War At Sea (Victory at Sea) BASICS

These rules are meant to provide a crossover between Victory at Sea and Axis and Allies Naval Miniatures to combine the best of both into one game that creates a fun and engaging game for everyone. In some instances, major changes were needed to better combine the two game systems to better meet the needs of the game. I have tried to take into account both the realism and balance needed for naval combat simulations while maintaining game play that is not hampered by tables and charts and paper crunching. Use the stat cards from the A&A set along with some minor modifications to range and speed to develop your strike force. You'll need:

• Set of Axis & Allies Naval Miniatures and Stat Cards

• Poker chips ("markers")
• RED: Mines (1 counter = 10 mines)
• BLUE: Submarines (see Units Page)
• WHITE: Fog/Squalls/Fleet Markers (see Optional Rules Page)
  

• Large playing surface- I suggest 2-3 blue cardboard tri-fold presentation boards adding land cards as needed. Each board is 3x4' (representing an area 20.5x27.25 miles).
  

• 6-sided dice

Unless noted, this modified game uses the Advanced Rules from the Axis and Allies Naval Miniatures game. Use the stat cards and miniatures, build rules, deployment rules, sequence of play, and win conditions (150 points- points for sunk/destroyed units & 50 points for objectives).

Since this version uses a large playing surface and not the Battle Map, consider a sector = to 5". This becomes important when claiming Objectives (a ship within 5" of the Objective token and no enemy ships with 5" of that ship)

Sequence of Play: Determine winning point totals or win conditions before beginning a game.

A. Initiative Phase:

• Roll for Bad Weather visibility range (Optional using VAS Rules)

• Roll 2d and add sum to your best Flagship bonus to determine initiative. NOTE: Crippled flagships do not add a flagship bonus.

B. Sea Movement Phase The lower initiative roll moves first giving the winner the advantage of placing his/her units in response. A ship can break her movements into as many turn segments (up to 45 degrees) as her speed # allows. EXAMPLE: a Cruiser has Speed 2- it can move a portion of its move, turn, finish its move and turn at the end of its movement.

First Player's Sea Movement Step
Use any Special Actions (Lay Smoke Screen, Repair, High Speed Run)

Second Player's Sea Movement Step
Use any Special Actions (Lay Smoke Screen, Repair, High Speed Run)

You can move ships a number of inches = to that unit's speed. Ships may not occupy the same space and must stop short of another unit it its movement would carry it into contact with it.

C. Air Mission Phase Players alternate moving their Fight/Bomber Units. Air Units that come within 5" (1 sector) of opposing fighter units must stop their movement if that unit is assigned to intercept it and/or escorting other units.

Before moving your Air Units, assign your fighters their missions- escort / strafing / CAP (See Air Units for a description) and your bomber units (patrol, torpedo, or dive) their attack type and targets.

STEPS D-G: ATTACK PHASE

ATTACK TYPES:

Gunnery/ASW/Bomb/Antiair Attack Rolls- Use the stats on your A&A cards to determine how many attack dice to roll for an attack. A 4-5 counts as one success while a natural 6 counts as 2. If you meet or beat a unit's Armor rating, you hit and inflict 1 point of damage. If you meet or beat a unit's Vital Armor, you sink the unit at the end of turn.

Luck Dice- (Optional) Each unit replaces one of its Attack Dice for a different color "Luck Dice" that is rolled along with the other attack dice. On a roll of 1- remove the highest attack dice and do not count it towards your attack. On a 6, count it as 2 successes and roll it again re-rolling additional 6s. A 1 rolled after a lucky 6 doesn't affect your roll

Torpedo Attacks- Roll attack dice/Luck Dice. Torpedo Attacks ignore armor and vital armor when determining damage. Each Attack Dice that comes up with a 5 counts as a hit for 1 point of hull damage while a 6 counts as 2.

DAMAGE: occurs at the same time at the END of the current phase. Use damage markers to keep track, flipping them to apply the damage to the unit at the end of the phase.

• Damaged- suffer 1 point of hull damage
• Crippled- (Ships/Subs) 1 Hull point left. SUFFERS: -1 penalty to armor, vital armor, -1" of speed, -1 on each attack dice and -1 dice for torpedo attacks (minimum of 1). Crippled flagships loose their flagship bonus.
  
• Destroyed- damage equals/exceeds Vital Armor. Remove unit from play at the end of that turn phase. Add the unit's point total to your victory points.
• Aborted- (PT Boats/Air Units) can't attack when their Armor rating is breached. Aborted units can still use antiair attacks in the Air Defense phase as the damage happens at the end of the phase.
  

