Apart from flexibility, probably the key problem in simulating naval power is interception. The most rapid panzer thrust imaginable is snail-like compared to the speed of naval operations, yet the countermoves of opposing ships are equally quick.

So how to incorporate interception? As I said, each player gets a reaction move during the opposing player's movement phase. The other key is "transit combats," which are roughly equivalent to patrol attacks by air units or overruns by land units. If you pass through a sea zone occupied by enemy units, they can search for you and try to stop or damage your ships. You can try to evade or destroy them.

The whole procedure is shown in this annotated sequence of play, below.

Sequence of Play

1. Initial Phase As per standard Europa.

2. Movement Phase

In addition to moving all eligible land units, the phasing player may move his ships, whether already at sea or starting in port, up to their normal movement rating; this naval phase includes "transit combats" with non-phasing forces in sea zones passed through, roughly equivalent to patrol attacks by air units or overruns by land units. Land units may board or debark from transports to ports or beaches at a suitable cost in MPs.

Naval Reaction Step. Non-phasing player may move ships to attempt interception in sea zones occupied by the enemy, or may attempt escape from sea zones the enemy has entered, moving up to normal movement limits.

3. Air Phase

(My thanks to Gary Dickson for providing inspiration here.)

Staging Step. Phasing air units move to targets, including moving into sea zones for anti-shipping attacks or combat air patrol over task forces. An air unit must have enough range to reach the center hex of a sea zone with 4 additional hexes of range remaining. Those air units that can reach the center hex but have only 2 or 3 hexes of range left move into the "0/3" column. Those that have 5 or more additional hexes of range to spare move into the "2/3" column, while all others are placed in the "1/3" column. This indicates which air units can search and attack most effectively across large ocean distances.

Reaction Step. Non-phasing air units move to intercept, including interception of anti-shipping attacks plus air attacks on shipping.

Air Combat Resolution Step. Air-to-air combats are resolved.

Mission Step. Air missions, including anti-shipping searches and attacks, port bombing, etc., are resolved after AA is fired. Units taking part in an attack in a sea zone may be moved to the "payload depleted" row, depending on the mission and the aircraft type.

Air Return Step. This includes all naval air that are in the depleted row.

4. Combat Phase

Naval Combat Step. The phasing player carries out purely naval missions, e.g. surface searches, ship-to-ship combat, port bombardment, amphibious landings, etc. Coastal artillery fires at this time.

Combat Step. All non-naval functions normally carried out in this phase occur here.

Non-Phasing Return To Port Step. Non-phasing ships may move up to one-third of their normal allowance; ships returning to port may not enter zones occupied by enemy forces, and no ships may leave port at this time.

Phasing Return To Port Step. Phasing ships follow the same procedure as for the non-phasing return to pot step.

5. Exploitation Phase

All naval units are capable of exploitation movement. They move at the same time as c/m and other exploit- capable units. Units may not board ship during exploitation unless they are amphibious capable. A unit that was loaded on board a ship during the movement phase, or that began the last friendly movement phase in port with the ship, may move with the ship in this phase. Transit attacks are carried out per normal procedure above.

Phasing Return To Port Step. Phasing ships may return to port.

It seems obvious to me that naval units ought to be able to exploit at least as well as tanks can. Marines, commandos, and such are able to carry out a landing and then evacuate off the beach in the same turn-but any enemy naval unit in range will get at least a chance to hit their transports before they get away. This really ought to have been possible in TFH, since it tends to draw interception forces to points where a landing is not really intended, diluting the defense. It would also have obvious benefits in Second Front.

The second benefit of exploitation-phase naval transport is also relevant to invasions. In general, small craft operating across the English Channel or any strait were able to carry far more materiel than invasion forces elsewhere, because they made several trips in the same period of time. TFH simulated this by providing abstract short-range shipping points and then doubling and tripling the shipping requirements for distant destinations. It is more realistic, and fairer to the attacker, to allow exploitation- phase naval transport for units that have not yet moved that turn.

