Merchant Convoy

Submarines: Designed for use in North European and Mediterranean waters, the S-class was manoeuvrable with a noted ability to crash dive extremely quickly. Combined with a large salvo of torpedoes, this was a successful design of pre-war years that was soon updated and put back into production.MTBs: The Fairmile A was designed from the outset to use prefabricated components that could be produced by small businesses such as furniture manufacturers, which would then be assembled at shipyards. Capable of 25 knots, it mounted a 3-pounder gun and a pair of .303 machine guns, as well as Depth Charge.Designed with the form of a destroyer’s hull, the Fairmile B (like its predecessor, the Fairmile A) was intended primarily as a submarine-chaser, and so was fitted with Depth Charge. Manufactured in large numbers, the Fairmile B was also famously used on the raid on St. Nazaire.Capable of 26 knots, the Fairmile C was a motor gun boat, mounting two 2-pounders and eight machine guns of various calibres. It was mainly used for close escort duties and some clandestine missions.Nicknamed ‘Dog Boat,’ the Fairmile D was highly adaptable and could be fitted with a range of armament that meant it could act as both motor gun and torpedo boat. Some were used by the Royal Air Force for long range rescue of downed airmen.Box contains:S-Class Submarines x 3Fairmile MTB sections (A,B,C & D) x 4Ship CardsModels supplied unassembled and unpainted

The Royal Navy of Great Britain was the world’s greatest navy at the outbreak of the Second World War. However, Britain went to war with mainly First World War-vintage vessels. Since the Royal Navy already possessed many powerful units, construction of the most modern designs was limited. This meant that at the outbreak of World War Two Britain had far more battleships than most other nations, but they had smaller guns than those built to the most modern ships.Though the main battle force was kept concentrated in home waters, task forces were assigned to many distant areas, but the Royal Navy could not be strong everywhere. Although badly stretched, the Royal Navy lived up to its traditional ‘can do!’ ethos, fighting hard in all theatres.In addition to the battleship forces, the Royal Navy maintained a handful of fast battlecruisers – some of them quite old – and aircraft carriers. These were backed up by a strong cruiser force and light forces including destroyers, motor torpedo boats (MTBs) and motor gunboats (MGBs).As the war went on, aircraft carriers became increasingly important and air defences were steadily improved on all ships. Yet the big guns of the battleships and cruisers played a vital role in many theatres of war. British capital ships saw action in the Arctic and the Atlantic against German commerce raiders, in the Mediterranean against Italian forces, and ventured into the Pacific in an ill-fated attempt to stem the Japanese advance. Though the great fleet actions planned for and desired by the architects of the Royal Navy did not materialise during World War Two, the Royal Navy adapted well to the war it was destined to fight and emerged with great honour.Contents:Eagle-class Carrier - HMS Eagle 1940King George V-class Battleship - HMS Duke of York 1943Leander-class cruiser - HMS Neptune 1941Edinburgh-class cruiser - HMS Belfast 1942Dido-class cruiser - HMS Dido 1940Tribal-class Destroyer x3Torpedo-Bomber Aircraft - Fairey Swordfish x4 flightsShip Cards and Damage SlidersAssembly InstructionsShips are in Resin and Warlord ResinModels supplied unassembled and unpainted

Witnessing massed airpower at the Battle of Taranto, the Japanese were quick to master the tactic, as seen in their infamous attack on Pearl Harbor. Later in the war, having suffered from terrible attrition and facing defeat, the Japanese turned desperately to kamikaze attacks.Kawanishi N1K1 George: Known to the allies as ‘George,’ the N1K1 entered service in 1943. Designed as a land-based derivative of the Kyōfū single-seat fighter, the George impressed the Imperial Japanese Navy sufficiently that they adopted it. Armed with two .303 machineguns and four 20mm cannon, the George outmatched the Hellcat and could compete with aircraft such as the Mustang and Corsair.Nakajima B5N Kate: The standard Japanese torpedo bomber and one of the main causes of damage at Pearl Harbor, the Kate was a rugged and dependable aircraft, easily superior to its American counterparts.Mitsubishi G3M Nell: Developed to meet a requirement for a maritime reconnaissance and strike platform, the G3M Nell was capable of fulfilling the tactical bomber or torpedo-strike roles and did so with distinction despite being regarded as obsolete by the outbreak of war. G3Ms took part in attacks on HMS Repulse and Prince of Wales in December 1941, the first sinking of capital ships under way by aircraft.Box contains these aircraft flights (in Warlord Resin):4 x Kawanishi N1K1 George flights4 x Nakajima B5N Kate flights1 x Mitsubishi G3M Nell flightModels supplied unassembled and unpainted