D. Air Defense Phase: Use your units' Anti-air Attack to attack enemy aircraft within 5" (1 sector) of target. Abort Air Units that suffer a successful hit to their armor and destroy units whose Vital Armor was reached or exceeded.

E. Air Attack Phase: Attack ships/submarines with your aircraft- ASW, Bomb, Gunnery (Strafing), or Torpedo Attacks. Aircraft that were aborted or destroyed in the Air Defense Phase cannot attack unless they have an ability that allows them to do so (E.G. Press the Attack). You can only use one attack per aircraft in this phase. Range of all attacks, unless noted on your Unit Stat Card are 5" (1 sector).

Place damage counters/remove destroyed units at the end of this phase.

F. Surface Attack Phase: Use your Surface Units to attack enemy ships using ASW, Gunnery, or Torpedo Attacks. Each unit can fire on an enemy unit in range with either BOTH a Gunnery AND Torpedo attack OR an ASW attack, never both. Ships with Secondary and Tertiary Gunnery Attacks may attack with each of their Gunnery attacks in the same turn.

Before attacking determine:

Detection: Enemy ships within Bad Weather or Night visibility range. Only these ships can be attacked. (See Optional Rules)

Line of Sight (LOS) Measured from the center of the attacker to any point on the target. Even if a small portion of the target visible, LOS is blocked if...

• LOS passes through any ship model except surfaced subs and PT Boats at ranges up to 5"

• LOS passes through any ship EXCEPT destroyers, surfaced subs, and PTs at any range beyond 5"

• LOS passes through an island, fog, squall, or smoke screen

Range: Measured from the center of the attacker to any point on the target. Use the Conversion Table below to determine a target's range in inches". Compare the attacker's Stat Card type and range to the chart to determine how far away a target is in inches.

RANGE CONVERSION CHART
1" = 1,000 Yards / 5" = 1 Sector

Main (M) Battery on Cruisers / Battleships
Range: 0=5" / 1=10" / 2=20" / 3=30" / 4=35" / 5=40" (Extended Range ONLY)

Main (M) Battery on Carriers / Destroyers & Secondary (2 & 3) Batteries on Cruisers / Battleships
Range: 0=5" / 1=10" / 2=15" / 3=20"

Torpedoes
Range: 0=3" / 1=6" / 2=9" / 3=12" (Long Lance ONLY)

ASW (Depth Charges)
Range: 0=3" (AFT ONLY)

ASW (Hedge Hog)
Range: 0=4" (FORE ONLY and only on Units made after 1943 OR the Sub Hunter special ability)

Anti Aircraft (Ship based)
Range: 0=5" / 1=10"


Attack Targets: Place damage counters / remove destroyed units at the end of this phase

G. Submarine Attack Phase Submarines can now make their attack runs against valid targets in range. 5 = 1 point of Hull Damage / 6 = 2 points of Hull Damage. Reroll "Luck Dice" on a 6 and count additional points of damage as they come up. Place damage counters / remove destroyed units at the end of this phase

H. Air Return Phase Because Air Units have a movement phase and not a placement phase as they do in the original A&A rule, there is no Air Return Phase. Place/remove arming counters on Air Units that return to a carrier/air field at the start of the Air Mission Phase. NOTE: The rearming rules have been modified to add an additional level of realism and give Air Units more turn around time so that it is possible for players to target carriers and land bases when an enemy's planes are grounded for refueling/rearming. this requires more forethought on both player's parts forcing them to rethink careless placements of Air Units and better time their attacks. See Air Units on the following post for more information.

I. End of Turn

• Claim Objective markers if there are no enemy ships within 10"

• Check your score adding any claimed Objectives (50) AND the values of destroyed units. You WIN if you reach/exceed 150 points OR meet the other win conditions established at the start of the game.

• In a stalemate, one player has a fighter and the other only has a submarine then the player with more remaining points wins.

Bibliography:
1. Armchair General (Axis & Allies: War at Sea/Task Force/Flank Speed)
2. Joisey's House Rules (Making A&A Destroyers better in War at Sea)
3. Victory at Sea (Improving rules for Victory at Sea)
4. Axis & Allies (Naval Units- to help convert stats)

Historic Sites:
1. WWII Ships
2. U-Boats
3. Air Groups
4. WWII Axis & Allies (Units/3D-models)

Official Sites:
1. Axis & Allies (Naval Miniatures)
2. Victory at Sea (Mongoose Publishing)