Naval Strategy and Tactics Concerning an Article on a Most Historical, Delightful, Enjoyable, and Absolutely Brilliant Game In April of '86, at the London SALUTE convention, I noted an interesting naval game run by the South London Warlords, consisting of a mix of both strategic and tactical procedures. The strategic map was a simple one: a gridded field on which were placed a home port in one square and a series of "treasure islands" in the others. The objective was to sail from island to island picking up the treasure and delivering the plunder to the home port. The tactical map was a series of 6 inch wide hexes; when 2 ships encountered each other in one of the squares of the strategic map, they were set out on the hex field and moved frorn hex to hex in combat. The game mechanics escaped me, but I liked the format and so, here, too, we have a combined strategic-and-tactical, find-the- treasure naval game. On the strategic level each side starts out with 6 ships, and moves by playing a "Favorable Wind" (FW) card to go either 1 or 2 boxes north, east, south, or west. Diagonal movement is not permitted. If a ship is forced off the map, there's a chance for it to reappear each turn... if it fails, it remains in limbo. Unless docked, a ship needs a "No Wind" card to remain in a box; without such a card, it must move on. A common deck contains the FW and the No Wind cards. Each side starts out with 6 ships and holds 8 cards. A card is played for each moving ship, hence as many as 6 of the 8 cards may be played each turn. After the turn is complete, cards are drawn from the deck to replenish those played. The number of cards held is always 2 more than the number of ships in the fleet, i.e., 6 ships get 8 cards, 7 ships get 5, etc. If you don't like the cards you're holding, turn 'em in and get a handful of others. If a ship moves to an island square, a declaration must be made as to whether it is docked or not. If docked, it can either load up with treasure, or repair on-board damage; it does not need a No Wind card to remain in the square.  The tactical battle is set up if one side's ships arrive in the same area as that of the opposition, and sight the enemy. Combat results are based ona ship's Combat Points (CP), which start out at 90, 75, or 60. The CP figure is an all-encompassing one; it plays a role in just about every calculation concerned with the battle: a. Firing. Chance of hitting in percent is (CP - Range) b. Ship is attacked while docked. Chance to pull away from dockside each turn in percent is 1/2(CP) c. Ship forced off the strategic map. Chance to return to the map is 1/2(CP) d. Boarding. Chance of boarding is (CP) e. Winning the fight. Chance of A's crew winning against B's crew is [A's CP/(A's CP + B's CP)] f. Capturing a ship. Victory points equal the original CP regardless of how damaged the ship actually is. The tactical battle was designed to be quick and bloody and to return to strategic map movement as rapidly as possible. Tactical movement is similar to that of Robin Peck's game HEADS OF OAK. A 6 card movement deck is used: 3 cards for Side A, 3 for Side B. Pull an "A" card, and all of A's ships move. The sequence is: a. Draw card to determine which side is active and moves. b. Active side moves ships. c. Stationary side fires all ships; active side records damage. d. Active side fires'all ships; stationary side records damage. Note that if Side A moves, then Side B gets first fire, and Side A's ships fire back after B's damage points have been deducted from A's CP. If a ship is boarded and captured, it still retains all its treasure (Victory Points) intact, no matter how badly damaged. A ship can escape battle in two ways: a. An attacking fleet arrives in the same square as the defending fleet. The attacking fleet can opt for battle by trying to sight the enemy. The chance of a battle is a basic 60% plus 5% for every ship in the square. If the fleet isn't sighted, there's no battle. b. If a fleet is actually attacked, then, after the battle begins, it may sail off the tactical field; it is then placed in the appropriate adjacent strategic square. After Battle After battle, ships may dock at any island for repairs. Each turn the CP is augmented by (2 x 10-sided die throw) to a maximum equal to the original CP. If docked, a ship may load treasure or repair... but not both. The treasure, or Victory Points (VP) put aboard each turn are the same (2 x 10-sided die). The maximum treasure that any ship can carry is 200 VP. Initially, each side secretly notes down the starting strategic squares for the ships in its fleet... any square except the opposing Home Port. Ships may be declared to be docked, ready to load treasure on the very first turn. After noting the locations, all ships are set out on the strategic grid, and dice are thrown to see who goes first. Note that if you're unlucky enough to have ships start out in a square occupied by enemy ships, you may still escape: a. If you go first, play an FW card and sail away. b. If you go second, note that each of the opponent's ships, to stay in the square and do battle, must play a No Wind card. Chances are he doesn't have too many of these and a large portion of his fleet will have to move on. And, of course, he's still got to sight your ships with his remaining force. Admiral Haub's favorite tactic is to put 4 of his ships docked at the same island and start scarfing up treasure immediately. Problems arise when the treasure ships sail for home, for they rarely can stay together because of the lack of sufficient numbers of the same FW card... the treasure fleet splits up and the opposition pounces on the well laden craft. Treasure Points It should be noted that you can't win by playing it safe in this game. The objective is to bring home 500 VP; it is difficult to do this by staying close to your Home Port since treasure points are proportional to the distance away from Home Port. For example, on the map, Pais de los Muertos is 1 column from B's Home Port, and 5 columns from A's. On the average, therefore, the treasure points picked up by A at this location will be five times that picked up by B.  