Hex Based Navel Rules

[Rmadawn]

Here are some rules that my group uses for it's table top game. Please enjoy.


World in Flames Hex based navel combat system:

*** Navel units may not enter a hex that is coastal (EI has land in it) unless they are entering or leaving a port or passing through a straight or islands or moving from blue water to blue water.

Navel units moving through a light blue hex to a dark blue hex may skip the intervening light blue hex at not cost of movement.

Certainly limitations of passage such as sailing through the English channel or the straight of Jutland or Gibraltar do not exist for these rules. If players whish not their enemies to pass though these areas they encouraged to place units such as coastal artillery to guard them.

Navel Actions:

There are two types of Navel actions:

1. Convoy Actions; defined by any actions that involve convoys.

Convoy actions move via rules for sea zones and sea zone boxes.

2. Hex based navel actions; defined as all other actions.

These actions move as per rules below.

End of turn impulses:

At the end of each turn, each side may move their units at sea one addition time in turn order. I.E if the turn ends on an axis impulse, the allies may make one more set of actions for their units at sea followed by the axis.

Hex based movement:

In these rules Navel units move from hex dot or hex to hex dot or hex.

Navel unit designation:

There are two types of Navel units; units at sea and units in port.

Convoy raiding mode:

Units at sea exist in one of two modes; convoy raiding mode and hex mode. Units in convoy mode exist in sea boxes. They follow the rules of convoys and their box position is based on the number of sea zones they are from port as in regular Wif. In order for a unit to perform convoy actions, it must be in convoy mode. In order to enter convoy mode, a unit must transit to the center of the sea zone it wishes to operate in and be adjacent to any sea box.

Units ceasing convoy mode and returning to port may be placed in any box adjacent to the sea zone boxes. These units do not enter the board with any dice markers, but MUST make directly for any friendly port within range.

Sea zone boxes:

Units wishing to cross sea zone boxes, width wise, leap from one side of the boxes to the other side.
Units wishing to move length ways down the boxes MUST move along one side of the boxes or the other.

Units in port:
In order for a unit in port to move ,it must be launched. In order to be launched a unit’s nation must expend navel actions as per standard Wif rules. It cost only one navel action to launch all the ships from one particular port.

Units at sea:

A nation’s units at sea, may move during each of that side’s impulse unit they return to port.

Speed:
Units at sea may move a number of hexes each turn equal to their speed.


Range:
At the end of each turn, a ship at sea may either have a die placed next to it or have a die next to it increased by one. When a ship is first launched it may move about the board with no die marker. At the end of the first turn after it is launched, a die with the number 1 is placed next to it. At the end of subsequent turns that die amount is increased by one. At the start of any turn, where the die amount equals the range amount of a unit, the unit MUST head directly to the nearest friendly port. Should no friendly ports be in range the ship will head towards the nearest neutral port. There it will become part of the Neutral country’s navy.

A group of ships launched at the same time may be marked with one die so long as it is clear which ships the die represents..

At the end of the turn, if a die marker is increased beyond the value of the ship’s range, the ship is flipped and remains stationary until the owning player can sail a Convoy point to it. It may be attacked at this time and is considered to be automatically damaged. If a friendly CP reaches the ship the player then takes the ship off the board and places it in the repair pool to be redeployed as per normal wif rules. .

Combat:
During combat, a side’s ships at sea may move and fire once during each of that side’s impulses. Firing ships may fire from any hex along their movement path. This movement is done one ship at a time or one group at a time; provided that all ships within the group perform the exact same actions. Firing ships must fire at the nearest enemy target. If there is more than one nearest enemy target, the firing player chooses which of the nearest enemy units are fired at.

Firing at Surface ships:

In order to shoot, the firing unit rolls 1d10 + modifier VS it’s attack factor. If the roll is equal to or less than the attack factor, the unit hits.

