Torpedo attacks in GQ1 and II

After a couple of refresher games of General Quarters we found the main problem was when we started firing torpedoes at each other (especially the Japanese Long Lance). It was initially assumed that you simply had to a) choose a target and b) guess which one of 4 directions the target ship chose next turn (maintain, port, starboard or reverse course).

However the rules are more nuanced than that and requires considerably more input by the referee.

So lets look at the basics....

Before firing torpedoes, the attacking ship must obviously have some torpedoes left, have the right arc of fire (at least 30 degrees from bow or stern), have the capability of firing from the side facing the enemy and the target ship is in range OR will be when both ships have completed their move.

And of course they must have line of sight to the target. Smoke or other ships between the attacker and target mean that torpedoes cannot be launched.

The number in parenthesis in the shows the number of torpedoes that ship can fire each Game Turn.  So if a ship has two numbers in parenthesis (e.g. (3) (3) it has tubes on either side and the number denotes the total amount it can fire off each Game Turn.  It denotes the number of torpedoes ready for use in each Game Turn.

The player can specify how many torpedoes they want to fire each Turn but it cannot exceed the number left.

Note that on some ships they start with a single number in parenthesis e.g (10) but in subsequent armament boxes this drops to two numbers e.g. (4) (4).  So initially the ship could fire 10 torpedoes at one target but once damage has been inflicted this capacity is reduced to 4 from each side (or less as torpedoes are used up or lost to enemy damage).

Players can (if they wish) make Dummy attacks with torpedoes (potentially forcing an enemy ship to manouvre).  They simply write 'Dummy' on the slip of paper passed to the umpire.

To attack the attacking player writes down the target ship, expected heading and how many torpedoes are being fired (within the limitations mentioned above). For example 'Bismark - P - 4' means the attacker is aiming to torpedo the Bismark, expecting it to turn to Port next turn and is committing 4 torpedoes to the attack.

The attacker has 4 options to choose in terms of direction. Port, Starboard, Maintain or Reverse.

Note that in order to Reverse the ship must be stationary for at least 1 Game Turn.  If the ship has sufficient speed and manouverability it may change course to be facing the other way.  However it will depend on the quadrant it ends up in once it has completed the move....

Working out hits is then a case of dice rolls and measurement.  Starting from the marker measure to the middle of the target ship.  For WW1 range is 24" or 16" for light torpedoes.  For WW2 its 36" or 72" for Long Lance.

Players can optionally choose to run Normal or Deep.  Normal will run along the surface and impact any ship in its path buy will hit torpedo belts on battleships (minimizing its effect)..  Deep will miss smaller ships but will have increased effect on larger ships.

Modifiers can be applied to the chances to hit or miss (such as if the ship can manouvre).

Worked Example

The Italian cruiser Trento is attacked by two German Z class destroyers (one on either side of it).  As the ships close Trento opens up all its guns at the nearest of the two and manages to knock out 2 armament boxes (reducing its torpedo complement from (8) to (4).

Trento finds herself in a terrible place.

Good shooting reduces the attacking potential of the top Z destroyer by half!

At the end of the firing phase the German player announces two torpedo attacks.  Markers are placed in the middle of each attacking ship on the attacking side.  Two notes are passed to the referee (Trento - M - 4 for the closest ship and Trento - S - 8 for the bottom-most ship).

The Italian player doesn't know what's planned for him but knowing he's reduced the attacking potential of the closer ship he tries to bluff the Germans by heading closer to the better armed destroyer (thinking the Germans will think he'll aim to increase the gap between the two and go to Port.  He decides to move to Starboard.

Having received the German attack target (and before the Italian movement) the referee places a marker (such as a matchstick) alongside the base of the target ship BEFORE it moves.   For Long Lance attacks which can run over 2 Turns the referee may want to have markers for ALL potential targets to ensure headings of each are marked down to keep the other player(s) guessing.

Matchstick shows the position of the target ship before movement

Moves are then made for all ships.  Before gunnery starts the referee announces the two attacks.  The 4 torpedoes from the topmost ship go wide (as they assumed the Italians would go straight ahead) and the marker is removed.

The second attack is different though.

The template shows the Trento has indeed gone to Starboard

Using the matchstick as a reference point its easy to see the direction the target ship has ended up in.

Working out the mechanics

Now comes resolution.  The Germans have got 8 torpdeoes off.  Measuring from the marker to the end position of the Trento shows 23cm (we use cm rather than inches to to keep ranges sensible for space available).  The range means no changes to the numbers on target.  The Trento was bombing along at 13kts so 3 torpedoes are removed leaving 5 potential hits.

