Naval Thunder River Plate

Graf Spee at the bottom and edge of the sea, I mean table

Graf Spee at beginning looking hopefully at the horizon for a win.

Graf Spee showing some pain-useless smoke cloud in the background

The beginning of the last turn-Graf Spee at the bottom of the screen

Game End - Graf Spee and one British Ship down.

Second play of Naval Thunder, but first with my painted ships! So much more fun. What was cool, as I got into it, I realized again what captured me about these rules. Very few rules, yet enough flavor for someone with a light interest in this theater of WWII to give them depth. Especially when the shells begin flying - the various hit results are engaging and I can completely picture what's going on.

I set up the River Plate Scenario out of the Bitter Rivals scenario book. Simple, just 4 ships:

Graf Spee

Exeter

Ajax

Achilles

I only had Graf Spee, but proxied the British ships. (I'm slowly getting better at doing this. Ridiculous because so many of my games are solo - it shouldn't matter. But hey, if I'm going to play, let's get it right - BRING YOUR A GAME SON!) 

Moving on.

This game, just like the last time I played this, was quick and bloody. Neither game did the Germans fare well. Perhaps I could bump up the command ratings to help in some of the recovery rolls. But Seriously, these games have been blow outs. Okay as a solo player, but putting this on at a con, it would not be cool for the German player.

Though, it hit me that it may be cool to be a one sided scenario. Meaning the participants play the British ships and the GM plays the Germans.

Priming, Painting and another P Word

Experimenting with ways of brushing on german camo

After the camo job, with the paints used - it looks okay, a little too washed, but okay

After the wash and gloss coat, next - decals and flat - oh yeah, tracks

After that, finish the Bren and 6PDR - something has to bring that monster down

Hobbytime one day - Litko mini splashes, GaleForce Nine bases, FIB infantry, CDTOB markers

Wargamers Cave in Granite City Illinois

Wargamers Cave in Granite City, IL Forged in Battle Goodness!

Some photos from recent hobby stuff.
Just about done with the Airfix Stug III, 1:76 scale. Just need decals, which I've not done in ages - 30 years. Matte varnish and tracks on. I like the camo job I did on it, though it could be a bit more pronounced.  A second, less watered down layer would do the trick.

Next up is finishing the Bren and 6 pounder. It is fiddly as all get out. Funny, I just read that on someone's blog about the plastic kits found in the Battlefront Achtung box set. That they are less fiddly than the airfix. That would be nice.

I also finished some order cubes for Command Decision, Test of Battle. They turned out okay, If I need too many more, I'm tempted to buy the order cubes they sell.

I bought some of the Litko mini splash markers to use for Naval Thunder. Litko has some cool stuff. I wish they weren't the only US company making bases - wait, there's also Gale Force Nine, and ???  I bought them at Wargamers Cave in Granite City, IL. The markers are cool looking and were $6 for 10. And I got to use them...more on a later post.

While at the Wargamers Cave, I also bought some Forged in Battle 15mm Russians and German infantry. timmy! recommended I look there for these. They're both platoon packs with 40 some figs.  First some thoughts on FIB figures:

• $17 for 40 figs makes about 12 infantry stands for CDTOB, 4 Inf Cmd Stands, a Battalion Command Stand and a couple MG stands. (though it appears I may have been slighted a MG stand. There's one firing and one with the soldier carrying it down facing. .. I would rather have two firing. They show two firing in photos on site...)
• nice sculpts with nice detail 
• looks they'll need minor clean up - though I can feel they'll need a good hot water and soap bath
• price seems decent - though you still have to buy stands for them - though I would anyway. I say all that because these are obviously designed for the Flames of War player in mind. FOW soldiers come with stands. Though they Showed me some cool rubble stands at the Cave.
• not a lot of variety in the figs - not that big o deal, but I can see it turning some people off

Second, on the store - he can get a ton of stuff special ordered. But he stocks a lot of FOW alternative stuff which I think is cool. He has a great selection of the Forged in Battle product. Pretty small shop, just room for three tables, but that's okay. Though I was surprised it was empty for a Sunday afternoon. Next time I will shop online or via phone and have it shipped for $6. It's about 60 miles from my house, so it's worth it to have it shipped.

