Fog of War

[DM]

A possible new "house rule" for your delectation and enjoyment. Best suited for campaign games.

Scouting and Spotting

These rules are intended to recreate a little of the “fog of war”. They are not really suitable for tournament play.

Ships are initially represented on the table by markers. All ships use the same marker. Each marker must be specifically linked to a real ship in the players force. The marker must be manoeuvred in the same way as the ship it represents.

If a marker is successfully detected by radar the size of the ship, or rather its Target Number is revealed. However, the identity of the ship is not revealed until a visual sighting is made, and even then this is not automatic. If a marker comes within spotting range of an enemy ship roll a d6. The identity of the marker is revealed on a roll of 1-5. On a 6 the type of ship is revealed (e.g. battleship, carrier, submarine) but not the class. One attempt can be made per spotting ship per turn. For simplicity players may assume that any ship spotted by more than 2 enemy ships is automatically identified.

 

[Taellik]

Love this idea!

I like to host/run historical re-enactments but not telling players the actual battles i.e. Battle of the Komandorski Islands, Balikpapan, etc.

This will help preserve the uncertainity for those players who like to "gather interlligence" about the scenario they will be playing by doing web searches for the combatant ships ahead of time. I will be trying this addition for confusing the players as to what ship types are showing up on the board at different times and I think it will add more tension & excitment to the game than just placing the miniatures on the board, having the players seeing what they are up against and then throwing dice.

Only down-side, how do scout/recon planes factor into this? Do planes auto-detect oppossing ships at a given distance ?

 

[Wishbone]

i'd certainly use those rules for heavy weather fighting or night engagements.
i think for normal games, unless there is an enormous table theres not much point... i'd be willing to try it though.

 

[Taellik]

i'd certainly use those rules for heavy weather fighting or night engagements.
i think for normal games, unless there is an enormous table theres not much point... i'd be willing to try it though.

This is VaS ! Of course we have an enormous table ! lol

 

[steveburt]

I use the counters which came with the rulebook for unspotted ships - once the ship has been spotted I replace the counter with a model.

Of course, the counter I use may bear no resemblance to the actual ship, which allows for incidents like the Barents Sea where an enemy cruiser was thought to be a destroyer.