Submarines: The Kaidai-7-class, or KD-7, was developed in the late 1930s, following on from the preceding KD-6 class. With a surface range of 8,000nm at 16kts, and a submerged endurance of 50nm at 5kts, they possessed a slightly better underwater performance to the late-model KD-6s and better surface speed (though not range) than the earlier members of that class. All members of the class were lost by mid-1944. Another ocean-going submersible using 533mm forward and aft torpedo tubes, it served in the South Pacific as well as the waters off Australia. I-177 sunk the hospital ship AHS Centaur off Stradbroke Island. It was presumed lost with all hands on 18 November 1944, while the I-176 was lost six months earlier off of the Solomon’s. There were 10 KD-7 submarines built overall.MTBs: Designed as a suicide craft, the Shin’yō either carried a powerful explosive or two depth charges. The depth charges were intended to be planted by the pilot of the boat, after which he would then make his escape. Although nearly 10,000 were built, they accounted for the sinking of only 5 ships, mainly landing craft.The Imperial Japanese Navy fielded a number of variants on a standard torpedo boat design, differing mainly in machinery fit which affected displacement, giving the illusion of more variety than existed in practice. 238 boats were built within these designations, all armed with two 18-inch torpedoes and 25mm or 13.2mm guns.Box contains:Kaidai-7-class Submarines x 3Shin’yo Kamikaze boat sections x 2T-14 MTB sections x2Ship CardsModels supplied unassembled and unpainted

Victory at Sea is the game of naval combat during the Second World War. Throughout 1939–45, the nations of the world duelled across the oceans across the globe, only to discover the fundamental nature of naval warfare changing in the face of rapidly developing technologies. Now you can play out these confrontations on the tabletop with entire fleets drawn from the Royal Navy, US Navy, Imperial Japanese Navy, German Kriegsmarine or any of the other nations featured in Victory at Sea.From skirmishes involving single destroyers hunting down merchantmen to the clashing of massive battleships, from invasions of islands across the Pacific to mastering waves of dive bombers, Victory at Sea enables you to fight exciting battles that take place on the oceans of World War II.The Battle for the Pacific starter set focuses primarily on actions in the seas of the Far East – the Imperial Japanese Navy and the mighty US Navy clashing for control of the islands, resources and seas of the Pacific Theatre. The Victory at Sea rules manual presented in this starter game contains all you need to know to begin playing with the fleets included.Contents:A4 Battle of the Pacific Rules manualDie-cut game tokens sheet15 Warlord Resin / Resin model ships:USS Indianapolis 1944USS Northampton 1942USS Chicago 1942Mogami 1939Kumano 1944Furutaka 1939Fubuki-class Destroyer x3Fletcher-class Destroyer x 6Ship Cards and damage sliders x 15Ten-sided dice x 4Six-sided dice x 12A0 Sea Mat x2Models supplied unassembled and unpainted

Only the mighty Yamato displaced more than the massive, yet very fast, Iowa-class battleships. The last battleship to be commissioned by the USA, USS Missouri known as the ‘Mighty Mo’ acted as venue for the Japanese surrender in WWII. Iowa-class ships saw service far beyond the Second World War and were upgraded with modern electronics, weapons systems and cruise missiles – USS Missouri was finally decommissioned in 1992 after a distinguished career.Models supplied unassembled and unpainted