I was tempted by the FIB figures and the Plastic Soldier company ones. However, the fact that you have to assemble the plastic figs kind of freaked me out a bit. Silly, I know, but I'm used to 6mm, where I've not had to assemble much. Modelling just isn't my thing. But hindsight, PSC may not be a bad option. First 130 figs for about $30. And they're slightly thinner than their metal counterparts which would make the next purchase:

Gale Force Nine 20mm magnetic bases. Bought these at The Fantasy Shop. 20mm is very small. However, Jerry says his CD are based on 5/8" squares - which is smaller than 20mm! So I'm going to try them out.

At the Cave he can also get the Old Glory line of figures...some of them anyway. I need to send him an email to see what he can get and what cost.

My only concern with this set of minis is that there's a lot of what I need to get to fill out the infantry. Accoring to CDTOB, this set nearly makes up the basics for a Russian battalion, however, there's a lot to get. So, something like Command Decision Old Glory are nice because you buy a bunch of different sets to round things out.

All this is why I don't blame anyone new to the hobby getting into Flames of War. They make it very easy to get involved in miniature gaming. You know your base size, your miniature size, and how to make up units. Great visuals, and even in packs that have exactly what you need. Spoon fed, maybe, but you can get in and get going. And, in many rulesets you can use these as is.

Anyway, that's it for now - in the future:
A Naval Thunder play.
A quick Black Powder ACW test
An Aces at Dawn play
Planning an army
Plans for the year...need a focus and a plan

Naval Thunder Part 4 Shooting Example

We're finally to the shooting example between our two ships, Renown and Littorio. 
Here's part 1, part 2, and part 3.


Shooting Example
Let’s take a look at these two ships in battle. First example (turn) has them shooting at each other at 40” and the next turn involves them shooting at 12”.

Immediately, you can see the difference gun size plays into this. the Littorio’s main guns are firing at a Medium range, therefore only adding a +1 to their “To Hit” number. While the Renown is having to add a +3 because their guns are firing at Long Range. Thi si offset a bit by the -1 modifier for Fire control. However, they still need a 9+ with a d10.  


Also apparent, the number of guns firing means that Littorio is rolling (firing) 9 dice compared to 6. The results came out to 1 shell landed for Renown and 2 for Littorio.

Next, we roll for the penetration of the shells. Again, the gun difference, modifiers, and Armor Value (AV) make a big difference.  For the Renown’s shells to penetrate the Littorio’s 18 AV, they’ll need to roll a d10 and add it to their shell’s modified penetration value of 12. (Actually, because the shell is coming in from Long Range, there is no modification.) So, to get a critical and full damage, they need to roll a 7+. If they roll 6 or under they’ll just get half damage and no critical. they don’t roll enough and therefore get only 5 points of damage.

 
The Littorio on the other hand, needs to beat Renown’s AV of 14. Before modifications, Littorio’s penetration value is 14. Even with 1’s every shell will be critical. But, as an added bonus, because her guns are firing at medium range, there is a +1 modifier to her penetration roll. Obviously, both shells penetrate, each causing 10 points of damage and both, in this case, each destroy a secondary battery turret.

None of the ships’ Secondary batteries can reach out at this range, so that’s all the firing for this turn.


Final tally for first turn - Renown loses 20 points of hull damage and 2 secondary batteries. the Renown Captain would choose to take away 2 of the 3.5” batteries, thus only losing 2 guns. This would bring those guns/turrets down to 4 for that side of the ship.

The Littorio just loses 5 points of hull damage and no criticals.


Now, let’s assume it’s a later turn, both ships are facing the same broadsides as before, but this time they’ve closed and are 12” apart.  


Main Battery Firing
Renown is the only one that get’s any modifiers and that’s -1 for the fire control. Therefore, the Renown will hit the Littorio on a 6+. The Littorio hits the Renown on a 7+. Renown rolls their 6 die and get 5 hits. Littorio rolls their 9 die and get 6 hits. This won’t be pretty.

Renown’s main battery shells now have a penetration value of 14 because of the short range modifier of +2. They roll 5 die to test for penetration and get 2 criticals, knocking out a secondary battery turret plus 10 points of hull damage, and a torpedo mount...wait, Littorio doesn’t have those. So, no special damage on that one, but still 10 points of hull damage. The rest of their penetration rolls don’t score enough and just cause half damage for a total of 15. The main batteries for Renown inflict 35 points of hull damage on Littorio.


