Gag! My gut feeling is that these rules are ill advised:

1) Four pages of rules to handle two turns of a sideshow to the war-historically, a sideshow that had no consequence. The rules are overkill for the needs of the game.

2) I am unhappy with introducing yet another variant naval system. TFH, FitFJSE, and Supermarina all are competing systems. True, Rule 38 is an enhancement of the FitFJSE naval rules, and not a bad enhancement at that, but still we're creating more Europa confusion rather than less.

3) The rules are incomplete and have problems. I've caught a number of them, but I'm not absolutely confident I've caught everything.

My inclination is to cut them outright from the game, develop them further until they can be used in place of the FitFISE rules, develop the naval OBs needed for FitE/SE (mostly Axis stuff), and then release them in the magazine as "Eastern Front" naval rules with instructions on how to use them in A WW and FitFJSE.

Rule 38A1. I assume hits do not diminish the capabilities of a ship in any way, until it is sunk. If so, we might want to say that here. By the way, expect complaints on this!

Rule 38A2f. We need to say somewhere that all other hexes have no intrinsic coast defenses (ICD). We should not use `0' coastal defenses as a concept, as that has bad consequences for other rules (such as stopping naval movement).

The rule should say what happens when the ICD in a hex is reduced to 0. (I presume it is permanently destroyed). Also, how do you keep track of damage to coast defenses? I suggest either putting hit markers on the Coast Defenses Chart or having the players photocopy the chart and note damage with a pencil.

Rule 38B. We should not call these things naval "missions" unless we make naval missions operate similar to air missions (such as, "a naval unit can only perform one naval mission in a turn."). The rules seem to imply (very indirectly) that a naval unit can't do anything unless it is assigned a mission, but nowhere do I see this. If this is intended, then we sorely lack a naval transfer mission!

My conclusion is that these really aren't naval "missions," but naval capabilities. If not, then this rule needs another round of design and development.

Rule 38B2a. "In the same sea zone:" In theory this means you should have a rule about the Arctic sea zone, which is split into distinct parts-how to exit the map from one and enter another part. Yes, in practice it means little for the game: the White Sea part is permanently frozen, the Soviet player has no reason to go into the Norwegian Sea part before the Allies intervene, and the Soviet player loses his Arctic ship once the Allies do intervene. All this, however, is not evident until a player fully understands the rules and play possibilities, which means he may be confused on lack of rules for this. For purposes of this game, only, I suggest we split the Arctic sea zone into two sea zones: the Arctic zone consisting of the White Sea (frozen and thus unenterable) and the Barents Sea, and Norwegian Sea zone. The Soviet ship would not be allowed to operate in the Norwegian Sea zone.

Do we need a rule on what happens if one naval unit is sunk when several naval units have combined to carry a big cargo? We'll probably get rules questions on this if not.

Rule 38B2b. Why just Soviet units? We probably need a rule anyway that states, "Due to Soviet defensive forces not directly represented in the game, Finnish naval units may not enter any Soviet-owned coastal hex in the Soviet Union or Estonia."

With this rule, then there seems no reason to prohibit the Finns from amphibious landings, such as on the flank of or behind the Soviet front line, if the Soviet player is incautious. Or, for example, the Soviets grab an island by amphibious landing, and the Finns try to grab it back.

Rule 38B4. This rule is incomplete. What happens when the enemy moves naval units (NUs) to the hex containing NUs on the coast defense (CD) mission, but the CDing player wants his NUs to intercept enemy NUs in a different hex? Under the rules as written, it looks like they can just whisk away, but this doesn't seem right. (Possibly any NU faster than the fastest enemy NU in the hex can go intercept, and the rest have to stay. Of course, this allows a single fast NU to pin down any number of slower NUs. This may work here, but not in other games. This would also require us to define the speed of river flotillas.)

Furthermore, what if the Finnish BDs are at 4519 to guard the stretch of coast within their range, and the Soviets move a big invasion fleet to 4517 (having KOed the coast defenses in 4617 earlier), with one ship each in 4518 and 4617 to screen the fleet from the Finnish BDs? Can the BDs move to 4517 anyway (as this mission sort of implies) or do they hit the first hex containing Soviet ships?

The more I look at these rules, the more I think they really do need a rigorous mission-oriented rationale. Here's what it takes to beat them into shape (written for concept, and not exactness):

Naval Missions: Each movement phase, the phasing player may assign naval missions to his NUs. A naval unit may not move from the hex it occupies unless it is assigned a mission. A naval unit may be assigned only one mission in a movement phase, and may not be assigned a new mission until the next friendly movement phase.

Naval Gunfire Support: Add rules on the NU being able to move, replenish, and end up where the player wants it in order to provide support. The NU remains on this mission until the next friendly movement phase and can provide offensive and defensive gunfire support in the following combat phases.

Naval Transport: Add rules on the NU being able to move, replenish, and end up where the player wants it in order to provide transport. Also say that the NU switches to the naval gunfire support mission once it drops off its cargo.

Naval Escort: Similar phrasing as above. Note that a naval unit can escort naval units on any other mission. This now makes sense the way missions are phrased.

Coast Defense: Add rules on the NU being able to move, replenish, and end up where the player wants it in order to provide coast defense. Also mention that it does not switch to the naval gunfire mission at any time. The designer's notes will need to explain that the CD mission is a stripped-down version of a naval patrol and interception mission, otherwise, the naval fans will squawk. They'll squawk anyway; we'd better put a note at the end of the rule to end-run them: "Note: The coast defense mission is a simplified version of a naval interception mission. A full interception mission isn't necessary to portray the events covered in A Winter War."

