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Tuesday 17 December 2013

Itchy and Scratchy Naval wargame rules: Possible changes/improvements

In the light of the recent play-test of the first draft of the rules, I have been giving some thought to possible changes that I could make.

The possible changes include:
  • Reducing the movement rates for all ship types by one grid area: This should have the effect of 'enlarging' the currently available tabletop as it would take the models longer to move across it.
  • Allowing ships to turn without having to move forward one grid area first: This should also have the effect of 'enlarging' the existing tabletop as it would enable ships to manoeuvre within a smaller area.
  • Introducing a Flotation Value formula that takes into account a model's dimensions (in inches) and its level of armour: For example a heavily armoured battleship that is 4-inches long and 2-inches wide would have a Flotation Value of 32 (4 x 2 x 4 = 32), a lightly armoured cruiser that is 4-inches long and 1.5-inches wide would have a Flotation Value of 12 (4 x 1.5 x 2 = 12), and an unarmoured torpedo boat that is 4-inches long and 1-inch wide would have a Flotation Value of  4 (4 x 1 x 1 = 2).
  • Revising and simplifying the Gunfire Results table to remove the differences between hits on armoured and unarmoured ships: This change would be dependant upon the introduction of the Flotation Value formula as guns would inflict more hits.
None of these changes should affect the basic mechanics of the rules and hopefully will improve them.

6 comments:

  1. Bob, don't forget that some cruisers were longer than contemporary battleships!

    I might be wrong!

    Jim

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  2. Jim Duncan,

    You are right; some of the cruisers were longer than contemporary battleships ... but as the rules are designed to be used with Hexon II hexes, the ships are limited to a maximum length of 4-inches/10cm.

    I suppose that I should term the restriction something like 'The Hexon Naval Treaty'!

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Bob,

    I certainly think points 1 and 2 are a good idea - in fact I was going to do that when including the later ships and for the same reasons of 'sea room'.

    The third point seems like a sound idea but I can see a couple of points. Firstly, defining the armour weight and also the size issue. Given the cartoon nature of the models with sizes being variable would it be an idea to base the size element on the actual historical dimensions of the vessel but expressed as either 1, 2, 3 or 4 (depending on the size of the model) - in effect with so many feet equalling an inch. Sounds a little muddy so I would need to think about this more so apologies if it seems a little confusing!

    I will be interested in your thoughts around point 4!

    All the best,

    DC

    ReplyDelete
  4. David Crook,

    I suppose that when I was thinking about the third possible change I was only thinking about the models that I will use with the rules ... and so your point is very well made. I will give some thought to producing an alternative formula for people who are not using 'cartoon' models, but in the interim I will make some suggestions as to Flotation Values for different types of warship.

    I plan to go back over the play-test battle to see what differences the possible changes would have had on the outcome, and I hope to write a blog entry about the results later today.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  5. I would keep the extra hex movement forward in a turn for the larger ships to simulate how hard they were to turn in comparison to lighter vessels.
    Dick Bryant

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  6. Dick Bryant,

    I think that you may well be right, but for the moment I am going to see how that rule works in practice, especially as I hope that it will make larger ships more vulnerable to sneak torpedo attacks by faster, smaller torpedo boats.

    If my idea does not work, I will certainly revert to the 'move forward before you can turn' rule for battleships ... and possibly armoured cruisers.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete

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