The Portable Naval War Game (Again)....Part 2

Gunnery
The thorny subject of naval gunnery in a war game has probably had more ink spilled over it than any other subject I can think of from a rules perspective. Over the years I have tried a number of different methods but for the sheer fun factor rolling numbers of d6 as a game mechanic is hard to beat so I am not about to upset that hallowed tradition. My last version of the rules used a d6 per two barrels firing which was not bad but I wanted to streamline this and so have opted instead for using a d6 per 4 barrels instead. This means that a typical pre dreadnought will be firing 1d6 for its main guns and a typical dreadnought will be firing 2d6. It makes for faster resolution but maintains the all important fun factor - the ritual cursing of d6 rolls that go against the thrower is again, a time honoured war games ritual, not lightly cast aside.
A d6 gun dice can take two hits before being removed (effectively a hit is two barrels worth of damage, or, if you prefer, a knocked out turret) - the first hit (all will be revealed in due course) - and the first such hit means that the dice suffers a -1 firing modifier. This is easily represented by the simple expedient of using a different coloured d6 for the damaged gun(s). It also is a handy method for representing odd numbers of guns e.g. the Goeben had 10 x 11" guns so this translates into two normal gun dice and one special dice, firing with a -1 modifier.
I have rated guns as being either heavy (range 6), medium (range 4) or light (range 3). Heavy guns are typically anything 11" or larger; medium is anything larger than 6" up to 10" and light are 6" and smaller. Within those bands modifiers to the damage dice could be applied where needed for guns that vary in their impact from their notional category - a good example would be the RN 15" gun gaining a bonus due to its sheer destructive power e.g. the gun would be rated as heavy (obviously) but with a plus 1 damage modifier. Again, this will be optional and will require some research from the gamer as I have neither time nor the inclination to factor every single permutation of gun calibre/weight/shell size/range/age in use with the world's navies over the years under consideration! Seriously though, I will have some gunnery tables included and slotting types in will be easy enough to do - in any event I will do this for my own collection. For my own purposes (and initially using 1/3000th models) I am looking at using a maximum range of around 6 grid areas - so that on my playing surface it means there is some sea room outside of gun range. I have used the familiar short, medium and long range brackets for determining hits with a 6 being required at long range (range 6), 5 or 6 at medium (range 4 and 5) and 4, 5 or 6 at close range (range 1, 2 or 3). A simple table exists to find the modifier used when making a damage roll after having obtained a hit and this compares the weight of the gun against the weight of the target ships armour. The basic principle for gunnery I have employed will be the same for the earlier period although obviously with some appropriate tweaks - smoothbores vs. rifles for one!
The base score to convert a hit into damage relies on a d6 roll and 1, 2 and 3 are misses; a 4 is a hull hit, a 5 is a gun hit and a 6 is two hits - either a pair of hull or gun hits or one of each. The choice lies with the target ship. Depending on the gun/armour combination of the firing/target ship the dice roll for damage can go up or down e.g. a heavy gun hitting light armour gains a +2 to the damage dice meaning that as long as the firing ship does not roll a 1 damage will be inflicted.
In summary then, gunnery is designed to be simple and uses a d6 based system for hits and damage rolls in order to adjudicate results. Armour penetration effects are acknowledged by the damage modifier found by cross referencing the weight of the gun versus the level of the target's protection. Damage is either hull or gun related and this is determined by the damage effect roll. The closer you get, the easier to hit.
The next part of this series of posts will cover damage and allocation of hit points and armour ratings.