Salvo!

Todays Old Salt Blog has drawn my attention to a new computer game called Salvo! that is based around AOS naval action.

To quote their website : "Travel back in time to an era when battles for the supremacy of the sea lanes was decided by brave men commanding massive fortresses of floating wood and cloth. No radar lock- ons, just the Mark I eyeball, and no guided missiles, just heavy orbs of iron. Battle would be joined so close together that you could practically see what your enemy had for lunch by spotting the stains on his uniform. This was an era of steel nerves and sound tactics, of sea knowledge and possessing a little bit of Poseidon's own luck. Spruegames' Salvo! recreates this era.

Set in the 17th through 19th centuries, also known as the Age of Sail, Salvo! is an exciting single-player game of naval warfare for Windows. Take command of the navies of England, France, the fledgling United States, and others, as you wage war in a fully realized three-dimensional environment. Relish in the sight and sound of full-scale battle, as ships are pounded into submission, rendered right there on your screen. Forget having to worry about a bunch of boring stats, as thanks to Salvo's visual feedback you'll always know what's going on with the fleets, from tattered sails to shattered hulls (hopefully only the enemy's!).

Combat can involve a handful of ships all the way up to scores of vessels participating in a single engagement. Thanks to the innovative and highly intuitive 'action marker' system controlling your ships is a snap. Order ships individually, or by squadron, the choice is yours."

I've tried the free demo version and it was pretty fun and realistic. I didn't really get that sucked into it, because I'm just not much of a computer gamer. But I could certainly see somebody with more of a bent in that direction deriving a lot of satisfaction from this game. And although that write-up says it is for Windows, it will run on Macs (the game ran on my old PowerBook just fine).

My son bought me The East India Company as a birthday present. I'm not a great gamer - he had to guide me through it quite a bit at first, but now I find it mildly hypnotic...

Hadn't heard of a game about the HEIC. For others who haven't the official site is www.eic-game.com