Post by Theaetetus on Dec 8, 2022 4:28:31 GMT
Hello;
I am starting this thread to talk about a campaign I am wrapping up right now and another one I am starting.
My friend has been playing as the UK starting in 1939, and we are wrapping up 1940. We have been doing one turn per season, starting in January 1939 (giving him two turns to build up his navy). We have played 7 sessions, over which 11 battles have been fought (I am playing the Germans, and the campaign has been limited to the North Sea and Atlantic). The Axis have won 6 battles, and there was one draw, but the Allies have 251 victory points to the Axis 234. It is also worth noting that three of the Axis victories were lopsided battles in Norway, which I'll explain below.
Outline of the Campaign Rules:
Each turn, the player does three things:
1. Research new units
2. Fight battles
3. Build more units.
1. Research
Research has worked like this: I have divided the unit types into five categories: Capital ships (CVs and BBs), cruisers, destroyers, aircraft (fighters, TBs, DBs), and Misc. (doctrines, subs, auxiliaries). Each turn, you get to pick one cruiser from two random cruisers, two cards from a group of one aircraft, destroyer, and Misc., and every other turn you draw three Capital ships and pick one. During the campaign this has worked out pretty well, my friend (paying the UK) was able to research a carrier and fully equip it with the appropriate aircraft.
2. Combat
Fighting battles is a little more spicy. Each turn, the player divides their fleet up into task forces, and assigns them to patrols or two scenarios. An example (from the Germans Turn 5) is:
Grupe Eins (66):
Gneisenau, Königsberg, Sperrbrecher, Möwe, Bf 109A
Grupe Zwei (61):
Nürnberg, Z18, Z19, Möwe x2, Stuka x2, Ju-86K
Grupe Drei (58):
Blücher, U-552 x2, Möwe, S-Booten, Bf 109 A
These groups were assigned to the three zones I had divided the North Sea into (the Channel, the Skagerrak, and the North Atlantic). Once my friend has divided up his units, I rolled a die to determine which zone would have a combat. I then checked the point values of each of his fleets (74, 58, and 39 for example), and paired it with its German counterpart, so that the strongest German battlegroup would always fight the strongest British battle group. To make the game more fine, I tried to evenly distribute the German points among each of the three groups. I also did special scenarios, such as the Invasion of Norway and Dunkirk, which I'll detail later if y'all are interested.
Since these battles were asymetric in terms of points, each objective would be worth 3/4 of the total points of each fleet involved. This has generally worked well, though none of the battles have been too lopsided excepting special scenarios. The battles also have random weather and terrain, determined in this way. Roll 4d6 one after the other: the first one determines the time of day (1-2 day, 3 dusk, 4-5 night, 6 dawn), the second weather (1-3 for that many squalls, 4-6 none), and the last two dice determine the first and second player's islands (the first and second player may place d6/2 islands on their side or the middle of the map). After these are done, the battle is played normally.
During the battle, ships that are destroyed by being vitalled or getting one-shot by a torpedo are lost irrevocably. Ships that are destroyed by being damaged can be recovered by losing victory points equal to their vital armour. If you recover a ship this way, it comes back crippled. You may also repair a maximum one damage per boat by losing victory points equal to its armour (flakstruk invented this method, which I have expanded). Ships can also be repaired outside of battles when you build units.
3. Building Units
Players have 5 shipyards, which build a certain amount of a unit per turn. I started my friend with 3 shipyards that could build up to 5 points of a unit per turn, one that can build up to 10 points of a unit, and one that can build up to 15 points of a unit. (Say you want to build HMS Jamaica: you could either put it in the 15-point shipyard for one turn, and spend 13 points to build it, or put it in the 10 point shipyard for one turn, and then put it in the 5 point shipyard next turn, spending up to 10 points on it, and then spending the remaining points on the next turn). 5 points has proved too little to work well (being able to produce one destroyer per turn is very useful), and I am still tinkering with an upgrade system.
This has been quite a bit—let me know if you have questions about details or want to here more about the campaign. In the next post, I'll be talking about my plans for the next campaign based on how this one is going.