The Littorio’s main battery shells have a penetration value of 16 after the short range modifier. Basically, you don’t even need to roll to penetrate because the number is 2 over the AV of the Renown. Therefore, all you need to roll is what the critical damage will be. Result: 2 main turrets, 3 secondary turrets, and minor flooding for an additional 2 points of damage. Therefore, the main batteries, in addition to all that critical damage, inflicts a total of 62 points of damage!


Secondary Battery
Renown’s secondary turrets hit the Littorio on a 5+. This is after a medium range +1 modifier is cancelled out by a -1 fire control modifier then a -2 rate of fire modifier. Renown comes with 5 turrets, 2 guns a piece on each starboard and port side. Remember that in the previous turn, 2 secondary batteries were taken out.  Therefore, it now only as 3 turrets, for a total of 6 guns firing. 
 Six d10 are rolled and scores 4 hits.


Unfortunately, the penetration value of these guns is only 1. With the medium range modifier of +1 it bumps up to a 2. With the Littorio’s AV of 18, there’s no way, even with a 10 that the shells will penetrate. However, there is a chance, given any natural 10’s that there could be a superstructure critical...alas, no 10’s. Let’s look at the Littorio’s secondary batteries.

They have two sizes of guns, 6” and 3.5”. When rolling you can roll all guns of the same size together to save time. However, because the gun size affect range and penetration modifiers, you need to roll the different guns at separate times. (I suppose you could use differently colored dice...)


The “To Hit” number is also reduced to a 5+ because of the rate of fire modifier. Littorio also rolls 6 die and continues with the good rolling, getting 5 hits. The penetration number is a base 4 and modifies up to 6 because of a +2 Short Range modifier. The Renown’s AV is 14. With a 9 or 10, the shells could penetrate. Unfortunately, none are rolled and the shells only cause half damage. The 6” guns inflict a total of 25 point s of the hull damage. Better than 50, if they had rolled all 9’s and 10’s.


Now it’s time for the 3.5” guns.  The “To Hit” number is 6+ because the gun suffers a +1 Medium range modifier, and benefits from a -2 Rate of Fire modifier. Littorio rolls 6 d10 and gets 2 hits.


The base penetration number for these shells is 0. Fortunately, they benefit from a +1 Medium Range modifier for a total penetration number of 1. With Renown’s AV of 14 there’s no way, even with a 10 that they will penetrate. But the Littorio captain rolls with the hope of a 10. First roll is a fail. Second roll, success, and a 10. The superstructure is rolled and it’s another secondary turret lost for Renown. No points of hull damage lost, so that’s a good thing.


In the End Phase you make damage control checks for things like fires and flooding. Remember, Renown had flooding damage. The Renowns crews go to work. However, the problem moves from minor flooding to major flooding,  causing 4 more points of damage and losing -1” of speed for the rest of the game. The flooding can still be stopped in future damage control checks.


Total Damage
For the two turns, here are the final tally of damage taken by each ship:
Renown
111 hull points lost
27 points remaining
2 Main Batteries lost
9 Secondary Batteries lost
Major Flooding
-1 Speed


Littorio
40 hull points lost
110 hull points remaining
1 Secondary Battery lost


Conclusion - Finally!
To me, the gun size and their range, with modifiers makes a huge difference. In addition, the very strong AV of the Littorio protected it from the lighter guns of the Renown. The Renown would obviously want to avoid the broadsides of the Littorio and take advantage of their ability to move after Littorio to put themselves in harder shots for Littorio’s guns. The Renown would need to join this fight with another ship or get out of range of Littorio and stay to Littorio’s aft to take less chances of hits.


A couple of notes. I chose these two ships because I liked the look of them and thought they looked somewhat equivalent. (WRONG) And, I actually rolled d10 for the shooting examples.


Trust me, it doesn’t take this long to play through this much shooting.  Let me know what you thought of this. It took me way longer to get it done that I thought it would and I hope it is of some value to those interested in playing or buying this game.

Naval Thunder Comparison Renown v Littorio Pt 3

Part III - Gun Data
We’ve got the basic ship stats down. Now, let’s look at the stats for the guns and how these actually play out in a couple of examples.