Per hex of range to target on European scale map = + 1 (beyond one)
Per hex of range to target on Pacific scale map = + 2 (beyond one)
For Rain and snow add + 1 to this number
For Blizzard or Storm add + 3
Against targets with speed of 5 or more +1
If the attacker has a speed of 5 or more - 1

Firing Range:

A unit may fire at a surface target that is within it’s firing range, provided that it does not violate the nearest target rule.

The maximum number of hexes that a unit may fire at is equal to half of it’s attack factors (rounded down). For the pacific map, divide the attack factors by three and round down. Units with a zero range must be in the same hex as their target in order to fire at it.

Attacks of opportunity:

Any ship that moves into or out of an enemy ship’s range of fire, provokes an immediate attack of opportunity (if the owning player chooses to do so). During the attack of opportunity, the enemy ship may fire at the moving ship before it leaves it‘s range. The shot is considered to be at the hex of closest approach relative to the two ships. A ship that provokes an attack of opportunity may make an attack from the hex of closest approach against any valid target before the results of the attack of opportunity are determined. No ship may receive more than one attack of opportunity in an impulse. If either ship fires during the attack of opportunity, the ship flips until the end of controlling side’s next impulse. While flipped, the ship may move; but may not fire.



Resolving hits:

If a ship is hit, the controlling player rolls 1D10 vs. the ship’s defensive factors. If the roll is less than the ships defensive value, the ship is sunk. If the ship is not sunk, roll 1D10 again and subtract two from the roll. If the roll is equal to or less than the defensive value of the ship, the ship is damaged. Damaged ships are represented by turning the chit so that the top of the chit faces south. Damaged chits have all of their stats, with the exception of defense value and range, halved (rounded up). Ships can be damaged multiple times without sinking.

A damaged ship that takes a hit, sinks automatically on a sink roll of 1

(This is to account for ships with defense of 1or less)

Subs:
- Subs can only attack at range zero.
-Subs can only BE attacked at range zero
- Dutch submarines start the game with snorkels.
- Subs with snorkels cannot be attacked by aircraft.
- Subs can leave the range of other ships ,that do not have ASW, without provoking attacks of opportunity.
- subs ,that have not attacked, can only be attacked by ASW units via attacks of opportunity.
- Subs that attack, are only subject to an attack of opportunity from one ship in the group of ships that they have attacked. This ship is decided by the defending player.
This attack occurs after the damage from the sub attack has been applied.
To attack a sub, a unit rolls 1d10 vs it's attack factor (+1 in rain or snow, + 2 in storm or blizzard). A result equal to or less than it's attack factor results in a hit.

Light Cruisers:

Light Cruisers and destroyer flotillas without ASW have an ASW ability of 1

ASW Flotillas

ASW Flotillas have a surface combat ability of 1

Aircraft:

- Aircraft can attack subs at sea as if they were surface vessels, unless they are equipped snorkels.
- Aircraft are deployed to specific sea hexes within range of where they are based.
- Once an aircraft is deployed to a specific hex, it is considered to be performing missions in that hex and all adjacent hexes.
Aircraft deployed to a sea hex may (once per impulse) attack one vessel at sea or intercept any planes moving into or through it’s mega hex as per air combat rules.
- The aircraft remains there until returned to base by their owner, at which point they flips until the end of the turn.
-Aircraft may fly out sea a number of hexes equal to their range. (minus to cost of flying to the coast line.
- aircraft may engage one legal target within their mega hex range, once per active impulse.
- A ships that enters the mega hex of a deployed aircraft’s may be subject to an attack of opportunity from said aircraft, provided that the aircraft did not make an attack last impulse.
-An aircraft that attacks, is flipped till the beginning of the next impulse.
This indicated that it has been used during that impulse.
-If the weather roll indicates weather that is blizzard or storm all deployed aircraft automatically return to base but DO NOT FLIP.
-During Storm or Blizzard, aircraft may not be deployed to sea.
-During rain or snow, aircraft deployed to sea have their air to sea attack factors reduced by half. (rounded down).