I am starting this thread to talk about a campaign I am wrapping up right now and another one I am starting.
My friend has been playing as the UK starting in 1939, and we are wrapping up 1940. We have been doing one turn per season, starting in January 1939 (giving him two turns to build up his navy). We have played 7 sessions, over which 11 battles have been fought (I am playing the Germans, and the campaign has been limited to the North Sea and Atlantic). The Axis have won 6 battles, and there was one draw, but the Allies have 251 victory points to the Axis 234. It is also worth noting that three of the Axis victories were lopsided battles in Norway, which I'll explain below.
Outline of the Campaign Rules:
Each turn, the player does three things:
1. Research new units
2. Fight battles
3. Build more units.
1. Research
Research has worked like this: I have divided the unit types into five categories: Capital ships (CVs and BBs), cruisers, destroyers, aircraft (fighters, TBs, DBs), and Misc. (doctrines, subs, auxiliaries). Each turn, you get to pick one cruiser from two random cruisers, two cards from a group of one aircraft, destroyer, and Misc., and every other turn you draw three Capital ships and pick one. During the campaign this has worked out pretty well, my friend (paying the UK) was able to research a carrier and fully equip it with the appropriate aircraft.
2. Combat
Fighting battles is a little more spicy. Each turn, the player divides their fleet up into task forces, and assigns them to patrols or two scenarios. An example (from the Germans Turn 5) is:
Grupe Eins (66):
Gneisenau, Königsberg, Sperrbrecher, Möwe, Bf 109A
Grupe Zwei (61):
Nürnberg, Z18, Z19, Möwe x2, Stuka x2, Ju-86K
Grupe Drei (58):
Blücher, U-552 x2, Möwe, S-Booten, Bf 109 A
These groups were assigned to the three zones I had divided the North Sea into (the Channel, the Skagerrak, and the North Atlantic). Once my friend has divided up his units, I rolled a die to determine which zone would have a combat. I then checked the point values of each of his fleets (74, 58, and 39 for example), and paired it with its German counterpart, so that the strongest German battlegroup would always fight the strongest British battle group. To make the game more fine, I tried to evenly distribute the German points among each of the three groups. I also did special scenarios, such as the Invasion of Norway and Dunkirk, which I'll detail later if y'all are interested.
Since these battles were asymetric in terms of points, each objective would be worth 3/4 of the total points of each fleet involved. This has generally worked well, though none of the battles have been too lopsided excepting special scenarios. The battles also have random weather and terrain, determined in this way. Roll 4d6 one after the other: the first one determines the time of day (1-2 day, 3 dusk, 4-5 night, 6 dawn), the second weather (1-3 for that many squalls, 4-6 none), and the last two dice determine the first and second player's islands (the first and second player may place d6/2 islands on their side or the middle of the map). After these are done, the battle is played normally.
During the battle, ships that are destroyed by being vitalled or getting one-shot by a torpedo are lost irrevocably. Ships that are destroyed by being damaged can be recovered by losing victory points equal to their vital armour. If you recover a ship this way, it comes back crippled. You may also repair a maximum one damage per boat by losing victory points equal to its armour (flakstruk invented this method, which I have expanded). Ships can also be repaired outside of battles when you build units.
3. Building Units
Players have 5 shipyards, which build a certain amount of a unit per turn. I started my friend with 3 shipyards that could build up to 5 points of a unit per turn, one that can build up to 10 points of a unit, and one that can build up to 15 points of a unit. (Say you want to build HMS Jamaica: you could either put it in the 15-point shipyard for one turn, and spend 13 points to build it, or put it in the 10 point shipyard for one turn, and then put it in the 5 point shipyard next turn, spending up to 10 points on it, and then spending the remaining points on the next turn). 5 points has proved too little to work well (being able to produce one destroyer per turn is very useful), and I am still tinkering with an upgrade system.
This has been quite a bit—let me know if you have questions about details or want to here more about the campaign. In the next post, I'll be talking about my plans for the next campaign based on how this one is going.