Two Bismarck-class battleships were built for the Kriegsmarine. Bismarck was the first, named for the Chancellor (Otto von Bismarck). The battleship was laid down in July 1936 and launched February 1939. She and her sister ship, Tirpitz, were two of the largest battleships built by any European power, and certainly the largest built by Germany. Whilst the physical power they held was tremendous, they also wreaked psychological havoc amongst the allies. Churchill was determined that the two battleships not be let loose upon the Atlantic.Bismarck's career, however, was woefully short, spanning just eight months under a single Captain, Ernst Lindeman. During this time, she only took part in a single offensive action that lasted just eight days in May 1941. This operation, codenamed Rheinübung, was to attempt what the Allies feared, a breakthrough to the Atlantic and raid allied shipping efforts between Britain and North America (along with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen).The two vessels were detected multiple times off Scandinavia, prompting Britain to initiate naval blocking maneuvers. The resultant battle, the Battle of the Denmark Strait, saw the British vessels HMS Hood and HMS Prince of Wales engage the two vessels. Hood was destroyed for her efforts and Prince of Wales suffered damage, forcing a retreat. However, Bismarck had suffered damage significant enough to put an end to her raiding mission.Limping for occupied France for repairs, Bismarck was pursued by a Royal Navy set on retribution for the sinking of HMS Hood. She was attacked by 16 Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers deployed by HMS Ark Royal. A direct hit rendered Bismarck's steering gear inoperable. The following morning, she suffered crippling damage in a battle against two British battleships and two cruisers. She was subsequently, on 27 May 1941, scuttled by her crew and sank with many lives lost.Contains one ship in Resin and Warlord ResinModels supplied unassembled and unpainted

Yamato (大和, "Great Harmony") and her sister ship, Musashi, were constructed shortly before the outbreak of World War II. They were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed; armed with nine 18.1” Type 94 main guns – the largest guns ever mounted on a warship.The battleship’s design was an answer to the numerically dominant US Navy – Imperial Japan’s primary threat in the Pacific. Though laid down in 1937 the battleship was not actually commissioned until late 1941, a week after fated attack on Pearl Harbour. She served as the flagship of the Combined Fleet. It was from her bridge that Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto directed the fleet at Midway in June 1942, though this proved a disastrous defeat for the Japanese. She was thereafter replaced by the Musashi as flagship and spent the larger part of 1943 and 44 moving between ports in a responsive role.October 1944 was the only occasion on which Yamato fired her main guns in anger, at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Yamato had been tasked with repelling American forces invading the Phillipines. Though success lay within Japanese grasp, such was the ferocity of a counterattack of a light escort carrier group of the U.S. Navy’s Task Force 77 that the Japanese enacted a retreat, falsely believing they faced a much larger carrier force.By early in 1945, Naval superiority in the Pacific belonged firmly to the US Navy. In an effort to delay the Allies’ advance, Yamato was dispatched to Okinawa in April 1945, with no expectation to ever return. Her orders were to beach herself and fight until destroyed. This was not allowed to occur when, on 7 April 1945 when she was sunk by US carrier-based bombers and torpedo bombers, with the loss of the majority of her complement.Contains one ship in Resin and Warlord ResinModels supplied unassembled and unpainted

Sister ship to the Bismarck, the Tirpitz was 2,000 tons heavier and thus the heaviest warship to have ever been produced by a European navy. She served in Norway and the Baltic Fleet acting as a potent deterrent. The Tirpitz became an obsession for the British. After the sinking of the Bismarck, the Tirpitz, as Germany’s most powerful warship, was destined to spend much of the war in port.After the daring St Nazaire raid by the British, it was deemed unfeasible to use Tirpitz against the Atlantic convoys of the Allies. Instead, she was used sparingly, as a deterrent against Allied invasion in Norway and to intercept Allied convoys to the Soviet Union. In September 1943, along with the battleship Scharnhorst, she bombarded Allied positions on Spitzbergen. This was the only occasion the mighty battleship fired her main battery in anger.The relentless attacks of the British, would prove to be the end of the mighty vessel. They launched many raids on her; from mini-submarines and two full scale air raids. She was eventually sunk in 1944 by Lancaster bombers armed with 12,000 lb Tallboy bombs.Models supplied unassembled and unpainted