A poor roll and check on the hit table means just one torpedo hits - but a good roll on the damage table (Trento has 5 DEF) means the one torpedo takes off 2 Hull and 1 Armament.

Trento's guns can still bring retribution against her attackers but with speed reduced by half she is lucky that the Germans have fired all their torpedoes meaning she may yet live to fight again....


Alternative options

Speedy
To speed up play, players may opt to simplify the attack.  Instead of choosing a heading the attacker simply rolls a D6. On a roll of 5-6 he hits (i.e. guesses correctly) then the other modifiers are applied.  This is essentially the same odds are choosing one of three headings (ignoring Reverse as an option).

Fun!
The attacking player chooses an angle from which he wishes to attack (30-60-90-120-140) degrees.  A matchstick is placed at the side of the attacking ship.  At the end of the movement phase the referee measures the angle chosen for the attack and measures along the line.  Any ship along that line (enemy and friendly) is subjected to attacks (closest first). The amount of torpedoes hitting each target is taken off the remaining torpedoes available.  So if two ships are in line and 6 torpedoes are fired with one hitting the first ship then 5 go on to the next.  This method may make players think twice about loosing all their torpedoes off in an area where their own ships are also located.

The Battle Of Dogger Bank 24th January 1915

I managed to find my missing turn indicators for General Quarters WW1 so I will be putting on the historical scenario of Dogger Bank this Thursday at the club.


The background for the battle is as follows......

On January 23rd 1915, Rear Admiral Hipper was ordered to scout the Dogger Bank region of the North Sea and attack any British light forces in the region. He sailed with the 1st and 2nd scouting groups of three battlecruisers, the large armoured cruiser Blucher and four light cruisers. Unfortunately, the order to Hipper was intercepted and decoded by the British and Vice-Admiral Beatty and his battlecruiser, light cruiser and destroyer force was ordered to rendezvous at Dogger Bank.

The British units left port only minutes after the German fleet.

At day break of 24th January the German light cruiser Kolberg sighted and exchanged fire with the British light cruiser Aurora. Hipper turned his heavy units towards the firing thinking there were only light enemy units in the area. Almost immediately upon turning, the smoke from Beatty's battlecruisers was spotted but Hipper at first thought they were battleships, which he could easily outrun. By the time he realised they were battlecruisers, the range had already dropped to 25,000 yards and the battle was on!



Fleets: The Kaiserliche Marine players start with SMS Seydlitz, SMS Moltke and SMS Derflinger battlecruisers with SMS Blucher armoured cruiser.

The Royal Navy players start with two Lion class battlecruisers (HMS Lion & HMS Princess Royal)
One Invincible class battlecruiser (HMS Indomitable), HMS New Zealand battlecruiser and one Tiger class battlecruiser

Game Length: The game will last 10 turns

Victory & Defeat: If one fleet manages to destroy the other, that side may claim outright victory. If the Kaiserliche Marine players can survive for eight turns they may claim a partial victory only if they have sunk or damaged at least as many ships as they have lost. 

General Quarters - Aircraft Rules for Thursday

It turns out that the Aircraft rules for GC are possibly more complex than the ship rules!

After 3 reads I have grasped a fair understanding of the Aircraft rules so thought it best to put a summary on the blog to save time on Thursday.


Basically you are dealing with tactical and campaign movement for aircraft.

Planes move on hexes and all have a cruising speed associated with each aircraft type and then a tactical speed in inches. For the time we will be using tactical movement rules...

Together with speeds all aircraft have an endurance factor which is the number of map turns they can fly for, again only relates to campaigns and an AA strength value.



Below are the WW2 French aircraft. You can see that each plane has it's own mission code and also a ceiling rating (we wont be using this yet!)

Missions are:

A - Anti Submarine Patrols
B - Bombing - medium or high level
D  - Dive Bombing
F - Fighter Missions, CAP to defend ships and bases or escort to defend B,T & D missions
FB - Fighter bomber mission
R - Recon mission (including gunnery spotting)
T - Torpedo bombing

Each side needs to use an AMC (Aircraft management chart) to log all their aircraft actions by game turn.

You will write down which aircraft and how many will execute a mission on a specific game turn.

One your planes are airborne (see below) they can circle the carrier (we are using aircraft carriers on Thursday to launch planes from) because a map turn is actually 1 hour and a game turn is 6 minutes and most of the planes have enough endurance to stay airborne for a full game.

