Memoir of Battle at Sea (MOB@S): Move then fire or fire then move?

After I wrote my earlier blog entry about my draft version of MEMOIR OF BATTLE AT SEA, I did some thinking about the game sequence. In the version I wrote earlier today, ships moved and then fired ... but one of the things that I liked about Joseph Morschauser's 'Frontier' wargames rules was the fact that artillery fired before units moved.

As a result, I have redrafted the rules so that ships fire and then move, and this is the version that I will hopefully play-test sometime this weekend.

MEMOIR OF BATTLE AT SEA
At the beginning of each battle both sides throw a D6 die. The side with the highest score moves first each turn.

During each turn both sides fire and then move their ships. Gunfire is deemed to be simultaneous, and a ship that has been hit and sunk may fire its guns that turn – as it sinks – if a suitable target is in range.

Ship Data
Firing Dice
The six faces of the D6 firing dice are marked as follows:

• 1 x Major hit (worth two points)
• 2 x Minor hit (worth one point)
• 3 x Miss

Firing
If the target ship is not ahead or astern of the firing ship (i.e. it is in a hex that is not wholly in a hex that is within a sixty degree arc either side of the hex ahead or astern of the firing ship), the firing ship may ‘fire’ with full effect. The number of dice thrown is reduced by one for every hex the target ship is distant from the firing ship.

For example, a modern pre-dreadnought firing at a target ship that is abeam of it ‘fires’ by throwing eight dice. The number of dice thrown depends upon the range, and is counted down as follows: 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. Therefore if a target is at point-blank range (i.e. one hex) she 'fires' (or throws) eight dice, but if it is five hexes away, the pre-dreadnought ‘fires’ four dice.

If the target ship is ahead or astern of the firing ship (i.e. it is in a hex that is wholly in a hex that is within a sixty degree arc either side of the hex ahead or astern of the firing ship), the firing ship may ‘fire’ with half effect (i.e. it only throws half the number of dice it may normally throw). The number of dice thrown is reduced by one for every two hexes the target ship is distant from the firing ship.

For example, a modern pre-dreadnought firing at a target ship that is ahead of it ‘fires’ by throwing four dice. The number of dice thrown depends upon the range, and is counted down as follows: 4-4-3-3-2-2-1-1. Therefore if a target is at point-blank range (i.e. one hex) she 'fires' (or throws) four dice, but if it is five hexes away, the pre-dreadnought ‘fires’ two dice.

Sinking
All hits are cumulative, and when a ship's point’s value is reached, it sinks.

Movement
Movement is measured in hexes. Ships may turn sixty degrees after moving forward one hex, the turn 'costing' one hex of movement.

For example, a destroyer has a movement rate of five hexes. It can move forward one hex, turn sixty degrees (= one hex of movement), move forward another one hex, turn sixty degrees again (= one more hex of movement), and move forward a third hex.