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.

Call of the (Cruel) Sea - Part II

In my previous post I set out four key areas that I look for in my 'perfect' set of WWII coastal actions rules:

Fast Play

Night fighting & illumination

Confusion

Doctrine & Morale

In the next two posts I'm going to look at five sets of coastal warfare rules from my collection and see how each of them measures up to these four key areas.

FAST ATTACK by M.O.D Games (1985)

This was my introduction to WWII coastal warfare and I remember playing several games with an old school friend who had bought the rules and a selection of Skytrex 1/600 ships. It was a lot of fun at the time but over 30 years later the rules are a bit dated, both in their presentation and mechanics.

There is a certain retro charm to this A5 stapled booklet with text that was originally produced on a typewriter and tables drawn with a pen and ruler. This was your standard rules format back in the day and it screams nostalgia for a wargamer of my generation. Happy days!

So much for the rose-tinted glasses. How do these rules fare against my four key requirements?

1. Fast Play

Movement is determined by a system of written orders. Hardly conducive to speed of play. And these rules love tables. I counted 29 of them over the 39 pages of the main rules. There is no QRS, but if one was provided it would be almost as long as the rules themselves. Firing has a list of 14 modifiers to consider and the damage tables go into great detail about the various locations hit. These must surely be the only WWII coastal warfare rules where it is possible to score a hit on your opponent's cable winch! Oh dear. So much for Fast Play.

2. Night fighting & illumination

The Introduction to the rules recognises that this is a representation of actions involving small vessels at night. There are rules for the effects of illumination (searchlights, flares and starshell) which give modifiers to spot and to hit targets. Strangely for a game set at night, the base for spotting and hitting assumes daylight conditions with negative modifiers being applied for unilluminated targets at night. The effect of fires on illumination seems to be completely ignored. There are no rules for target priority to allow for illuminated targets attracting enemy fire.

3. Confusion

FAST ATTACK has no rules for misidentification, friendly fire, or 'phantom' targets. I suppose that written orders may replicate the effects of confusion as players cannot instantly react to events as they occur. However, rules for accidental collisions are absent, which is strange as with all the pre-written orders they are bound to occur.

4. Doctrine & Morale

There are no rules for these aspects at all.

Overall then:

Fast Play  0/5 ✩✩✩✩✩

Night fighting & illumination 2/5 ✮✮✩✩✩

Confusion 1/5 ✮✩✩✩✩

Doctrine & Morale 0/5 ✩✩✩✩✩

ACTION STATIONS! Edition 3.1 by David Manley (A&A Games, 2003)

These rules had their genesis back in 1993 under the title Schnellboot, published by SDD and have gone through several revisions and expansions since then, first appearing as Action Stations! in 1995 published by Felix Enterprises. My copy is version 3.1 published by A&A Games in 2003.

David Manley, naval architect, long-time wargamer and naval wargames rules author will be familiar to anyone with more than a passing interest in naval wargaming. It's fair to say that when it comes to naval wargames, David knows  his subject - so how do these rules stack up against my four key requirements?

1. Fast Play

The order of movement is determined by a dice roll for initiative for each vessel. All quite straightforward and quick to accomplish. There are three pages of Quick Reference Tables (the rules are fairly table-heavy), though some of these cover aspects that won't occur in every game, such as Grounding, Aircraft, Submarines and Q Ships. Firing is quite straightforward, but there are 17 possible firing modifiers and a Matrix of Damage effects. It is possible to memorise the sequence of play, but you will probably find that frequent reference to the tables on the QRT is needed for such basic game functions as firing and damage - so not really Fast Play.

2. Night fighting & illumination

There is a comprehensive section on Visibility and Detection which covers the effects of night-time combat, though the author points out that this really needs the assistance of an umpire unless dummy markers are used. Vessels on fire are considered to be illuminated and therefore easier to hit, but there are no rules for target priority or attracting enemy fire. There are rules for Starshells, Flares, Searchlights, plus optional rules for the effects of Superior Camouflage, Darkened Shores and Illuminated Areas, so the effects night fighting and illumination are well covered.