Main Battery


The first section shows the Main Battery guns for each ship. They show the size, the number of guns in each turret, the number of turrets and the arc of fire (F=Forward, P=Port/Left, S=Starboard/Right, A=Aft)


For example, facing in the F/P/S arc of fire, Renown has 15” Guns(this matters in gameplay as you’ll see later). There are 2 guns in each turret and there are 2 Turrets. Therefore, in that arc of fire, Renown can bring a total of 4 guns to bear on a target.  In the R/P/S arc of fire there is 1 turret with 2 guns, meaning in that arc of fire there are two guns to fire at a target.


You’ll notice though that all the guns can face in the P and S arcs. Therefore, all the main guns could focus their fire in one of the two arcs. Renown could target a total of 6 guns on one enemy ship! You can target each turret at a different enemy ship. Though I’m not sure how wise that is.


Basically when it comes time to shoot,  you’ll fire 1d10 for each gun you’re firing.

You read the stats for the secondary batteries in the same way. For example, in the Port arc of fire Renown could fire up to 10 guns in one turn. (2 guns per turret x 5 turrets).




(BTW - I remember port=left from starboard=right because port has fewer letters than starboard and left has few letters than right.)


Therefore, the Renown can bring a max of 6 of it’s main guns to bear on any one target. The Littorio can bring 9 main guns. 

For secondary guns, Renown can bring a max of 10 guns. In certain ranges, Littorio can bring a max of 12 guns on one target. I say, “in certain ranges,” because Littorio has two different sizes of secondary guns that have different range bands.


Number of Main Battery Guns Advantage: Littorio
Number of Secondary Battery Guns Advantage: Littorio


Main Battery Gun Power


Again, it shows the size. Then it breaks each gun down to a range band in inches: Short, Medium, Long, Extra Long. Then it shows Pen or Penetration value of a gun. And finally, the damage the guns’ shells inflict.  


For example, The Renown’s main 15” guns have a max range of 60”. 45” is considered Long range. 30” is considered Medium range and 15” is considered short range. This makes a difference because range bands can add/subtract various modifiers. Whereas, the Littorio’s main guns have a range band of: max is 80”; long is 60”; medium is 40”; short is 20.


Next is the “Pen” or penetration value of the shell. The Renown’s main battery shell’s penetrate with a 12. The Littorio’s with a 14.  Remember, you add this to a roll of a d10 plus modifiers and compare it to the target’s armor value to determine the amount of damage you inflict.  You’ll see this later in the example of shooting.


Finally, Dmg or Damage per shell hit is shown. The Renown and Littorio main guns both inflict up to 10 points of damage for each gun/shell that hits. If the shells don’t penetrate, then half damage is applied. If there is no way, even by rolling a 10 that a shell could penetrate, then no point damage is taken. However, if a natural “10” is rolled then a “superstructure critical” roll is made.

Normally you roll 2d10 to determine critical damage and apply damage points. However, on a superstructure roll you only roll a 1d10 and don’t add any damage points from the shell hitting - though you may take some from the critical hit. By rolling just 1d10 you won’t have the chance of having some thing  like a magazine explosion.


Overall Range Advantage: Littorio
Overall Penetration Advantage: Littorio
Overall Damage Advantage: Neither


Torpedoes


Torpedoes list size, range band in inches, what kind of mounts, the number of tubes on a mount and then the arc where the torpedoes are mounted. In the case of Renown (no torpedoes on Littorio) she has 21” torpedoes, with a range band of: short is 4”; medium is 8; long is 12”. They are double mounted with 2 mounts in each port and starboard arc.


Here’s how you shoot and determine torpedo attacks. At the beginning of the ship’s shooting phase you record the target of the torpedo attacks. At the end of all the ships’ shooting phases you determine the result of the torpedo attacks. You determine these for each mount. You also use the same “Target/To Hit number” as your base. Again, there are modifiers based on a variety of factors.  You roll a d10 for each mount. In the case of the Renown you would roll 2d10 if you were firing the port or starboard torpedos.


For every successful hit rolled, that means a torpedo from the mount hit. If that is the case, then you get to roll for the other torpedoes in the the mount to see if they hit.


Torpedo Advantage: Renown


Aircraft


This is something I’ve not played yet. I’m not clear on the mechanics yet, and in this example, the plane that Littorio carries won’t help. Thought it could be of assistance in a longer run battle with Renown, depending on the circumstances. The plane is designated as an “R”, which mean reconnaissance.  Basically a recon plane can help with targeting for the main battery.

Aircraft Advantage: Littorio


If you look at the complete chart of pluses, it looks like Littorio comes out in the lead 9-4.




