Call of the (Cruel) Sea - Part III

This is the third and final part of my review of the WWII coastal warfare rule sets from my collection, with a particular emphasis on four key areas:

Fast Play

Night fighting & illumination

Confusion

Doctrine & Morale

In Part 1, I explained why I think these are the key aspects of WWII coastal warfare that I want to see represented in rules for these actions. 

I've covered three rule sets in Part II. Here, I look at the final pair of rules and also draw some conclusions about the general approach to rules writing for these conflicts.

So, on to the rules...

Attack With Torpedoes v2.0 by Dillon Browne (April 2003)

In his introduction, the author explains that there were two incentives that led to him write these rules. Firstly, in order to run a participation game at Salute 2003 and secondly, his feeling that the rules he had previously used produced games that were too slow.

The rules include a very brief introduction to Coastal Warfare, in which the author recognises the unique nature of battles fought by small, fast craft at night, including difficulties spotting and identifying targets, the effects of illumination - both to attract fire and to dazzle firers, and the possibility of friendly fire. Hmm, so far so good.

1. Fast Play

Given the author's stated intention to produce a set of fast play rules, it is a surprise to find that Movement is determined by players' written orders. In this respect they appear most like the Fast Attack rules I covered in Part II. But, there is a twist;  an optional rule penalises the last player to complete writing their orders by restricting their vessel's move to a straight line, with a single turn at the end of movement. This introduces a bit of pace and urgency to the game and encourages players to complete their orders quickly to avoid being last. Once orders are written, movement is simultaneous, which also speeds up play. The mechanics of the game are very simple, so play doesn't bog down cycling through numerous steps to move or fire. There are very few tables and the QRS containing all the basic game functions fits on a single side of A4. 

2. Night fighting & illumination

The rules contain a section specifically on illumination which includes daylight, fires, searchlights and starshells. This section also covers the effects of targets being silhouetted when in front of illuminated areas, searchlight beams or tracer fire. There are also rules for target priority, with illuminated targets being one of a number of situations that will draw fire (whether the players wish it, or not). The gunnery rules take account of the fact that illuminated targets are easier to hit, but continuous firing of one's own weapons at night will impose a penalty to hit due to the effects of muzzle flash.

3. Confusion

The gunnery rules include a specific test for friendly fire, so it is possible that you may end up targeting one of your own vessels instead of your intended target. The use of written orders increases the chance of accidental collision, with simultaneous movement being broken down to determine any probable accidents. There is a section on concealed movement, though the author gives their opinion that there is no single ideal for representing this and suggests players experiment with several options including use of an umpire, or dummy markers.

4. Doctrine & Morale

Attack With Torpedoes does not have any rules for the effects of morale. However,  a section on 'When to Abandon Ship' includes the requirement for the attacking force to attempt the rescue of friendly crew who are forced to abandon their vessel. The author suggests that abandoning friendly crews will count against their side's victory conditions and be bad for morale. Exactly how is not explained and it is left up to players to devise their own rules or scenario conditions to cover this.

Here's how I've rated Attack With Torpedoes for my 4 key areas:

1. Fast Play ✮✮✮✩✩
2. Night fighting & illumination ✮✮✮✮✮
3. Confusion ✮✮✮✩✩
4. Doctrine & Morale ✮✩✩✩✩


Patrol Torpedo v2.1 by Michael Pennock (2007)

This is the last of my WWII coastal warfare rules up for scrutiny. You know the drill by now, so without further ado...

1. Fast Play

Activation is determined by drawing chits from a bag or cup. Each time a chit is drawn, all vessels move, but the value of the chit determines which boats can issue orders to do things like change speed or course, fire or attempt repairs, etc. Turns are broken down into 5 phases with vessels moving part of their full move speed in each phase. This necessitates a full-page table of power settings and speed-per-phase values. As frequent reference to this table is required, this rather slows an otherwise slick activation and movement system. The gunnery procedure involves three steps with rolls being made by individual weapon; Targeting roll, Effectiveness roll and Damage. There's the obligatory table of modifiers, 15 in all. It works fine, but being multi-step it isn't particularly fast. Other than tables for Gunnery, there are very others in these rules. There's no QRS, but all the tables from within the rule book would easily fit on a single side of A4.

2. Night fighting & illumination

There are simple rules for illumination by starshell, flares, searchlight and fires, all of which affect visibility, spotting and gunnery. The area effects of illumination are considered, with vessels able to see into and out of illuminated areas, but not through them. Silhouetting of targets is not considered. The rules also give no consideration to target priority, regardless of whether a vessel is illuminated or not.

3. Confusion

In Patrol Torpedo there is no chance of misidentifying targets or confusing friendly vessels for the enemy. Phantom targets and friendly fire don't feature in this game. The activation system does introduce a degree of unpredictability as vessels always move each phase, but can't always issue orders to change course or speed. Accidental collisions are a therefore a distinct possibility.

