Experimental Rules for General Quarters

Experimental Rules for General Quarters

Below are some experimental rules that I haven't played with yet, and which may not work, or may simply be too stupid to use.

C3 Issues

Most naval games concentrate on the relative perfomance of the equipment involved and ignore the human factor. If you read actual after-action accounts, you realize that this emphasis is backwards, or at least unbalanced - especially in the era of flag signals and coal smoke. Controlling a huge fleet covering miles of ocean was no easy task, and there's no reason it should be easy for game players, either.

It's difficult for ships to keep station, especially when trying to follow unpredictable changes of course in thick smoke at high speeds. Add in heavy weather and enemy attacks, and even the most disciplined fleet's formations will disintegrate. These rules will help mess up station-keeping, and potentially punish ships that are out of place.

    Some conditions will cause a ship to make a randomized movement check. The check is made by rolling a d6 and checking this table:
    1Move ship 1/2" aft
    2Move ship 1/2" to port
    3Move ship 1/2" to starboard
    4-6No effect
    This randomized movement is always free - it doesn't count against the ship's total movement allowance.

  • Each time a ship makes a turn (of any distance around the turn template), it must make a check.
  • A ship must make one check for every 5" of movement it uses in the same turn. This check must be made at the end of each 5" of movement.
  • To reward players for using tight line ahead formations, ships which remain in base-to-base contact with a friendly ship to the front never have to make any checks. To adjudicate movement of a line ahead, simply make the entire move with the lead ship first, performing all checks and adjustments as necessary, and then line up the following ships in formation behind it. No measurment is necessary for the following ships.
  • A ship which moves independantly of it's division flagship (i.e., makes a move that the flagship of the division did not, such as an extra turn, a different course, a different speed, etc.) must check again at the end of its movement, regardless of whether it made any turns or moved more than 5".
  • Any move or randomized movement check that results in ships contacting each other causes an immediate collision check, at the time the contact happens.
  • If a ship uses its movement to join (or create) a line ahead formation by falling in behind a friendly ship, it does not have to make any randomized movement checks on the way to joining up. This movement must actually result in bow-to-stern, base-to-base contact within the movement phase for this rule to apply.

Night Combat

I've never been happy about the GQ night combat rules. Like in all wargame rules, GQ players know too much and have too much control over their vessels to properly represent the chaos of nighttime maneuvers and misdirected fire. The author of GQ attempted to remedy this problem with a few rules about searchlights, illumination, and concentration of fire, but the results have always seemed whacky. These rules are an attempt to make nighttime behavior more realistic without slowing the game down too much.

Nighttime Targeting.

Some of the rules below will require a ship to target another ship. Each time a targeting roll is called for, roll on this chart:
1Illumiate a target 2 ships to the left of the intended target, up to 60°
2-3Illumiate next ship to the left of the intended target, up to 60°
4-7Iluminate intended target
8-9Illumiate next ship to the right of the intended target, up to 60°
10Illumiate a target 2 ships to the right of the intended target, up to 60°
The actual ship targeted can be friendly or enemy, it makes no difference. If there is no ship within 60° of the intended target in the direction indicated, then use the intended target. However, a ship with even a tiny part of its base within 60° counts as being within the 60° arc.

  • No ship may fire at a nighttime target more than 4" away.
  • Searchlights. Maximum searchlight range is 4" (Note: this represents practice, not physics). To illuminate another ship, a player must first declare the illuminator and intended target, and then make a targeting roll to see which ship actually gets illuminated.
  • Illuminated Targets. These conditions apply to shooting at illuminated targets at night. For purposes of these rules, a "formation" is whatever formation is intended for the division - line ahead, line abreast, bow-and-quarter line.
    1. No ship may shoot at an illuminated ship which is within 1" of being in position in the same formation.
    2. Illuminated friendly ships, even of the same division, must be fired upon if they are 1" or more out of position for the formation.
  • Unilluminated Targets. When firing at unilluminated targets, the shooting ship must make a targeting roll for each battery and torpedo which is fired. Torpedoes and guns which target a ship outside their allowed firing arc may not fire. Regardless of what the targeting roll determines, the target indicated must be fired upon, even if it is a friendly ship.

Nighttime Movement.

  • Randomized Movement Checks. The results of randomized movement checks are doubled at night (i.e, ships move off course by 1" instead of 1/2").
Mail your input to Ix (fathom at armory dot com).