War at Sea
Allied Nations
- Australia
- Brazil
- Canada
- France
- Greece
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Poland
- Soviet Union
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Allies stat table
Axis Nations
Neutral Nations/Installations
Sets
- War At Sea
- Task Force
- Flank Speed
- New Starter
- Condition Zebra
- Set V (Fleet Command)
- Surface action
- First Strike (Forumini Expansion Deck A)
- Infamy (Forumini Expansion Deck B)
- Battle Line (Forumini Expansion Deck C)
- All Hands on Deck (Forumini D)
- Action Stations (Forumini E)
- Dead Reckoning (Forumini F)
Unit Card:
Set - Rarity - Number
Task Force - Rare - 5/60
History:
A sister to the Richelieu of Set I, Jean Bart was not completed during World War II and thus is represented without one of her main battery turrets in the WAS model. Jean Bart, at 75% complete, was moved from France to the African port of Casablanca where she joined the Vichy government. During American landings nearby as part of Operation Torch, the US Navy attacked Jean Bart with the battleship Massachusetts and aircraft from the carrier Ranger, delivering enough damage to sink her at her moorings. After reverting to Allied control, Jean Bart remained incomplete at Casablanca for the rest of the war, only entering service in 1949.
Reviews:
swarbs
Like Dunkerque, Jean Bart has some obvious flaws, but makes up for it with a small price tag, 34 points. Pick Jean Bart for her armor, the equal of many a more expensive battleship, and with torpedo defense, certainly enough to deny objectives from any enemy. Note that while she can't move on turn one, Jean Bart can still make it far enough forward to be adjacent to any objective, denying it to the enemy. Her weak gunnery means that you should use the your point savings for an offensive weapon potent enough to kill enemy battleships, submarines are a fine choice. Unfortunately, the French don't have a fine offensive submarine to work with, so Jean Bart is more useful to boost allied builds.
Rengokuy
Jean Bart is an easily overlooked piece that often surprises players. Outwardly awkward in appearance and with notably unimpressive gunnery and AA values for a battleship it is easy to understand why. Armor is a different story, as she is protected on the scale of most battleships in game. The end result is a piece that is not a high priority target, and difficult to sink with anything other than a bigger Battleship or Aircraft. As your opponent will most likely be targeting more threatening ships, Jean Bart is free to do as it pleases, one of her best uses is triggering the "Excellent Spotting" SA, she may even get lucky and damage something as well. For only 34 points she will hold her own over 2 cruisers totaling similar cost. Do not worry too much about "Incomplete" either, it rarely makes Jean Bart an unworthy investment.
anonymous
I agree very much with the above reviews, but I just wanted to suggest players try to get a house-ruling for the "Incomplete" SA. In my opinion, it's one of the dumbest and most illogical in the game. Jean Bart is already represented as incomplete with her reduced gunnery, AA, armor, and vital armor. The inability to move the first turn is unnecessary, and it just doesn't make any sense—each game turn is supposed to represent about 10 minutes, so am I supposed to believe that they send an army of welders and engineers to finish the ship in 10 minutes!?!? I think it makes much more sense to just ignore this SA without changing her cost, if your opponent will agree to that.
mercenary_moose
Jean Bart is a defensive monster but severely lacking in firepower. All the armor and hull would be much more useful if it could rush an objective, unfortunately, Incomplete prevents it from doing so. Take a Dunkirque instead; you lose one hull point, but you get a far more balanced and dangerous ship than this one-trick pony.
Plastic Figure Notes:
