Picked up 3 new(ish) books from Osprey: US Light Cruisers US Heavy Cruisers (pre-war classes) UK Destroyers
I believe all 3 are by Mark Stille, one of the better authors of Osprey books. Not as many line drawings as in the past books, but some very nice photos make up for that. Content is also very good for light reading.
Miniature Market carries just about everything still in print. Starters are 50-ish, ships run from 13 to 20. While I'm still working to get past WWI Wings of Glory (great fun!!!), Sails does seem to cover the key points for sailing fun.
Bad thing for me is I know next to nothing about sailing ships.
While looking into some Zvezda kits to use for GF9 Tanks! game, I started looking into their starters, Barbarossa, Blitzkrieg, and Tank Combat. Zvezda makes a large line of supplemental tanks, planes, and infantry to go along with these games and their quality is near on par with GH9/FoW. The most recent units are a Konigstiger, Sturmtiger, ISU-152... And who else makes a 15mm T-35? Kits are snap fit and run about $4 ea online, about half the cost of a GF9 tank.
Their Art of Tactic (Aot) system is a combo board game with miniatures. The tanks are 15mm, the infantry 1/72 (4 or 5 to a single base), and the planes 1/144 or 1/200. Seems odd to be using multiple scales in the same system, but the larger infantry makes them much clearer as a board piece, and the planes scale prevents them from being too big. It works. The board will look familiar to any wargamer, 2" hexes with pre-printed terrain. Additional terrain is included.
The game uses pre-laminated cards for marking out the hidden order each turn. Turn play is simultaneous, turning over cards for the turn phase and resolving in order. Each card also has full graphics for what orders it can do, then for all its stats: number units left, ammo, attack dice, attack value, defense, etc.
I actually started with Attack on Moscow, as it has the most up to date rules book. Being translated from Russian hurt the first two games (Blitzkrieg and Barbarossa), but are much better with Moscow. After seeing the games, I rounded up the others are ordered just about all else they have. The starters cost is just about the cost of the minis, with the addition of the game components. Each game has boards, aides, rules, markers, and an assortment of counters and such.
The most basic starter is Tank Combat, a 2 player board game with 6 tanks, 3 per side. Its enough to let you see if you like the system, while keeping to the minimal rules without infantry, arty, planes, etc.
Go to a fabric store and get the sheets of rubber-vinyl. I had a 1x4" board I used to draw the sectors with a Sharpie. It can withstand drinks and pretty severe abuse. I've had mine since the game launched and its still going. Rolls up around a 1" PVC pipe. Total cost, maybe $20 for all materials, vinyl, sharpie, board, and pipe.
The weak mains really hinder this unit, no matter how justified. This unit is trying for a difficult spot, we already have multiple DD and CL's with varied SA's right at this price range. I think something different is needed, not just MOTS.
Just curious if anyone is still in touch with Dean. I sent him a couple PM's from the old forum for some bases, but have not heard back from him. PM's are about a month old.