Worst rule in the whole game

[DM]

General bad weather would probably be better represented as a global effect across the whole table, given the scale and timescale of the game. Squalls and snow showers (or even pockets of fog) would be a useful addition. How about this for starters?.

Start the game with 1d6 squalls on table placed randomly (I suggest throwing 6" diameter pieces of irregular blue card onto the table). Decide the wind direction (from one side to the opposite side for simplicity). Squalls move 1d6 " in the direction of the wind. Roll a d6 at the start of each turn. on 3+ another squall enters the table from the upwind side, starting point determined randomly.

Squalls are irregular shapes but generally 6" in diameter. They block LOS to targets on the opposite side. They do not block LOS into or out of the squall, but all fire into or out of a squall has an additional -1 DD modifier. Aircraft cannot attack targets in squalls, nor may ships in squalls use AAA against aircraft. Carriers may not launch or recover aircraft whilst they are in a squall.

NB: squalls can exist in areas of otherwise good weather (I've been at sea in cases where we've seen lovely thick columns of rain in otherwise sunny conditions).

I wouldn't want to see squalls become a regular part of the game though, they aren't common. If you want other things to hide behind then islands are probably a more reliable bet

 

[Myrm]

Well islands are a bit more bullet proof

 

[BuShips]

So not that interesting then...

Actually it was. It took place during a campaign set in the Soomons. One of my DDs got ittself lost in fog and came round an island to find itself at close quarters with the Yamato. It fired off a quick salvo of 5" before being blown to atoms by the Japanese BB and her escorts. The 5" hits did nothing except start a small fire in the boat bays aft in the ship. However, that was enough as the Japanese player proved toatlly incapable of rolling the scores he needed to fight the fires, which steadily grew. All the time the campaign was continuing, but Yamato hauled out of the Japanese battle line after 4 game hours with a (by now) raging fire back aft which had engulfed the seaplane hangar. After another 3 game hours the fires reached the aft magazines which went up, blowing the back off the ship and sinking her. We calcualted the odds of it happening and it was millions to one against.

Um, did he ever consider flooding the aft magazines? Well, it probably didn't as after all of those missed rolls he was thinking his luck would surely change. :wink:

 

[DM]

Um, did he ever consider flooding the aft magazines? Well, it probably didn't as after all of those missed rolls he was thinking his luck would surely change.

Nope, not that its a guarantee of anything. With the back end ablaze from the stern to the X turret barbette things were pretty terminal anyway

 

[boom_huh]

@ Hammer of Ulric
Anyway don't know what your complaining about,
it was my second shot. :twisted:

 

[brimax2]

BY taking a big ship with lots of eggs in one basket in a game with a small chance of dying in one shot you have just made a tactical decision in your fleet design - so there is an element of it affecting fleet planning. The presence of the rule does make you have to be careful so as not to overspend on one asset.

Then BBs hqve to become part of a fleet, maybe the powerful unit in it, but be the bulk of the fleet.

A good hit from one torpedo spread is not exactly that unlikely and for many many ships IS a one hit kill. IJN ships with 4/4s doing 16 points plus about a number of other crits will be the death of many and isnt too unlikely in comparison to the one dice and catastrophic crit roll. Both are still one shot from one ship that kill in one go - OK its not likely to affect the BIG BBs but why be precious about them when a decent size cruiser in dominates lower priority games in the same way.

I can see why people might want to ameliorate it - particularly if you want to slug out a historical scenario and take time, but for tournament purposes it seems to affect decisions and throw a bit of uncertainty up.

While reading this thread I was thinking the same thing, and was wondering when some one was going to point this out. Play a Battle Scenerio and only take three ships? You leave yourself open for a fast defeat if your opponent gets really lucky or you are unlucky; which is what happened. Image if your opponent hit with all Ad then damaged with all DD, which would be 36 points of damange your BB would be crippled.

Miniature games are all about dice. I would say that the airplane rules are the worst; not that they are underpowered, just not explain well.

I really dont want to say that you shouldn't play with only 3 BBs; you can play any way you want. It seems that this game was only going to be a slugfest at long and extreme ranges anyways. So, you shouldn't get irrate if you lose a BB in the first round.