Creating Fleets: Nationality Campaign Close Action is played with two fleets - the British, and the Franco-Spanish fleets. The Admiral of each fleet decides which nationality his fleet will be. British or Franco-Spanish. Ship Design Each player receives a certain number of victory points to use to build ships for their fleet. All ships from each fleet must be selected from that nation's ships on the Ship Data Chart that is included with Close Action from Clash of Arms games. For fleets with the same number of players on each side, each player receives a number of victory points (to be disclosed later) to purchase ships. All players except the admirals will receive the same number of points to spend. Unused victory points are placed in that fleet's victory point total. For example, a British fleet player receives 90 victory point to purchase ships. He decides he wants to purchase more than one ship, and so purchases a C4 50 for 48 victory points, and a C5 38 for 41 victory points. The remaining 1 victory point would go into his fleet's victory point total. (Note, that C4 indicates a crew quality/morale rating of C4.) Ship choices should be determined individually. This enhances the variety of ships chosen, and makes for more interesting beginning battles. Admiral's Ship Design Since flagships were typically larger than other ships, (and we wanted to give players a chance to sail a really big ship), Admirals receive a 50% bonus in the design of their ships. To extend the example above, it the British fleet receives 90 points per player to purchase new ships, the British Admiral would receive 135 points to purchase his ship. Note that ship design isn't the only purpose for the extra points the admiral receives. He can use this bonus in several ways, including bidding for windward position banking for campaign victory points, keeping as a reserve to repair damaged ships. Fleet Size To keep the size of the fleets the same, each fleet receives the same number of players. If this is not possible, the fleet with the smaller number of players receives the same number of victory points to design their fleet as the fleet with the larger number of players. The number of players in the fleet with the larger number of players should be noted by the GM as it will be used as a basis for repairs at the end of each battle. For example, the British fleet has 6 players and the Franco-Spanish fleet has 5. Each player on the British fleet receives 90 victory points. Each player on the Franco-Spanish fleet receives (90 * 6 =540" 540/5 = 108) 108 victory points. Extra points that could not be evenly divided will be given to the admiral. Fighting Battles Number of Battles Campaign Close Action is won by the fleet that wins three out of five battles. Thus some campaigns will be won after three battles, and others will be won only after five. Winning a battle is defined as accumulating the larger number of victory points from that particular engagement. Wind Gauge Each fleet bids for the wind gauge before each battle. Bids are conducted by the Admiral of each fleet, and may not exceed that fleet's victory point total. Bids are secret, and are submitted by each Admiral to the games master. The fleet that wins the bid subtracts that number of victory points from their victory point total. It the bids are tied, neither fleet receives the wind gauge, and both fleets subtract their bid from their victory point total. Fleet Setup The fleet that loses the wind gauge sets up first in a close hauled formation. The fleet's Admiral may choose a two or three hex fleet spacing (this is the number of hexes between ships). Without identifying the size of the ships at various locations, the Admiral of the windward fleet then sets up his fleet in any formation or wind attitude he chooses: i.e. he may choose to be close hauled line astern, broad reaching line abreast, etc. Post Battle Effects Victory Points Each fleet receives a number of victory point equal to the number of captured or sunk enemy ships. The fleet that retains the field of battle receives a 100% bonus. For example, in a particular battle, the British fleet sinks a French C3 74 and receives 84 victory points. The Franco-Spanish fleet retains the field of battle and sinks a British C3 64 and receives 63 * 2= 126 victory points. This rule is meant to reflect the number of ancillary ships that may have been captured as a result of forcing an opposing fleet from the field of battle. The winner of a battle is the fleet that receives more victory points from that particular battle than the other fleet. Morale Each fleet receives a morale bonus (without expending any victory points) equal to the number of victory points earned as a result of a battle. These morale bonus points are used at the end of a battle to raise a ship's crew's morale. The number of ship's crews that can be raised depend upon the number of morale bonus points received. To raise a ship's crew's morale one level, a fleet must spend a number of morale bonus points equal to the victory points that ship is currently worth (See the Morale Levels Chart, below, so see what is meant by 'one level'.) Unused morale bonus points are lost. To continue the preceding example, the British fleet received 84 victory points. He chooses to raise a C3 74c to a B4 74c, which costs 84 morale bonus points. The French fleet received 126 victory points, and raises a C3 110 to a B4 110, which costs 125 morale bonus points. The unused French morale bonus point is lost. This rule is meant to recreate the effect that additional combat experience and enthusiasm for victory that may result from combat. Morale Levels Chart The morale levels chart indicates the morale levels used when adjusting crew quality and morale ratings for ships Adjustments never put a ship above A2 or below E5. Movement up 'one level' means moving left on the Chart. If the space to the left of a level is blank, then use the furthest right level on the next line up. For example, going up one level from E4 is D5 not D4. A2> A3 - - B2 B3 B4 - - C3 C4 C5 - D3 D4 D5 - - E4 E5 Crew Replacements Fleets may replace lost crews after each battle. However, for each crew box that is replaced. there is a Slightly higher chance that the ship's crew quality/morale rating (CQ/MR) will be decreased by one level on the Morale Levels Chart. Specifically, percentiles die are rolled and compared with the percentage of the ship's original crew that is being replaced. It the die roll is less than the percentage of crew being replaced. no change is made to the ship's CQ/MR. Otherwise, the CQ/MR is reduced one level (see the Morale Levels Chart). For example, the Essex loses nine of her original total of 19 crew boxes. She chooses to replace 7 crew boxes. Her chance to lose one level in CQ/MR is 7 / 19 = 36% (fractions are rounded down). If her Captain rolls less than a 37 on percentile dice, her CQ/MR is reduced one level. This rule is meant to recreate the effect of not having enough time to retrain the ship's crew up to her former level. Ship Repairs Each fleet may repair a hull and rigging boxes after each battle. A certain number of boxes are repaired without expenditure of victory points. Additional repairs may be 'purchased' in exchange for victory points. Rigging repairs are counted at the rate of 6 per 1 hull box. (This represents the low cost of repairing sails versus hull.) Each fleet may repair the equivalent number of hull boxes equal to 8x the number of players in the largest fleet. For example, the British fleet originally was the larger fleet, and had 6 players. After each battle, each fleet may repair up to 48 hull boxes, or 47 hull and 6 rigging boxes, or 46 hull and 12 rigging boxes, etc. Scuttling Ship Each Admiral may choose (either with or without consultation with her Captain) to scrap a ship, at no victory point loss to her fleet. After a particularly bloody battle, it may be impossible to repair all (or even a significant portion) of the damage that has been incurred. This rule was instituted to enhance Campaign Close Action's playability Ship Replacements Any Captain that has lost a ship, either from scuttling, capture, or sinking. may stay in the game by purchasing a new ship. However, to maintain play balance, the opposing fleet receives 50% of the victory points used by the player to purchase a new ship. In addition. the cost of the new ship purchased may not exceed the cost of that Captain's previous ship less 10 points. For example, Todd's ship, a French C4 74L, is sunk. He wants to continue playing Campaign Close Action, and so he chooses to purchase a new ship. His old ship cost 90 victory points, and so his new ship may not exceed 80 points in value. Todd purchases a C4 74 for 80 points, and the opposing fleet receives 40 victory points. If his new ship sinks, he will only be able to spend 70 points to purchase a new ship, and the opposing fleet will receive as much as 35 victory points. It a player has multiple ships that were eliminated, new ships may not exceed 10 less than the sum of the two ships' victory point costs. Back to Dispatch Mar. 99 Table of Contents Back to Dispatch List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by HMGS Mid-South This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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