Spanish Armada paper ships

I got some nice Christmas loot from very fine people who were nice enough to gift me.  I used part of it to order some books, and one of them is the Spanish Armada book by Peter Dennis.  This is a period I am interested in, but will probably never build models for, so using paper ships works fine for me. The book also has a nice bit of introductory history, some paper modeling tips, and a set of wargaming rules.

The ships can be put together with simple rectangular backgrounds, if you want to build them fast, or you can trim the white away, and have nicer looking models (the picture below was pasted to the Facebook Paperboys group, by Peter Dennis himself, showing the models trimmed nicely).

If I get to these in 2021, and do a game, I will post pictures. Also a review of the rules is coming.  There are a bunch of books in the Paper Soldiers Series, including many on land campaigns, and at least one more naval book - on Trafalgar.  It might be on my list, after all I still have some Christmas loot.

 

Update (2022) - WOFUN now manufactures these ships available as lovely plastic standee models, that look very durable and you don't have to cut them out.  These are on my to-be-purchased list.

Here is a link to the appropriate catalog section of Raven Banner games, describing these Spanish Armada products from WOFUN.

General Quarters - review

This is another review in the Once and Future Rules series, of wargame rules that are out of print, but that got a lot of play at one time (at least, in the clubs and groups I played in since the early 1980s).

 This is the second set of naval rules that I am reviewing in this series (the first, was Seekrieg).  Please note that this review is of the old (1975) version of General Quarters. The new version (GQIII and the WW1 version, Fleet Action Imminent) from Old Dominion Gameworks are excellent games, but they are different enough (and improved in many ways), that I felt like a review of the old school rules was warranted.  Besides, the older ones are still popular in our club.

In 1975, L.L. Gill published General Quarters.  These were originally published by Brookhurst Hobbies, and then by C-in-C (the version I have of GQ1 is from C-in-C), and these days by Navwar (I believe that in spite of the new version from ODGW, that Navwar continues to publish GQ1 and GQ2).  From the cover, these are "Complete and Comprehensive Rules for Naval Wargaming".  It is hard to argue.  Although in comparison with the Seekrieg rules, they are certainly Naval Wargaming in a different language.  I came to these rules as the third set of commercial miniatures naval rules I ever read.  The first was Seekrieg.  The second was Heart of Oak (from FGU, 1978).  And then there was General Quarters.  I found them in one of several boxes of miniatures rules that were for sale at Campaign Headquarters.  Looking through them, they seemed so very simple.  I had played several naval wargames, by the mid 80s (when I came across GQ) - including Wooden Ships and Iron Men (Avalon Hill, at least the version I had), Battlewagon (Task Force Games), Fire when Ready! (Metagaming), and Fast Attack Boats (Yaquinto).  I had read several books about Naval Wargaming, as mentioned in the Seekrieg article - these contained several miniatures rulesets.  So, when I came to GQ, I did not have the newcomer's eye.  It looked very simple, and couldn't possibly be any good.  And what was that turning gauge all about? And the broadside indicator?

Finally, however, in the late 1980s, I got a copy of GQ, at the suggestion of a friend, to look at the torpedo rules.  Which had to be an improvement on the torpedo rules in Seekrieg. At least from the perspective of play-ability.  At this time, I had also written my own set of naval rules, covering modern small craft (river craft, hovercraft, and small patrol boats) for a modern warfare campaign.  I began to appreciate the essence of simplicity. And that was what GQ offered - sensible systems, that have the detail backed into the calculations and factors, that offered a quick game, with good (historical) results.  The systems worked so well, and lacked complexity, so that many aspects of WW2 naval combat could be very easily incorporated, where they caused heartache in other rulesets.  I became (and remain) hooked.

Scale
As with most naval games (but not all) a single model represents a single naval asset (ship, submarine, etc).  Very small craft (such as motor torpedo boats), and aircraft, are represented by a single model for a group.  Torpedoes (except a very few special cases, such as the Japanese Long Lance) are resolved in a single turn, so aren't marked on the tabletop.

The surface scale is 1" to 250 yards (8" to a nautical mile).  Not that this is half the size of the table top scale for Seekrieg, by comparison.

The time scale is 6 minutes to a turn (10 turns to an hour).  A quick mathematician will point out that a 30kt vessel, in 6 minutes, can travel 24" on the tabletop.  However, the ruleset has purposefully halved the movement distance of all the vessels in the game (so the 30kt vessel can travel a total of 12 inches), to keep people from steaming all over the place (and requiring a shorter turn, or smaller scale, as Seekrieg does).  Engagements are best played on a large-ish tabletop, or floor, with long range shots of 9-12 feet not being too extreme for large guns.  With smaller (more reasonable) guns, such as on cruisers and destroyers, a much smaller play surface would suffice, as would converting inches to CM, or halving everything.

A quick note about distances - the game gives distances (movement, and gunnery) in inches.  It is quick to mentally convert this to thousands of yards, or nautical miles, but as inches it makes it very easy to play.

Turn Sequence
The game is (thankfully) played without any movement plotting at all.  In fact, no written orders are required for anything (except aircraft operations, and torpedo runs).  So, because of that, there is an integrated turn sequence that works quite well.

1. Ship Movement
  a) Side A moves and lays smoke screens
  b) Side B moves and lays smoke screens. (the two sides alternate being side A)
  c) Collisions are resolved
  d) Ships in minefields are checked for detonation
  e) Mine damage takes effect

2. Torpedoes hit targets - those fired on the preceding game turn reach their targets (or two turns ago, if Japanese long lance torpedoes).  If there is an interception, then damage is calculated.  Immediate effects of damage.

3. Air attacks
  a) Air to Air combat
  b) AA fire against aircraft attempting surface strikes
  c) Surviving aircraft conduct strikes on targets
  d) Damage from all air strikes takes effect immediately

4. Gunnery combat
  a) Search lights illuminate targets during light action
  b) Gunnery attacks resolved for both sides
  c) Damage from gunnery takes effect immediately

5. Torpedoes are launched (for next turn) by both sides.

6. Repair
  a) Damage Control hits (Critical Hit #3) may be attempted to be repaired
  b) Fires in CVs, CVEs, AKs and AOs may attempt to be extinguished
  c) Stationary ships (i..e - non functioning engine room) may attempt to regain power
  d) Ships which sink this game turn are removed from the table

7. Smoke Screens laid the previous turn are removed. (we found it useful to have them be modeled as black cotton on the turn they are laid, and on this phase, remove all white smoke, and then turn all black smoke to white)

Movement
Movement is quite simple.  It is marked on the Ship Display as a number of inches, based on how much damage the hull (and, by extension, the engine room) has taken.  A ship may move that many inches ahead.