Note that the QRS sheet seems to have elaborated the aircraft rules and made them more complex.

For simplicity I am geared towards using the rules as written in the book because there seems to be terminology which although makes sense (the ceiling heights) will over complicated the game at this stage of learning.


Each aircraft model represents 2 real planes so please bear this in mind when working out what to bring with you on Thursday.


Generally a squadron consists of  9 models (18 real planes) but for more specialist aircraft like for instance Swordfish I guess you could use smaller squadrons of say 2 or 3 models representing 4 or 6 real aircraft on table.

4 aircraft can be launched from your carriers every game turn (2 models). Once they are airborne they are free to circle and wait for others to join up formation or they can just go off and perform their missions.

You can choose what to attack as you wish and just move the aircraft as per the rates above.

dogfights will occur when opposing aircraft are within 1" of each other and are of the same mission type (this abstracts that they are both flying the same altitude)

To bomb a ship - your plane must move over that ship

To do a torpedo drop your plane needs to be 6" min from the target.

I am not going to go into the actual rules for resolving attacks, these we can run through Thursday.



Both sides should select a carrier. The Japanese and British aircraft lists will be e mailed out later, please choose any 12 aircraft models (24 real planes on table) to use on the night.

Note that your selections must be marked with an asterix as these are carrier capable.
For dog fighting purposes note that you can group like aircraft together to boost you attack value but you can't mix different types of fighters to use against one type of fighter. Everything is paired off in dogfights.

Not too worried about imbalances at this stage, I just want to see how the rules work out.

Excluding the carriers I am going to go with a 200 point cap on other ships. I will send out the SDS sheets later -Ian and Jon - please can you create  a 200 point fleet to use based on the models you have in your collections?

Each ships point value is its Defence factor plus it's Attack factor (use the one in the far left box)




As mentioned last week we will be switching to inches and increasing the play area to 10 x 10ft.

We will be using wind direction because your aircraft can only take off into the direction of the wind...

May I also bring to your attention that we have been moving the ships wrongly. According to the rules you must organise your ships into divisions of up to 2 - 8 models.

These divisions must be moved in strict formation

Line ahead, Line astern, Line abreast or quarter line.

A division may not exceed the speed of it's slowest ship. Individual ships are allowed to do certain moves when launching or trying to evade a torpedo attack but must re form into formation afterwards.


Please bear this in mind when creating your fleets.....

General Quarters and 2017 review Thursday

We will be reviewing 2017 plans on Thursday and then a game of General Quarters WW2 to folllow.

I'll field my Russian fleet and I just need either Ian or Phil to let me know if they want to use their German or Japanese.

The lucky winner will receive an e mail of the fleet lists so they can put together a points based flotilla.


Will be good to get back into the swing of these rules as I am keen to use them more this Year.

Java Sea Campaign - General Quarters

We have all had extensive experience with the General Quarters WW2 rules in 2016 and to kick off 2017 I have wanted to escalate the rules further into a more meaningful campaign.

So I am proposing to run the Java Sea campaign which will cover 4 major battles being:


1. The battle of Makassar strait beginning on the 4th Feb 1942
2. The battle of Badung strait 19th Feb 1942
3.The battle of the Java Sea Feb 27th  to 1st March 1942
4.The battle of Sundra Strait 1st March 1942


These are not going to just be 4 battles I want to include some strategic planning and movement in between each battle to spice things up.

I am hoping Ian will be able to help me make this happen as he has some good experience with Naval campaigns.

I have all the ship lists which cover the campaign but will likely need to do some work on some of these to fit them into the rules.


Ian has all the ships we require for the Japanese and I am sure that between Mark & Jon we have enough British and US ships to field the allies.


I think this would be a great campaign and could be run on consecutive Thursday nights until finish.


Please let me have your thoughts and further suggestions?

Torpedo Attack Rules Clarified - General Quarters

To avoid any arguments about torpedo attacks (yes they are a common theme)

I wanted to clarify the General Quarters Torpedo attack rules as they are written in the book so I read the few pages earlier and decided to post the procedure here before our game this week.





Firstly....

On your ship SDS data there may be a number in brackets, there may be two divided by a horizontal line.

One number means your ship has the ability to fire out of Port & Starboard. The number confirms how many tubes are available to fire.

If you are lucky enough to have a horizontal line and two numbers then you get to fire out of each side with the amount of tubes confirmed by the number in brackets.

