

The Great War at Sea series of board wargames released by Avalanche Press features operational and tactical-level naval combat in the period of the early battleships and dreadnoughts...

. The two series share many features although they are separate both from a rules standpoint and a scale standpoint (see SOPAC below).

SOPAC

SOPAC was the first Second World War at Sea game and extended the Great War at Sea series to World War II. SOPAC was released in 2000 and eventually sold out in 2004.

SOPACs scale was different from that of the Great War at Sea series because the area on the map could not fit using the earlier scale on the available map size. This means that the two related series' can not use each other's maps.

Eastern Fleet

Eastern Fleet was the second game in the series and covered the British Eastern Fleet

British Eastern Fleet

The British Eastern Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy which existed from 1941 to 1971...

.

Midway

Midway covers the Battle of Midway

Battle of Midway

The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...

 as well as other scenarios in that area and period of the war.

Bomb Alley

Bomb Alley was the fourth game and according to Avalanche Press, "the most ambitious" (although that title would only last until Leyte Gulf was released). It covered the whole Mediterranean and featured 50 scenarios.

Leyte Gulf

Leyte Gulf was the first game produced through Avalanche Press's Classic Wargames program. The game includes three operational maps and 2,170 game counters. Leyte Gulf is Avalanche Press's largest and most expensive game.

Strike South

Strike South covers Japanese operations in 1941 and early 1942, including the invasions of Malaya, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia).

Bismarck

Bismarck is the first game in this series set in the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 and covers German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 commerce raiders from 1939 to 1941. The game includes the German battleships Bismarck

German battleship Bismarck

Bismarck was the first of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later...

, Tirpitz

German battleship Tirpitz

Tirpitz was the second of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the Imperial Navy, the ship was laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven in November 1936 and launched two and a half years later in April...

, Scharnhorst

German battleship Scharnhorst

Scharnhorst was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of the German Kriegsmarine. She was the lead ship of her class, which included one other ship, Gneisenau. The ship was built at the Kriegsmarinewerft dockyard in Wilhelmshaven; she was laid down on 15...

, and Gneisenau

German battleship Gneisenau

Gneisenau was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of the German Kriegsmarine. She was the second vessel of her class, which included one other ship, Scharnhorst. The ship was built at the Deutsche Werke dockyard in Kiel; she was laid down on 6 May 1935...

 as well as the aircraft carriers Graf Zeppelin

German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin

German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin was the lead ship in a class of two carriers ordered by the Kriegsmarine. She was the only aircraft carrier launched by Germany during World War II and represented part of the Kriegsmarine's attempt to create a well-balanced oceangoing fleet, capable of...

 (as well as her never-completed sister Peter Strasser

Flugzeugträger B

The Flugzeugträger B was the sister ship of the Kriegsmarine's only launched aircraft carrier, the Graf Zeppelin....

).

Cone of Fire

Cone of Fire contains both Great War at Sea and Second World War at Sea pieces for South American nations. It was produced under the Classic Wargames program and is expected to be released in mid 2007.

Arctic Convoy

Arctic Convoy was recently made available for pre-order and features Allied convoys trying to make it to northern Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 ports.

Coral Sea

Coral Sea is the introductory game for the Second World War at Sea series and covers the Battle of the Coral Sea

Battle of the Coral Sea

The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought from 4–8 May 1942, was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. The battle was the first fleet action in which aircraft carriers engaged...

. It uses a small box size and comes with a new edition of the series rules and shares a sheet of counters with Pacific Crossroads.

Supplements

Like Great War at Sea, Second World War at Sea has spawned several supplements.

Distant Oceans

Now out of print, Distant Oceans added scenarios to the existing games at the time it was printed as well as featuring several background articles. It featured counter graphics that gamers could use to create counters for the Yugoslav

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

 navy, however newer supplements feature actual counters. Because of this, Distant Oceans will not be reprinted.

East of Suez

East of Suez was released in early 2007 and featured the British Pacific fleet in both real and fictional operations in 1944 and 1945. Leyte Gulf is required to play all of the scenarios and other games in the series are needed for some of the scenarios.

Black Sea Fleets

Black Sea Fleets is the newest Second World War at Sea product. It adds Soviet naval forces to the game, concentrating on the Black Sea

Black Sea

The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

. The supplement also contains counters for the Turkish and Romanian fleets and air units.

Future Products

Future products in the Second World War at Sea series include a new version of U.S. Navy Plan Orange as well as at least two more supplements.