Next up, because this is already quite long, we look at an example of shooting from two different ranges. 

I need an editor!

Litko Bases Arrive - Quick Preview

Received the wooden Litko bases yesterday. This wood feels like I could snap it, but it also feels sturdier than balsa wood. The surface is also very smooth. The edges appear to be burnt.

They are 1.6mm thick (They also make a 3mm version). I bought 4 sizes and realized just a few minutes ago as I was measuring up the ships to them that one of the sizes, 60mm x 30mm, isn't for the ships. I got these if I decide to try painting up some 6mm samurai for Impetus.

Naval Thunder Comparison Littorio v Renown pt 2

 In a previous post I gave some of the basics to compare two ships in the Naval Thunder game, the HMS Renown and the Italian Littorio.




Target Number
NT uses d10s and each category of ship has a particular “Hit on” or Target number. For example, every Battlecruiser and Fast Battleship are hit on a roll of 7+. (A Battleship is hit on a 6+, and destroyers are hit on 9+. Though, there is talk of making destroyers have a “hit on” or target number of 10+.) This number can be, and is usually modified by a number of factors such as the range to target (ranging from 0 to 5); if the shooter has Fire Control (0 or -1); Rate of fire (shots at 20” or less); various conditional criteria (how far target moved, shooter has severe list, etc.); Crew and other technical modifications; and modifiers for torpedoes.


Advantage: neither.


Hull Points

Littorio

Next stat is the Hull, these are a number of points, in this case, Renown has 138, and Littorio has 150. After each hit, penetration and damage are determined and each gun does a specific amount of damage. For example, the main guns on the Littorio does 10 points of damage for each hit. So, one hit would take the Renown down to 128. Of course, when this reaches 0, the ship is out of commission. You can run the ship at full speed and shooting even if down to 1 hull point. 

However, this is very unlikely because, other issues like flooding, fires, bridge hits, rudder hits, main/secondary battery loss, etc will usually take effect, making a 1 hull point ship a very ineffective ship.


Advantage Littorio..


Speed
This is based on inches moved each movement phase. Both ships move 8”.


Advantage: neither.


Move Step
The sequence of play for NT is quite long. However, after a couple of turns, most of it becomes second nature. Each turn is broken down into phases. They are:

I. A/C & Submarine Battle Phase
II. Movement Phase
    A. Battleship Movement
    B. Cruiser Movement
    C. Destroyer Movement
III. Shooting Phase
    A. Battleship Shooting
    B. Cruiser Shooting
    C. Destroyer Shooting
    D. Torpedo Shooting
IV. End Phase (damage and command checks, etc)

Renown

Within each phase are several steps, but you get the point. Movement is simultaneous. For example, at the beginning of the Battleship Movement phase every player writes down their orders for how each Battleship, Fast Battleship and Fleet Carrier is going to move. Then, at the same time all players move those ships. You then do the same for Cruisers and Destroyers.


(Side note: I didn’t think I would be a fan of the simultaneious movement. However, after a couple games of Johnny Reb III and then a solo run through of NT, I like it.)


As you can see, it’s advantageous to move in the later steps because  you can see where the slower and bigger ships moved. In this case, the Renown is classified as Battlecruiser and therefore moves in the second Cruiser Movement step. Littorio, though a Fast Battleship, still moves first in the Battleship Movement step.


Advantage Renown.


Shoot Step
Similar to movement, shooting is simultaneous within each shooting step. So, in this case all ships classified, for shooting, as Battleships will shoot at the same time. Their hits on each other won’t affect their shooting during the current turn. However, their hits on the smaller and later shooting steps will be  affected and may not get a chance to shoot if damaged during the Battleship step. Battleships, Fast Battleships, and Battlecruisers all fall into the Battleship category for shooting.


Advantage: Neither.


Fire Control

This is broken down into four categories based on the nationality. In this example, the Renown as RDR which gives it a -1 modifier to the Target number for targets in the Short, Medium, and Long Ranges. (Note: There is an X-long Range. Also,German radar only gives a -1 to the target number at Long range.)  The Littorio is just STD, or standard and gets a modifier to target of 0.


Advantage Renown.


Armor Value (AV)
This represents the main armor of the ship that recieve the bulk of the hits when fired upon. When a hit is a achieved on a target, the shooter takes the “Penetration” factor of the gun they shot, add a d10 roll to it, add or subtract one of 5 modifiers and if this number is greater than the target’s AV then full damage is taken and another roll is made to see what critical damage is taken. 

