THE GREAT WAR AT SEA GAME SERIES

VOLUME #4: 1904-1905, RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR

ERRATA AND CLARIFICATIONS

by

Alan R. Arvold

The following errata and clarifications are 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 in the GREAT WAR AT SEA section on Consimworld.

However, all errata and clarifications in this article should be

considered to be unofficial.

SERIES RULES BOOK

There have been three different Series Rules Books in the game

series. The first version came in the first three games of the

series (THE MEDITERRANEAN, THE NORTH & BALTIC SEAS, and U.S. NAVY

PLAN ORANGE). The second version came in the fourth and fifth

games of the series (1904-1905: THE RUSSO-JAPANESE NAVAL WAR and

U.S. NAVY PLAN BLACK) and was available as replacements for the

rule books in the first three games. These versions are now

obsolete. The third version came in the sixth and seventh games

of the series (1898: THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR and U.S. NAVY PLAN

RED) and the second edition of the first game. This is the

current version of the Standard Rules for the game series.

8.5 Dead in the Water

8.51 Speed Loss (Add): If a ship which suffers a hit whose

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 having 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 of the damaged hull spaces. The printed movement

losses in the various damage tables represent engine room hits.)

8.6 Referred Pain

(Add): 8.63 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.

COUNTERS

The Japanese gunboat Yaeyama (GB04) should not have a torpedo

symbol as it did not have any torpedoes.

The Japanese gunboat Idzami (GB07) should have a circle torpedo

symbol has it had hull mounted torpedoes.

The Japanese cruiser Tatsuta (C19) counter from the variant

counter sheet for light ships (available on Grognard) should have

triangle instead of a circle torpedo symbol. The counter that

comes in the game is correct though.

The Russian battleship Alexander II (B18) should not have a

torpedo symbol as it did not have any torpedoes.

The Russian minelayers Amur and Yenisei should not have a torpedo

symbol as neither carried torpedoes. Also these ships are

misnumbered, they should respectively be ML01 and ML02. This

applies both to the counters that come in the game and to those

that came on the variant counter sheet.

The Russian gunboats Korietz (GB14) and Mandjur (GB15) should not

have a torpedo symbol as neither carried torpedoes. This applies

both to the counters that came in the game and to those that came

on the variant counter sheet.

The Russian gunboat Almaz (GB16) counter from the variant counter

sheet for light ships should not have a torpedo symbol. The

counter that comes in the game is correct though.

The Russian balloon ship Rus (BL01) counter from the variant

counter sheet should not have a torpedo symbol. The counter that

comes in the game is correct though.

Many people wonder why Japanese battleships B09 and B10 (Yamato

and Musashi) are different from the same numbered battleships in

CRUISER WARFARE (Satsuma and Aki). The answer is this. The Yamato

and Musashi were originally the Chilean battleships Constitucion

and Libertad. At the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War the

Chilean goverment offered them up for sale on the international

market. The Russian government expressed interest in purchasing

them for its war with Japan but before this could be done, Great

Britain jumped in and purchased them at a higher price just to

keep them out of Russian hands. These two battleships became the

Triumph and Swiftsure in the Royal Navy which appear in several

volumes of the GREAT WAR AT SEA Series. The Yamato and Musashi

appear in two scenarios in the game and these are the

hypothetical ones where the Japanese take on the combined Russian

fleets. The premise here is that the British used their influence

to block the sale of the battleships to the Russians and instead

brokered a deal where the Japanese were able to purchase them

from the Chileans at a discount. (Britain being an ally of both

Japan and Chile at the time.) The appearence of the Yamato and

Musashi are therefore a game balancing action in these

hypothetical scenarios. The Satsuma and Aki in CRUISER WARFARE

are the actual historical ninth and tenth battleships in the

Japanese Fleet at that time.

SCENARIO BOOK

Scenarios

Battle Scenario 8

(Correction): The cruiser Aurora (C08) is listed twice in the

Russian Forces, once in the First Pacific Fleet and once in the

Second Pacific Fleet. Delete the Aurora's listing in the First

Pacific Fleet.

Operational Scenario 2

(Correction): In the Japanese First Squadron, only cross off one

coal box in each No.21 Class TB counter.

(Given where they historically started from, they would only have

had enough fuel at the beginning of the scenario to move three

sea zones on the operational map. The decision to only cross off

one coal box for these torpedo boats was a scenario balancing

one.)

Operational Scenario 11

(Correction): The cruiser Aurora (C08) is listed twice in the

Russian Forces, once in the First Pacific Fleet and once in the

Second Pacific Fleet. Delete the Aurora's listing in the First

Pacific Fleet.

Tables

The following tables were left off of the last page of the

Scenario Book due to lack of room. Here they are.

Torpedo Die Roll Modifiers (Pre-Dreadnought Era)

+1 if target is capital ship or F-numbered transport

+1 if target is dead in the water

+1 if target is towing or being towed (11.2)

+0 if target is in the same hex as firing ship

-1 if target is one hex away from firing ship

-1 if firing ship is a capital ship

-1 if torpedo is fired from hull mount

Gunnery Ranges (Pre-Dreadnought Era)

Primary 2 hexes

Secondary 1 hex

Tertiary same hex

HIT RECORD CHARTS

Russian

The Russian Torpedo Boat counter TB08 should be listed as

Sungari-9, not Sungari-4.