The followup wave of German troops for Operation Sea Lion would thus not be subject to the same conditions as the first,wave, for the simple reason that the same Prahms, Siebel-ferries, and Dutch barges would have to survive and return to port. The British anti-invasion fleet would get a chance to regroup and rearm before attacking the second wave. This would have been true even in the case of a crossing at Dover, which is not apparent in TFH as it stands now. It is even more relevant for Second Front since the landing craft that operated across the beaches made up an unexpectedly large proportion of carrying capacity.

Now let's review

We know the workings of the seabox. We know the sequence of play. But how big are the sea zones to be?

The minimum time a ship can spend in a zone is the time it takes to steam across it. Given the size of our zones, roughly 100 to 150 miles, that time ranges from a day down to 4 hours, averaging maybe 8 or 12 hours.

Since I'm proposing three naval steps in a game turn (two during the friendly player turn, plus one reaction step), each naval step thus corresponds to roughly 5 days real time. Therefore the seabox for a given sea zone can provide a good measure of any naval unit's activity during any naval step within that sea zone. Since there are three columns in each seabox, the "minimum" box (i.e., the "0/3" box) in each row represents anywhere from 0 to 40 hours of time-that is, 15/9 of a day.

This is where ships making direct passage go, as in the example I gave above. The middle box (the "1/3" box) represents anywhere from 40 hours to 80 hours, roughly 2 to 3 days. Since unloading ships via landing craft across a beach can take anywhere from 12 hours to a week or more, we simplify our assumptions and say it takes 2 to 3 days. The "maximum" box (the "2/3" box) represents from 80 to 120 hours, 3 to 5 days. Obviously, a bombardment force is going to stay on station every moment possible, so the bombardment force stays the full 5 days.

How do we measure ships' movement during a naval step?

Europa naval counters all carry a tactical movement rating, which can be used in determining combat capabilities, breaking off engagements, or what have you. The operational movement rating is what gets the ship from sea zone to sea zone and port to port. This operational movement rating is simply three (3) times a ship's tactical speed rating, but counted in sea zones, not hexes.

I haven't yet said how big a sea zone is, but already we can see one thing. If a bombardment force wishes to have 2/3rds of its available time spent on station, sitting in the 2/3rds box, then logically it can only move 1/3 of its normal movement rating during that naval movement step. This would be one (1) multiple of the tactical rating, again counting in sea zones.

Let's talk about the return-to-base steps, of which there are also three. This phase is intended to represent task forces successfully breaking off from combat or missions and returning to reload. It rewards short-range interception tactics in home waters, and reflects the greater flexibility of naval operations by allowing players to cycle their ships-to rearm, refuel, and reposition-faster than a rigid series of major operational phases would allow.

Limiting the move to 1/3 of a normal naval movement step, or roughly 40 hours, is realistic; if a ship broke contact and made for port across unpatrolled waters, historically the odds were good that it would not be reacquired within that time; but if port were further away than that, the odds of redetection (and interception) increased. See a chronology of the Bismarck's destruction for an example.

How much movement does a ship get overall?

A lot. If we wish to move a ship the maximum possible distance from port to port in one turn, we will move it 3 + 3 times its tactical rating in the movement and exploitation phases of the friendly player turn, plus 3 more times its tactical rating as reaction movement in the enemy movement phase, plus 1 times its tactical rating in the return to port phase-a grand total of 10 times its tactical rating.

A destroyer rated 9 for tactical movement will thus travel through 90 sea zones. So, theoretically a destroyer might make as much as 25 knots sustained speed over a 15- day game turn-thus traveling 9,300 miles in a full game turn). This would lead to a sea zone about 6 or 7 hexes across.

However, we should remember that everything here must be compatible as possible with existing Europa maps, components, and design philosophy. Remember also that it must be workable. A sea zone five hexes wide is too small because we would need enormous auxiliary displays to show all the seaboxes. A sea zone fifteen hexes wide is too big; we already have sea zones smaller than that in BF and TFH, and they don't work anyway.

The Case for Sea Zones The Europa Naval Rules Get a Refit

Introduction
Part 1: Why Sea Zones Should Be Time-Graded (and Fixed-Radius)
Part 2: The 3-Naval-Phase Sequence of Play
Part 3: The 61-Hex Sea Zone
Conclusion