Turning is done by the use of a small gauge, that allows a 45 degree turn for each inch (or more) traveled ahead.  In practice this is a very simple procedure, and can be done without the gauge - although it proves useful for tight areas.  Very small craft (Motor Torpedo Boats) can turn on a dime, up to 180 degrees.

Acceleration and Deceleration is by 3".  This is 4" for small vessels (DD and smaller).  Note that this is based on the distance the ship moved last turn, so if the engine room gets severely damage, and the maximum speed drops from 12" to 6" in a single turn, the ship can still only decelerate by 3" (but will be forced to do so each turn, until it reaches it's new maximum speed, based on damage).

Ships within an inch of each other are in danger of collision (unless, one is attempting to secure a tow of the other).

Ships within four inches of a land mass are in danger of running aground (shoals and reefs, of course).  The referee can introduce any sort of terrain he desires - including additional areas where a ship can run aground.

Ships should be divided up into divisions of 2 to 8 vessels, and move either line ahead, line abreast, or in an oblique formation.  Ships must remain in a division, but can reform.  Special exceptions are when avoiding torpedo attacks, or because of the effects of damage, etc.

Small ships can use evasive action.  There are also detailed rules for collisions, towing, and smoke screens.


Gunnery
The rules for gunnery determine who may shoot (based on line of sight, line of fire, spotting, radar, and so on).  Each ship that is armed has one or more batteries (on large ships, there are main, secondary, and tertiary batteries - which may also be AA guns).  Fire against a target is by a complete battery.  It is probable that a ship has a secondary (or tertiary) battery that is identical on each side (port and starboard) of a ship.  The main battery, if it is comprised of center line turrets, is singular, although it may be split between fore and aft, based on whether the turrets involved are those before, or behind, the main superstructure of the ship.

The rules determine how to make sense of this battery stuff, although some knowledge of the layout of the ship is helpful - we found that a reprint of a WW2 era Jane's Fighting Ships proved invaluable (the sort that can be had cheap at a book store or Amazon).  I prefer Conway's to Jane's, but my copies of Conway's all disappeared years ago.  Sad tale.

Once you determine which battery is firing (which is really amazingly simple, I've spent too much time discussing it here), your ship data will have a note of the gun caliber, and also the AF (attack factor) for that battery.  Using the gun caliber, find the entry on the straddle table that represents the range bracket you are in, and a "to hit" number for a D6 is there.  If this number is rolled, on a D6, then your battery has scored a straddle (it hit the target).  There are a number of modifiers for this, and there are two sets of "to hit" numbers, one for day actions, and one for night actions, but it is extremely easy to understand (and, more importantly for convention play, to teach).

Example - The straddle chart is easy to read - find the column that corresponds to your battery you are firing.  Then find the row that lists the lowest range value that exceed the actual range you are from the target.  So, if you are firing a 12" battery, at a range of 88 inches (11 nautical miles) on the tabletop, consulting the table, we find that the lowest value that exceeds 88 inches, is a 96.  If this is a daylight engagement, we see that a dice score of a 1 or 2 is needed on a D6 to score a straddle at that range.

The Straddle Table

That is it.  Compared to the hit determination sequence in Seekrieg, this is fiddler's green.  In fact, most players will roll three dice at once - a white, a black, and a red.  The white dice is to see if a hit is scored, the black dice it to check for hull damage, and the red dice is to check for armament damage.

Damage
 Once you score a straddle, the next bit of gunnery detail is to determine if you have scored any damage.  This involves (first) noting from the straddle table, the entry of the range bracket will note an Armor Type that will be penetrated.  This is in (basic terms) of ship class, and it and all lesser ship classes are penetrated by that gun, at that range bracket.  So, for instance, given the example above, of a 12" gun firing at a range of 88 inches, we find that the entry on the straddle table (the 96" entry) states that a 12" gun at that point will penetrate CA (Heavy Cruiser) armor, or lighter.

If a battery scores a hit against a target that it cannot penetrate, it can still do damage, but it will be Non-Penetrating Damage.

The next step in determining damage is to see what the straddle did.  Compare the AF (attack factor) of the battery, against the DF (defense factor) of the target ship.  This will allow you to compute a ratio.  Round the ratio in the favor of the defender, and consult the Gunnery Combat Results Table.  Remember that you rolled three dice (white is "to hit", black is "hull damage" and red is "armament damage").  The black dice entry on the chart, for the ratio of AF to DF, gives the number of damage points to the target ship's hull.  The red dice gives the number of damage points to the target ship's armament.

SDS of a Japanese Cruiser - three rows of boxes - Critical Damage, Armament, and Hull

 These damage points represent boxes that are crossed off, from left to right, on the Ship Display Summary (SDS).  This is the box that represents the ship, and has the basic info for the game on batteries, movement, armor, etc.  Each point of damage represents a box crossed off, either on the Armament Row (which has attack factors for the main battery, and secondary battery, and torpedoes), or on the Hull Row (which has the current maximum speed listed in inches).  When all the Hull boxes are crossed off, a ship will sink.  When all hull boxes that have numbers in them are lost, but the ship has not sunk, then the ship may not move (although there are rules for emergency restarts of the engine room, giving a basic movement capability).

If the target ship's armor is NOT PENETRATED, then armament damage does not affect Main Batteries (but will affect secondaries and toredoes).  Also, if the ship's armor is NOT PENETRATED, then hull damage is halved.

If the hull dice (the black one) is a '2', this means that an additional dice roll can be made for a Critical Hit.  Roll 1d6 and consult the critical damage table.

Notice that critical hits number 4,5,6 have an (A) - that means that the armor of the target ship must have been penetrated for this one to take place.  If not, then there is no effect for these results.

Torpedoes
Torpedoes do require a small amount of record keeping.  When launched, a note of the position of the launching ship should be made, and also the target ship.  The player launching the torpedoes makes a note of how many, the target ship, and what his guess is to as to the maneuvering of the target ship over the next movement.  This represents the guess work that goes into leading the ship when firing, so that the torpedoes are on target.  If the player guesses right (his guesses are - Stay Straight, Move port, Move starboard, or Move Reverse - based on the location and bearing of the target ship when the torpedoes are launched), then there is a chance for torpedoes to strike.