3. Confusion

There are rather over-complicated rules covering the effect of collisions, but nothing specific about the causes, accidental or otherwise.  There are no rules for friendly fire or 'phantom' targets. However, optional rules for Lines of Fire covers the risk of accidentally hitting an intervening vessel when shooting at targets beyond.

4. Doctrine & Morale

There are optional rules for rescuing survivors from the water and for transferring personnel from one boat to another, for example if one boat is crippled or sinking. Whilst these rules cover the mechanics of rescue, they offer no incentive or reason to attempt it. As there are no rules governing crew behaviours or morale, it is possible for play to continue to the bitter end unless the players apply common sense or agree scenario objectives.

ACTION STATIONS! therefore measures up as follows:

Fast Play 2/5 ✮✮✰✰✰
Night fighting & illumination 4/5 ✭✭✭✭✰
Confusion 1/5 ✮✰✰✰✰
Doctrine & Morale 1/5 ✮✰✰✰✰


COASTAL PATROL by James Schmidt (2011)

These rules were presented in the Too Fat Lardies 2011 Summer Special and billed as "A complete set of rules for small ships in WWII". The author himself  concludes the rules with the comment that they provide "a framework to fight the coastal warfare battles of WWII" to which players are encouraged to do their own research. All the usual sections covering detection, movement, firing, torpedoes and damage are present - but do they cater to my four key requirements? Let's take a look:

1. Fast Play

TooFatLardies (TFL) games are well known for their use of card activation to determine the order of play and Coastal Patrol is no exception. This is about as Fast Play as you can get. Draw a card and activate a vessel. Simple. Where things slow down a bit is that each time a card is drawn, the owning player has to make a dice roll and consult a table to determine how many Actions the vessel's commander can issue that turn. Yes, this is another set of rules that loves tables. There's at least one table on every single page of the rules. Let's take the process of firing automatic weapons as an example. First add up the total Firepower factors for all the weapons firing and consult the Damage Dice Table to determine how many d6 are rolled. Next consult the Auto Fire To Hit Table to determine what you need to roll on each d6 to hit. Now consult the Speed & Size Modifier Table, cross-referencing the vessel's speed and size to find out if any modifiers apply to the dice rolls. Finally, apply modifiers if either firing vessel or target are evading. And now, at last, roll those dice! Are you still reading this?

2. Night fighting & illumination

The rules assume that the action takes place at night and the effects of illumination are represented by modifiers to detection attempts. It feels odd that there are no similar illumination modifiers for firing. There are rules to determine whether a vessel catches fire and the ensuing damage, but nothing covering the effect of this on target priority.

3. Confusion

Coastal Patrol makes use of 'blinds' (another TFL staple) to represent hidden movement and the 'fog of war'. Coupled with the randomisation provided by card activation, this neatly replicates some of the confusion and unpredictability of fast naval actions conducted at night. Add to this the requirement for a vessel's speed and direction to remain constant from turn to turn unless ordered to change and you have a ready-made recipe for accidental collisions and confusion. The only thing missing from the mix is the risk of misidentification and friendly fire.

4. Doctrine & Morale

Crews in Coastal Patrol never have to consider acceptable levels of damage or losses. They never have to test morale or worry about rescuing friendly crews from stricken vessels. In short, the effects of doctrine and morale are not covered at all.

So, to sum up Coastal Patrol:

Fast Play 1/5 ✮✩✩✩✩
Night fighting & illumination 1/5 ✮✩✩✩✩
Confusion 3/5 ✮✮✮✩✩
Doctrine & Morale 0/5 ✩✩✩✩✩


In my next post, I'll conclude my assessment by looking at another pair of WWII coastal warfare rules from my collection - and attempt to draw some conclusions about the general approach to rules writing for these conflicts.

Call of the (Cruel) Sea - Part I

I've long had an interest in naval wargaming and in particular the actions of fast attack craft and coastal actions in WWII. No surprise then that I have been watching news of Warlord Games Cruel Seas with keen interest. I've resisted so far, but the call of the sea is strong!

