THE GREAT WAR AT SEA GAME SERIES
VOLUME #8: CRUISER WARFARE
ERRATA AND CLARIFICATIONS
by
Alan R. Arvold
The following errata and clarifications were based on a series
of questions put to, and answered by, Avalanche Press in a number
of phone calls. Also consulted were the numerous entries and
their responses listed in the GREAT WAR AT SEA section on
Consimworld. However, all errata and clarifications in this
article should be considered to be unofficial, except those that
were derived from Consimworld that came directly from Avalanche
Press.
RULE BOOK
As the game is relatively new there is only one Rule Book.
While it contains most of the rules that are in the third version
of Series Rules Books, some rules have been changed to fit the
scale of the game, which is strategic, rather than operational as
in the other games of the series.
2.1 Maps
Clarification: When moving off the World Map on the east or west
side and entering it on the opposite side, the ship or fleet must
enter into the area directly adjacent to the area that they left.
Below is a list of adjacent areas on east-west sides of the map:
Bering Sea - Gulf of Alaska
Central Pacific - South Pacific
Marshall Islands - Hawaii
Solomons - Phoenix Island
Coral Sea - Samoa
Tasman Sea - Chatham Island
Ships and fleets may not exit off of the north or south sides of
the World Map.
5.2 Missions
Raid (Add): There is no requirement for raiding fleets to have a
leader in this game, and there is no limit on their size (though
in practice, they will not be very large).
5.3 Fleet Movement
(Add): All fleets move one space per turn on the strategic map,
even if all ships have a speed of 2.
5.5 Commerce Raiding
Clarification: When rolling the die to check on prizes taken, the
area's Trade Number is subtracted from the die roll result. If
the resulting number is positive, that is the number of prizes
taken. If the number is zero or a negative number, there are no
prizes.
5.54 Prizes (Add): Prizes are worth one VP each.
8.5 Dead in the Water
8.51 Speed Loss (Add): If a ship which suffers a hit where the
printed damage result includes losing one movement, and from the
same hit has more than half of the number of hull boxes crossed
off, then that ship suffers the loss of two movement, not one. A
ship may not lose more than one movement due to have more than
half of its hull boxes crossed off in a game, no matter how many
additional hull boxes are crossed off later on. Additional
printed movement losses from damage results still apply though.
(This rule represents the reduction of a ship's speed due to the
gradual flooding in the damaged hull spaces. The printed movement
losses in the various damage tables represent engine room hits.)
8.6 Referred Pain
(Add): 8.65 If primary hits on primary and secondary armament
with light or no armor cause excess damage, the excess damage can
be taken as a hull hit if the original primary hit takes out the
last armament box of the required type. However, the excess
damage is ignored if the hull has heavy armor.
9.0 Multiple-Ship Counters
9.3 Combat (Clarification): A player can not place all hits on
one ship in the counter if there are more hits than the one ship
can possibly absorb. In addition, once a ship has taken enough
hull hits to sink, it is no longer eligible to receive any more
hits.
10.1 Consumption
(Clarification): A ship consumes 1/2 of a fuel box for each area
that they move into or stay in during a turn.
10.4 Colliers
10.43 Collier Counters (Add): Colliers are fast transports.
10.8 Ammunition
(Clarification): A "round of combat" (used to describe the length
of some battle scenarios) is one completion of the tactical
sequence (all 20 steps).
11.7 Station Ships
(Add): A ships placed on station in an space (detached from a
fleet) must spend on full turn on station before joining a new
fleet. In other words, it may not join a fleet on the turn after
being placed on station.
13.Set Up
Each player sets up his or her forces as outlined below.
Allied Forces
(All ships are British unless otherwise noted.)
