THE GREAT WAR AT SEA GAME SERIES
VOLUME #6: 1898: THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR
ERRATA AND CLARIFICATIONS
by
Alan R. Arvold
The following errata and clarifications are based on series of
questions put to, and answered by, Avalanche Press, in a number
of phone calls. Also consulted were the numerous questions and
answers posted on the GREAT WAR AT SEA SECTION of Consimworld on
this game. 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 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 having more than
half of its hull boxes crossed off in the game, no matter how
many more 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
(Clarification): There has been some questions of the mislabeling
of some ships in the American fleet in the counter set. The
following answers should settle this matter.
The American coastal defence ships (Puritan, Amphitrite,
Monadock, Terror, Miantonomah, and Monterey) are misnumbered.
They should be CD1, CD2, CD3, CD4, CD5, and CD6 respectively.
Although the Texas is labeled as a coastal defense ship, she was
not classified as such until 1911. Before then she was classifed
as a second class battleship.
The armored cruiser New York should be designated AC02, not AC01.
(The original battleship Maine was originally classified as an
armored cruiser (AC01) when launched but shortly thereafter was
reclassified as a second class battleship.) The New York was
later modified and renamed, first as the Saratoga, then later as
the Rochester (CA02) which is how she appears in the game U.S.
NAVY PLAN ORANGE.
The scout cruisers Chester, Birmingham, and Salem (CS01, CS02,
and CS03) were so designated when they were launched, but later
became light cruisers (as they are designated in U.S. NAVY PLAN
RED). The Birmingham was converted to a destroyer tender and
leader in 1911 but was converted back to a cruiser in 1914. In
U.S. NAVY PLAN BLACK they are designated as DLs.
The cruisers Denver, Des Moines, and Chattanooga (C14, C15, and
C16) were later reclassified as gunboats (which is how they are
designated in U.S. NAVY PLAN BLACK)
The gunboats Petrel and Concord are misnumbered. The Concord
should be GB02 and the Petrel should be GB03.
The numbering of the gunboats Topeka, Isla de Luzon, Isla de
Cuba, and Don Jaun de Austria are arbitrary. The Topeka did not
get a hull number until 1921 when she was designated GB35. The
other three gunboats were those captured by Admiral Dewey after
the battle of Manila Bay which he refurbished and used to augment
his force. They were discarded within a year after the war ended.
SCENARIO BOOK
Optional Rules
Ramming (Clarification): The ram bow symbol on the ship data
sheets are located just after the ship's name. For example: the
battleship Maine (B00) has a ram bow but the coastal defence ship
Texas (CD00) does not. In the third paragraph, last sentence, the
first word should be "If".
(In the latter part of the Nineteenth Century, the naval tactic
of ramming enjoyed a brief renaissance during the transition from
wooden to iron and steel ships. Metal ships could sink wooden
ships by ramming with little damage to themselves. However when
ramming other metal ships, the ramming ship received almost as
much damage as it inflicted on the target ship. By the end of the
century, just about all major navies were using all metal
warships and the tactic of ramming fell out of favor for good.)
Operational Scenarios
Operational Scenario #6: Delete the Spanish and American
advantages from the Play Balance section. The ships mentioned in
them were by the time period of this scenario already lost or
captured at the battle of Santiago de Cuba.
Tables
The following tables were left off of the last page of the
Scenario Book where they usually go. Here they are.
Weather Table
Weather conditions change on the Weather die roll as follows:
November though June
Die Roll
1-2 Decrease one level
6 Roll again, on 3-5 increase one level,
on 6 increase 2 levels.
July through October
Die Roll
1 Decrease one level
5-6 Roll again, on 3-5 increase one level,
on 6 increase 2 levels.
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 the firing ship
-1 if firing ship is 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
Spanish
The Spanish armored cruisers Princ. Asturias (AC04),
Card. Cisneros (AC05), and Cataluna (AC06) should each have a box
around their torpedo factor as they had hull mounted torpedo
tubes, not deck mounted ones.
The Spanish cruisers Alfonso XII (C04) and Reina Cristina (C05)
should each have a movement factor of 1s, not 1.
The Spanish protected cruiser Estramadura should have a torpedo
factor of 1 as it had deck mounted torpedo tubes.
BATTLE BOARD
In the game 1898: THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR (Avalanche Press)
the Series Rules for the GREAT WAR AT SEA are used. Within them
in Rules Section 7.0 (Advanced Combat) it describes the scenario
set up on the Tactical Map Board. These rules assume that the
standard Tactical Mapboard for the GREAT WAR AT SEA series is
being used. Unfortunately 1898 has the Tactical Map Board from
the game SOPAC in it. This board while having the same general
shape, has a different orientation and hex numbering scheme than
that of the one from the GREAT WAR AT SEA series. No wonder
people are getting confused over the rules for setting up on, and
exiting off of the Tactical Board. This problem can be solved in
one of two ways.
1. Borrow a Tactical Map Sheet from one of the other games in the
GREAT WAR AT SEA series and use that. The Standard Rules are
specifically written for this map sheet.