My one concession so far has been the purchase of the December issue of Wargame Illustrated, which came with a plastic sprue of either two 1/300 scale Vosper MTBs or a couple of Kreigsmarine S-Boats and a 6-page article on the forthcoming Cruel Seas game. I don't normally buy Wargames Illustrated, but I rationalised this purchase as being purely for research purposes (who am I kidding!).

Wargames Illustrated, Issue 374. 

I only buy it for the articles (yeah, right).

Whoever is in charge of marketing at Warlord and Wargames Illustrated certainly knows their business as judging from comments online, the magazines have been flying off the shelves and quite a few punters have missed out on getting copies. I was lucky and got in early. Soon after, single sprues from the magazine started appearing on eBay and attracting bids at silly prices.

Warlord Games Cruel Seas S-Boat sprue. 

A Type S-38 and a Type S-100, weapons and torpedoes.

The issue I picked up has the pair of S-Boats - and very nice models they are too. If I had one minor gripe it would be that the waterline hulls sit 'flat' in the water as though stationary, or at very slow speed. These are fast craft and I want my S-Boats and MTBs to look like they are surging forward, bows raised, not sitting becalmed. On smaller scale models this would not have been so noticeable, but at 1/300 scale I think it looks a bit odd, especially the Vospers which had a more bow-up stance at speed than their S-Boat opponents.

Schnellboot vor!

Models aside, I've avidly read and re-read the Wargames Illustrated article on the game, supplementing this with all the official promotion, on-line videos, chat and froth that a new and shiny game generates. I really want to like this game. I have a collection of half-a-dozen rule sets for WWII coastal actions, all with their individual merits, but none of which I have ever been entirely happy with. This got me thinking about exactly what I expect from a set of WWII coastal action rules and how well my existing rules collection measures up to that. 

After much thought, I've narrowed this down to four key points:

1. Fast play

Actions were short, sharp affairs; strike hard, strike fast and get the hell out quick, so I'm looking for a set of rules with that feeling of pace. That means no written orders, no long lists of modifiers or numerous tables to refer to during play. Most game functions therefore need to be easily remembered and intuitive. A good example of a game that achieves this (though for aerial dogfights, not WWII coastal actions) is  Warlord Games Blood Red Skies. This manages to distil all the complexities of 3D aerial combat into a simple yet tactically subtle game while still retaining the feel of a WWII dogfight. Achieving something similar for coastal warfare MTB 'dogfights' would be the golden ideal.

2. Night fighting and illumination

Most WWII MTB coastal actions occurred at night, with all the attendant problems of sighting, identification and targeting. Vessels illuminated by searchlight, starshell or fires, (or silhouetted against sources of light) tended to attract gunfire. Crews could be blinded by both illumination of their own vessel, or the muzzle flash from continuous firing of their own weapons. These effects are not easy to represent on the game table, but any set of rules for WWII coastal actions needs to cover this important aspect.

3. Confusion

This is linked to point 2. Fast moving battles at night can quickly breed confusion. If someone fired tracer in your direction, a jumpy or trigger-happy crew tended to fire back. In the darkness it is not easy to distinguish whether your 'opponent' is actually friend or foe. There are plenty of contemporary accounts of friendly fire and occasions when groups of friendly vessels continued to exchange fire in ignorance, or pour tracer at 'phantom' targets long after the real enemy had left the battle area. Keeping station and maintaining situational awareness in the heat of battle was not easy. Losses due to damage caused by accidental high speed collisions with friendly vessels (and the enemy) were also not uncommon.

4. Doctrine and Morale

It might seem odd to lump these two concepts together, but what I'm really getting at here is crew behaviour. Are your forces aggressive or defensive? How much damage and loss is acceptable? At what point do you drop smoke and attempt to disengage? Coastal forces crews generally fought hard, but they were not suicidal. Aggression was always tempered by the need to preserve precious boats and crews. That means no games where players slog it out to the last boat. Rescue of friendly crews from stricken vessels should also be a requirement - and it wasn't unusual to rescue enemy crew too. How often do you see that in a WWII coastal forces game?

In Parts II and III, I'll take a look at my collection of WWII coastal actions rules and see how each of them measures up to these four key points.