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Draft Hit and Damage Rules

 HIT & DAMAGE

 Batteries: The first box is the ship type, name and number - in the example above BB1 Pelayo. The next three boxes describe the ships guns; typically primary, secondary and then tertiary. The number in bold is the strength of the gun. This is followed by “x” and a number indicating the number of guns. For example in column three of the Pelayo there are two batteries of 1x6, or in other words two groups of six strength one guns.

 Arc of Fire: Before each battery of guns are one or two letters which describe the location and arc of fire for the battery. Arcs of fire are illustrated in the Arc of Fire chart, this is the easiest way to visualize them.  Arcs are also described in narrative form below. Note that fore and aft arcs are measured from the center of the ship, port and starboard from any point along the side of the ship.

 f,a: Fore and Aft batteries are indicated by the letters a and f. Note that in column one the Pelayo is equipped with a single six strength gun forward, and another aft. These guns have a 270 degree arc of fire, or in other words they have a 90 degree blind spot. Obviously therefore the fore gun fires 270 forward and is unable to fire 90 degrees aft.

 p,s,c: Port, Starboard (left and right for landlubbers)and centerline are indicated by p, s and c. The Pelayo has one strength one port battery and one strength one starboard battery indicated in column three. These guns have a 90 degree arc to the appropriate side, the centerline guns have a 90 degree arc to both sides.

 fp,fs,ap,as: Fore Port, Fore Starboard, Aft Port and Aft Starboard can be described as corner batteries that have the arc of a port or starboard gun expanded to also fire either straight ahead or straight back aft. Note that the Pelayo has to strength five guns indicated in column two, one fp and one fs. If the bow of the Pelayo is pointing directly towards a target both guns could be brought to bear, in other words their arcs overlap straight ahead. The arc of the forward port gun is 135 degrees starting straight ahead curving back left to include the full arc of a port gun.

ff,aa: In column one the Pelayo has a single strength two ff gun indicated. This gun was built directly into the bow of the ship. An ff gun has a 90 degree arc of fire forward, an aa gun has a 90 degree arc of fire aft.

p+,s+: Some ships are blessed with even more eccentric arcs of fire. The p+ and s+ guns typically represent guns located in side sponsons, they have a 180 degree arc of fire to the side. The p+ for example fires 180 degrees to the left including straight ahead and straight back.

 ps,sp: These guns are what was called “en echelon”, meaning they are offset to one side. The ps has an arc of fire like a p+ and may in addition fire directly to starboard. The arc of fire to starboard is not actually an arc, rather it is a rectangular area with the side of the ship used as the short end of the base. In theory these guns have a superior arc of fire - able to fire straight ahead, straight back, 180 on one side and still able to contribute to the opposite side broadside. In practice most battles end up being fought to one or another broadside, and the very limited area covered by the gun on the far side of the ship means that it is often unable to fire.   

  The firing player picks a ship and a gun strength. He may fire as little as one battery at a time, or as much as all the guns of that strength that may be brought to bear. Unlike some games all gun targets need not be declared before firing, the player may fire a battery, witness the results, and then decide where to fire next. Obviously the target must be in the arc of fire of all attacking guns.

 Range: Targets must be within maximum range. Range is calculated by multiplying the strength of the gun times 10, for example the Pelayo’s strength six fore and aft guns have a range of 60. 

 To Hit: Above is the hit chart used by the Spanish, Chinese and Russians; the USA and Japanese use a chart that works out to a +1 bonus. The firing player finds the correct range and rolls a d6 for each gun, rolling the indicated number or above results in a hit. At range 11 for example the gun would be under 20 but not quit under ten, and would therefore hit on a 5+, or in other words on a 5 or a 6. At greater ranges the chance to hit is described as a 6 followed by another number, meaning that a six must be rolled followed by the second number or greater. For example at range 47 the player rolls the dice, picks up all sixes rolled and rolls again looking for a five or a six to hit.

