FEAR GOD & DREAD NOUGHT (Clash of Arms, 2001) won the 2001 Origins Award for Best Historic Miniatures Rules. To me, FG&DN was the third what is now called the Admiralty Trilogy of naval wargames which includes Fear God & Dread Nought (1906-1925), Command at Sea (1926-1955) and Harpoon (1955 to Present day). Along the way, a “fourth” game in the trilogy was released by the Admiralty Trilogy Group, Dawn of the Battleship which covers 1890 to 1904. For my 2019 Origins Award Challenge I pulled out FG&DN and took another look at the game.
To me, Admiralty Trilogy games get a bit of a bum rap. These games are often associated with complexity; indeed, I have heard these games referenced as “ASL for the navy.” Personally, I think people confuse detailed data with complexity of the game engine. I know both Mr. Bond (the series creator) and Chris Carlson (co-designer FG&DN) and they are both gamers. They are also analysts, and one should recall that the first trilogy game, Harpoon, grew out of a US Navy training aid. In many ways, FG&DN traces its legacy to “professional” wargames where the training and simulation needs often come at the expense of playability. My long-time focus on simulation over gameplay may be why I often overlooked playability issues.
Long ago in 2007 I created a Geeklist where I compared nine different World War I tactical naval wargames I had in my collection. In my informal comparison I played the same scenario (Goeben Escapes) for each game. For FG&DN I found it took the longest prep and play times across the nine games. However, while not the fastest game, it was among the games that seem to most accurately portray the battle. So the question is, what do YOU want in a game? Playability? Realism? Where you fall along that spectrum will go a long way towards determine if FG&DN is for you.
I still enjoy FG&DN. Several year back, Admiralty Trilogy Group took the license for the Admiralty Trilogy and started publishing electronically on WargameVault.com. By 2017 they realized FG&DN needed an overhaul. While many of the rules changes focused on the combat models, playability did factor into decisions.
Finally, when looking at the present state of the game I realized I have not kept up. In October 2018, ATG published FG&DN, 2nd Edition. Good thing it’s my birthday and I can buy a present for myself to see just how good the overhaul was!
Rocky Mountain Navy Gamer 