At the start of a project, the first two questions a wargame designer asks himself are: what is the area I wish to in the game, and at what scale do I show it? 2nd FLEET, which is a follow-on game to the successful 6th FLEET, was irrevocably tied to the scale of its older cousin (roughly 50 miles per hex). The emphasis of the new game is on carrier operations in the Norwegian Sea; the two maps used in the game are centered on the North Atlantic, from Greenland to Norway (on an east-west axis) and from the Kola Peninsula to the northern tip of Ireland (on a south-north axis). Even using two maps, the "southern approaches" to the British Isles (that is, the sea route skirting the southern Irish coast) had to be omitted from the game due to space constraints. Since an important part of the simulation deals with the movement of convoys from the United States and Canada to Europe, the realism of 2nd FLEET can be enhanced if the NATO player is permitted to use the slower but safer southern approach to Europe for his convoys.
Using the expansion map, counters and rules included in this article, 2nd FLEET players will have more maneuver room for their surface and submarine units. (But unfortunately, will have less maneuver room on their dining room tables!) As a result, both players' strategic options will be increased. Moreover, each side will have more units to play with. since the addition of the southern approaches will also add some naval forces that had been omitted from the original game-most importantly, the powerful French Atlantic squadron.
The expansion was included in Avalon Hill's in-house published magazine the "General" in Volume 25, Issue 1 (their 25th anniversary issue).
—description from the publisher
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