Whilst in the local library some months back I found Arthur Taylor's book, "Rules for Wargaming." This was one of my primers in the hobby together with John Tunstill's book, "Discovering Wargames." It was like meeting an old friend. I also found Paul Hague's book, "Naval Wargaming." After a pleasant couple of days reading and re-reading I was afire with enthusiasm to do something nautical (you don't suffer from these ridiculous enthusiasms, do you?), but what? Then I remembered an article in a back number of Practical Wargamer concerning convoys in the North Atlantic. Couple that with a visit to Warcon in Birmingham where I purchased a number of ships from Skytrex and you have the ingredients for what follows.
I wanted a simple campaign mechanism that would generate tabletop encounters. Somehow a campaign map of the North Atlantic seemed a bit odd. What do you have apart from a lot of sea and a little coast; so I opted for a schematic approach. The ships were 1:3000 scale and I opted for Paul Hague's scale of one inch on the table equaling 500 yards. The speeds of the individual ships were supplied with the models and it was easy to convert that to a tabletop speed using Hague's scale of 3 knots to the inch.
"Map" movement. As I have already said there is no map. Instead we have a number of tracks on a chart (see diagram). The idea is a simple one. Sort out your convoy's "order of march" and then place a counter on the left hand side of the track of your choice. Every "map" turn - move the counter along the track one square and throw two normal dice. If the score on the dice is equal to or less than the number of the square then contact is made. Set up on the table and blaze away.
The Campaign Track
You will note that the "campaign map" has five tracks - clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades and night moves. There is no significance in the card suits, they're just labels. The rationale behind the numbering is that the further away from home port we go the more likely we are to run into trouble. Of course that could be a debatable point. A complete campaign will ideally consist of traveling once over each track. They get increasingly difficult as you progress. A shorter campaign could involve one of the "card suit" tracks and the night move track or any other combination you would care to try.
| 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Clubs |
| 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | Diamonds |
| 2 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Hearts |
| 2 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Spades |
| 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | Night |
The Invisible Enemy. Just what the enemy is and how many there are is entirely up to you. Again, simple charts can be constructed depending on what you have available. An example follows:
DIE
-
1 Wolf pack (dice for no. of U-Boats)
2 Wolf Pack (dice for no. of U-Boats)
3 Cruiser and destroyers
4 Light cruisers, cruiser and destroyers
5 Frigates and destroyers
6 Battleship and aircraft (dice for number of aircraft)
None of the mechanisms mentioned above are original. I have adapted them from a WW I aerial combat game called "Wings over France." This is one of the best solo board games I have ever played and it's produced by Lambourne Games.
Shooting. The following table shows the maximum range in yards:
| FIRER | MAXIMUM RANGE IN YARDS |
|---|---|
| Battleship | Anywhere on the table |
| Battlecruisers | Anywhere on the table |
| Heavy Cruisers | 10,000 |
| Light Cruisers | 8,000 |
| Destroyers | 6,000 |
| Frigates | 4,000 |
| Torpedoes | 4,000 |
I tried two options for ranging in on targets. The first involved estimating the range to the target before you measure. This can be immensely frustrating. The second, and the one I have adopted, involves dice throwing. If you have a blank dice painted two faces with a U for Undershoot, two with an O for Overshoot, and two with H for Hit. Alternately you can take an ordinary die and count 1,2 Undershoot; 3,4 Hit; 5,6 Overshoot. This is called, not surprisingly, the ranging dice. When the ranging dice indicates a Hit has been scored, shuffle a pack of playing cards, turn over the top card and consult the Damage Table.
