CaS is designed to game out the clash of opposing naval formations, which can include several aircraft carriers on each side. Even a medium-sized strike will have dozens of aircraft.
Resolving these battles can be tiresome and slow, where the actual strike was over in a few minutes, and was anything but boring. The rules in CaS haven’t dealt with this as well as we’d like. At Historicon ’03 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, we tested some changes to the 3rd edition rules that sped play. These changes simplify play by forcing attacking players to assign targets before an attack begins, not during the attack itself. They change the way AA is handled, so that there are fewer AA rolls, and they change the attack procedure so that there are fewer steps.
These draft rule changes are not official, yet. Please let us know how they work for you.
x.x.x Air Orders.
When pilots attack a group of surface ships or a ground target, they must be briefed before takeoff, or over the radio (if they have it) when the enemy is sighted. For example, pilots could be instructed to attack the biggest ship, or the lead ship, or the nearest ship. Pilots attacking an airfield might be briefed to attack the hangars or the revetments. The strike commander can assign different targets to different divisions, or even to individual aircraft. The instructions can be as detailed as the attacking player wishes, with the understanding that the more complex the orders, the easier they will be to misunderstand. This is especially true in a refereed game, where a third party will implement a player’s orders.
If aircraft ordered to attack a ground or naval target sight their objective and they have not been given instructions about what to attack, the formation will break up into sections (three or four aircraft, depending on nationality) and each section will randomly attack one of the eligible targets present.
If the pilots do have instructions, they will do their best to interpret them. The visibility rules (5.4.2.2) or optional visual identification rules (5.4.2.8) may prevent them from seeing an eligible target or misidentify a potential target.
Pilots must also be told explicitly as part of the briefing if they are to press home and attack or make an early release, unless it is part of the scenario setup or established doctrine for that country in that time period. If they are not given instructions otherwise, they will make a normal attack.
x.x.x Aerial Attack Procedure.
At the start of any Movement Phase where an aircraft is within one Tactical Turns’ (3 minutes) movement of its intended target, the attacking aircraft are placed next to their target. It is assumed that the defending ships will be maneuvering to bring aircraft under AA fire and that aircraft will be maneuvering to avoid the worst concentrations of AA fire.
Following the Movement Phase, Area AA, Light AA, and aircraft attacks are resolved in the Planned Fire Phase. Area AA losses are always removed before the planes make their attacks. Light AA losses may or may not be removed before the attack, depending on the type of Light AA and the tactics chosen by the attacker (see below)
x.x.x Area AA Allocation.
Area AA can be plotted for either area defense or self defense in the Plotting Phase. Any ship that has ordered Area Defense for its Area AA can allocate one-quarter of its Area AA strength to up to two other ships within three miles. If a ship assigns a portion of its Area AA Strength to another ship, it cannot use its Area AA for its own defense.
Example: A destroyer has an Area AA strength of 1.6. It can use that AA to defend against aircraft that are attacking it directly, or defend other ships by allowing them to add 0 .4 to their own Area AA strength.
x.x.x Light AA Losses.
If planes “press home” their attack (see 7.4.1.1 and 7.4.2), they get a positive modifier on the appropriate attack table, but all Light AA losses must be removed before the planes make their attack. If a ship’s Light AA battery has weapons of 35mm or larger (exception: British 2-pounder), the attacker must remove half (rounded up) of the losses inflicted by Light AA before the planes make their attack, whether the attack has been pressed home or not.
Otherwise, all losses from Light AA are removed after the planes make their attack.
Early release is the opposite of a Pressed Home attack. The attacker does not suffer losses from Light AA, but suffers a -4 modifier on a dive or glide bombing or torpedo attack. These rules should remove some of the “fiddling” that happens as players execute an air attack or defend against one. It abstracts the attackers’ maneuvers as they make their attack run, and changes the emphasis of AA from an area effect to a localized effect centered on the ships that are actually attacked.
Example: A flight of ten Ju 87 Stukas is about to attack a convoy. They have been briefed to individually attack the merchants, and ignore the escort vessels.
The convoy consists of eight merchants, a light cruiser, and four destroyers. Each of the destroyers has allocated its Area AA to the two nearest merchants, so that each merchant has had its own weak Area AA increased by one-quarter of the destroyer’s Area AA strength. The cruiser also has allocated its Area AA strength to two of the most valuable merchant ships, both tankers.
As the planes approach, there is no Area AA fire. When the Stukas are three minutes’ movement from the convoy, the referee rolls to see which ship each pilot chooses.
Each Stuka is then placed next to its designated target. The defender then rolls for his Area AA. Only the merchants that are attacked must roll their Area AA. Six of the eight are attacked, including one of the tankers. Most of the merchants add one-quarter of a destroyer’s Area AA strength to their own, then roll on the AA table. The tanker gets to add a quarter of the cruiser’s Area AA strength, as well as a destroyer’s, to its own, and then roll. Several of the attackers are destroyed and are removed before they attack. In this case, the Germans are making a “standard” attack, neither pressing home or releasing early (as if!). The Light AA armament of the tankers is limited to 20mm. This means that Light AA losses are inflicted after the attack. If the Light AA had included 2 pounder or 40mm weapons (both greater than 35mm), the Light AA rolls would have to be made before the German bomb attacks, and half their losses removed.
The Germans now roll on the dive bomber attack table, and hits are recorded.
The Light AA rolls are then made, again only by the six ships actually attacked, and any further German losses are removed from play. The German player might have briefed the pilots to concentrate on the two tankers, in which case the optional visibility rules could have been used to see how well the German pilots have studied their recognition manuals. They may have trouble distinguishing the tankers from the other merchants. In poor visibility, they may even attack a warship by mistake.
These new rules give each side a new tactical option (allocating Area AA fire, and Early Release) and reduce the number of AA rolls made. Combined with simplified aircraft movement, we hope they will speed play. Please try these when you play your next game and let us know how they work.
BT
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© Copyright 2003 by Larry Bond and Clash of Arms.
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