Cool material, way too complicated in my opinion. Too many tables, 2-3 turnes exemples, step by tsep would help, I guess. I got lost.

Stacked up against Harpoon, the current gold standard, SBG3 does an excellent job. Still realistic, but playable.

Another in the series of good update books for Surface Battlegroup, an excellent set of modern naval rules. This playable set of rules does not sacrifice any realism to achieve its results.

Excellent addition to a great system. Can't wait to get a couple of players together and try some of the scenarios.

Excellent expansion to the system, adding that bit of extra realism without adding to the complexity. Can't wait to get this into the game and onto the table.

An excellent addition to the system. Looking forward to getting some ships on the table with this new module.

I've been waiting for a good modern naval minis system to try out, and seeing it demonstrated at Advance The Colors, I felt this was what I was waiting on. On examining the rules, putting together the counters and preparing for my first game, I find I was right. A game that handles some of the most complex issues in modern naval warfare in a simple but accurate way.

Surface Battle Group is a new and refreshing approach to modern naval surface combat. It takes away the micro managing of lower levels of command on ship(s) and allows you to concentrate on tactics of higher command, thus allowing each player to comfortably handle up to about 6 ships. The rulebook is written in an orderly manner with examples and summaries after each chapter. There are 50 pages of ship and aircraft forms that contain all relevant information, which is used during play as your record sheets. Important to the ship forms is the fact that the author, Tom, has given you the formulas for determining the ship characteristics (hull points, speed, damage control capacity, etc.) of ships not available in the rules; so, you can expand your ship list. Surface Battle Group still gives a feel for the variety of radar and weapon systems and their functions in a more simplified form that permits greater playability. Crew quality comes into play in the form of fighting ability, damage control, initiative, and more importantly morale. In summary, the rules are very playable and yet offer the feel of realism. I fully recommend Surface Battle Group, give them a try! The “Pirate Expansion” to Surface Battle Group has ship forms for generic type boats (speed and fishing) and ships (freighter, tankers, and super tankers) along with 2 new U.S.N. ships (Freedom and Independence) to fight such events as Somali Pirates. The expansion is great and I’m looking forward to hunting down more pirates.

I decided to buy these rules, because I have played in a couple of scenarios at conventions ran by Tom and enjoyed those games. The rules are easy to understand even without having previous knowledge of modern naval warfare. I especially like the way Tom has taken a complex subject and simplified the battle including offensive fire and defensive capabilities. The rule book is written in a way that each step of play has an overview, details and an example. I highly reccommend this rule set for quick play and individuals that want command decisions of thier ship and still work together with the rest of the group. Everthing you need is listed in the rules and includes the ship forms for many ships, subs and planes.

SBG was made to be fast and enjoyable game without losing too much realism. As the name implies it's made for surface combat warfare yet air and sub rules are included. The rules designed with a command vice an equipment operator perspective. I highly recommend reading Appendix D, which gives you an idea of Tom's thoughts designing SBG. Covered with the main rules are various examples to understand game flow. Being "living rules" constant updates are available, especially from other gamers. SBG is flexible for players to create or change rules based upon experience or data. End result, SBG makes for an enjoyable game that feels right. A positive note in my book.