The procedure is, if the torpedo run is on target, note the number of torpedoes, and based on some modifiers, roll a dice to see how many actually strike the target (there are modifiers for speed and range and some situational conditions).  Again, there is art (guessing the move of the target vessel) and science (determining how many fish strike home).  The rules also allow you to select a depth of run for the torpedo - which means that they will strike more effectively against some targets, but may pass underneath others.

Torpedo tables

Once you know how many torpedoes hit, for each one, roll on the Torpedo effect table, to see how many Hull/Armament boxes are lost, whether there is a Critical Hit, and/or whether or not the target ship is simply sunk.  It is all based on the DF (defensive factor) of the target ship.  Large ships are harder to damage with torpedoes.  Note the same procedure is followed for ships moving through minefields.


Submarines
Submarines have the ability to launch torpedo attacks.  There are rules for moving the submarine on the surface, and also what happens when a submarine finds a task force.  They really work much better in a campaign, but it is possible to include them in a set piece surface scenario.

Spotted submarines (either before or during the attack) can then be attacked by escorts, etc.  Surviving submarines can launch torpedo attacks.

Aircraft
Aircraft can fly several missions (search, CAP, bomb, torpedo, etc).  There are rules for launching and recovering float planes (used for spotting), and for carrier and land base operations.

Once strike aircraft find their target ship (usually this takes place in a campaign setting), then they are able to make an attack.  They first must survive attack by the defending CAP aircraft that might be patrolling.  There is a simple chart where the number of attacking aircraft roll a dice to see how many enemy aircraft are destroyed, or must return to base.  The same procedure happens with A/A fire.  Surviving aircraft then then roll on a bombing or torpedo run chart to see if any of their deadly payloads hit, and (based on the DF of the target vessel) how much damage is done.

These operations are very simple, but very sensible.  Knowing how many bombers and how many fighters to include in a mission becomes more of an art, because the science of adjudication is kept so simple.  Again, this is a subsystem of the rules that works very well.  It does require some record keeping - how many aircraft are on the carrier, what types are they, are they ready to launch, or arming.  When a mission is launched, what is the composition (4 fighters, 8 bombers, for instance).  But it is all pretty simple.

Additional Rules
There are rules covering minefields (and the laying/sweeping of same), motor torpedo boats, weather, logistics (including endurance of ships, and resupply), and so on.  For a little 5x8" book, there is a surprisingly comprehensive coverage of WW2 naval operations.

While a lot of this detail, and the extra weapons systems and situation rules, can be used in set piece battles and/or scenarios devised by a referee or based on history, the real strength of these rules shines in campaign play.

Campaign Play
The book gives two types of campaigns.  The full scale map campaign (that will cover weeks, if not years, of campaign time), and the mini campaign (that covers hours, and/or days of campaign time).  The former will have full blown naval operations, including long range planning, movement, logistics, and missions.  The latter will focus mostly on search operations, leading to surface engagements.  Again, the systems (such as endurance, map speed, air operations in searching, spotting enemy units, etc) are very straight forward, but this is where the gameplay shines.  And because surface engagements are so easy and fast to set up and adjudicate, the campaign works well, and is not bogged down by large tabletop affairs.

Thoughts, Conclusion
While I have an immense amount of respect, and fond memories, for all the games of Seekrieg I played (and I truly appreciate the herculean amounts of research that have gone into those rules), I really enjoy playing General Quarters.  There is a second book, GQ2, that covers (extensively) WW1 operations - including the vagaries of WW1 ship design (wing turrets?), and things like the difference between coal ships and oil ships in campaigns, plus airships.  But GQ2 also has more campaign rules, and additional rules for WW2 - including a more nuanced straddle table (and critical hit system) based on using a D10 instead of a D6.  To be honest, I like the purity of GQ1 - mostly because I like rolling D6s, and because it works.

Campaigns in this system really do work well, and I have fond memories of some one day map campaigns I ran, while living in South Carolina, at a monthly wargame club meeting.  We used maps from the Columbia Games Victory series, and there were two sides the British navy and the Japanese navy.  Both sides had goals and missions, and there was hidden asset map movement.  Both sides were trying to land troops and supplies at some islands in an atoll, and both controlled airbases in the areas - Japan had, for instance, the island of Palikai, while the British had a naval base inside Mina Bay - see the map below.  Things like fishing vessels would trigger false reports of enemy ships, and air operations were a lot of fun, when things like two float planes firing at each other (presumably with flare pistols?).  The Japanese players loved their submarines.

Map used for 1 day mini-campaign. Based on extra maps for Victory

The rules are simple and clean, but still preserve a lot of detail about the difference between ship classes, weapon systems, and resulting tactics.  I have seen some more modern rulesets that are even less complex, but I like GQ.  The new versions, put out by ODGW, are fantastic, and truly excellent examples of fine wargame rules, but I think I still like GQ1 (and 2).

Seekrieg Fourth Edition - review

This is another review in the Once and Future Rules series, of wargame rules that are out of print, but that got a lot of play at one time (at least, in the clubs and groups I played in since the early 1980s).

I should preface this review by stating that I was very much interested in Naval Wargaming from early days.  While in high school, while I was threading my way through medieval wargaming and miniatures in general (and playing lots of boardgames, of the Avalon Hill and SPI varieties), I was luck enough to have at the local library, copies of the Barry Carter, Paul Dunn, and Paul Hague books that introduced naval wargaming.  I never (back then) saw the Featherstone one.  I also was a big fan of War at Sea from Avalon Hill.  In high school, I wrote my own set of WW2 naval wargame rules based on War at Sea, and a little book on the ships of WW2 (which gave speeds and ranges), and the Hague book.  It was great fun, and we played on a ping pong table.  But, as rules go, they were awful.  And we didn't have miniatures - we used paper cutouts of photocopies of silhouettes.  But it was a start down the road of Naval Wargming.  I wrote a history of the hobby for the Old Dominion Military Society blog.

This is a review of the fourth edition of Seekrieg, which was released in 1981 (I first came to the game, and played it, in the late springtime of 1984).  Seekrieg (the original) was printed in 1975, and went through a lot of revision, very quickly, to get to 1981.  These are a set of comprehensive naval battle rules, including rules covering ships and technologies from approximately 1890 up until the end of WW2 (1945).  The game has rules covering almost all tactical operations in surface engagements for that time period, plus air operations, and strategic games (map campaigns, searching, etc).  Written by Richard Sartore and Jack Joyner, they were published by Sartore.  The game was recreated/updated in 2004, as Seekrieg 5, which is still available for purchase.  Seekrieg 4 is available, graciously, for free download (a bunch of files, as you'll appreciate from below), on the Seekrieg website.

