Harpoon 4: Modern Tactical Naval Warfare
BGG rank
BGG #9,492
BGG rating
7.4

Harpoon 4: Modern Tactical Naval Warfare

1997

Rules assistance for Harpoon 4: Modern Tactical Naval Warfare

Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

  • 2–8 players
  • 150 min
  • 12+
  • Complexity 4.4/5

For 2 players

Rules assistant for Harpoon 4: Modern Tactical Naval Warfare

What would you like to know?

Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.

Harpoon 4: Modern Tactical Naval Warfare is a board game released in 1997 for 2–8 players, 150 minutes per game, and ages 12 and up. It was designed by Larry Bond and Chris Carlson and its main mechanics are Dice Rolling, Paper-and-Pencil, and Simulation.

Expansions

Similar games

About the game

Harpoon 4 is the fourth edition of the Harpoon game-series originally published by Adventure Games. The era of modern naval combat began on October 21, 1967 when Egyptian missile boats launched four Soviet made Styx surface-to-surface missiles and sank the Israeli destroyer Elath at a range of 13.5 nautical miles. The face of naval warfare changed forever! Harpoon 4 handles all aspects of modern maritime combat: surface, sub-surface, and air. Harpoon 4 is a system of detailed but comprehensible rules covering the many facets of modern naval actions. Consistent rating systems and evaluations of the capabilities of modern naval vessels, aircraft, submarines, and helicopters make it possible to achieve realistic results when simulating known situations, by extension Harpoon 4 also achieves realistic results with hypothetical scenarios. Harpoon 4 can answer questions like: Are carriers powerhouses or sitting ducks? Can transatlantic convoys survive in a modern wartime environment? In the cat-and-mouse games between US and Russian submarines, which is better? Extensive examples in the rules book actually take you through mini engagements that span less than a page of text. The set of die-cut counters included in the game, along with the Quickstart rules, make it possible to take this game home and play a scenario in an evening.

Questions and answers

Harpoon 4: Modern Tactical Naval Warfare supports 2–8 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.