Air – Sea Battles
-To attack a ship, an aircraft rolls a 10 VS it’s air to sea factors with the following modifiers. – 2 for sub, ½ if attacking during rain or snow. If it roll equal to or less than it’s air to sea factors it hits as per ship combat rolls.
-Ships with Anti-Air factors being attacked by planes perform one round of air combat against the attacking plain as if their Anti-air were air to air factors. This happens individually per plane and only the the vessel being attacked may fire.
- The defending player may designate ships within the same stack as screening ships for other ships. In this case use the screening ship’s Anti-Air ability instead of the stacked ship.

Carrier planes:

Carrier planes may be deployed to specific hexes at the end of their home carrier’s movement. From this deployment hex, the planes can perform missions in a one mega hex radius. The planes remain in their deployment hex unit the beginning of the carrier’s next impulse. At the beginning of the carrier’s next impulse, the planes return to the carrier and flip until the end of the impulse; after which they may be deployed again.
Carrier planes, deploying to sea hexes, may deploy 3 hexes per piont of range in the pacific scale and 4 hexes in the European scale.

Pseudo scale:

Units at sea are considered to be magnified relative to other units at sea. This means that they are closer to each other than they are to neighboring land forms or land units.

This allows them to fight each other in more realistic ways.


Sub hunters:

Sub hunters do NOT take a -2 penalty attacking subs.

Air-to-Air battles:
- Fighters may be dispatched to attack any planes that are out to sea. To do so, they must have the range to enter the hex of the aircraft out to sea. If this happens an air-to-air battle will begin.

- Should the path of the attacking fighters enter the mega hex of another deployed fighter, or should it pass within a mega hex of carrier aircraft, these aircraft may intercept the attacking fighters.

Air combat:

-Any plane brought into air combat must fight at least one round.

-If an air combat is initiated at sea, any deployed aircraft within one hex of the air combat hex may participate.

-There is no stacking limit for sea hexes for planes deployed at sea

- planes that retreat from air combat return to base and are flipped till the end of the turn.


Kamikaze:

Japan may build Kamikaze fighters
Kamikaze fighters do not require pilots, but must be designated as such.
The may not engage attack in air-air combat.
If attacked, the attacking player gets one round of free attacks at the Kamikaze planes per hex to their target. After this the surviving Kamikaze planes attack normally with a -2 to their attack rolls. After the attack they are considered destroyed regardless of the result. Kamikaze never fly longer than one impulse. If left unused they are destroyed at the end of the impulse.

Shore bombardment:
-Units at sea may provide shore bombardment support to an adjacent coastal hex they wish to shore bombard as per artillery rules. This counts as the unit’s attack for the impulse.
- Land Artillery in a coastal hex may fire at ships in an adjacent coastal hex as if making a surface attack against said units. They may not fire at subs and add +2 to their role. They may fire one attack at every ship in the hex.
- Land Artillery may also may the above attack at any ships in an adjacent port.
- Ships in port may make shore bombardment attacks against any unit that adjacent to the port.

[delatbabel]

Naval == military ships.

Navel == bellybutton.

[gogol]

i too first thought that the sea box rules were too abstract and tried to come up with hex rules.
but i never managed to get something interesting and got back to sea box rules.

In your hex rules, you miss the best part of naval combats ; search and surprise.
sea box rules are good for that, they give a taste of "double blind|fog of war" aspect
you ll never have in a hex rule without a secret log sheet like in Air Force or Second world war at sea games. and they are even not perfect.

best fog of war naval game i played was called "Amirauté" and was played with a referee

[Sewerlobster]

One of the great allures of World in Flames is the sea box/area facet of naval warfare. As a proponent of the vanilla rules and in truth earlier editions, I was surprised to see people even considering a "Naval Hex Mod"

But if were one to do so, you have certainly come up with an admirable form.