Mediterranean covers naval conflict between 1911 and 1923, with most of the scenarios based on naval actions of the First World War. The centerpiece is the 1914 hunt for the German battle cruiser Goeben, made famous in Barbara Tuchman’s Guns of August. The battle cruiser and her consort, the light cruiser Breslau, are loose in the Mediterranean Sea and its up to the British and French to hunt them down before they escape or destroy the vital French troop convoys heading from Algeria to France.

Twelve of the scenarios are battle scenarios, useful for learning the game system or for quick fun. The 58 operational scenarios cover a wide variety of situations: The Italo-Turkish War of 1911-1912 and the Balkan War between Greece and Turkey usually pit small and outdated fleets against one another. A number of scenarios cover the First World War’s most intense but possibly least-known naval campaign, the struggle for control of the Black Sea. The struggle for the Adriatic between Austria-Hungary and Italy is also shown. Several scenarios explore war plans for campaigns arching over the entire Mediterranean, based on the actual staff studies. The scenarios are based on primary research in several military archives and represent a serious historical study of the era.

The playing pieces sport accurate, highly detailed drawings of the ships that made history. Eleven nations are represented: Germany, Britain, France, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria and Japan. The ships range from elderly ironclads relegated to coastal defense duties to massive super-battleships like the Italian Caracciolo class that were designed but never built.

Avalanche Press APL0016