War At Sea (Victory at Sea) Optional Combat Rules

~ OPTIONAL COMBAT RULES ~

Target Size and Facing: War at Sea never considered a target's size or facing when determining attack values. A ship was just as easy to hit on its broadside as it was the aft. The following table should address this by allowing for the addition or subtraction of attack dice (AD) to Attack Rolls against different targets and facing.* A torpedo Attack against a ship's broadside deals damage on a 4-5 and 2 damage on a 6. A "natural" 6 is still needed to inflict 2 points of damage.

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Critical Hits: Roll for a Critical Hit if an attack exceeds a ship’s vital armor rating / Torpedoes always roll a critical hit when they successfully hit a ship.

• 1-5 +1 damage to attack
• 6 +1 damage to attack AND Critical Hit-
  

2d6 Critical Location
2 Vital Systems
3-5 Superstructure/Hull
6-8 Engines
9-11 Weapons
12 Vital Systems

Superstructure/Hull d6 Result Reduce VA Effect

• 1-2 Fire -0 Fire starts (Roll d6: 1-2 continues / 3 spreads / 4-5 out / 6: roll 2nd Crit
• 3-4 Multiple Fires -1 2 fires start
• 5 Hull Breach -2 Fire starts
• 6 Multiple Explosions -3 3 fires start
  

Engines d6 Result Reduce VA Effect

• 1-2 Turbine Damaged -0 -1 Speed
• 3-4 Props Damaged -0 -1 Speed
• 5 Fuel Systems Ruptured -1 -2 Speed, fire starts
• 6 Engines Disabled -1 Speed = 0, +1 to attack rolls on this ship
  

Weapons d6 Result Reduce VA Effect

• 1-2 AA Mount Destroyed -0 AA weapons loose 1 AD
• 3-4 Secondary Wpn Destroyed -0 Main Battery looses 1 AD
• 5 Turret Destroyed -1 Random turret destroyed (-5 AD), fire starts
• 6 Magazine Explosion -2 Random turret destroyed (-5 AD), 2 fires start
  

Vital Systems d6 Result Reduce VA Effect

• 1 Bridge Hit -1 Loose Flag Ship Bonus / Can’t use special abilities
• 2 Rudder -1 (Roll d6- 1-2 Ship may only turn left 3-4 Ship may only turn right 5-6 Ship may not turn)
• 3 Engineering -2 2 fires, No Damage Control permitted
• 4 Fire Control -2 No weapons can fire for 1d3 turns
• 5 Severe List -3 Ship begins listing, takes –1 to hit on all gunnery attack dice, and may not fire torpedoes. If this result is rolled again the ship capsizes and sinks.
• 6 Catastrophic Explosion ----- Ship explodes and sinks
  

Crippled:

• Crippled flagships don’t get their flagship bonus
• -1 attack dice on torpedo attacks (Submarines)
• Surface ships cannot make torpedo attacks-1penalty to all other rolls
• -1 movement
  

~ OPTIONAL COMBAT RULES ~

Splash Counters: Gun directors observe shell splashes to determine where shots landed and use that information to adjust fire. When multiple ships fire on a single enemy ship, it becomes more difficult to adjust fire accurately due to several different sets of shell splashes.

• Each subsequent ship that fires primary weapons at the same target takes a cumulative –d6 attack dice for each splash marker the target already has

ADVANCED RULES

Bad Weather: Bad weather has the effect of reducing visibility and effective range for ships in the storm/fog. When the bad weather rule is in play, at the start of each Initiative Phase roll 2d6 + 10. That is the maximum distance in inches in which ships are able to see one another.

Ships beyond that distance are considered to be hidden and may not be attacked except by ships with Radar. (see the rules for Radar below.) (British ships have superior experience fighting in bad weather. See the Nationality Bonuses below.)

Night Battles: During night battle every ship is in one of three states, hidden, detected, or illuminated. All ships begin a night battle in a hidden state, and revert to a hidden status at the end of each turn.

