Background

There have been several attempts at naval systems within Europa. The simplest is Naval Transport Points (NTPs) used by a player as he desires in much the same way as "Air Points" were a representation of air power in many earlier designs of land wargames.

However, many believe that a system such as Europa deserves a better naval representation, and to this end Supermarina, the naval playtest module, was developed and published in TEM #17. It was subsequently revised and reissued as Supermarina II in TEM #20, but still was not what the Europa player really sought.

Sea Zones

Following these two releases, Dean Brooks proposed a new concept in TEM #25. This was the Sea Box idea, to eliminate time-consuming records, coupled with 8-hex diameter Sea Zones to regulate movement on a larger scale than normal Europa hexes.

I took this concept and wrote a set of rules for these refinements, calling it Supermarina III. However, I couldn't get it to work to my satisfaction as it remained far too timeconsuming.

In my search for a better system, I saw and purchased Pacific War by Victory Games. I was attracted by the concept of monthly movement, and hexes of 100 miles. Surely 100 mile hexes could easily be fitted with the Sea Zones and Sea Boxes of Supermarina III, and monthly turns should be capable of being modified to fortnightly. This became my Supermarina IV rules, which did produce a good game of naval warfare. It was also possible to use them with Europa, but I still felt they were too detailed and detracted from, rather than added to, the land campaigns.

Getting the Effects Right

But why are these previous attempts unsuccessful? They could all be developed to give a good representation of YAVII naval warfare, but that isn't what we want for Europa. Our air rules aren't a detailed reproduction of air warfare, so why should the sea be any different? And in trying to be too detailed, we create naval turns which take three times as long to play as the rest of the game turn.

By trying to model the naval war, we have lost sight of our objective: to simulate the effect of the naval forces on the land campaign. And, as a gamer, I want a slick system which adds less than 25% additional time to an average game turn.

So, what do we want our cardboard navy to do for us?

Tasks of Naval Forces

In WWII, a navy's principal tasks can be divided as follows:

• Transport of Supplies, Equipment and Troops.
• Sea Denial - not allowing the enemy use of sea areas and naval facilities. This also includes Blockships, Port Bombardment, and Mining.
• Support of Land Forces - Amphibious Operations, Naval Gunfire Support, Bombardment of land facilities, AA enhancement, etc.

We have lost sight of our objective: to simulate the effect of the naval forces on the land campaign.

Europa Naval Tasks

If we assess these three areas and see what we need for Europa, we can devise a system which only concentrates on the aspects important to us.

We need to be able to transport combat units in some detail, but not to get heavily involved in cargo ship movements (especially when empty!), and don't want detailed logistics systems.

For Sea Denial, we only need to know the effect sea power has on our attempts to carry out other relevant missions. Naval losses are only important in their effect on future Sea Denial.

Land Support should be simple, yet with enough "feel" that it is not totally abstracted. And there should be enough valuable tasks for the navy to carry out without resorting to Bombardment every turn.

As a gamer, I set some conditions too: few naval units, short naval phases (not 14 naval segments per turn as in Supermarina) and the ability to have a real influence on the land campaign (i.e., not a naval system for its own sake).

This latter point is important, and helps keep us focused on our needs. In WitD terms, we need to be able to intercept reinforcements and supply steps en route from Europe to North Africa, carry out bombardment in support of combat and against akfields/ports, use air power to make naval transport possible only at great risk (from Sicily, and in the Greek and Crete campaigns), and permit more unusual things like putting blockships into Tripoli harbour (see Cunningham's Pond).

Naval Forces-Significant Units

In carrying out the above tasks, I use the concept of "Significant Units." A Significant Unit is the smallest combination of naval vessels which would make an impression at Europa level. Not all our naval counters would be used at this minimum level (we don't have everything represented at battalion level on land). It is easy to see that a single destroyer is not a Significant Unit. It would not carry enough men or supplies to justify its existence in Europa, neither would it ensure Sea Denial, nor would it be significant in Land Support terms. In addition, my playability requirement rules out giving freedom of movement to 80 separate Italian destroyers per turn. Therefore, larger units should absorb these "Water Rats."

A typical WWII convoy was escorted by a number of escort vessels. In sufficient numbers they were "Significant" against air, surface, and submarine attack. Therefore we can create Transport Task Forces (Transport TFs) by dividing the historical escort assets amongst the NTPs. For example, a 3-RE capacity Transport TF (consisting of 20,000 tons of shipping), can be allocated 4 destroyer escorts. Additional escort, if desired, could come from having other TFs stacking and moving with the Transport TF.

For Sea Denial, the forces used varied from a destroyer flotilla, through a cruiser squadron supported by destroyers, to a battleship squadron with cruiser, destroyer and aircraft carrier support. We can therefore create Combat TFs, which again use all the available assets in sensible proportions.

