Battleship Review

The ultimate tactical battle of naval warfare on the seven seas. Battleship is a hugely classic game that provides an unreal amount of tension with every shot fired. Will you be hit, will you hit your opposition and be the player with your fleet still sailing?

Red Alert

The enemy is in sight and the battle has begun. Battleship has been around for decades now. I owned a set as a child and it was fun to play with my brothers. I don’t think it didn’t ever get a little emotional. We were children and we wanted to win.

This is a strict two player game. Players set their 5 ships up on the 10 x 10 grid. Players have the little destroyer, a cruiser, submarine, battleship and aircraft carrier to pin on their half of the board.

When set players take turns to shoot by calling out the grid references in turn and marking up the hits and losses. As well as keeping track if you have been hit, you need to keep an accurate check on your shooting area. If you hit you get another turn. The player who has some ships left at the end of the game takes a win.

Modern Combat

Bluffing element.

As noted above, the tension surrounding each and every grid call really is quite high. When you have fired you are awaiting to learn if you hit. Equally when you are waiting to be shot at you are just hoping they do not call a coordinate with one of your ships contained within it.

This game is made with a little bit of speech play and banter. Can you con your opponent into shooting into places where you are free from being attacked. Just how you advise your opponent of their shots can really make or break this one. Obviously be honest, but hinting they are close when they are miles away might just mislead them.

There’s plenty children can take away from this game. The understanding of their own strategy in how they attack the board. How they may set their ships up on the map to avoid being struck. It’s a classic turn taking game with a straight winner and loser, always an important lesson to learn. With the way the tension is built in the game it really brings out true highs and lows.

The Captain goes down with the ship.

There are definitely some flaws in the gaming mechanics. Fundamentality you have a guessing game on offer here. There is a bit of skill involved for sure. A bit of estimation and best guess. You cannot force out a plan to increase your chances of hitting your opponent. It’s frustrating if you are not getting those red pins in play against your opponent.

Then there is nothing you can do to defend yourself when you are being hit. You just have to hope the misses come in. This can be incredibly frustrating but is also part of the charm. I guess when the enemy has you in their sights on the high seas and finds that range, those large vessels really are not going to be able to get out of the way quickly at all.

Obviously it is a strict two player game as well, there is no variation here and there is no solo play available either. Not in the classic sense anyway.

Final Thoughts

Battleship is a classic and I still feel it has a place as a contemporary gaming. There is plenty of lessons for children to pick up on and it is highly entertaining when the hits come in.

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