South China Sea:
B12 Triumph, AC14 Hampshire, AC19 Minotaur,
AC09 Dupleix (French), CL12 Yarmouth, CL54 Newcastle,
8 x River-class DD
Arabian Sea:
B09 Goliath, B13 Swiftsure, B24 Ocean, CL03 Darmouth,
CL04 Weymouth, PC03 Fox, 1 x AMC
Tahiti:
AC18 Montcalm (French)
Eastern Seaboard:
AC33 Suffolk, CL08 Bristol
Labrador Sea:
B37 Glory, PC01 Niobe (RCN), 1 x AMC
Norwegian Sea:
AC38 Edgar, AC39 Cresent, AC40 Endymion, AC42 Grafton,
AC43 Theseus
Sea of Japan:
PC05 Askold (Russian), C12 Jemtchug (Russian)
Gulf of Alaska:
PC02 Rainbow (RCN)
Madiera:
AC28 Carnarvon, AC29 Cornwall, AC35 Cumberland, AC47 Amphitrite,
AC48 Argonaut, AC49 Europa, CL11 Falmouth, PC08 Minerva,
PC11 Highflyer, PC13 Challenger, PC14 Vindictive
French Atlantic Squadron (All ships are French):
AC12 Amiral Charner, AC13 Latouche-Treville, AC14 Bruix,
GB01 Cosmao, GB05 Cassard
Narrows:
AC23 Donegal, AC27 Kent, AC31 Monmouth
Caribbean:
AC34 Berwick, AC36 Essex, AC37 Lancaster, AC20 Conde (French),
GB04 Descartes (French)
Western Atlantic:
B20 Canopus, AC22 Leviathan, AC24 King Alfred, AC30 Good Hope,
CL07 Glasgow, GB03 Friant (French)
Western Approaches:
AC44 Sutlej, PC06 Isis, PC07 Juno, PC10 Venus
Cape of Good Hope:
PC01 Astraea, PC12 Hyacinth, GB01 Pegasus
Tasman Sea:
BC01 Australia (RAN), CL01 Melborne (RAN), CL02 Sydney (RAN),
PC01 Encounter (RAN), GB01 Pioneer (RAN),
3 x Parramatta-class DD (RAN)
Chatham Islands:
GB02 Pyramus, GB02 Psyche (RAN), GB01 Philomel (RNZN)
Available Armed Merchant Cruisers (see 12.7):
AMC01 Otranto, AMC02 Carmania, AMC03 Empress of Asia,
AMC04 Empress of Britian, AMC05 Empress of Japan,
AMC06 Empress of Russia, AMC07 Himalaya
Reinforcements Place in Bay of Biscay, once two or more British
armored cruisers have been sunk, if the Central Powers player has
scored 50 or more victory points, or if Central Powers Variant
Option 6 is in play:
Leader Sturdee, BC02 Inflexible, BC05 Invincible,
BC07 Princess Royal, 1 x Collier
Central Powers
(All ships are German unless otherwise noted.)
Yellow Sea:
Leader Mueller, CL52 Emden, CD04 Kaiserin Elisabeth (Austrian),
GB03 Cormoran, GB04 Geier, GB05 Iltis, GB06 Jaguar, GB07 Tiger,
GB08 Luchs, TB31 S90
Gulf of Mexico:
Leader Kohler, Leader Ludecke, CL 45 Dresden, CL54 Karlsruhe
Mozambique Channel:
Leader Looff, CL53 Konigsberg
Gulf of Guinea:
GB09 Eber
Gulf of California:
CL46 Leipzig
Bay of Biscay:
CL07a Strassburg '14
Yellow Sea, Philippine Sea, Caroline Islands, Marshall Islands,
or Solomons:
Leader Spee, AC13 Scharnhorst, AC14 Gneisenau, CL44 Nurnberg,
1 x Collier
Available Armed Merchant Cruisers (see 12.7):
AMC01 Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, AMC02 Cap Trafalger,
AMC03 Kronprinz Wilhelm, AMC04 Prinz Eitel Freidrich,
AMC05 Cormoran
Neutral Forces:
Dutch East Indies:
(All ships are Dutch)
CD01 De Zeven Provencien, CD05 Konigin Regentes,
CD07 Hertog Hendrik, CD08 Tromp, 4 x Fret-class DD,
4 x Draak-class TB
Bonnin Islands: AC00 Marco Polo (Italian)
Japanese Forces
(Place upon Japanese Declaration of War (12.41).)
Yellow Sea:
First Fleet: B09 Satsuma, B10 Aki, BB11 Settsu, CL20 Tone,
CL22 Yahagi, CL23 Hirado, DL01 Yodo, 12 x Asakaze-class DD
1 x collier
Second Fleet: B11 Iwami, B12 Sagami, B13 Suo, B14 Hizen,
B15 Tango, AC02 Takiwa, AC03 Yakumo, AC04 Adzuma, C02 Takachiho,
C07 Akashi, DL02 Mogami, 12 x Asakaze-class DD, 1 x collier
West Coast: AC05 Idzumo
South China Sea:
Formosa Squadron: BC09 Ibuki, CL21 Chikuma
Bonnin Islands:
Third Squadron: BB12 Kawachi, AC07 Kasuga, AC08 Nisshin,
C06 Suma, C11 Tsushima, C12 Nitaka, C13 Otawa, C19 Tatsuta,
C21 Chihaya, 2 x Umikaze-class DD, 4 x Sakura-class DD,
6 x Ikazuchi-class DD, 1 x collier
Battlecruiser Squadron: BC01 Kongo, BC07 Tsukuba, BC08 Ikoma,
BC10 Kurama
Reinforcements
(All ships are Japanese.)
