The 1975 Avalon Hill edition of the game has 23 scenarios, including the Battles of The Saintes, the Nile, and Trafalgar,[1] as well as smaller and lesser known actions.

[1] In addition to movement and combat, the rules cover towing damaged vessels, fields of fire restricted by fallen masts, running aground, determinlng depth of waters by means of a lead line, and exploding or sinking ships.

Nine years later, Avalon Hill released a second Wooden Ships and Iron Men video game, this one for PC computers.

[4] In his 1977 book The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming, Nicholas Palmer called the game "Playable and yet highly realistic; it simulates numerous naval battles at a detailed tactical level, with different types of sail, various forms of ammunition, and an immense range of different ships."

He also noted that visibility in every scenario except one night action is assumed to be unlimited, which he thought "could be deemed to be unrealistic", given the amount of gunpowder smoke that drifted between the ships.

Despite these quibbles, Davies was quite taken with this game, and concluded "the best method of trying to appreciate the subtleties of the 'Nelson touch' is by playing the excellent Wooden Ships and Iron Men.

[6] In The Guide to Simulations/Games for Education and Training, Martin Campion compared this game to its rival, Frigate (SPI, 1974), in terms of use in the classroom and noted, "They deal with the same subject, but Wooden Ships does it in much more detail.