Wooden Ships and Iron Men
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Wooden Ships and Iron Men is a naval board wargame in which the players simulate combat by sailing ships of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The game was originally published by Battleline Publications in 1974 and republished by Avalon Hill in 1975, and is known as the definitive simulation of the period.
The game is played on a hex board with rectangular cardboard counters representing ships and long enough to cover two hexes, which represents the ship's orientation. Players write down their planned moves at the beginning of each turn, then move simultaneously (possibly entangling their ships if they are close to each other), fire their broadsides if any ships are within range, and attempt to board ships that are adjacent.
The rules are not especially complicated, but as The Complete Book of Wargames puts it, "two turns of this game speak volumes about the significance of wind direction for sailing ships-of-the-line", and "Purely for the feel of being there, this game is unsurpassed".
WS&IM was later published as a computer wargame, winning the Origins Award for Best Military or Strategy Computer Game of 1996