This is my first shot at an expanded naval system that I’m working on.
Note: Since different dice types are needed, I’m using the following notation for a shorthand: the type of dice (d6, d12, d20) etc. is immediately preceded by an “at” sign, a @ and the number you need to roll for a hit comes first. Thus a ranking of a “3” on a d6 would be written as a 3@6, which is really the same as a “10” on a d20 (a 10@20) or a 6 on a d12 (a 6@12)
A. What you need:
1. To implement it, you would probably need a couple of things. First, after carefully comparing all the options, I decided to base it on a d20, primarily, so you’ll need a 20-sider or two. (They’re not hard to find, btw, in case you’re not familiar with them.)
2. Secondly, you’ll need a much wider array of ships, particularly the large ships, battleships, carriers, and possibly cruisers. I have some few Skytrex & Navwar 1/3000 metals and Panzersciffe 1/2400 plastics. After comparing them, I’m probably going to go with the latter, though note that you’ll need a pretty big board for them. For the 1/3000, you could probably get away with the oob AA40 combined board or the AA50 board, but for 1/2400 you’ll probably need something the size of the TWG board or the larger version of the new GW1939 board (which you can get from HBG)
B. Key Rules:
1. Gunnery: Battleships and Cruisers each have 2 attacks, while Destroyers have only1.
a. Destroyer/ Secondary Armaments: 1 attack represents the secondary armament, which is roughly the same attack rank as that of a destroyer, which makes sense as guns that were the primary armament on a destroyer were often the same ones as those used as the secondary armament on a battleship or cruiser. Thus battleship/ cruiser secondaries attack and defend (both) at a 7@20. (To save time, however, you could also roll them with a 6-sider as a 2@6 or on a 12-sider as a 4@12, which allows you to roll both primary and secondary simultaneously, since a BB primary armament would always be rolled on a 20-sider.) Destroyers have only 1 attack, at this same ranking.
b. Cruiser Primaries: A “standard” cruiser’s primary armament would be a 10@20, which also allows for much flexibility, as a 3@6 or 6@12 has the exact same 50% chance to hit, so any of these three could be used as a substitute. A “standard” cruiser is defined as either a “heavy” cruiser, a “CA,” which technically means a cruiser with guns larger than 6” (usually 8”) or a “large light” cruiser, which was actually nearly as big as a heavy cruiser and carried a larger # of 6” guns. Gunnery experts debated on the relative merits of these two types of “treaty” cruisers, but the rule of thumb is that with two cruisers with equivalent armor protection, 8 8” guns are roughly equal to 12 6” guns in firepower, all else being equal.
c. Battleship Primaries: This same relative power rule of thumb carries forward to battleships, in that 2-3 more guns of a given size roughly adds the firepower of the same # of guns an inch or so larger. Thus, a 10x12” BB would pack about the same punch as an 8x13” BB and a 12x12” BB would be about the same as an 8x14.” With this proviso in mind, a normal (8-9 gun) BB’s attack/defense ranking for its primary armament is the same as the inch diameter on a 20-sider. Thus, an 8-9 gun 12” BB would roll for a 12@20 for its primary, a 14” gun BB at a 14@20, a 15” BB at a 15@20, and a 16” BB at a 16@20. The super-BB Yamato would then attack/defend with its primary armament at an 18@20, making it a formidable foe indeed!
2. Hits a ship can take: DD’s and CA’s can still only take 1 hit. Most BB’s can take 2, and a few of the largest, most powerful ones can take 3. I haven’t yet decided, however, where the cut-off point for a “Super-BB” that can take 3 hits would be. The Yamato is a definite yes, along with the American Montana, its never-built direct American competitor of roughly the same size. I’m leaning toward giving the 45,000 ton + BB’s the same 3-hit “Super-BB” status. This would include the American Iowa, British Vanguard and German H-Class. The next level down would be 40,000 tonners, the German Bismark and Italian Vittorio, which I’m leaning toward not giving the status, because if I do a very good argument can be made that the American South Dakota, British KGV and French Richelieu were just as formidable, despite being more faithful to the treaty limitations demanding that BB’s not exceed 35,000 tons… If I open it up this far, nearly all the original “standard” BB’s in the game would be 3-hit “supers.”
I still have many more thoughts in terms under-sea/submarine/ torpedo warfare and air/ carrier warfare, but I’ll save those thoughts for now, as this is already a long post, so I’ll send this out for any who are interested to take a look, digest and share their thoughts.