 Rake Modifier: Target ships that are “raked” are +1 to hit. Raking means the ship is being hit much more on the bow or stern which considering the characteristics of the guns being used made the ship a better target. For a rake to be declared the center of the firing ship must be within a 45 degree arc of either the bow or stern of the target. This is also illustrated on the arc of fire chart. This means that if your ships move directly towards or directly away from an enemy formation you make yourself a better target.

 Stationary Modifier: A target ship that is stationary is +1 to hit. If a target ship becomes stationary due to damage the attacking ship continues to fire as if it were not yet stationary. Any subsequent attacking ships gain the +1 to hit, even if attacking in the same fire phase. 

 Hit Location: Roll one die for each hit to determine the hit location. Ships have six locations as illustrated by the Pelayo above. Line up the dice from lowest to highest and read off the locations to your opponent, while reminding him of the strength of the attacking gun. (For example “four strength three hits in locations 2, 5, 5 and 6”) Modify your strength as described in the penetration column of the to hit chart above, this works at to hits under 20 gaining a +1 strength while those over 40 suffer a –1 strength.

 Armor: The owner of the target ship compares the strength of the incoming hit to the rating of the armor, the modified strength of the attacking gun must exceed the strength of the armor to penetrate. The owner of the ship must indicate to the firing player which hits penetrate and which fail to penetrate. For example he may state “hit” for penetrations and “ping” when shots bounce off the armor. 

Damage: Hits which penetrate cause damage. Ships have six locations as described below. 

One: Primary guns, hits destroy the nearest undamaged battery. Note that a shell coming from the front of the Pelayo will destroy the 2 strength gun as it is in front of the 6 strength gun. Hits always destroy an entire battery of guns as indicated by the “x”, not just a single gun. There are for example three batteries of one gun each in location one in the Pelayo.

Two: Secondary guns, hits destroy nearest undamaged battery as described above.

 Three: Tertiary guns, hits destroy nearest undamaged battery as described above.

 Four: Superstructure, cross off the leftmost letter S or F. An “S” hit means a non-critical section of the superstructure is destroyed, this has no immediate effect. A “F” hit means the funnel is shot full of holes, this reduces draft to the engine room slowing the ships maximum speed, reduce the ships knots by 2. If the Pelayo took a funnel hit for example it would reduce its knots from 16 to 14. (presuming it had not previously taken damage resulting in a speed reduction).

 Five: Hull hit bow or stern area. These areas were generally less well armored and were designed to be more expendable. Ships were designed to stay afloat even if these more vulnerable areas were holed, although hits would still reduce speed. For each H destroyed in location five subtract 2 knots from the ships speed, the same as a funnel hit. If all hits in this location are crossed off flooding has reached critical levels and the ship is no longer able to move. Further hits after all H’s are crossed off have no effect.

Six: Hull hit in the center section of the ship. For each H crossed off the owning player rolls a d6 and reduces the ships speed rating by that many knots. When all H’s are crossed off the ship becomes immobile, the same as 5 above. Additional hits have a chance to sink the ship. For each hit in this area after all H’s are marked off the owning player rolls on the save versus sinking chart, unless he rolls the indicated number or higher the ship sinks and is removed from the game. Note that battleships are very hard to sink saving on a 2+. Not also that if the ship is topside wrecked the owner must subtract one from the die. Topside wrecked means all locations in areas one, two, three and four are destroyed.

 Referred Hits: This rule takes effect when hits are suffered in one of the first four columns and everything in the column has been destroyed. What it represents is both structural weakening and the spread of fire through the topside of the ship.

 Column one, two or three: If all guns destroyed go to column four.

 Column four: If all S and F hits crossed off go to column three, if all destroyed in three go to column two, if also all destroyed in two go to column one, if all destroyed that means everything in the first 4 columns is gone and you must inform the attacking player that the ship is “burning furiously” or some such equivalent statement.

 Note that a location is still armored even when everything in the location is gone. Note also though that referred hits bypass armor. This means that location four which is nearly always unarmored is a vulnerable point for even the most protected ships. This represents that enough of a pounding with even low caliber guns will eventually do enough damage and start enough fires to wreck any ship.