By basing the strengths of TFs on an appropriate fraction of the Supermarina ratings of the individual vessels, a Cruiser Squadron TF can end up with a Surface Combat value of 4. Force H, the Royal Navy squadron that operated out of Gibraltar, might rate 8 or 9. TFs can stack together to support each other, allowing the Italians to put out its numerous but weaker TFS to contest sea control with the British. An example TF counter is shown on the next page.

With this use of TFs, Sea Zones are inevitable. But they can be much larger, and reflect an area which is "tactically significant" (e.g., the Adriatic). Each turn the TFs applied to Sea Denial can create a "hazard level" for enemy TFs entering that zone to carry out a mission such as transport or bombardment.

The effect on a TF carrying out a mission in a zone can range from "No Effect," damage to either force, or abortion of the mission. Sounds like similar results to NE (AS), DH, AH, and DR on the land combat tables? You might not be far wrong!

One other feature of naval forces is their ability to move vast distances and carry out multiple missions within the time frame of a Europa turn. By having a variable "deactivation" of TFs dependent on such factors as strategic intelligence and damage, we can have TFs carry out multiple missions.

Does it Work?

I wrote a set of Supermarina V rules, using TFs and large sea zones. Believing that if it can work in the Mediterranean, it would work anywhere, I played through War in the Desert, Balkan Front and Africa Oriental simultaneously, and was pleased with the results. I am now moving on to try it with Narvik and Their Finest Hour.

Typical Naval Actions

Examples of activities during a turn might be:

British

• Med Fleet escorts a Transport TF with supplies to Malta.
• 7th Cruiser Squadron bombards Benghazi's port.
• 3rd Cruiser Squadron drives off attacks on Greek convoys.
• Inshore Squadron bombards Italian positions in support of the British advance, but suffers losses from air attack.
• Force H attempts to interdict convoys from Naples, and then bombards Sicilian airfields.

Italian

• Veneto group attempts to intercept Malta convoy from Alexandria but fails to stop it.
• Doria group intercepts and engages Force H without loss.
• Cesare group under repair.
• 1st and 2nd Cruiser Divisions operate with BB groups.
• 3rd Cruiser Division supports minelaying operations off Sicily.
• 4th Cruiser Division attempts to interdict Greek convoys but is driven off, suffering losses.
• 5th, 6th and 7th Cruiser Divisions provide additional cover for Transport TFs taking supplies to North Africa.

Even in the Mediterranean the naval forces are not excessive.

Task Forces

From the above example we can see that even in the Mediterranean the naval forces are not excessive. The British player may have 6 TFs, the Italian player 10, plus Submarines, Transport TFs and MTBs for both. This will make the naval element much less time- consuming than previously.

Each Task Force has its own characteristics, including Surface Combat, AA, Bombardment, ASW, etc., and takes on an identity of its own. Losses can be applied in a gradual fashion, with reinforcements or replacements bringing an understrength TF back up towards its original value. In some cases, major new units (e.g., the battleship Roma) can upgrade a TF in the same way as a land unit.

One other thing I am trying is to represent MTB flotillas in the same manner as aircraft. OK, I accept they don't fly, but they can have a short range and be based out of ports like seaplanes.

A Revised Game Turn

To show how all these elements draw together, here is the proposed sequence of play outlining the naval activities in a Game Turn:

Naval Initial Phase (occurs in the first player's Initial Phase of every I turn).

1 Admin (replacements, repairs, mines, etc.)
2 Activate naval units for the next month.
3 Allocate TFs and submarines to Sea Denial.
4 Resolve effect of opposing TFs and air power, to create a "hazard level" in each sea zone.

Naval Movement (occurs in the movement phase).

1 Load cargo (where appropriate).
2 Move into new zone(s).
3In each zone, check for effects of "hazard level," enemy aircraft, MTBs and submarines.
4Enter either a specific hex for Bombardment, naval air attack, amphibious landings, etc.; or into a port. Resolve mine attacks in the hex entered.

Return all TFs to port (in the Exploitation Phase).

Notes

I have included Dean Brooks' "Return to Port" phase, although only once per turn, as it helps avoid problems of logistics, ammo and so forth.

But if I am not careful, I will reproduce all my rules here. They still need further development, and I will need to test them with Second Front. However, I hope I have given some food for thought to the many naval gainers who would like to see Europa expand in this area.

Conclusion

We readily challenge a proposal for a new battalion-sized "AnC in a Europa game, and debate whether it will really have any effect for the additional aggravation it causes. Yet we will gladly allow minuscule "Water Rats" to infiltrate our naval system.

By concentrating on what we want from the seas, we can add enough to make an interesting addition, without diverting Europa away from its strengths.

Many of the elements I have described above are naval variants on our existing rules. By retaining commonality with the current systems, we can build a simple, understandable naval system. And we can achieve a set of rules which enhance, rather than distract us from, our land system.