The set of the rules that I own is the second printing, which came out in 1984.  At the time, they were released in a handsome dark blue linen covered box, with a line drawing of a battleship on the front cover, and it contained two hole punched books, and a sheaf of charts on cardstock.  The two books were (1) the rulebook, and (2) the ship data book.  The ship data book covered the ships for the period in question (1890-1945) for the world's navies, but did not cover variants or conjectured ships that were either never laid down, or never launched.  There was supposed to be a volume 2 of the ship data book, covering such alternative vessels, but to my knowledge it was never produced.

The Box, picture from Boardgame Geek

Before I get into the various subsystems of the game, let me say up front that I played a lot of Seekrieg.  Lots of surface actions, campaigns, tournaments - both as a player and as a referee.  It is a very satisfying game, for the naval gamer that thrives on detail - which is de rigueur for rulesets of the 1980s.  But, internally, the rules themselves presented a bit of a conundrum (in design philosophy), which I will cover in my remarks at the end of the review.

The many charts included in the game

Scale
1 model ship represents one actual ship (this applies to boats, submarines, ships, etc).  Aircraft are frequently marked by a single marker for a squadron of planes.   Torpedoes are marked by a single marker for a salvo.  The surface scale of the table doesn't matter, however as all ranges in the game are given in (thousands of) yards, and speeds are given in knots.  With a turn/time scale of 2 minutes to a turn, and  the suggested surface scale of 2" to 1000 yards, that means 2 knots of speed is 1/4".  So a ship moving a stately 12kts, will cover a total of 1.5" in a turn.  A speedier vessel moving at 30kts, will be moving at 3.75".  Movement measuring sticks, marked out in knots, proved invaluable.

Turn Sequence
The turn sequence for Seekrieg is very simple - all movement and firing is simultaneous.  It is suggested that the physical moving of the miniatures on the tabletop be alternated each turn, to see who goes first, but since this has (usually) only minor impact on the decisions an opponent will make that turn, it doesn't matter too much.

Movement
As mentioned above, the movement is in knots per turn.  There are rates of acceleration and deceleration given, as well as rates of turning for ships (defined below).  The speed of all vessels is listed in a ship listing in the volume of ship data.  For maneuvering, a ship is allowed to turn up to 180 degrees in a turn.  Alternatively, if a ship has slowed to 0kts, it can then move in reverse.  But when a ship is actually turning, it has it's total allowable move (for it's allowable speed for this turn) divided up into legs, that will include turns of 45 degrees.  So if a ship wants to turn a total of 90 degrees, it's move will be divided up into 3 legs.  Move one leg; turn 45 degrees; move the second leg; turn another 45 degrees; and move the third leg.  Simple, and it does not require turning gauges, etc.  On chart B there is a nice set of movement measuring sticks for the suggested scale (of 2" = 1000 yards).

Target Bearing

Spotting and line of sight
Line of sight is a simple affair of a line between the firing ship and the target ship.  If another vessel is in between the two, it only blocks if it is as large, or larger, than the target ship.  This is determined by looking at the standard measure in the game reflecting vessel size - DP.

DP stands for Damage Points, and is calculated by multiplying the basic tonnage of a vessel by 0.033.  This is the total number of Damage Points that a ship has, once those are destroyed (by gunfire or torpedoes, for instance) then the ship is destroyed (possibly sinking).

Weather
There are (based on different sea zones around the world) a set of weather tables on chart B.  These will modify the distance at which you can spot another vessel.  This is based on the DP of the target vessel, the DP of the spotting vessel and is detailed on chart C. The reason that the spotting vessel size is involved, is because it is a general indicator as to how high up above the surface of the sea the spotting control center is located - it makes a difference, when you are trying to spot an enemy vessel at the limits of the horizon (based on the curvature of the earth).  All this is reduced to a simple spotter vs. spotting table on chart C, and gives the max visibility in thousands of yards (which then translates into inches on the tabletop).

Hit Determination
Here we get to one of the more interesting sequences of Seekrieg, at least for me (since I am a surface gunnery fan of Naval Warfare - torpedoes and aircraft are fussy things, and I prefer cordite and big shells).  First, it must be determined which of the firing ships' guns may fire.  This is based on the mounting of the gun (what kind of turret, or casemate, it is mounted in) and whether or not those guns can come to bear on the target.  This is based on the real life type of turrets, and also the era they are from.  Wing turrets from WW1 (an ill-conceived design concept) are not as flexible as center line turrets from WW1 or WW2.  Arcs of fire are printed on chart J2.  There are a lot of tables in Seekrieg, a list of them is below.  In a particular game, you will not use nearly all of them, but there are some that you will consult again and again.  Chart J2 is something you will consult once or twice when you are first using a new type of vessel, and then you will remember the arc of fire for that vessel's turrets, or mark them down.

Chart H1 - basic "to hit" - for landlubbers and other sad dogs

Now that the bearing guns are known, next (from the ship details in the ship description volume) consult what type of gun it is, what type of shells can fire, what type of fire control system the firing ship has, the range, rate of fire for the type of gun, and whether or not the target is close enough to allow rapid fire.  Once you have all those details (they are presented, all together, in the ship information block), you can begin consulting the firing tables.

Chart H2 - Advanced "To Hit" - for old salts and rum cullies

There are three types of hit determination in Seekrieg.  Basic, Advanced, and Range Estimation.  The group I played with almost always (like 99%+) used the Advanced method.  This incorporated the most historical details, but assumed that things like range estimation and salvo adjustment was being done by the fire control center, and gun crews of the vessels.  Some players (notably those of the older style games like Fred Jane's rules, Seapower III, and others) liked playing with range estimation, where you actually estimated the number of inches between you and your target.  Pshah, I say.  Fine for those who like it, but not my cup of tea.

The Advanced Hit Table was chart H2.  Basic hit table is chart H1. Best to ignore it, it is for those who are weak, and do not like strong coffee.  However, for the sake of completeness, it is described here.  Range estimation, for those members of religious orders that prefer to purge the soul through pain, can be found on chart H3.

The basic (chart H1) to hit method takes into account a positive or negative value for each of seven different categories of modifiers.

1. Target Size
2. Bearing from Target (this is determined using the overlay on Chart F - which is a basic overlay on the target, and the bearing from your firing ship to the target will tell you which bearing you have)
3. Fire Control System (a basic modifier based on the era of the ship)
4. Radar Assisted Fire Control (only for certain navies, and only from 1939 on)
5. Change of Target (if you change targets, you get a -10)
6. Range to Target (close is good, far is bad)
7. Speed of Target

Add up all those modifiers and you get a basic hit number.  The advanced to hit method (chart H2) works much in the same way, but there are 14 categories, and they have much more detail incorporated into them.

