June 5, 1997
Dear Enthusiast,
Thank you for your interest in my "Furashita's Fleet" section of the NIHON KAIGUN website. It's been a lot of fun (and a lot of work) so far. I have received "mail" from all over the world, signifying that this is indeed a "world wide web".
Many people such as yourself have asked about the games of "Grand Fleet" or "Victory Through Seapower" that I mentioned on the site. I only mentioned them to give a "reason" for the existence of such unusual ships and exploits as contained in the fictitious "ship histories" in Furashita's Fleet. I guess I was a little naive to think that hardly anyone would be interested, but I had NO IDEA that I would receive the volume of mail I have on the subject. I'm a little taken aback, and certainly unprepared for it all.
To explain briefly, the "Victory Through Seapower" game is an amalgam of Richard Hamblen's rules for "Victory at Sea", "Victory in the Pacific", "War at Sea", articles from "The General" magazine, and many more of my own creation. I can't and never will take credit for the core game system, rather I "developed" the published games into a truly world wide seapower struggle on cardboard, more to my liking. I created a whole new mapboard for the "Atlantic" side that includes more sea areas and bases, though not many more. I hand-drew and felt-pen colored over 300 counters that are the ships and planes of the game, and gradually "professionalized" them with rub-on letters, Xerox (and color Xerox) printing on available colored papers, but still mounted each one by hand on cardboard squares for the Game. It was all quite labor-intensive, and customized. Because I have worked on this game over the past 22 years I have gone through two generations of counters, and gave them to two friends with whom I play. I don't have any more, other than several raw 81/2x11 sheets of covers for game pieces. The rules I typed are over 80 pages long, two columns, plus illustrations, and used much of the VITP and WAS rulebook, merely Xeroxed and magnified to make reading easier. If you know the VITP/WAS game system already, the rulebook isn't such a daunting task to read . I have "tweaked" so many things, based on playing experience and my own historical perspective, that unfortunately there is no easy explanation of the changes I have made to those other games. I COULDN'T publish this game without treading on those copyrighted games put out by Avalon Hill Game Co. However, when I win the BIG ONE (lottery) I am going to buy the rights to the game and professionally publish it, regardless of the costs, for my own satisfaction. But don't hold your breath on that one.
So my "answer" is no, I don't have a published game out of either "Victory Through Seapower" or "Grand Fleet", as much as I desire it. With a full time job, two kids, and a house I have only limited time for ANY hobby. My dabbling with the Internet website has absorbed almost all of that (thanks to Jonathan Parshall, who insisted that my stuff be put up on his NIHON KAIGUN site). So though I do appreciate your interest, I cannot offer at this time any reasonable facsimile of the Game, its rules or pieces.
Yours Very Truly,
Admiral U. Furashita
