Fast-Play WWII Naval "One-Hour Wargames"

"I fear we have awakened a sleeping wargamer..."

"...and filled him with a terrible resolve!"

from: [click]

Well, at least a terrible resolve to play a lot more WWII fast-play naval games!

With building excitement for my periodic naval wargames projects, I redid my fast-play WWII naval rules previously posted [CLICK] in the distinct style of One-Hour Wargames. I used the 6-Hits and 3-dice mechanics, which are very similar but give less attritional outcomes [ie you can totally miss] as naval battles in this era are focused more on gunnery than attriting your opponent, and well, you really can miss completely in naval gunnery!

Mr. Winkie is getting to be a young man, so I will have to see if I can convince him to play this out on the table so for now this version has NOT been playtested!  You have been warned... Do submit questions and ideas below, as Fb is well, evil, and a pain to track things on. 

These rules are focused on ship fighting, but give some - reasonable, I believe - nods to subs and airpower, which on most occasions were supporting the ship effort in a surface battle. My main thinking has been the USN v. IJN in mid-war, and perhaps the RN v. the RA in the Mediterranean, circa 1940-1942. You can tweak these to be a bit more specific as you like, and please send me your ideas!

Without further ado:

One-Hour WW2 Naval Warfare
By Alexander A. Moore of RED IN THE MORNING...
 
SCALE
This is not very NT/OHW to define, but the scale is a 6 minute turn, 1”=1,000 yards. This works out to 5 knots of speed is 1” for example, and 2” is a nautical mile [nm].
 
SHIP TYPES
Battleship BB, Cruiser CA, Destroyer DD, Submarine SS.                 
Force Composition is using the regular charts substituting as follows:
Infantry = CA, Archers = 2xDD, Skirmisher = CA or 2xDD as desired. Cavalry = BB.
 
Basing should be about ½“ - 1” wide and long enough to give ½” of space front and back. Put the naval flag, class and name of the ship on the base!
 
TURN SEQUENCE
The Attacker takes the first Player Turn, the Defender then takes a Player Turn. This ends one Game Turn. Each Player Turn is composed of the following Phases:
Movement. Player sequentially moves all his ships.
Fire. Player declares all Fire at a Target, resolves it, then moves on to the next Target, until all his ships have Fired.
Incidents. Opposing Player removes his smoke, then rolls to sink his ships with six or more Hits.
 
MOVEMENT

Ship Type	Movement	Turns	Turn at
Battleship	4”	90°	End of Move
Cruiser	5”	90°	End of Move
Destroyer	6”	90°	Start and/or End of Move
Submarine	4” / *2”	90°	Start and/or End of Move. *Submerged Movement.

Turns. Ships can turn up to 90° at the start and/or end of the move as indicated.
Minimum Move. Ships must move 2” a turn.
 
TERRAIN
The terrain features in the OHW scenarios must be adjusted for nautical warfare as follows:
Woods = Fog/Squall. Half move speed, Range within is 2” @ -1d6 to all Fire.
Town, Hill = Island. No ship movement into area; blocks Line of Sight.
Marsh, Lake = Shallows. Only Small ships may enter, or none at all as seems best.
Rivers = Peninsulas, Reefs and Sandbars [take your pick[ which count as impassible terrain.
Bridge, Ford = Channel thru Peninsulas 2-3” wide; may be passed by all ships.
Roads = Remove from scenario.