| CARD | RESULT |
|---|---|
| 2,3,4,5 | Gun turret destroyed. When all the gun turrets are destroyed, these cards count as having the same effect as a Queen. |
| 6 | If a destroyer, torpedo tubes are destroyed. On a carrier, the flight deck is out of operation. All other classes of ship take damage to their superstructure which does not impair the ship's efficiency. |
| 7 | Conning tower destroyed with loss of fighting control. Speed cut by half, the ship continues on its present course in a straight line. Its guns may not fire. Cut another card from the pack. This indicates the number of moves before the damage is repaired. Aces and picture cards count as one. |
| 8,9 | Hull damage. Speed reduced by a quarter. After the fourth hull damage hit the ship is stationary. If it takes a fifth hull hit, it sinks. |
| 10 | Rudder damaged. Ship must continue on its existing course, continuing to circle if it was circling when hit. |
| Jack | Engine room damaged. Ship stops. Take another card - this indicates the number of moves the ship will be stationary. Aces and picture cards count as one. Once under way again the ship moves at half speed. |
| Queen | Fire! Take another card. Black = minor fire put out at once. Heart = the fire is major. Guns may not fire, ship moves at half speed. If the fire is not put out after five moves the ship blows up. Diamond = fire can be brought under control. The ship can continue to fire and move at speed and fight. Next move take another card. Black card - fire is out; if a diamond, it remains out of control. |
| King | Serious hull damage below the water line. Cut again for number of moves before the ship sinks. Aces and picture cards count as one. Guns may continue to fire, but no movement. |
| Ace | Hit near a magazine. Cut two separate cards. If they are both red the ship blows up. |
Merchantmen count cards 2-7 as hull damage, then as above. Torpedoes: 8 through Ace count as hits. All others are deemed to be running too deep to cause damage. Sample Damage Charts:
| MERCHANT | NAME: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPEED: | DISPLACEMENT: | ||||
| Engine room damaged | Stopped for ____ moves | ||||
| Serious Hull Damage | Sink after ____ moves | ||||
| HULL | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| FIRE! | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| WARSHIP | NAME: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TYPE: | SPEED: | ||||
| RUDDER | MAGAZINE | ||||
| AIRCRAFT CARRIER | FLIGHT DECK: | ||||
| TORPEDO TUBES | PORT: | STARBOARD: | |||
| CONNING TOWER | Half speed | No firing for ____ moves | |||
| GUN TURRET | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| HULL | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| FIRE! | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| ENGINE ROOM DAMAGED | Stopped for ____ moves | ||||
| DAMAGE: | |||||
U-Boats and Aircraft. I don't actually have any U-Boat or aircraft models. You don't really need them. If your chart indicates U-Boat activity, number the ships in the convoy. Then throw dice or turn a playing card to decide which ship is targeted. Then go straight to the Damage Table. There is still a chance that the torpedoes will miss. However the U-Boat must be within 4,000 yards of the target. If you have anything with depth charges or torpedoes within 4,000 yard radius of the target ship, attempt to detect the U-Boat by throwing 7+ on two dice. If U-Boat is detected turn over a playing card and check for damage. Anything from 7 upwards is a hit causing the U-Boat to withdraw from the action.
For aircraft, decide how many passes over the convoy they will make and use the ranging dice for each pass, first decide which ship will be the target. Where a hit is indicated go to the damage table. If ships are protected by A.A. guns these fire before aircraft drop bombs or torpedoes. A score of 7+ on two dice drives off the aircraft before they can bomb.
Winning or losing. How do you know if you've won? The point of the convoy is to get as many merchantmen through as possible. Crudely speaking, if we get more than half the merchants home we have won. Or we could sort out a points value for each vessel as follows:
-
1 point for every thousand tons of merchant shipping sunk
1 point for every aircraft driven off
2 points for every frigate disabled or sunk
3 points for every destroyer disabled or sunk
4 points for every light cruiser disabled or sunk
5 points for every heavy cruiser disabled or sunk
6 points for every Battlecruiser disabled or sunk
7 points for every Battleship disabled or sunk
Then it's just a matter of adding up the points.
Acknowledgments. As I mentioned earlier there's little that is original here. The damage chart is lifted straight out of Arthur Taylor's book and the move distances and ranges from Paul Hague. The campaign track is a derivation of something taken from the game "Wings over France." If you want to get the feel of the period look out for any of those black and white films that usually appear on Sunday afternoons. Especially the one with Noel Coward and John Mills in it. Oh yeah, and that one with Kirk Douglas in it as the German U-Boat captain. You know the ones I mean, it's on the tip of my tongue... Never mind, it'll come to me once I put my duffle coat on and start drinking my big mug of cocoa.
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