Advanced Tobruk System Basics - Really basic

This is a very quick video on some ATS basics.

Chain of Command Vehicle Movement

Continuing my tutorials on the basics of Chain of Command, Too Fat Lardies' WWII skirmish level game.

This time I cover vehicle movement.

Chain of Command Infantry Movement Tutorial

A YouTube follower asked that i make a video on the basics of moving and firing. Here's my first attempt at one. This is about Infantry movement.

NUTS! Tutorial and AAR Playlist

As I was reading the Two Hour Wargames rules I ran across these great tutorials and AARs for NUTS! Thank you to the Wargaming Addict for the videos.

How to Play Basic Impetus Video Series

Welcome to Thomo_the_Lost as a new follower to the blog.  Go check out his site, Thomos Hole (I've not been there yet, but the name alone makes me want to check it out.)

Kurtus over on YouTube has created 10, so far, videos on how to play Basic Impetus.  Basic Impetus covers every era from ancient to 17th century warfare.  It was one of the sets I considered as I thought about Samurai.  I played it a few times solo and it was easy enough, enjoyable, and seemed to have the ability to incorporate enough strategy.  If I were to pursue it further I would definitely get the full set because it gets into more depth on command and control and morale.

But the basic can give a quick game in a small space and is free.

You can download Basic Impetus here at Dadi & Piombo's website.  There are tons of historical and fantasy lists available around the web as well.

Here's Kurtus' videos:

Full Battletech Tutorials by Anthony Wilson

Anthony Wilson, aka Ouchies Batreps on YouTube, created 3 tutorials teaching the basics of full Battletech, ie not Alpha Strike.  However, in the effort of showing more of the Battletech universe, and because he's so prolific with his battlereports, I present his 3 tutorials.

You may find that you prefer the detail level in full as opposed to the quicker play of Alpha Strike.
1 of 3


2 of 3


3 of 3

I suppose I should ask his permission before posting these here.

Alpha Strike Basics - Special Abilities

The last of the training videos for Introductory Alpha Strike, the Battletech quick-play miniatures game.

What else should I make some videos on?

Alpha Strike Basics - Heat

Heat is huge part of the full Battletech game.  They've incorporated it in a nice way for Alpha Strike.  You can add heat to apply more damage. Also, some weapons add more heat to their target.  There are chances to cool down as well.

No bad songs in this one, I promise.

Alpha Strike Basics - Combat - Physical Attacks

This video isn't as coherent.  I think I was tired while making it.

And there are a few things to remember and think about when making physical attacks.

There are 3 types of attacks:
Standard
Melee
Special - Charge and Death from Above

Alpha Strike Basics - Combat Part 2

Finally we get to rolling some dice in this, now released Catalyst Game Labs set of quick play miniature rules set in the Battletech universe, Alpha Strike.  Go get 'em tiger:

Alpha Strike Tutorial - Combat - Line of Sight

Now onto combat, almost.  I look at Line of Sight and Firing Arc.  Both fundamental if you want to hit your opponent.  Very easy in the introductory Alpha Strike rules.

The pdf goes on sale today, July 29th.  Go to www.bg.battletech.com to learn how to buy it.

Battletech Alpha Strike - Movement

Pretty easy, but here are the basics of movement in Catalyst Game Labs new Battletech quick play miniatures rules, Alpha Strike.

Battletech Alpha Strike - Sequence of Play

Here's a lengthy vid on sequence of play for Catalyst Game Labs' quick play miniature rules in the Battletech universe, Alpha Strike.

As much as I try to keep this vids short, i go on and on.  Makes me appreciate professional videos even more - good writing and editing.




And the origin of Trogdor:



Pardon the Trogdor reference.

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!

Blitzkrieg Commander II Walk-through Video

I've been wanting to do this for some time: a walk-through/tutorial of Blitzkrieg Commander II. This long video takes you through the initiative phase and one command roll of a command phase.

It's amazing how long this sort of thing takes to make. And how much work it would take to make it really good. Transitions, titles, words to help guide someone through the things I'm saying, etc.

I look forward to comments and hope it encourages someone to either: buy the rules or try the rules that they bought a long time ago and just haven't got round to playing.

I filmed it on my iphone and ran out of disk space. In fact, I ran out of room on my macbook as well. I couldn't even back up my phone. So, after a lot of deleting, shuffling, etc, I was able to upload it. Now, I can clean off my phone and take a picture of the table my 9 year laid out for me. He's wanted to do this for some time.

Future post material.