4. Doctrine & Morale

Unique amongst the rules I have covered here, Patrol Torpedo introduces the concept of formations. The rules specify that vessels operating together should maintain one of several possible formations; line astern, line abreast, echelon, etc. Maintaining formation reduces initiative but allows all boats in the formation to match the lead boat's course and speed. Other than this, it is hard to discern what effect the author intended. There are no rules for morale that might break up a formation or encourage separated vessels to re-join, or to come to the rescue of stricken friendly vessels.

So, the ratings for Patrol Torpedo look like this:

1. Fast Play 2/5 ✮✮✩✩✩
2. Night fighting & illumination 2½/5 ✮✮✮✩✩
3. Confusion 2/5 ✮✮✩✩✩
4. Doctrine & Morale 1/5 ✮✩✩✩✩


CONCLUSIONS

Before I continue, I want to emphasise that the comments and scores given above and in Part II are not intended to rate the how 'good' the rules are, nor are they a competition to find which rule set is the 'best' (a very subjective term). Speaking from experience, all these rules sets are perfectly playable and capable of providing a fun and exciting game.

Instead, what I have attempted to do is measure how well I think each of these rules represents several key features of night-time WWII coastal actions. These key features are my based on my reading and research of the subject and my understanding of how these actions were conducted. The opinions expressed here are solely my own. So, with those thoughts foremost, what conclusions can be drawn from this exercise?

The first thing that struck me about all the five rule sets is how little attention they pay to the human side of conflict. In our land-based wargames, we expect there to be rules for morale and would be critical of any set that failed to address this important facet of combat. So, I'm rather puzzled by the absence of rules covering morale in WWII coastal warfare. Maybe it's to do with the fascination with fast boats, torpedoes and automatic weapons in a similar way that WWII tank combat sometimes focusses on armour, muzzle velocity, penetration values and so on. I get that this stuff is  'cool', but all this kit is only as good as the men operating it and their will to press home an attack. Roaring around shooting up enemy boats is fun, but I want to see the consequences represented too; attacks driven off by weight of fire, return fire slackening due to suppression, withdrawal from combat to preserve forces from unacceptable levels of loss, rescue of crews from stricken vessels and so on.

The second observation is the very mixed levels of success in representing the confusion and fog of war that was a common feature of night time combat. Of the five rule sets, only one (Attack With Torpedoes) manages to incorporate friendly fire and does so with very simple rules. Mechanics such as written orders, card activation, etc. do introduce a degree of unpredictability and increase the chance of unintended collision and confusion. However, I feel that where this has been achieved it is more an accidental by-product of the game mechanics, rather than a concept built directly into the rules. The truth is, in real life these combats were often confused affairs. Friendly vessels did collide and fire on each other. But maybe that doesn't make for a fun game.

I stated before that I want my WWII coastal warfare rules to deliver a 'fast' game that conveys the speed and pace of the real-life actions they represent. None of the rules I've covered here come very close to that ideal partly because, as mentioned earlier, they focus too much on the minutiae of equipment and combat. I do think achieving Fast Play is possible with WWII coastal warfare rules. Other naval warfare rules have managed to reduce firing and damage procedures to a couple, or even a single dice roll with a few basic modifiers. Victory at Sea by Mongoose Publishing and Uncharted Seas by Spartan Games are a couple of examples that spring to mind. I must also mention Schnell Rules for Schnellboote! Quick Play Coastal Forces Rules by David Manley. I have not included these in the main review chiefly because they do not add anything new to my examination of rules for Night fighting & illumination, Confusion, Doctrine & Morale. (Such things are barely covered - or not at all in these rules). However, their stated aim of "very quick, deadly battles" is well served by a neat single-roll system using 3 dice to determine hits and damage. Damage and it's effects is also simplified to 5 states, from Intact to Sunk. These rules prove, at least for the mechanics of combat, that a Fast Play set of rules for WWII coastal action is possible.

The aspect most successfully represented is Night fighting & illumination. All five rule sets cover this to a greater or lesser degree. In particular, Attack with Torpedoes demonstrates that it is possible to represent this in a simple yet effective way.

Overall, none of my chosen rule sets delivers on all four of my key requirements. I'm not surprised by this, but am surprised by how badly they address the effects of morale. If I were to return to any of them, some house rules for morale would be a must.

Looking ahead, I am still intrigued by Warlord Games Cruel Seas (it's what started me off on this exercise in rules ruminations the first place) and I may well have to give in to my curiosity and get a copy. I see also that David Manley has a new set of WWII coastal action rules, Narrow Seas, due out sometime in the new year. Maybe 2019 will prove to be a golden year for WWII coastal wargaming.

If you have read this far, thanks for sticking with me through what has been several lengthy posts. I hope I have at least given some food for thought.

Whatever your chosen rules, enjoy your WWII coastal games - and roll well!

See you next time.