The Battle for the Pacific was only the beginning. Victory at Sea is the game of naval combat during the Second World War. Throughout 1939–45, the nations of the world duelled across the oceans across the globe, only to discover the fundamental nature of naval warfare changing in the face of rapidly developing technologies. Now you can play out these confrontations on the tabletop with entire fleets drawn from the Royal Navy, US Navy, Imperial Japanese Navy, German Kriegsmarine or any of the other nations featured in Victory at Sea.From skirmishes involving single destroyers hunting down merchantmen to the clashing of massive battleships, from invasions of islands across the Pacific to mastering waves of dive bombers, Victory at Sea enables you to fight exciting battles that take place on the oceans of World War II.This rulebook is the ultimate resource for Victory at Sea players. It contains:The complete rules for fighting naval battles, including the use of aircraft, submersibles and coastal defences.Detailed background notes on the progression of naval warfare through WWII.28 historic scenarios, covering every theatre over the span of the whole war.Exhaustive fleet lists for all the major belligerents, providing game statistics for hundreds of unique ships, submarines, aircraft and MTBs.Get a free exclusive model with this book, only when purchased from the warlord webstore!Noshiro was an Agano-class cruiser that served with the Imperial Japanese Navy. This class was designed to serve as the flagship of a destroyer flotilla. Completed in mid-1943, Noshiro participated in battles in the Gilbert and Solomon Islands and later escaped the Battle of the Philippine Sea of 19 June 1944 unscathed. At the Battle of Leyte Gulf, beginning 22 October 1944, Noshiro was ordered to Brunei as flagship of DesRon 2. At the Battle off Samar, the following day Noshiro was credited with hits on the US escort carrier USS White Plains and was partially responsible for the sinking of the carrier USS Gambier Bay, one of only two cases of carriers being sunk by naval gunfire alone. She met her end days later, however, at the hands of Grumman TBM-1C Avenger torpedo bombers, on 26 October.

One of the most famous carriers of the war, the HMS Ark Royal received many battle honours in its service. The first enemy aircraft shot down by the Fleet Air Arm was with one of her Blackburn Skuas, while her bombers sank the German cruiser Königsberg, the first example of a capital ship being sunk by an attack from the air. Better remembered is the Ark Royal’s role in the sinking of the Bismarck, where her Fairey Swordfish launched a torpedo attack that damaged its rudder, leaving it vulnerable to the rest of the fleet.Other notable actions included convoys to Malta, the Norwegian campaign and involvement in the first U-boat kill of the war.In 1941 she was struck by a torpedo and sank while under tow.Models supplied unassembled and unpainted

The Kriegsmarine had to be virtually rebuilt after the First World War. Forbidden to own capital ships and submarines, Germany nibbled away at first one clause of the Treaty of Versailles, then another, until a powerful navy force existed.At the outbreak of World War Two, relatively few capital ships were in commission, and no aircraft carriers. There was never any prospect of matching Britain in terms of capital ship numbers, but the qualitative advantage of the proposed super-battleships might have made a considerable difference. In any case, the Kriegsmarine was not a navy designed to tackle a major fleet head-on in fleet engagements. Instead, it was a commerce raiding force.German capital ships were built according to principles tried out in World War One; internal compartmentalisation and damage control measures made them very difficult to sink, while their efficient power plants ensured a good top speed, essential in a raider. Coupled with excellent fire control – using radar and other means – and big guns to make use of it, these vessels were extremely potent weapons.It has been said that Hitler never really understood naval warfare; be that as it may, the Kriegsmarine suffered from a lack of funding and materials, and from the internal politics of the Nazi leadership. Among its greatest detractors was Herman Goering, who connived constantly to ensure resources flowed into his Luftwaffe to the detriment of the navy. Major warship projects suffered from constant stops and starts as resources were allocated, then redistributed to other projects.Eventually, as the tide of war turned against Germany, Hitler gave up on his navy and transferred guns originally intended for ships to the coastal fortifications of the Atlantic Wall. The Kriegsmarine continued to fight on with dwindling resources. U-boats and destroyers remained a menace to allied shipping to the very end of the war.Contents:Scharnhorst-class Battleship - Scharnhorst 1939Admiral Hipper -class cruiser - Blücher 1940Admiral Hipper -class cruiser - Prinz Eugen 1940Admiral Hipper-class cruiser - Admiral Hipper 1939Königsberg -class cruiser - Köln 1941Königsberg -class cruiser - Königsberg 1940Type 1936A-class Destroyer x3Dive Bomber Aircraft - Junker Ju-87 Stuka flight x4 flightsShip Cards and Damage SlidersAssembly InstructionsShips are in Resin and Warlord ResinModels supplied unassembled and unpainted