FIRING
The arcs of Gun Fire are 45°off the front, rear and right and left sides. Measure between closest points of a base, or the closest smoke stacks. Roll 3d6 scoring Hits as below:

Ship Type	Range	Hit on	Armored	Size	Torpedo	Notes
Battleship	18”	3+	Yes	L	N
Cruiser	12”	4+		M	N
Destroyer	6”	5+		S	Y	Torpedo: 6” Range, 3d6 @ 4+ to Hit.
Submarine	6”	6+		S	Y
Shore Battery	12”	4+	Yes	L	N

Adjudicate Hits
If target is Small or Armored, lose 1d6 for each.
If at half range or less, add 1d6. If Firing out to an additional 6”, lose 1d6.
Gun Fire through Firer’s Front or Rear arc, lose 1d6.
Ship Torpedoes are only fired through the Side Arcs; Submarine torpedoes thru the Front Arc.
Ship Damage and Sinking
Each ship can take 6 hits, after which they are Sinking. Roll a d6 for Sinking ships each Turn:
1-2 ship stays afloat, 3-4 ship catches Fire obscuring like Smoke, 5 quietly sinks, 6 explodes! Attach all ships within 1” with 3d6 @ 5+, become 3”x3” burning oil slick obscuring as Smoke.
 
Suggestions for Scenario Rules
Fortified Islands. If scenario has a Fort, e.g. #15 or 22, the island may have shore batteries, which count as Armored ships with 12” Range, Firing 3d6 @ 4+ to Hit. These are assumed to be scattered around the island, so draw Range and Line of sight from any point. Alternately, base them on two DD bases, and actually deploy them on the island, then draw Range and LoS from them at 180°.
Mainland. If a side can’t go within 6” of the table edge, the mainland is there, shallows, reefs, etc.
Mountainous Terrain. Large island, may have shore batteries or airfield.
Confusion. No Fire on Game Turn 1.
Scouting. Morning mist blocks the player[s] Fire one turn; the sun then burns it off.
Blundering into Contact. Both fleets move in a column [line ahead] until 6” of the center island; each then rolls a d6 to see if they leave it to port [left] or starboard [right] and turns in that direction, keeping the island 3-6” away, until one of their ships sights the enemy – they then move normally.
Wooded Hill. The shore battery is concealed by terrain, and Fire at them loses another -1d6.
Surprise. Red ships may not move Turns 1-3, or fire Turn 1. Get +1d6 Firing at Stationary Ships.
Scenario 23. Eliminate the river, keep the exit point – should play fine.
Red Disorganization. Red Ships may not move Turns 1-3 so are Stationary. They Fire normally.
Elite Defenders. The Shore Battery hits on a 3+.
Redoubt. This is a Shore Battery that replaces one CA and counts as Armored due to concealment. If invaded, a Landing Force is delayed a turn dicing an attack while the obstacles are negotiated.
 
 
Optional Rules
Submarines
Only the Defender may have a Submarine, which is exchanged for a CA.
Arc of Fire. Submarine torpedoes fire out of the Front Arc; its Gun fires into any arc.
Start. Submarines must start the game on the board and Submerged. They set up with 2 dummy markers anywhere in the setup area that may move like a Submerged SS. A dummy marker is removed when Hit by Gun Fire, or a DD comes within 2”, or if the SS Fires Torpedoes or surfaces. 
Submerged. Submarines may Surface or Submerge at the start of their Movement Phase. When Surfaced, they are like a slow DD per above rules. When Submerged, they have a 2” Move with no minimum, count as a Target in Fog/Squall, and can’t Gun Fire.
Deep Dive. A submarine may Deep Dive at the start of its Movement Phase. This removes it from play. It does not count as destroyed but as having left the play area.
 
Aircover. If one force has BBs and the other has fewer, Aircover is available to the force with fewer and attacks on Turn 1, or the first turn an opposing BB is on the table. Airpower attacks 1-3 Targets [1/2 d6 round up] and each target gets one air attack. The value of the attack is:
3d6 @ 3+ to Hit if one force has one BB and the other none;
3d6 @ 4+ to Hit if one force has two BB and the other one.
Air attacks get +1 d6 if attacking a Large ship or Island.
Battleships attract significant opposing resources as impressive targets!
 
