Raketny Kreyser

Raketny Kreyser is a naval board wargame published in 1977 by Simulations Canada, its title taking the Russian term for a missile cruiser. The game simulates hypothetical Cold War naval combat, pitting warships and aircraft from the United States, the Soviet Union and a range of NATO and allied nations against one another in scenarios drawn from the geopolitical tensions of the late 1970s. Alongside the modern naval weaponry available in 1977, the design also speculates forward into weapons technology expected through the 1980s and into the 1990s, letting players fight engagements set slightly ahead of the game's own publication date. It shipped with 255 die cut counters and a twelve page rulebook that kept its mechanics deliberately simple, and only 550 copies were printed before it sold out. The designer later judged the system too simplified and went on to create the more detailed naval combat game Battle Stations in 1984 as a successor covering similar Cold War naval combat ground.