Battleship Express

The game is a decent Yahtzee variant out of the box, but with our Fleet Admiral tweak, it's even better...

Since we love destruction, we decided to use both sides of the ships.  We also love simultaneous damage, so i added four stones to the box so that when there's a successful attack on a ship, it gets marked.  Then, after the round has been completed, any marked ships get flipped over or removed as the case may be.

Our Fleet Admiral tweak gives ships more longevity.  A successful attack against a ship at full strength leaves it Damaged.  A successful one against a Damaged ship leaves it Crippled if the number of hits is exactly what is needed.  Any additional and the ship is considered Destroyed.  Both Crippled and Destroyed take it out of play, but we love going for the jugular.

Using both sides is interesting even though - or rather, because - the "back" (Captain) side is almost always Declare, Roll twice, No specials, but doesn't always list the same defense.

The Battleship's defense goes from five to four, but instead of rolling four times at one-in-six chance each, it's twice at two-in-six each.  Granted, it's half-dead and a notch easier to kill, but remains a serious force to be reckoned with, earning the respect it deserves.

The Destroyer's bursts get halved, which puts it just under the undamaged Patrol Boat for offensive capability.  I'll be honest: that's enough to bring a tear to the eye.  With its defense going from four to five though, it isn't going to be taken out easily.

A damaged Aircraft Carrier is like a wounded animal that fights back harder, if not smarter.  It loses the ability to roll before declaring and can no longer hide in the shadows, but it gains both a die and a defense.  That's just all kinds of fun.

The Submarine becomes almost a quarter more deadly to the front ships at the expense of losing track of the rear ones.  Discounting the fact that it's ready to go belly up, depending on what's out there and where it's located, that's not much of a hardship.

For us, the damaged Patrol Boat has been the luckiest ship around.  You'd think it gained a die roll, not lost one.  I feel like i should pencil in shamrocks on the Captain side.  Stat-wise though, only its mother could be proud of it.

Between the fleet size being effectively doubled and all ships being able to retaliate, obviously this way loses some of the original's quick-playing ability, but for us, the game out of the box is over too soon for its own good.  Even with the changes this version is a short game, but now it has enough meat to give us a solid dice-rolling fix.  I also like that the relative value of the ships isn't static and the fact that the Battleship is clearly the best overall, justifying the You sank my Battleship! catchphrase.