Place in the Bonnin Islands II September Turn:
Fourth Squadron: B07 Kashima, B08 Katori, AC01 Asama,
GB08 Saga, 4 x Sakura-class DD, 1 x collier
Singapore Squadron: AC06 Iwate, DD50 Satsuki
Place in the Bonnin Islands I October Turn:
Fifth Squadron: B03 Shikishima, B06 Mikasa, AC09 Aso
(Note: The Imperial Japanese Navy of 1914 was operating on a peacetime budget when Japan entered the war and several ships assigned to the various fleets and squadrons were not actually present, but were either undergoing overhaul in the case of the newer ships or recently placed in reserve in the case of some of the older ships. Because Japan's entry into the war is a variable factor, all ships listed are assumed to be present. In the case of the Japanese reinforcements, all of those ships had been placed in reserve for some time and took a little longer to get back to operational status.)
IMPERIAL CONVOY TABLE
If Rabaul is captured by the Allies, the Central Powers player
may no longer re-fuel of replenish ammunition in either the
Solomons or the Caroline Islands.
(The port of Rabaul is located on the border between those two
areas, which is why it can service ships in both of them.)
COUNTERS
The Austrian ship Franz Josef should have a ship ID number of
CD05, not CL52. (Both she and her sister ship, the Kaiserin
Elisabeth, were originally built as armored cruisers in the
1880's. By 1914 they were both reduced in classification to that
of coastal defense ships and that was being gracious considering
their respective ages. As the Austrian Navy didn't even want them
guarding their own coastlines, they were used as station ships in
foreign ports of call.)
The following ships each should have a circle instead of a
triangle to indicate the torpedo mount. The Hit Record Sheets for
these ships are correct. (Although these ship did have their
torpedoes mounted on the deck, they were hard mounted in non
-swivel torpedo tubes and thus they have the same die roll
modifiers as regular hull mounted torpedo tubes.)
British: Astraea (PC01), Charybdis (PC02), Fox (PC03),
Pegasus (GB01), Pyramus (GB02)
Australian: Pioneer (GB01), Psyche (GB02)
New Zealand: Philomel (GB01)
Russian: Jemtchug (C12)
The Japanese cruiser Chihaya (C19) has the name Otowa on the
counter which is incorrect.
The Japanese ship Wakamiya (CVS01) and its associated seaplane
counter are extra counters, they are not used in the game.
HIT RECORD CHARTS
The French gun boats Descartes (GB04), Cassard (GB05), and
Du Chayla (GB06) each should a Movement of 1, not 1s. The
counters are correct.
The German light cruiser Leipzig (CL46) should have a hull
mounted torpedo mount, not a deck mounted one. The counter is
correct.
The German armed merchant cruiser Greif (AMC06) should have no
torpedo mount. The counter is correct.
The German armed merchant cruiser Leopard should have a ship
number of AMC10, not AMC09. In addition, it should have a point
value of 4 and a tertiary value of 2. The counter is correct.
The German torpedo boat S90 should of one deck mounted torpedo
and a point value of 2. The counter is correct.
The Japanese cruiser Otowa (C13) should have no torpedo mount and
a point value of 5.
The Japanese cruiser Chihaya (C19) should have a deck mounted
torpedo mount, not hull mounted. The counter is correct on that
matter.
The Japanese gun boat Saga should have a ship number of GB08, not
GB01. The counter is correct.
The Japanese destroyers Ikazuchi 9 and 10 should have no tertiary
gunnery factor. The counters are correct.
The Japanese destroyer Umikaze 1 should have a tertiary value of
one, not two and a point value of 6 each, not 7.
OLD JAPANESE BATTLESHIPS
There has been some questions as to why the Japanese
pre-dreadnought battleships Shikishima (B03), Mikasa (B06),
Kashima (B07), and the Katori (B08) each have a reduced Movement
Factor and are each missing a Hull Box compared to what they have
in the game GWAS:1904. Here are the answers. Each ship's Hull
Rating was reevaluated to take into account the increased
explosive power that armor piercing rounds had in 1914. Between
the years 1904 and 1914, powerful new high explosives were
developed and thus were used in both AP and HE rounds used by the
various navies of the world. Rather than have a ridiculous rule
saying that a hit on the hull of an old ship would cause 1 and
1/4 hull boxes to be crossed off, it was easier to change the
Hull Factors. Note that not all old ships had their Hull Factors
changed. Many old ships were so well constructed that the new
rounds did not cause significantly more damage than the old ones
did. Just those ships which were not that well constructed were
affected. As far as speed is concerned, these ships were old
ships by this time and had lost a few knots of speed, thus
causing a reduction in their Movement Factors.