1. Target Size
2. Bearing from Target (3 categories, instead of 2)
3. Is the Firing Ship under Fire?
4. Over Concentration (too many similar shells from different ships on the target)
5. Fire Control System (not only the era, but also the type of Fire Control)
6. Radar Assisted Fire Control
7. Range to Target
8. Change of Target
9. Speed of Target
10. Spotter Aircraft (is your spotter up, and sending you targeting information?)
11. Evasive Maneuvers
12. Sea State (from weather)
13. Smoke Screens
14. Visibility (again, from weather, but also morning, evening, nighttime)

When we played, both players typically had a calculator in front of them, and would punch in the numbers from each category that applied (again, they could be positive or negative), and would result in a hit number.

We're just starting.

How many Shells
Once you have your hit number, determine how many tubes you have that are firing.  For instance, a broadside from the main guns on the Bismarck would mean that all eight of the main guns (which are 15.0"/47 guns - or in terms of Seekrieg, it is a type D1 gun) could come to bear and fire on a target.  Each gun has a rate of fire of 6 (maximum), but that will be based on range (for, you see, the game only allows you to fire as fast as your fire control teams can see the shells drop, and then adjust fire accordingly), and the max range of the big guns on the Bismarck is 39,600 yards, or a total of 79" on the tabletop.  All this information is easy to read in the ship information block, and a player would copy it all to a log sheet before a game, so all the data is in one place, and easy to look up during the game.

From the range (to see if rapid fire is allowed), and the type of gun, you have a maximum rate of fire.  Say, for the Bismarck, at a decent range of maybe 20,000 yards (well within the maximum range of the big 15" guns), we consult chart G3, and see that the maximum rate of fire is 3 (even though the guns could theoretically fire at a rate of 6 shells every 2 minutes, the range limits that to 3 shells each so that fire control could observe the fall of the shells, and adjust fire accordingly).  So, multiplying eight guns, times 3 shells, means we are determining a hit chance for a salvo of 24 shells.

Looking at chart I, we see that across the top of the chart we find a column corresponding to the hit number we calculated from chart H2 (or H1 for basic, or H3 for range estimation), and then look down the left side of the chart to find the number of shells fired.  The table only goes up to 10 shells, so we will have to consult it a number of times.  For each time consulting the chart, roll the percentile dice once, and it will tell you if (for that part of the salvo) if 1 or more shells hit the target.  At this point, we know that some shells have actually hit the target (or not).

Ship Data Block - the actual data block is at the bottom

Damage Determination
The next part of determining the hit results is in rolling to determine hit location - this is a simple percentile dice roll on chart G1.  This is based on whether or not the shot was short range (less than half maximum for the gun) or long range.  A roll will determine whether the ship was hit at the:
Deck
Sidebelt
Con
Turret
Superstructure

If the target was an aircraft carrier, then the hit locations could be:
Flight Deck
Hangar
Con
Island
Sidebelt

In both cases, there is a chance of getting a Dud (a shell that did not explode against the target).

Now, we look up the Shell type.  This is found on chart G2, and could be Armor Piercing Capped (APC), Semi Armor Piercing (SAP), Common Rounds (COM), or High Explosive (HE).  This would be allowed to different navies/ships at different eras (historical data).  From that chart, you would get a multiplier to the Penetration Factor, Damage Factor (if you do not penetrate), Damage Factor (if you do penetrate - much higher, of course), and the Probability Chance of a Critical Damage.  Also, there is a chance for Pass Through.  This last represents, against a ship with thin armor, the chance that the shell passes clean through the target vessel without exploding.

These factors are then used as multipliers for the numbers found on charts R1 or R2.  These are the Range/Penetration/Damage chart.  Chart R1 is the average penetration chart, which averages (based on range, and types of shell fall) both the Vertical (or plunging) fire and Horizontal fire.  Chart R2 gives the specific penetration values for either, based on which type of fire you are doing (plunging or horizontal).  Guess which table we used - of course!  R2.  Using penetration averaging was considered a sign of weakness, and anyone suggesting it was driven from the Naval Wargaming tribe.

The chart also gave the basic damage factor.  These numbers would be multiplied by the factors that were looked up on chart G2, based on the type of shell fired.   So you would end up with an Actual penetration value.  Then, based on your hit location, and the armor of the target ship at that hit location (from the ship information block), you would know if your shells actually penetrated, or only impacted on the surface.  In either case, you would use the appropriate damage multiplier times the basic damage value of the shell, and you would know how much DP to subtract from the target vessel for each shell.  You would do this (hit location, and penetration/damage calculation for each shell that hits the target).

Each shell would have a chance for a Critical Damage.  These would be rolled up based on chart N1 (for basic surface vessels) or N2 (for aircraft carriers), to see what the particular critical hit you scored, was.  Then you would look that up in the table, and find out that you (for instance) shot off a searchlight, or (for instance) flooded a magazine, or (for instance) destroyed a whole turret or gun mount.  This was where the interesting parts of damage came into play.

Damaging Ships
Subtracting DP from a ship has the effect of slowly degrading it's performance.  The ship information tells you, for each subsystem (speed, reflecting the engine rooms, and each type of gun or torpedo tube), how many you lose for each multiple of DP that the ship takes.  For instance.  The Bismarck has a total of 1,386 DP.  Once those are gone, the ship is ineffective, or sinking.  However, for each of the eight 15" guns, one is lost for every 173 DP that the ship takes.  Also, every 92 DP the ship takes means the ship's speed is reduced (from a maximum of 30kts) down by 2kts.  So as the ship takes damage, it loses (proportionately) guns and speed.

There are rules for fires, damage control, and several other aspects of the ship taking damage.

Extra Rules
There is a whole section on Air Operations, which I won't cover here.  But it is to the same level of detail as we see above in gunfire.  Also Torpedoes.  And there are rules for Evasive Maneuvers, Smoke Screens, loss of Radar, and other situations.  It is possible for a ship's crew to fail morale and surrender or leave the vessel.

Thoughts
Naval wargaming is often a mathematical affair.  This is good, and it appeals to certain players quite a bit.  Seekrieg certainly satisfies in this area.  As you can see, there is a great deal of detail that goes into determining if a hit is scored, how many shells strike, where they strike, the damage they do (based on shell type, hardness of armor, hit location, class of target vessel, etc etc etc).  This is a great system, and very detailed.