National Characteristics for Torpedoes
IJN Type 93 “Long Lance”: 12” Range, 3d6 @ 3+ to Hit. Cruisers may have torpedoes!
USA Mark 14 Torpedo: 6” Range, 3d6 @ 5+ to Hit
If using this rule, it is advised that the USN force get Aircover.
 
Torpedo Hits result in the loss of 1d6” of of movement each – halve for Armored ships. Once all movement is lost, the ship is Stationary. If using this rule, switch all Torpedoes to 2d6 instead of 3d6.
 
Island defense. In scenarios with a town that has no Fort, the defender may exchange one CA to give the Island a Shore Battery as above.
Airfield. For the cost of a second CA, an atoll / island may have an airfield. This is an unarmored ship that may attack one ship every other turn [8 total attacks] with a sortie of planes worth 3d6 @ 4+ to Hit and with unlimited Range. If an Island has an Airfield, it must first have Shore Batteries.
 
Two Targets. Most BB and CA in this period had two Fire Direction Centers and could handle two Targets. Accordingly, 1 dice may be fired at one Target, and two dice at another target. Each Fire is then modified according to the circumstances.
 
Target Acquisition. Ships generally picked a target and stuck with it until it was out of the fight. This is because acquiring a new target was difficult and took time and skill.  One way to handle it is to penalize a ship -1d6 if it has started firing upon a Target this Turn. Another way to handle it is to give +1d6 for “Fired upon the same target as last turn”. If the Target moves out of Line of Sight, the acquisition is lost and the penalty is applied again. I prefer the -1d6!
 
Smoke. Many ships could lay smoke as an obscurant to enemy Fire. Smoke is a linear terrain feature along the path the laying ship took this turn. If a Target is completely on the other side [ship model or entire base, as you prefer] of the smoke, all Fire at it is -1d6. A black pipe cleaner is perfect smoke!
 
Variable obscurants. Fog, Squalls and even chemical smoke laid by ships can be quite variable, largely depending on the effect of wind. It is therefore more realistic to have a ship decide on a Target that is obscured by these and roll 1d6 for the number of inches to the Target that it can see. If it fails to roll enough inches, the Target can’t be fired upon. Alternately, subtract another 1d6 from its Fire – it’s your scenario!
 
Minefields. Some setups may need an obstruction that attacks, e.g. Scenario #6 Zone 1. For the cost of a CA, the setup area has a minefield that attacks any ship moving through it once a movement phase at 3d6 @ 3+ to hit.
 
Hit the Beach! Some scenarios seem to demand that a Town/Hill be seized, not their batteries merely silenced – consequently, the Island must be invaded!  If both players agree, the defense gets a Shore Battery, and the Attacker may substitute Transports for 1-2 Destroyers [or 2 for a Cruiser]. The Transports may attack the island with a landing force which has a range of 2” and attacks at 3d6 @ 4+ to Hit. If the Shore Battery is based, then the landing Force advances up to 1” a Turn and attacks on contact, per the Melee rules! Neither side may shoot into a melee.
 
Night. The IJN made huge efforts to prepare for it, and even early radar didn’t improve USN performance much. The best one can say is it enabled a sort of parity for a while, until the USN improved both the tech and the technique of radar fighting. Easiest is to limit ranges to 6” or three nautical miles on a moonlit night, using one marker per ship until they are at that range. You could shorten it to 3” even for a new moon. Expect the fight to be short and violent!  For variable visibility, roll a d6 and add it to the Range you set each time a ship Fires at a Target – if it falls short the target is out of Line of Sight. Ships that fire always replace their marker. For flares, Fire them at the start of the Fire Phase, make visibility 6” or 3” around the flare depending on the moon. Ships that do not Fire and are not illuminated or within Line of Sight may become markers again – markers cannot be Fired upon.
 
Traditional OHW Fire Dice. You can return the Fire mechanics to the OHW by giving the ships firing at 3+ the d6+2, the 4+ the d6, and the 5+ the d6-2, and all ships get 15 Hits. But why??  😊