From: sulaiman@ecs.umass.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: 3rd Fleet
Date: 7 Jan 93 10:44:46 GMT

I always thought that 6th Fleet was probably the most playable (but
possibly the most unrealistic). It also offers some of the best options
to create your own scenarios i.e. several mutually hostile and 
non-superpower class states and coalitions in the area. I have all 
of them except 3rd Fleet.
I believe the order is:
6th Fleet	Medeterranean
2nd Fleet	North Atlantic 
3rd Fleet	Carribean (??)
7th Fleet	Pacific
5th Fleet	Indian Ocean.

Their is a continual evolution of rules with a biggest jump being
from 6th to 2nd Fleet. However the rules can be applied to previous
games and with minor changes played.

6th Fleet:
Great fun when it originally came out. A lot of fun comes from the 
national interactions and the uncertainty of knowing who your 
allies and foes are at a given time. Many rules are unrealistic and
were changed later. Most of the info is still relevant and is probably 
the best game to create your own scenarios for.

2nd Fleet:
Also a very good game. The fun here is mostly due to the evenness of
forces. They took out ground assault (paratroopers/commandoes/marines)
rules which were fun in 6th Fleet. However the forces are evenly matched
but with their own unique strengths. Some stuff is still unrealistic.
F-14 CAP is basically invulnerable. The reduced the range on Soviet
AIr launched SSM to take out a big Sov advantage but in the process
basically made the US carriers completely invulnerable to air attack.
Still a lot of fun and the game I most played of the series.

7th Fleet:
Huge map. Needs lot of space to set up fully. However action is 
concentrated in a very narrow band so most of the map is blue sea
and generally waste. The rules update bring the USAF to par with
USN air arm. F-15/F-16 now have comparable Air to air values to
the F-14s. The SSM are no longer super accurate and CAP is permeable.
All in all an ok game. However most info on US/USSR forces in Vietnam
and Phillipenes is outdated. The game is unbalanced. The Reds are mostly
trying to survive as the Japanese/USAF can achieve air superiority in
several zones without trying too hard. Whereas the Reds are hard pressed
to evn control the air above home. The Red Subs are more dangerous
but mostly the Reds win by spoiling or just holding out. A much more
interesting scenario (player created) is a new Russo-JApanese
war with no US support or a US-JApan war. Very limited in the number 
of scenarios that can be set-up. The Japanese AF is very powerfully rated
and its hard to fight against such an overwhelming force.

5th Fleet:
Indian Ocean/Persian Gulf. The rules are most "refined". Lots of empty 
blue seas. A lot like 6th Fleet. However I found most of the game
scenarios to be uninspired. Takes even more space than 7th Fleet.

So as it shows the first two games are IMHO the most fun to play but
the least realistic. A good idea might be mail order the Fleet rule
book (probably 7th or 5th) from Avalon Hill (which I believe owns and
sells VG stuff) and then buy whichever module you like and update the
rules as needed. It would have been nice if VG would publish updates
to the various games (rule and scenario-wise) to keep the games
current. Or maybe AH is waiting to publish the 2nd Edition.


Anyway my 2 cents.

Ameer