Cruel Seas is up and running on the Warlord Games webstore but the team are already looking to the future with both the Soviets and Italians taking to the coastland in World War II. The Cruel Seas Starter Set is a good starting point however for your sea-based adventures.

Cruel Seas is a 1/300th scale game which brings into play some of the smaller boats from World War II that would have skirmished with each other during the period. The main set brings you the Royal Navy and Kriegsmarine but you can already get your hands on US and Japanese fleets too.

Soviets & Italians

As stated above, however, the new previews for this month that will be arriving in January include the Soviets and Italians. The first is the Soviet Navy...

As you might have imagined, the Soviets aren't exactly the most subtle of forces in Cruel Seas. They have no new technology and favour numbers and sheer brute force over tactical play. Unlike the other fleets, you're not going to be finding radars and automatic cannons here.

According to Warlord Games, the best thing to do with the Soviets is to get in fast, unleash your torpedos and be gone before the enemy can properly react.

We also have the Italians and the Regia Marina.

Here once again we have a force that, whilst maybe not as archaic as the Soviets, favoured numbers and quick ships (for the most part). You'll be looking to get stuck into combat quickly and unload their rather extensive arsenal whilst also being able to outmanoeuvre other factions.

Royal Navy Support

As well as these two new Starter Sets which help give you some interesting avenues into Cruel Seas there's also a new boat for the Royal Navy. Check out the Fairmile D-class MGB/MTB.

For its size, this boat was one of the most heavily armed of its kind. It looks rather awesome too, hefting around plenty of guns and options for torpedos. I can see folks immediately wanting to drop these into their British force.

Have you been wanting to get stuck into Cruel Seas?