If the Penetration+d10+modifiers is equal to or less than AV then half damage is applied to the ship. If there is no way the shell, with Penetration+d10+modifiers, can equal AV even if a 10 is rolled, then there is no hull damage. However, if a natural “10” is rolled then a “superstructure critical” roll is made...more on that in a later post.  Renown is 14 and Littorio is 18.


Advantage: Littorio


Secondary Armor Value (SAV)
This is the protection against torpedoes. It operates the same as AV, but just with torpedoes. Littorio is 6 and Renown is 5. Close, but in this case Littorio doesn’t have torpedoes and Renown does.


Advantage: Littorio


Anti-Aircraft/Submarine Warfare (AA/SW)
I’ve not played with Aircraft or submarines yet. However, basically every ship in the fleet, against an air attack, totals their AA number and rolls this number of d10 against all aircraft attacking them.  10+ hit and knock down the aircraft.


The same manner of play is used when defending against submarines. Total the SW ratings and roll this number of dice against the subs. 8+ hit.


There are more nuances to the rules, modifiers etc. But that’s about as much as I’m going to say about these since I’ve not experienced them before. But looking at the numbers:


AA Advantage: Renown
SW Advantage: Neither


Conclusion

If you look at a chart with pluses and minuses of advantages for the basic ship stats, it appears that Littorio has a slight advantage with  3 to 2. The movement advantage is a big deal because the Renown Captain can adjust their placement to get out of a harmful shot or to position for a better shot. The fire control is nice...if the ships had similar guns. More on that later.


The Littorio has advantages on stats that can help it to be much more resilient to damage. The AV 
difference is big, 4 points. This will help them not take serious damage more often than the Renown. In addition, more hull points means it will be in the fight longer.



In a future post we’ll compare their guns by looking at the stats and looking at a couple turns of firing.

And thank you all, we reached 50 followers!

Naval Thunder Comparison Chart - Renown v. Littorio

As you've seen from previous entries I've been working on some 1:3000 Davco ships. These are British, Italian, and German as I want to play the Atlantic and Mediterranean in WWII. After the last game convention I did a bit of research on Naval rules and not being a huge draw I wanted something fairly straight forward. I.E. less stats and detail.  I certainly see the appeal of General Quarters, but I knew I would never play something at that level on my own. Though, Adam, if you're reading this, I would certainly play in a hosted game.

HMS Renown

Victory at Sea was another, more closely considered, WWII naval game. It also abstracts more things than GQIII. At the moment I can't recall why I moved over those for my own use...but again, The Composer, if you're reading, I would love to play a game your hosting...especially since your miniatures are so well done!

Ultimately, I decided to go with Naval Thunder and I'm pretty happy I did. I've done a couple of solo runs and look forward to trying them with an opponent.

(Side note: Go here to the View from the Turret review of GQIII and of Victory at Sea. They also review Naval Thunder here.)

Littorio on the Right

While working on the ships, I've thought it would be interesting to take a couple of the ships and compare the stats to each other. For the first time, I picked the two ships that looked the coolest to me. Actually, the Italian ship Littorio looked the coolest with all the round secondary guns. Then I perused the British ships to compare it against and picked the Renown. Hindsight, I should have chosen a stronger British candidate, but they're fairly close... or are they?

I also thought this would be a good way to introduce some of the concepts of the Naval Thunder rules. I'll probably do this in 2-3 parts to avoid a book of an entry...wait, this is already a book.



In fact, I may end this now. In the next post, I'll discuss these basic stats and what they mean in the game and how they affect the performance and survivability of the each ship.

Though I will leave you with these little tidbits:
FC is Fire Control (RDR is radar and STD is not what you think it is...it's Standard)
AV is Armor Value, this is the main armor
SAV is Secondary Armor Value
AA is Anti-Aircraft value and
SW is Submarine Warfare value

d10s are the dice used in the game
move and firing for each ship type is simultaneous
move and firing is done in inches
each gun has a specific range band based on diameter and barrel length
each gun also has specific penetration and damage values as well

And, on a slightly different note: I just saw that The Composer has posted some new tutorials on how he built some of his ships. He knows how to model and paint 1:2400 ships - go check out the series beginning with this post.