If the numbers shown on the SDS have a circle around them this means that you are only carrying "light" torpedoes. These are less effective with range and damage.


So far so good?



Secondly.....

Target acquisition

AFTER all gunnery combat has been resolved players then elect to launch torpedo attacks with eligible ships and targets.


To acquire a valid target use the broadside measurement card. You can only launch against a target that is does not bear within 30 degrees of bow or stern of your ship.

You don't need to measure any distance at this point.

Once you have determined you are within firing arc then place a marker next to the side of the firing ship. It's possible to have a marker on both sides of your ship.

Write down the number of torpedoes you are firing from each side of your ship on a piece of paper or indicate it on your SDS sheet.

You now need to guess on the movement of your target ship in the next turn.

Just select M if you believe the target will maintain it's course

Select P or S if you think the target will turn to it's port or starboard.




Next turn after all ships have been moved if you are lucky enough to of guessed correct then you need to measure from your torpedo marker to the front funnel of the target ship after it has moved.

Standard range is 24"

Range for light torpedoes is 16"

Consult the mine / torpedo hit chart adjusting for range and target speed. Roll a dice and read the result which is the number of hits scored after all adjustments.

Roll a D6 per hit and consult damage chart. If the target ship being fired at is rated a B* or CA* then DOUBLE the hull damage


If any rolls result in a "miss" then the attacking player rolls a D6 for each ship that is within 4" of the intended target, nearest first. on a roll of 1 or 2 the attacking player resolves the torpedo attack against the new target (friendly or enemy) repeating the steps above.




I hope this crystal clear as I want to be able to resolve torpedo attacks quickly with little disruption to the game.


Any questions........ let me know!

US Navy film. Aerial bombardment of WW1 vintage ships in 1920

Some interesting stuff here.  Use of chemical and phosphorous weapons as well as an aerially deployed smoke curtain and a 2000 lb bomb that sinks a German battleship in seconds!

Sinking of the Yamato

For Jon and Mark ..... Japanese ships are NOT invincible 😀

Navies of WW1

12 minute video. Basics of the naval setup oF the major powers.

Every single ship the German's had (or planned to have) in WW1

http://german-navy.de/hochseeflotte/ships/index.html

Incredible - ship plans, stats, pics, etc.  I will be perusing this with interest...

Battles of Coronel and the Falkland Islands

http://www.bfi.org.uk/whats-on/bfi-film-releases/battles-coronel-falkland-islands

Classic film of these two ww1 battles.

Ship Data - Germany

Phil - German ship data, you should be able to zoom in on these to get the info.

A few additions to the German fleets

Finally got my copy of General Quarters from Navwar - together with a collection of WW1 and WW2 German ships.

Supposed to be the WW2 Blucher (sister of the Hipper) but Navwar sent the wrong one. I'm keeping it anyway because a) I don't have it and b) why not!?

Experimental WW1 German battleship.  Never built but that will never stop me!  8 x 42cm guns - whoop whoop!

Another experimental WW1 German ship.  Heavily armed and quick with it.

WW2 - Admiral Hipper Basic cruiser but with spotter aircraft to extend effective range.  Plus loads of torpedoes.

The Graf Spee - early WW2 German.  11" guns give it some hitting power compared to most cruisers armed with 8" guns.

Graf Spee's sister ship the Admiral Scheer.  With aircraft.

H44 Frederich der Grosse.  With the Hipper for scale.  Monster of a ship with 8 x 20" guns!!  Horrendous hitting power at all ranges (and 6 spotter aircraft).  A monster.  Never built but imagine if it had been! 

Admiral Dwane Pipe triumphs again

Last Night saw the US navy take on the Italian fleet in support of their Mediterranean landings

We both had 150 points limiting BA and BB ships to one per 100 points

The US fleet turn to engage



Mark is told to keep the US plan to himself!!!

Italian commander Phil keeps a brave face as he has his toe nails removed

Russ explaining how to fire the gun to his troops

"Boys all you need is a critical followed by a nine followed by a six"

"here let me show you"

 US fleet closes for action, battle ship "North Carolina" ready to "dish out the lead"

notice the fancy splash markers, Russ had to sell his house to buy these and now lives in the terrain cupboard.