I mentioned earlier, there is (to me) a conundrum in Seekrieg.  And that is, that some areas are very well detailed, and some are glossed over.  In the rulebook it freely admits that different fire control systems should have been detailed separately, but this is beyond the scope of the game.  Really?  A factor for fire control couldn't be listed for each ship class?  This seems like a trivial thing, and could be based on historical performance of the ships as much as the other researched datum for each vessel was based on.

Similarly, the simple (but effective) DP system for determining damage to ships.  No modifier for different types of defensive structure and architecture?  A compartmented hull built in 1935 sinks at the same rate as a hull built in 1890?  Again, this is something that would add some great detail to the amount of research that was done, but could have been (like fire control) a modifier base don era.

In the end, the lack of these things does not matter, for the game plays well, gives good results, and satisfies the naval historian/wargamer who wants to know the difference in behavior between different ship classes, and how best he can make the operational decisions to operate a ship or squadron against the enemy.  For it's day Seekrieg was a fantastic ruleset, and it still has many fans.  I love it, but I don't know who I would get to play it these days.

This is the first set of Naval rules I am reviewing as part of this series, and I played the game a lot in the 1980s.  Probably my last frequent play of the game was in 1989 or so, after playing it a lot over a period of 5-6 years - totaling a few dozen games each year, maybe more (and campaigns, and tournaments).  But I changed over, during that time, to another system (that I will also review) - General Quarters.  I will draw comparisons between the two styles of game, when I write that review.

Naval Wargaming article - over at ODMS blog

In anticipation of the upcoming Williamsburg Muster, which as War at Sea: Wargaming Naval History as it's theme, there is an article about Naval Wargaming (with lots of links to rules, some free, and some otherwise) over at the ODMS blog.

Some additional Naval Wargaming resources -

Naval Wargames Society (lots of free rules)

Interesting History of Naval Wargaming

History of Naval Wargames mostly as used by the USN

Wargaming at the US Navy Staff College

Archived Victory at Sea resource page.

A scan of the (long out of print, since 1975) rules, Don't Give Up The Ship

1975 Sailing Ship rules from Gygax, Arneson & Carr

Naval Imagi-Nations Campaign

Background
As the nations of Balkania left the Imperial Age, and entered into the age of massive industrialization, like their European counterparts, there was a mad rush to construct fleets of warships of ever increasing complexity and lethality, in an arms race that rivaled those of the early 20th century.

Tweedland Destroyer Flag

The Imperial Navy of Tweedland, modeled after a number of successful designs in the British Navy form the years between the wars, was involved a series of strategic operations in the Pampion Sea, against her ancient adversary, Royal Marina of Vulgaria.  The Vulgarians had jump-started their naval architecture program just a few decades earlier by kidnapping several prominent Italian designers and engineers, so their units bear a strong resemblance to the Regia Marina.

Vulgarian Royal Marina

Tweedland, in this region, is operating from their colonial ports at Utica and Cyrene, and operate a rather large air station at Pancritas.  They are actively involved in policing the Pampion Sea, as well as supporting their ground operations in Talantis - which means delivering supplies to Tarraco.

Vulgaria, on the other hand, has their southern mainland ports of Massilia and Salonae to support operations in the Pampion Sea.  The regional capitol at Cremona is home to not only Vulgarian 4th Air Force, but also is home to their notorious Motor Torpedo Boat squadrons.

Friesland Naval Ensign

The ground campaign in Talantis is between the Tweedland 8th Army, and the Frieslander Talantian Corps.  In order to limit the amount of support that the Tweedland navy can deliver, the Frieslander Supreme Commander has authorized the use of U-Boats in the Pampion Sea, against Tweedland shipping.  These elements will occasionally coordinate with the Vulgarian Royal Marina.

As a political gesture towards honoring the Pampion Triple Naval Alliance, the Free-Falconia Government has placed some of their remaining naval assets under command of the Tweedland colonial office at Utica.  These would normally be allocated to keeping the Talantian Approaches open, for supply convoys, but operational needs may have them committed, alongside Tweedland ships, throughout the Pampion theater of operations.

Free Franconia Military Forces

Campaign
I have been working up a simple system whereby two sides of players (one commanding British and French ships, representing Tweedland and Free-Falconia; the other commanding Italian and German forces, representing Vulgaria and Friesland) will follow this order of play for each turn:

1. Allocate patrol forces - naval and air
2. Receive operational intelligence and orders
3. Commit reserve forces for support of operations, or divert patrol forces
4. Adjudicate map situation, and develop tabletop battle for that turn

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Rules
I will be using General Quarters.  I plan to employ the original GQ1 and 2 rules - I have the newer GQ3 edition of the rules (published by the fine folks at ODGW), and they are great, but they would distract, as I am expecting players who are not necessarily naval gaming experts, and the older rules are much simpler).  Ship models will be Navwar 1:3000 vessels.

Operations Map
This was developed using AutoRealm, and I plan to use the same map for several different fictional naval campaigns.  I plan to go back and use the transition fleets I developed for Furstenberg and Rumpwhistle in an operation on this map, as well.

Wargaming project update

So, things at Gaming with Chuck HQ have settled into the typical Autumn pattern - school, work, trips, looking ahead to holidays, etc.

The weather is nice enough that I can use my painting area (which is in the garage) again, without suffering from the summer heat.

We have had some very nice (and successful) game nights at our house lately, mostly board and card games.

I have been working on a couple of wargaming projects, and have some progress to report.

1. I have completed the painting on the vessels (for both navies) for my 1870s imagi-nations naval project.  I now have fleets for both the Margravate of Furstenberg, and the Confederated Cantons of Rumpwhistle.  Games coming soon.

2. I have built some shore facilities to use with the new navies - some towns, and some fortification/gun batteries.  Yet to be painted.  Nice to have, but not needed for games.

3. I have constructed the first 6 figures (plastic, multipart) for my 1700 imagi-nations project (Poppenheim vs. Bombastia).  These went together very easily, and I think I will stick wth the plastics.  I already have a bunch purchased (Wargames Factory - owned when the company was under the original leadership, but this left me with 332 infantry figures, enough for both armies). The 6 figures took seconds to put together.  The basic figure in the Wargames Factory box sets go together really easily - 2/3 of the figures only need a head attached.  The other figures are a little bit more complex (heads, and arms).  Looking forward to doing some whole (24 figure) units

4. The 1870 infantry (repurposed ACW figures, now used for Furstenberg and Rumpwhistle) has been MOSTLY rebased and ready to go.  There is still a box of infantry left to work up, and some more cavalry, and guns.  This is pretty much ready to go for a small battle, which I hope to get played this autumn.  Still thinking about rules.