STRATEGIC AND TACTICAL NAVAL GAME 1. The basic track is a strategic one, consisting of the map areas as shown. 2. Each box, or ocean area, can accomodate any number of ships. 3. If ships of opposite sides are co-located, battle may not occur unless the attacking fleet finds the enemy (60% plus 5% for every ship in the area). Contacts are determined after movement of a side is completed. If contact is made, battle immediately follows. 4. Objective: sail back to Home Port with treasure and captured ships. Victory Points are registered only when ships reach the Home Port. 5. If battle occurs, ships are set up as outlined in Paragraph 9. 6. Movement. a. Only vertical or horizontal. b. "Favorable Wind" (FW) cards are played for the four directions. c. Ships can remain in the area or move one or two boxes in the direction played. d. To remain in a box, when not docked, a "No Wind" card is required. Otherwise ship moves one box randomly. e. Each turn, play one FW card for every ship that will move. f. In an island area, a ship may be docked or at sea, as desired. g. If a ship sails off the map, for whatever reason, it dices each turn to see if it returns. The chance of returning is 1/2(CP). h. Card deck: Type of Card : Number of Cards N : 5 E : 5 S : 5 W : 5 No Wind : 5 Total 25 7. Each island And land mass contributes Victory Points (VP). VP are loaded into the ship each turn; the opposition does not know the amount of VP loaded. The upper limit of the number of VP a ship may carry is 200 VP. VP (Treasure points) per turn = [Die Throw] x [no. of columns away from home port] VP (for captured ship) = Combat Points (CP) for class of ship 8. Each ship has a status card, listing: NAME/COMBAT POINTS/CARGO (VP) 9. Tactical battle occurs if opposing sides find one another in same area. a. Ships are placed on opposite baselines, and inches of set- on are diced for (2 x Die Roll). b. A ship that is docked will remain docke~ until it puts to sea. The probability, each turn, equals its 1/2(CP). The ship cannot fire until it gets underway. c. After ships are placed, dice for wind direction N, NE, E, SE, etc. Only 45 degree increments are used for wind and battle moves. d. Ships that flee from the field are placed in the appropriate area. e. Ships that are damaged may put into a port to repair. Repairs cannot be performed at sea. Each turn, the CP repair points are diced for: In a foreign port CP = 2 x Die Roll In the Home Port CP = 4 x Die Roll 10. Battle Rules. a. There are three classes of ships: First Class 90 CP Second Class 75 CP Third Class 60 CP b. Initially, all ships, regardless of class, move the same. The movement distances shown are halved when any ship, regardless of the class, is reduced to 30 CP. A ship must move, each turn, at least half of its maximum. c. One 45 degree pivot is allowed per turn, at the end of the move. d.A common deck has 3 cards for each side, determining which side is the active side. i. Draw card to determine Side A (ii) Side A moves (iii) Side B fires, scores hits (iv) Side A fires, scores hits e. P(Hit)= [(Firer's CP) - Range] (Use percentage dice) f. If target is hit, damage to target's CP is: Regular Hit: 2 x Unit's Die of Hit Dice Rake: 4 x Unit's Die of Hit Dice g. Example: if P(Hit) is 60%, and a 47 is thrown, the unit die is 7 and the target loses 2x7, or 14, CP. h. Boarding may occur if one ship draws alongside another. i Ship A pulls alongside Ship B ii Ship B fires at A. iii Ship A dices to board. Probability = A's CP iv If A boards, melee is fought. If A does not board, draw a card and continue. If B's card is drawn, B may fire or attempt to move away (probability equals the number of B's CP). If A's card is drawn, he may attempt to board again. v All combat rounds are fought on the same card draw. vi Side-winning two combat rounds is victorious. P (win for A) = Ws CP) / Ws CP + B's CP) vii After each round, each side is decreased in CP by one Die Roll. viii Any VP aboard a conquered ship may be divided between the victorious ship and the captured ship as desired. 11. Initial placement of ships is done in secret by each side. The 6 ships are each placed in any square (except the opposition's Home Port) on the strategic map. Until ships meet in combat, opposing sides do not know the enemy strength. 12. Victory conditions. The first side to amass 500 VP wins the game. VP totals are announced every turn, after ships arrive at the Home Ports. Back to PW Review August 1987 Table of Contents Back to PW Review List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1987 Wally Simon This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com