 Italian fleet advancing towards the enemy (a novel move by the Italians)

Notice the battleship on the right there, don't blink

 And there it was gone

(Refer to Russ's instruction on gun firing)

Pride of the Italian fleet

 Phil's toe nails being used as splash markers

 Phil's dice rolling, after this he asked for an American visa

End game, Italian fleet took a bit of a battering with their DD's not getting into torpedo range

Largest Italian ship at the end of the night

We tried out Phil's alternative torpedo rules which did work and didn't seem to alter the feel of the  battle

When using multiple ships firing torpedoes at multiple targets we need something to speed up the game

As it was the torpedoes acted in the same way as in the written rules

the key seems to be "get in close with multiple launches"

Thank you gents a good game



Splash markers ordered!

I just ordered 3 packs of these so they should help "enhance" the game further.

They were not cheap though and you only get 5 markers for £4.50 (ouch)

I have 15 which will cover some firing during gunnery.

Feel free to buy some!!

http://www.figuresincomfort.co.uk/

General Quarters torpedo rules

I gave this a bit more thought and realised that I overlooked a couple of things.  So here are my suggested final rules for torpedoes based on the following points.


1. Players should be given the option to improve their chances to hit a target at the cost of reducing the number of torpedoes that actually hit.

2. The closer you are then you should have a better chance to hit the target.

3. If the ship being attacked cannot turn then the attacker should have a much better chance of hitting it (speed factors are already covered in the hit / damage tables).

4. Japanese Long Lance torpedo warheads were bigger than conventional warheads.


5. Reloading is easier on some ships than others but hard for everyone when evading enemy fire.



Torpedo range is 36cm for conventional, 72 for Japanese 'Long Lance'.  Launching takes place as specified in the rules and damage / hit tables are as per the standard rules except for the following.

1. Players can opt to either aim direct at a ship (standard hit on 1-2) or aim to spread the torpedoes arc by adding 1 pip to the hit die (i.e. 1-3) BUT with the effect of halving the damage done (as less torpedoes will impact on the target as a result.  Therefore if a commander launches 4 torpedoes direct he has a 1-2 chance to hit but all 4 will get in.  Alternatively he can choose a spread (1-3) which means his chance to hit increases BUT only 2 torpedoes will hit.  Damage calculated as standard,

The commander chooses the torpedo template required (see image) and marks on their sheet how many torpedoes are being launched and at which target. If the attacking player commits their full complement of torpedoes then they must reload (see below) before commencing another torpedo attack.

The attacker on the right has opted to aim 'direct' at the ship and will hit with everything on a 1-2.  The one on the left is hedging his bets with a wider spread.  He will hit on a 1-3 but with only half his torpedoes.

Torpedoes away.  We know who has opted for spread and who for direct and how many torpedoes have been committed at which target,

2. For targets at 'close' (less than 18cm) and 'point blank' range (less than 9cm) then the chance to hit is increased by +1 pip on the die (1-2, 1-3, 1-4).  This will encourage commanders to get their ships in as close as they dare in order to improve hit chances.  Damage is calculated as standard.  This represents the fact that at closer ranges, evasive manouvres are less effective and its easier to hit a closer target.  However, a ship surviving long enough to get that close is another matter.

Use of direct or spread tactics (see above) is cumulative so a ship at point blank range can opt for a spread (additional +1 on the die) but will halve the number of potential hits.  So the chance to hit can be 1-5 but hit at half effect (so if 4 torpedoes were used, deduct 2 from the hit table).

The attacking ship on the right has managed to get within 9cm of his target.  He opts to shoot direct as he will hit on a 1-4.  The ship on the left is less sure of his chances as he is outside 18cm and so would only hit on a 1-2.  He therefore opts to increase his hit chances with a spread (hit on a 1-3) but half his torpedoes will miss in any event.  

3. For targets that cannot turn due to rudder damage etc. then the chance of hitting is increased from 1:3 to 2:3 (i.e. 1-4 on the dice).  For Japanese ships at extreme range that means a 1-4 followed by a 1-4 means a hit.  In the standard rules, if you knew that the enemy ship has lost rudder control then you would predict that the ship will only go ahead and so guarantee a hit.  However, in a combat situation you wouldn't know that the enemy couldn't steer - therefore this seems a fairer way of simulating a torpedo run against a damaged opponent with steering issues.


4. Japanese Long Lance torpedoes had a larger warhead than conventional torpedoes.  Therefore calculate damage one column to the left for any hits with this weapon.


5. Ships with automatic reloading facilities will reload within 3 turns (not 5) BUT must still reduce speed and not be in combat during the reloading process (any hit or shot counts as being in combat and a hit on a reloading destroyer resets the turn 'clock).  Also no destroyer can reload torpedoes whilst under evade orders (rapid movements hampering the reloading process).


Your thoughts welcome...