5. Really thinking about dark ages stuff (vikings, danes, scotts, etc).  Have lots of lead, just deciding if I want to do this before or after the 1700 stuff.

Pictures and ship details on the navies; posed pictures, maybe a game, for the 1870 stuff.

19th Century Imaginations - Furstenberg Naval Elements

Additional units of the Furstenberg Navy have been completed.  Here are some photos.

Frigates in line against Armored Cruisers (note - blue splotch mistake on lead frigate - need to fix that)

Battleships in line (the four ships of the Queen class)

Spar Torpedo boats.  Converted lobstermen?

Overhead view of the matchstick boats

Queen Guinevere and Queen Gloriana

Queen of the May, Queen Titania, and Queen Guinevere, threatened by spar torpedoes

Armored Cruisers (left to right) Junebug (with the raked stack), Moondog, and Weevil

The Weevil leading the line against a line of Screw Frigates

Screw Frigates mounting broadside guns, vs. Armored Cruisers with modern turrets

19th Century Imaginations - Naval Modeling

I have finished the first batch of Furstenberg ships that I have been working on.

These are three Armored Cruisers.

 In the background of the second picture, some other Furstenberg vessels can be seen, in progress.  Those are some older, age of sail armed frigates, that still saw action in the 1871 "Twenty-Three Weeks War".

19th Century Imaginations - Fictional Naval Forces

I have been building up some fictional navies, using balsa wood and other materials, in order to fight out a series of Naval engagements between my two fictional foes from Balkania.  The nations of Furstenberg and Rumpwhistle share some very large common rivers, and both maintain a (second rate) navy during the 1870s, when they were engaged in the 23 Weeks War.

Here are some pictures, along with notes, showing the progress of my modeling efforts.

Battleships on the left, and Armored Cruisers on the right and in the rear

The four Furstenberg Battleships, in the picture above, are all from the Queen class of battleships.  These were large, masted vessels, like the HMS Warrior from Great Britain, that were fitted out with steam power, and heavy guns on the gun decks.  The Queen class consists of "Queen of the May" (launched 1857), "Queen Guinevere" (1859), and the two twin queens, "Queen Titania" and "Queen Gloriana" (both launched 1863).

On the right, are three of the Furstenberg Armored Cruiser class.  These were high-sided armored ships, although with wooden frames and decks.  They feature steam power alone (no masts, never constructed for sail), and two large turrets.  The front two are from the Pest class, including (front) the "Junebug" (1869), and behind her, the "Weevil" (1870).  Behind those two, an older design, from the first class of armored cruisers, the Hound class, it is the "Moondog" (1859).

Armored Cruisers, and unique Rumpwhistle Battleships on the right

In this picture, we see four of the newest battleships in Balkania, these were built in Rumpwhistle after the popular Admiral's revolution of the 1850s, and exhibit the latest doctrines of the revolution in their design.

  The Admiral's revolution was such that, because no single Canton could afford their own Battleships, and because these were such prestigious vessels, that a Citizen's Counsel of 13 Captains, one from each Canton, would together control each Battleship.

At the aft of each battleship, you can note the massive, round cabin, where the Counsel of Citizen-Captains dwell, and hold their meetings about how to run the ship.  The ships, from front to rear, are the "Longinus", "Ephialtes", "Iscariot" and "Guy Fawkes".  Being rather forward thinking, and embracing progress, the Revolutionary Government decided that during actions, the Counsel would be reduced to a wieldy Three Citizen-Captains to facilitate quick decisions and decisive action.  Several older Armored Cruisers are to the left, and these are (in capability) very similar to those of Furstenberg

Here we see three of the Furstenberg battleships in Line Ahead formation.  In the back, rear, of the shot you can see some of the recently re-based Cavalry of both Furstenberg and Rumwhistle.

19th Century Imaginations - Rules for Naval Battles

Here are some simple rules for playing 19th Century (Transition era) naval actions. This is the age of the 1850s-1870s when ships still were mast rigged, but had steam power as well. Ironclads are covered as well.

Furstenberg vs. Rumpwhistle in the 23 Weeks War

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1. Ships come in two sizes, big and medium. Which, to show off our saltiness, we can call Battleship (or Ship of the Line) for Big, and Cruiser (or Frigate) for medium.


2. All ships may move under Steam or under Sail.


3. All ships have two types of hit points - Hull and Mast. These are divided up into three divisions each.


4. Battleships have three mast divisions, each taking 5 points of damage. They have three hull divisions, each taking 12 points of damage.


5. Cruisers have three mast divisions, each taking 4 points of damage. They have three hull divisions, each taking 8 points of damage.


6. Sail movement - The ship may roll 1d6 for each (whole or partial) mast division they have left.
   
   
   1. The ship may choose to roll few dice, but must move all that they roll.
   
   
   2. The ship moves forward (without turning) the distance of one dice at a time, Captain's choice.
   
   
   3. After moving ahead, the ship may make a turn - Battleship, up to 45 degrees; Cruiser up to 90 degrees.
   
   
   4. Vagueness of sail movement is preserved, without worrying about wind gauge, sail setting, etc - boring things that landlubbers THINK we salty captains care about.
   
   
7. Steam movement - The ship moves a standard amount, and may make a turn every 4". The number of inches varies based on how many hull divisions the ship has left.
   
   
   1. If the ship has three hull divisions left (whole or partial) then it may move a total of 16".
   
   
   2. If the ship has two hull divisions left, then it may move a total of 8".
   
   
   3. If the ship has only one hull division left, it may not move via Steam.
   
   
   4. Turns (every 4") are as per sail movement - Battleships 45 degrees; Cruisers 90 degrees.
   
   
8. Steam engine clouds - Regardless of how far a steam fired ship moves, it leaves a thick cloud over the second half of its movement distance. This remains for two turns.


9. Shooting - Ships may shoot at anyone within range. Battleships have 24" range; Cruisers have 18" range. A target is declared, dice are rolled, hits are recorded.
   
   
   1. Battleships roll 5 dice per hull division they have left (whole or damaged); Cruisers roll 3 dice per hull division that they have left.
   
   
   2. A target vessel is nominated before rolling, also announce if firing is Regular, High, or Low. Each division of a firing ship may choose a different target.
   