Naval Transfer: Add this mission. A naval unit may transfer to the hex of a friendly-owned port. It many move, replenish, and then end up at its destination. State that the naval unit switches to the naval gunfire support mission once it arrives at its destination.

Naval Patrol: Add this mission. A naval unit may move to any hex in order to patrol it, engaging enemy NUs that may be there already, and blocking enemy NUs from passing in the enemy movement phase. It may move, replenish, and then end up at its destination. State that the NU switches to the naval gunfire support mission once it arrives at its destination.

Rule 38C. This sequencing just doesn't work without lots more explanation.

First, it's not fully clear how movement and combat work. Can you move, stop in a hex where the rules require you to stop, fight naval combat, and (if you win) continue moving? The rules kinda imply not, but it's not clear. If not, then you need a rule saying you can't assign a naval unit a destination that is impossible to reach due to the presence of enemy coast defenses or NUs. For example, for a Soviet invasion force to get to Turku, they have got to smash 4332 one turn, 4331 the next, and finally get to Turku on turn 3. Of course, this isn't possible in the time available for naval operations in this game.

Other examples: (1) In the original Gallipoli operation of WW 1, the Allies were going to run several hexes of the Turkish Straits in one turn. Assuming the coast defenses at the tip of the peninsula were cleared on Mar I 15, on Mar II 15 (March 18, actually) the British began their run, getting two hexes further up before chickening out-and they did chicken out, as they probably could have cleared the straits had they pressed on.

(2) On Apr 140, the German Navy ran a force up Oslofjord. The coast defenses did sink the Blucher and damage the Lutzow, forcing the Germans to land short of their destination, but they did make it past 3 or 4 hexes of coast defense.

Possibly some "pass through fire" rule is needed, ugh! (At a guess, you can pass through a CD hex, taking a shot from it without being able to fire back.)

If the rules do allow naval move-naval fight-naval move continue if you win, then they need to be rewritten. In my opinion, this is too difficult to do right in the time we have.

Perhaps the rules intend some sort of "ripple" naval operations. You can move some of your NUs, have combat, and then they're done for the turn. You can then move some other NUs, have combat, and then those NUs are done. This is a clumsy way to get around the Gallipoli problem: some naval units run up and pound the first hex of coast defense into rubble. Another force then runs up and pounds the next hex, and so on. This doesn't quite correspond to reality, especially for the Oslo operation, but the overall effect is close. If so, then this is needed to make this work: during a player's movement phase, the phasing player may execute naval operations sequences whenever he wants. A naval operations sequence consists of a naval movement subphase (in which at least one and up to all of the player's NUs are assigned missions and move to their destinations), a naval interception subphase (in which enemy NUs on the CD mission intercept), and a naval combat subphase. At the end of the naval combat subphase, that naval ops sequence is over, and all NUs that moved or fought in it (including enemy NUs on CD missions) are ignored for the rest of the movement phase. The player can continue calling naval ops sequences in his movement phase until he no longer has NUs that can go on ops. (This rule may have a problem in cases where new naval combat occurs in hexes occupied by NUs that have participated in a previous naval ops sequence. Ignoring them may seem strange, but including them in combat may allow rules abuses. Either case makes my head hurt.)

I guess the way to go is to have one naval ops sequence in a movement phase, with all NUs participating. It can be called at any time the player wants, then that's it. We'll probably need "pass through fire" to make things work, as described above. Also, when NUs disengage from naval combat, they've got to get to a hex free of enemy coast defenses. For each CD hex they pass through on the way, the CD gets a one-round free shot.

Also, the way the naval combat rule is currently written, note that the instant any NU is intercepted or enters a CD hex, naval combat occurs. For example, if the Soviet wants to get a bunch of ships to a hex to blast the CD there, it looks like the rules force naval combat the instant the first ship gets there.

"In general, naval combat is resolved in the same manner and sequence as air combat (Rule 21)." This is probably not enough definition to work. At a minimum, you've got to explain: (1) phasing NUs on the naval escort mission are escorts, all other phasing NUs are the mission force, enemy NUs on the CD mission are interceptors, and enemy ICD in a naval hex also are interceptors. Finally, is the entire ICD in a hex a single interceptor, or can the owning player split it up (such as a 3 ICD into 3x 1-ICD, or 1x 2-ICD and Ix 1-ICD), each of which is an interceptor? The first case is simple, but may give the other side an advantage, as a single escort can screen a fleet against all the ICD in a hex, while the second case is complex, but may cause the other side more problems. (2) Ignore all mention of air combat results in the rule, as NUs take hits of damage instead.

"The combat sequence is repeated in a number of naval combat rounds..." This combat round business doesn't seem clear enough. It may be better to structure the rule around the combat round as the main element, with the air combat stuff under it. Something like (where the rule "In general.." starts): "Naval combat in a hex occurs in a series of combat rounds. Combat rounds continue until all involved forces of one side in the hex are eliminated or disengage. Within each combat round, naval combat is resolved in the same manner and sequence as air combat..."

Disengaging: I assume ICD cannot disengage. The way the rule is written, if a player has ICD and NUs on the CD mission fighting in the hex, the enemy NUs can't disengage until the ICD is destroyed. No way. Instead, allow at the end of each round each side to disengage any NUs they wish (ICD must stay), phasing player disengaging first.

That's it on the naval rules. As I said earlier, they're incomplete and need further work. A lot of what I've done isn't rigorous, and I do not guarantee that I've caught all the problems in the rules.

A Winter War

A Small Game about a Small War
Designer's Response: Gary Stagliano
Rule 38-Advanced Naval Rules
John Astell's Commentary on the Naval Rules