THE GREAT WAR AT SEA GAME SERIES
VOLUME #7: U.S. NAVY PLAN RED
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
responses listed in the GREAT WAR AT SEA section on Consimworld.
However, all of the following material should be considered to be
unofficial. Note: Some of the new entries in this article were
taken directly off of the recently updated GWAS FAQ list and can
be considered official.
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 in 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
(Correction): On the British Cuckoo aircraft counter the circled
"2" should be on the lower left hand corner, not the lower right
hand corner. The same applies to the circled "1" on the reverse
side of the counter. It does indeed score torpedo hits with a die
roll of 5 or 6. (The Sopwith Cuckoo was a pure torpedo plane, it
did not have any bombing capability. The Cuckoo plane counters in
Operational Scenario 9 were specifically converted to carry bombs
for that particular mission.)
The British MS14 counter (Hunt-6) should have a speed of 1, not
1s. (A misprint)
(Clarification): There have been some questions of the absence of
some ships and the mislabeling of others in the American fleet in
the counter set. The following answers should settle this matter:
The cruiser C21 (Milwaukee) was lost due to grounding in 1917
while assisting in the salvage of a submarine.
The cruisers CL1, CL2, and CL3 (Chester, Birmingham, and Salem)
are in their final form during the time frame of the game. The
Birmingham was briefly converted to a destroyer leader and tender
in 1911 but was converted back to a cruiser in 1914. These ships
can also be found in the games U.S. NAVY PLAN BLACK (as DLs) and
1898: THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR (as CSs).
The coastal defense ships CD7, CD8, CD9, and CD10 (Ozark,
Tonopah, Tallahassee and Cheyenne) were actually converted to
submarine tenders in 1913 and remained so until they were
scrapped or sold off in the early 1920's. In this game it is
presumed that they were not converted and retained as coastal
defense vessels. In addition, the 1s inside the circle on the
Ozark counter should be a 1. (A misprint, the Ozark still has a
speed of 1s.)
The battleship Long Island (originally the Ostfriesland) was
allowed to let its machinery and equipment deteriorate due to
neglect as a warprize because the U.S. Navy was going to use it
as a target ship. With the coming of hostilities between the U.S.
and Britain though, the Navy refurbished it but could not bring
it back up to full capacity. This is why it only has a movement
factor of 1 Slow compared to a movement factor of 1 while in
German service.
The numbering sequence of the battleships of the American Oregon
Class and the Long Island may seem strange. It was decided to
number them after the battleships built or planned during the
World War Two era. Logically, the Oregon class would have been
numbered as BB55-BB58 and the Long Island as BB59 as these hull
numbers were available for use during the time period of the
game.
In addition, the Oregon class of battleships was probably the
most realistic of the 18" gun armed battleship designs in the
U.S. Navy at the time. There were even more grandiose designs,
the most notable being Plan IV-2, which was an 80,000 ton
battleship mounting fifteen 18" guns in five turrets. These
grandiose designs would have certainly exceeded the technological
capabilities of the ship building industry of that time period.
Armed Merchant counters should each have a tertiary gunnery value
of 2, not 1. (Use the AMC counters from the GREAT WAR AT SEA:
THE MEDITERRANIAN game.)
SCENARIO BOOK
Victory Points: Destroyed airships are worth six victory points,
not five. (Airships that were designed and built after the end of
the First World War were more capable than those built during the
war.)
19.0 Air Operations
19.3 Takeoff and Landing (Clarification): The reason that
takeoffs are prohibited during night turns is because there are
no seaplanes in the game. Seaplanes are the only aircraft,
besides airships, that can fly at night during the time frame of
the game. If some future scenario includes seaplanes in this
game, the takeoff modifier for night turns is -2.
20.0 Air Combat
20.1 Air-to-Air Combat
Sixth Bullet (Clarification): The reason that strike aircraft can
not return fire is that they are single seat planes which had
their armament mounted on front and could not dogfight
effectively when carrying bombs or torpedoes due to the
additional weight slowing them down. These planes were also used
as search planes and secondary fighters. Airships are the
exception to this rule.
20.42 (Clarification): The reason that bombs do not penetrate the
armored decks of ships so marked is because they were dropped
from slow-flying aircraft and airships at low altitude. The bombs
just were not going fast enough when they hit to penetrate the
armored decks. (Dive bombing had not yet been developed.)
21.0 Airships
21.3 Attacking an Airship (Addition): Airships may return fire
when attacked by CAP or an aitstrike directed against them. This
is in exception to rule 20.31. (Airships are the only aircraft in
the game carrying defensive armament, thus they can shoot back,
even when carrying bombs.)