   
   3. Regular fire - Roll dice, every 6 scores a Mast hit; every 1 scores a Hull hit.
   
   
   4. High fire - Roll dice, every 6+ scores a Mast hit. Half of the 1s rolled score Hull Hits (round up), then reroll the other 1s, this time adding +1 to each die.
   
   
   5. Low Fire - Roll dice, every 1- scores a Hull hit. Half of the 6s rolled score Mast hits (round up), then reroll the other 6s, this time subtracting -1 to each die.
   
   
10. Damage - All damage (either hulls or masts) goes against one division completely, until that division is gone, and so forth. No splitting it up.
    
    
    1. Ships that have lost all three Hull divisions have sunk.
    
    
    2. Ships that have not sunk are towed home by the victor of the battle.
    
    
    3. Damaged ships may completely repair one division (hull or mast) per week in a port.
    
    
11. Visibility - Ships moving under Steam (i.e. - those with Coal Smoke) lose 1d6 off the total they can roll to shoot with, per division.
    
    
    1. Cruisers cannot trace a line of fire through a Battleship.
    
    
    2. All other combinations are possible (battleship firing past anything, or cruiser firing past cruiser).
    
    
    3. No ship can see past smoke to fire.
    
    
12. Ramming - If a ship model can move into another ship model, then the chance for a ram occurs.
    
    
    1. Roll 1d6 - on a 1,2,3 the ram actually occurs.
    
    
    2. If the ram does not occur, move the moving ship past the other ship.
    
    
    3. If a ram occurs, roll all the firing dice that the ship doing the ramming has available to it - i.e. an undamaged Battleship would have 15 dice; a Cruiser missing one hull division would have 6 dice; etc.
    
    
    4. All 1s rolled do one point of hull damage to the Ramming ship, all 5s and 6s rolled do one point of damage to the ship being rammed.
    
    
13. The Torpedo - Cruisers carry one torpedo, Battleships carry two. They are quite unreliable.
    
    
    1. A torpedo has 12" range.
    
    
    2. A stationary ship (one that has not moved this turn), or a ship under Steam power may fire a torpedo.
    
    
    3. Nominate a target, if a Battleship fires both of her torpedoes on the same turn, they must be at different targets.
    
    
    4. Roll 1d6, on a 1 it strikes the target, on a 2-6, it is lost forever.
    
    
    5. Roll 10d6 on a successful hit, all dice scoring 5,6 will do one hull point of damage.
    
    
14. Troops - Battleships may carry two units of troops. Cruisers may carry only one unit of troops.
    
    
    1. For these purposes an artillery unit counts as half of a unit. Cavalry units count as two units.
    
    
    2. A ship may send units ashore, or collect them again, via boats, if they are within 6" of the shoreline.
    
    
    3. A unit disembarking or embarking troops via boats may not move during the entire turn of the operation.
    
    
    4. The troops must begin their move at the shore's edge if embarking; they finish their move at the shore's edge if they have been disembarked.
    
    
15. Shore guns - Shore batteries may fire at Ships, and be fired at.
    
    
    1. Shore guns have 24" range, and roll 4d6 per battery. They may only fire normal.
    
    
    2. Guns in batteries may be targeted by ships. Each battery takes 2 points of damage to be destroyed. Once the ship fires, each dice does a point of damage to a shore gun on a 6.
    
    
    3. If the shore battery is in stoneworks (harbor fort, etc), then reroll each 6, and only the second set of 6s will score hits.
    
    
    4. For these rules shore batteries typically are either Small (2 batteries), Medium (3 batteries), or Large (4 batteries).
    
    
16. Ironclad vessels - The ships described so far are transition ships - still mast rigged, with with steam power included. There are also Ironclad vessels.
    
    
    1. Ironclads are neither Battleships nor Cruisers, but a different class of vessel.
    
    
    2. Ironclads do not have Mast divisions. They do have three Hull divisions, of 8 points each.
    
    
    3. Ironclads may only move via steam power. They may move 12" if they have all three hull divisions left, and only 6" if they have two divisions left. Once they are down to one division, they may not move.
    
    
    4. Ironclads have two turrets, each rolling 6d6 to fire. Each turret may target a different target. They may not fire High or Low, only regular.
    
    
    5. Once an Ironclad has only two hull divisions left, it may only fire one turret. Once it is down to one hull division, it may not fire.
    
    
    6. Mast hits scored against an Ironclad miss. Hull hits scored against an Ironclad must reroll. Reroll all hull hits scored, and only on 5s and 6s do they actually do damage.
    
    
    7. Ironclads that are ramming wooden ships do not take damage. Ironclads rammed by wooden ships, or by other Ironclads do take damage.
    
    
    8. Ironclads have one torpedo.
    
    
    9. Torpedos fired against the Ironclad actually hit on a 1 or 2 (because of the poor handling of the target, not because of magnetic homing).
    
    
17. Fighting Battles - Set up the playing surface. Shorelines, shore batteries, and shoals should be clearly marked.
    
    
    1. Battleships may not move over shoals. If they do, they take 1d6 worth of hull points.
    
    
    2. At the start of each turn, each Admiral rolls 1d6. A legendary admiral adds +1, the side with more ships trailing smoke (i.e. moving under steam) subtracts -1. The high score has initiative.
    
    
    3. The Admiral with initiative decides to move first or second. When a player moves, they move all their units.
    
    
    4. Once both sides have moved, Shooting is simultaneous. The side with initiative resolves their shooting first (i.e. declare targets, roll for damage, etc - but all damage takes effect simultaneously).
    
    
    5. If a ship is of Poor quality (as per scenario or campaign) then the first time it takes damage, immediately roll 1d6. On a 1 or 2 it strikes its colors, and does not take a further role in the battle. Otherwise it is okay.
    
    
    6. Once one side or the other has lost Half of their vessels (a vessel is considered "lost" if it is down to only one Hull division, regardless of its fighting ability), that side must begin rolling Morale at the end of each turn.
    
    
    7. Roll 1d6 for morale. On a 1 or 2, the side surrenders, and the other side is the victor. If the side rolling for morale has a Legendary Admiral, subtract one from the roll. If the other side has a Legendary Admiral, then add one to the roll.
    
    
    8. To handle smoke,  use two different colored pom pom balls, Gray and Black.  After all the ships on your side move, remove all Gray pom pom balls that belong to you (i.e. were placed by your ships).  Then replace all Black pom pom balls with Gray ones.  Then place new Black pom pom balls behind the second half of movement of your Steam powered vessels.