So close, I can almost taste it!

Following on from my previous post and making use of some of the comments received (coupled with my own observations) I have added the following final details to the MoBaS naval rules in respect of torpedo attacks. The amendments have come about from ideas and examples from a variety of sources and each will serve to reduce the possibility of a successful torpedo hit although I have left the damage effects as they are. My feeling is very much along the lines of torpedoes being very effective WHEN THEY HIT rather than being able to hit too easily. Ships of the period had notoriously poor underwater protection so the damage effect of a torpedo hit should be serious. The trick is to score such a blow in the first place! With this in mind the changes are as follows:


Ships may only launch a single torpedo attack per turn - no salvo firing. In this period and as far as I have been able to deduce it was not standard practise to loose off every torpedo carried at once - 'volley firing' of torpedoes came much later.


The dice roll to hits stays the same at 4, 5 and 6 BUT if the target is firing on the attacker during the second attack phase then the chance to hit is reduced to a 6. This allows for the effect that the deluge of incoming fire will have on the accuracy of the attacking ship.


The target ship, if a Battleship or Cruiser, is allowed one single point 'turn away' from the direction of a single attack which is declared after the attacker announces their target. The torpedo is fired and crossed off but to no effect BUT the evading ship may not fire heavy or medium guns during the following first attack phase. The rationale behind this is that the gunnery aiming would be thrown off by the violent change of course needed in order to avoid the incoming torpedo.


Of the three points listed the last one - the 'turn away' - is a mechanic I have unashamedly borrowed from James Dunnigan's Jutland game produced by Avalon Hill many years ago.


The plan is to test this lot at the club on March 7th although I may run them solo over next weekend. Assuming all is well (and I have no reason to suppose otherwise) then this will be the definitive 'tweak' to the rules - in which I have now also included dreadnoughts.