Firing Arcs - Revised Edition and the Rule of One Hex

A busy day for the CSS Tennessee (in the centre). Her opposition consists of the USS Kearsage (on the left side of the Confederate ship), the USS Keokuk (top right) and the USS Sassacus (bottom right.

Following on from my last post I wanted to explain further how this works in practice and so have set up the hypothetical engagement you see in the picture above. The following text is not how it will appear in the final PDF but I hope it serves to make things clearer.

The Port and Starboard firing arc of the CSS Tennessee is the area marked by the coffee stirrers designated P and S. Now the eagle eyed among you will have no doubt noticed that alternate hexes are in fact cut in half by the aforementioned coffee stirrers. What does this mean?

Allow me to explain.

In these rules warship models for the most part occupy two hexes. In order for them to be fired upon at full effect then both hexes occupied by the target ship MUST be within the firing ships firing arc. Note that a ship that occupies one full hex and one hex that is cut in half - essentially a partial hex - within a given arc may also be fired upon at full effect. If a ship occupies only one hex within a firing ship’s firing arc then the fire is at half effect, rounded down. This is the Rule of One Hex.

Taking each target ship individually I will explain the arcs and effect on firing.

USS Kearsage - she is in the Port, Forward Wide and Aft Wide firing arcs - and heartily wishing she was elsewhere! For the Port arc she has her stern hex fully within the arc whilst her bow occupies a partial hex - this counts as being fully within the arc. For the Forward Wide arc only her stern is within the arc so any fire received will be at half effect. For the Aft Wide arc her stern occupies a partial hex and her bow is fully within the arc so she can be fired upon at full effect.

The upshot of all of this is the USS Kearsage can be engaged by the CSS Tennessee using her Port and Aft Wide guns each at full effect and from the Forward Wide arc at half effect.

USS Keokuk - she is fully within the Forward Wide arc but only her stern hex is occupying a (partial) hex within the Starboard arc. The USS Keokuk can therefore be engaged via the Forward Wide arc at full effect but only at half effect via the Starboard arc.

USS Sassacus - she is fully within the Aft Wide arc but only occupies a single hex within the starboard arc. Similarly to the USS Keokuk she can be engaged fully via the Aft Wide artillery of the CSS Tennessee but only at half effect from the Starboard guns.

In addition to the above it should be noted that all firing is adjudicated on an individual firing arc basis, even against a single target and a ship may only fire once per firing arc.

In summary

If a target ship only occupies a single full or partial hex within a given firing arc then it can only be fired upon at half effect, rounded down. 

A firing ship can fire once from each arc that it has artillery for and a target to potentially hit.

I hope this has made things a little clearer and please by all means offer any comments or observations - anything to make sure the end result is clear, fair and not misleading.