• Hidden- Hidden ships may not be attacked except by ships with radar (see the rules for Radar below.) All ships are hidden by default unless they meet the criteria of one of the other states below.

• Detected- Every ship has a detection radius of 10” (the Japanese due to superior night fighting skills have a detection radius of 20”). Enemy ships are automatically detected inside this radius. At the beginning of each ships’ shooting phase pre-measure to see which enemy ships are detected. Just because an enemy ship is detected for the current shooter, does not mean it is detected for other allied ships. Each individual ship must pre-measure to determine which enemy ships are detected. Enemy ships which are in a detected status may be attacked with a –1 penalty to all attack dice.
  

Essentially this rule means that ships may only fire at enemy ships within 10” unless the enemy ship is illuminated or the shooter is using radar. (see below).

Fog of War: If there is more than one enemy ship inside a ship’s detection radius and there is at least one allied ship also inside the ship’s detection radius. The shooter must roll a d6 at the start of its shooting phase. On a 1 there has been a friendly fire mistake. The opposing player may force the shooter to attack an allied ship within the shooter’s detection radius instead of another target. The opposing player may NOT force the ship to launch torpedoes against an allied ship. (The Japanese are exempt from Fog of War, while the Americans must roll 2 dice instead of one.)

Illuminated- Whenever a ship becomes illuminated, place an illumination counter next to it to mark its status. All illumination counters are removed at the end of the turn. Ships that have an illumination counter may be attacked normally as if the night battles rules were not in effect.

Ships become illuminated whenever they fire turreted weapons.

Star Shells: Any ship with secondary weapons may use star shells to illuminate an enemy ship at the start of its shooting phase. The firing ship looses 1 secondary AD for the turn, but may place an illumination counter next to any enemy ship within range of its secondary weapons.

In battles that are fought during bad weather at night, the bad weather visibility rule still applies even to ships that are illuminated.

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NATIONALITY BONUSES

Some nations gain the benefit of special rules.

AMERICA: America has a tremendous industrial capacity that allows it to build and deploy ships faster than all the other nations put together. During any battle where forces are selected by spending Fleet Allocation Points, American fleets gain 15 additional points to spend.

Unfortunately, Americans sailors regularly suffered friendly fire incidents during night battles in the Pacific. Whenever American ships make Fog of War checks, they must roll 2 dice and take the lowest result.

Germany: Germany’s warships were equipped with excellent optical range finders. Whenever a German warship uses standard targeting methods (i.e. not Radar) it gains +1 to hit when firing at targets at long or extreme range.

German warships also gain the benefit of excellent engineering and damage control teams. When making damage control checks, German ships gain +1 to their die rolls. This bonus does not apply to checks made to extinguish fires.

Unfortunately, German radar was significantly inferior to allied radar. German ships must roll a 5+ to pass a radar targeting check.

Great Britain: Great Britain has a proud naval history of combat in the stormy North Atlantic that stretches back centuries. Whenever the bad weather rules are being used, Great Britain may roll a separate check for visibility range and may use the better of the two results.

RADAR: Ships equipped with radar may make a radar targeting check at the start of their shooting phase. To make a radar targeting check, roll 1d6. On a 3+ the radar is effective for the turn. (German ships have inferior radar and must roll a 5+ on their radar targeting checks to pass.)

Ships that have passed a radar targeting check may ignore all modifiers to hit except for the –1 to long range, and –3 to extreme range penalties. This includes but is not limited to targets moving fast, target is broadside, target is at close range, target has splash markers, night fighting rules, etc.

Ships equipped with radar may make a radar targeting check to successfully attack ships that are hidden due to bad weather or night battles rules. Radar may not be used to fire at ships where line of sight is blocked due to an interposing ship.

Ships do not have to use their radar and may at their option use normal targeting instead. However, the decision to use radar or not applies to all attacks made during the turn. Radar must be used for all attacks made by a ship or none at all.

Radar has no effect on torpedo attacks. Use the rules for torpedo attacks instead.