Attack With Torpedoes

Coastal Warfare Rules
1939-45 (v. 2.0)

by Greg Rice

These rules are intended for engagements with the light coastal forces of WWII, using 1/600 models. Ground scale is 1/1000, and movement is 1 cm per knot, so each move is 18-20 seconds long. They are aimed at fast games, rather than a lot of detail, and succeed in that attempt: none of my test games took more than an hour.

Movement is simultaneous, with written orders. Because each boat must move at least half a turn in a straight line between turns, order writing is not too onerous. Turning radius increases dramatically with speed, so an MTB doing 40 kts and wanting to reverse course is well advised to throttle down.

Firing is sequential, determined randomly. Range is measured in 40 cm intervals, using range rods painted to represent streams of tracers. The rods are placed as fire is issued and left until the end of the turn, resulting in a criss-cross of tracers across the table revealing the positions of firing units. I liked this effect on the game table.

There is an optional target priority rule which requires a boat to fire on the most urgent target. In the game played using this rule it led to "soak-off' attacks, with a distant boat opening fire on a target to draw fire while another boat approached to fire torpedoes or open up with guns later in the turn. Some of this felt right, in other instances it seemed very "gamey".

Weapons are grouped into two classes. Those 57mm and smaller fire via fire points, with multiple dice per mount, all of which can be rolled at once. Having at least one 20mm or larger weapon in the mix makes all of them eligible to start fires which increase damage 20-40%. Firing involves buckets of dice: an Rboat with a 37mm gun and 3 single 20 mm mounts rolls 18 dice for hits; a quad 40 mm mount would roll 15 dice. Larger weapons fire each tube individually, one die per tube, with numbers of dice rolled for damage if a hit is achieved.

Damage is counted in hull points, which accumulate until the boat sinks, and special damage (engine, searchlight, weapons mount, etc). In my games hull damage was far more important than the special hits, although this is less true for larger guns are larger ships. Hull damage reduces speed in one-quarter increments. Armor is not considered, perhaps reasonably given that games shouldn't be involving anything bigger than a destroyer.

Torpedoes are fired and tracked by moving a model. The torpedo model must actually hit the model of the target, which is less than twice ground scale in size, so some accurate aiming is required. One thing that quickly became apparent is that it is very hard to estimate the target's speed. This led to some delays in movement, with players intending to fire torpedoes later in the turn waiting to carefully watch their opponents move their models. The players were quickly wishing for some period analog fire control computers.

Torpedoes are generic, and have roughly a 50% chance of hitting given that they intercept the target. Damage is generally catastrophic, as it should be, although large ships have a chance of survival.

There is a substantial section devoted to the ways in which targets may be illuminated. Given that almost all coastal engagements will be at night, this is essential. The rules for spotting unilluminated targets are a disappointment, however. These are two pages of suggestions of a rather general nature, intended to "provide some inspiration for garners to try out ideas." While they are sufficient for this purpose, gamers without other experience to draw on are likely to feel a bit at sea.

Also missing is any ship data, a generic British MTB (probably a Fairmile D) and German R-boat being the only examples provided. You will need a source of data on size, displacement, speed, and armament for the boats you intend to use.

As with all rules, a good game requires a good scenario. Although none are provided, it took only a few games to come up with some successes. Several of my games were disappointments, not through the failure of the rules, but of the game design. In one, a batch of Fairmile D's approached a German convoy, fired all their torpedoes without being spotted, and withdrew, sinking one of four merchant targets. A nicely historically-defensible result, but not much of a game. In another, approaching Vospers were spotted by a destroyer and blown out of the water in short order.

The games which were the most fun had some islands, had swarms of boats, and forced at least part of the attacking force to overtake from astern (requiring high speeds and increasing the chance of being detected in my version of spotting). A major part of the game takes place before most vessels are spotted. This is much easier with an umpire.

Attack with Torpedoes can provide some very fast-playing fun. While they provide little detail, the general flavor of the period comes through clearly. You need to be ready to provide your own spotting rules, ship data, and, of course, buckets of dice. The author, Dillon Browne, stands ready for questions via email. Available from. $10 from Caliver Books (www.caliverbooks.com)

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