22.0 Submarine Flotillas
(Add) 22.34: Each submarine may only attack once in the course of
a game unless it leaves the operational map. (Both sides are
using submarines built during World War One. The new ones which
incorporate the lessons learned during the war are not ready yet
during the time frame of the game.)
22.4 Submarine Movement (Addition): All of its submarine are
considered to be resupplied with torpedoes upon their return to
the map and may make one more attack per sub.
Scenarios
Battle Scenario 3
In the American forces the cruisers St. Louis (C20) and
Charleston (C22) are each listed twice. Ignore the second listing
of each.
Tables
In the haste to get the game out, the following tables were left
off of the back page where they would normally go. Here they are.
Air Search Table
Aircraft Steps Roll to Locate
1 6+
2-3 5+
4-5 4+
6-8 3+
9 or more 2+
Weather Table
Weather condition changes on the weather die roll as follows:
November through June
Die Roll
1 Roll again; on 1-3 decrease one level.
5-6 Increase one level.
July through October
1 Decrease one level.
6 Increase one level.
Aircraft vs. Ships Die Roll Modifiers
+1 if target is capital ship or fast transport.
+1 if target has speed of 1 Slow.
+2 if target is dead in the water.
Gunnery Die Roll Modifiers
+1 if firing into the same or adjacent hex.
+1 if the target ship is dead in the water.
+1 if the target ship is towing or being towed (11.2).
HIT RECORD CHARTS
British Capital Ships
The battlecruiser Invincible II should have six secondary boxes,
not three.
All battlecruisers should have a torpedo value of boxed 1.
British Light Ships
The minelayer Adventure (ML01) should have a speed of 2, not 2+.
All minesweepers (Hunt-3 through Hunt-6) should have a speed of
2, not 1sl (which in itself is a misprint of 1s).
American Capital Ships
The battleship Iowa is missing from the chart. Use the U.S. Hit
Record Sheet from U. S. NAVY PLAN BLACK for the Iowa.
The battleship Long Island should have a movement factor of 1s,
not 1, and it should also have Hull Mounted Torpedo factor of 2,
not 1.
The armored cruisers Charlotte (AC12) and Missoula (AC13) each
should have a seconday value of 2 and a teritary value of 3.
(These reflect the gunnery modifications made to these cruisers
as a result of war experiance during the First World War. The
gunnery values for these ships and their sister ACs in GREAT WAR
AT SEA: U.S. NAVY PLAN BLACK are their values before wartime
modifications which they would not of received, given the
fictional history behind that game. The gunnery values of their
sister ACs in GREAT WAR AT SEA: U.S. NAVY PLAN ORANGE reflect the
modifications these ships received during the 1920s to keep them
up to par, but by the time period of that game they were slated
to be replaced by the new 8" gun armed cruisers that were under
construction at the time. Still the war with Japan forced their
use in the game.) Also the point value of the armored cruiser
Charlotte should be 19, not 16.
The light cruisers Omaha, Milwaukee, Richmond, and Memphis should
have their fuel circles colored gray as these ships used oil for
fuel, not coal.
American Light Ships
Armed Merchant Cruiser #1 should have a tertiary gunnery value of
2, not 1.
Coast Guard cutter Modoc (CG04) should have speed of 1s, not 1sl
(a misprint).
Coast Guard destroyer group Paulding-2 should have a torpedo
value of 1 for each ship, not 4.
Auxiliaries
Transports TR S07 through TR SO10 should have a speed of 1s for
each ship, not 1.
Oilers 1, 2, and 3 should each have 15 gray filled circles in the
fuel column, not 15 extra hull boxes.
(No wonder these damn ships are so hard to sink.)
Deck Armor
The following ships should have their Hull Boxes enclosed by a
box to indicate the presence of deck armor.
American: South Dakota, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon,
Kearsage, Maine, and Ohio. (The Iowa already has its
Hull Boxes enclosed in a box on the U.S. NAVY PLAN
BLACK Hit Record Sheets.)
British: Trafalger, Nile, Camperdown, and Barfleur.
Canadian: Quebec, Ontario, and Acadia.
(The reason that the British battleships Renown, Repulse, and
Resistance do not have their Hull Boxes enclosed by a box is
because they are mere copies of the Royal Oak class which had
rather thin deck armor upon completion. These ships would of been
laid down and built during the war and like their sister ships
would not get their deck armor increased until the late 1920's
during a series of refits that this class received. The reason
that the New York and Texas do not have their Hull Boxes
enclosed, as compared to their listings in U.S. NAVY PLAN BLACK
and GREAT WAR AT SEA Volume 2, is because these listings
represent a different design plan for these ships than the one
that they were historically built with. This different design
plan had thinner deck armor and more light guns of a smaller
caliber than what these ships historically had.)