2. Use the rules below for the Tactical Map Board that came with
the game. These rules superceed those in the book.
7.23 Non-Initiative Placement: The player without the initiative
must place a total of eight ships in hex A-1 before he or she may
place any ships in hexes adjacent to hex A-1. If he or she has
more than eight ships, additional ships may be placed in any
hexes that are adjacent to the ships that have been previously
placed in hex A-1, as long as no ships are placed closer to the
designated corner hexes from which the initiative player's ships
will be placed than the current sighting range (four hexes in
daylight and two hexes at night, modified by weather conditions).
All ships must be placed as close as possible to the designated
corner hexes from which the initiative player's ships are placed.
7.24 Initiative Placement: The initiative player then places his
or her ships, starting in the corner hex (Z-1, Z-5, Z-9, Z-13, Z
17, and Z-21) corresponding to the sea zone from which his or her
fleet entered the sea zone in which contact was made. If the
initiative player's fleet did not move during the turn, it may
enter the tactical map from any corner the initiative player
chooses. He or she must place a total of eight ships in the
corner hex before he or she may place any ships in the two
adjacent hexes to the corner hex along the edge of the zone. If
he or she has more than eight ships, additional ships may be
placed in any edge hexes that are adjacent to any ships that have
been previously placed, as long as no ships are placed closer to
enemy ships than the current sighting range (four hexes during
daylight and two at night, modified by weather conditions).
Example: The Spanish player has the initiative. His fleet entered
sea zone I24, where contact was made with an American fleet. The
Spanish fleet entered from sea zone H23, therefore it sets up on
the tactical map in corner hex Z-17 and in adjacent edge hexes on
either or both sides of that corner hex.
7.33 Exiting the Map: Ships that exit off of the edge hexes while
outside the sighting range of enemy ships have exited the
tactical map and may not reenter it during the same tactical
phase. They are returned to their boxes on the Fleet Composition
card and their fleet marker is moved to the sea zone into which
they exited. The sea zone entered must correspond to the nearest
corner hex to the edge hex the ships exited from. In the case
where the exit hex is equal distance between two corner hexes,
the owning player may choose which sea zone to enter. If ships
exit the tactical map while within sighting range of enemy ships.
move all ships back from the edge an adequate number of hexes to
keep all ships in the playing area and the same positions
relative to one another. Note that ships may not exit off of
those edge hexes which are blocked by land.
7.41 Tactical Movement: If a sea zone side is all land on the
operational map, players may not exit their ships off of the edge
hexes which would lead to a sea zone blocked by land. They may
move their ships through those edge hexes without checking for
grounding though. If an island (that is contained in one sea
zone) exists in the contested sea zone, treat hex A-1 as land
(the player without initiative sets up his ships adjacent to the
hex A-1, closest to the map corner from which the initiative
player's ships will be set up). Note that this may decrease the
initial distance between opposing fleets. Ships which must set up
adjacent to an island do not have to check for grounding,
providing they do not move out of their placement hexes. However
if they move out of their original placement hexes, then they
must check for grounding if they move back into them at a later
time. Ships may not enter land hexes.
Scenario Corrections:
Make the following corrections to the listed scenarios when using
the Tactical Board that came with the game.
Battle Scenario 1:
Set Up: The American player has the initiative and is set up on
hex Z-9 on the Tactical Board.
Map: Ships may only enter and exit the playing area through hexes
Z-8, Z-9, and Z-10.
Battle Scenario 2:
Set Up: The Spanish player has the initiative and is set up on
hex Z-1 on the Tactical Board. Roll for initiative on all
following rounds.
Battle Scenario 3:
Set Up: The Spanish player has the initiative and is set up on
hex Z-21 with hexes Z-20 and Z-22 being used for any additional
ships over eight.
Battle Scenario 4:
Set Up: The Spanish player has the initiative and is set up on
hex Z-21 with hexes Z-20 and Z-22 being used for any additional
ships over eight. The American fleet has the Spanish blockaded in
port. After both sides have set up, the American player may shift
his or her ships to within 2 hexes of the Spanish ships.
Map: Ships may only exit off of the playing area from hexes Z-3
through Z-15. Ships may not exit off the playing area from hexes
Z-16 though Z-2 although they need not have to check for
grounding when moving into or through these hexes.
Battle Scenario 5:
Set Up: The German player has the initiative and is set up on hex
Z-9 on the Tactical Board.
Map: Ships may only enter and exit the playing area through hexes
Z-8, Z-9, and Z-10.
Battle Scenario 6:
Set Up: The Spanish player has the initiative and is set up on
hex Z-1 on the Tactical Board.
Battle Scenario 7:
Set Up: The Spanish player has the initiative and is set up on
hex Z-9 on the Tactical Board.
Map: Ships may only enter and exit the playing area through hexes
Z-8, Z-9, and Z-10.
Battle Scenario 8:
Set Up: The American player has the initiative and is set up on
hex Z-9 with hexes Z-8 and Z-10 being used for any ships over
eight.