Training Academy
Naval and Marine Operations
Art of War 107
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The American Civil War could not have ended as quickly or as definitively as it did without the power and skill of the U.S. Navy in choking off Southern ports and commerce. Unfortunately, for fans of Naval operations, the WDS games don't pay all that much attention to the Naval actions of the Civil War. But there are plenty of places in the WDS games where the Navy does play a minor role. The WDS game with the most Naval action is WDS Forgotten Campaigns. Here you can fight battles around Charleston, Mobile, or other coastal towns. The Naval combat in the WDS series is far from exciting but it is a fun change from the usual ground warfare.
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The Naval units can be confusing to understand when you first look at them because they include additional information not present in any other units in the game. Below are examples of various Union gunboat information boxes.
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The above gunboats all have different quality ratings (A to E in this example). But they also have a number after the quality rating which can range from 1 to 6 (1 to 5 in this example). The first letter represents their quality. Quality for gunboats controls only their ability to recover from becoming "Disabled" in combat. I will discuss this more later in this report.
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The number after the quality rating represents their Armor Rating. This number, 1 to 6, determines how hard it is to damage the gunboats in combat. The game manual does not give any examples of how the armor ratings effect the math of Fire Combat aside from simply saying, "The higher the armor rating the harder it is to damage the boat." Alrighty then.
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As seen from the images below, the quality and armor ratings are not related in any way.
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While in action, a gunboat can have one of three unit designations: Normal, Damaged, Disabled.
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While "Normal," the gunboat will look, fire, and move normally. This is its pristine state.
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A gunboat will become "Damaged" when it is... damaged. Just how does a gunboat get to be "Damaged?" It all has to do with the armor rating of the gunboat. The higher the armor rating, the more resilient the gunboat is to becoming damaged. A gunboat becomes "Damaged" when it passes a certain fatigue point, at which point it is assumed its armor can no longer be relied upon. Once "Damaged" the gunboat will stay damaged for the remainder of the battle.
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Armor Ratings and "Damaged" Fatigue Levels:
1 (Lowest) = 200 Fatigue
2 = 250 Fatigue
3 = 300 Fatigue
4 = 350 Fatigue
5 = 400 Fatigue
6 (Highest) = 450 Fatigue
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The unit picture will have the word "Damaged" on it. While "Damaged," the gunboat fires with only one-half it's usual firepower. This can be further reduced by natural fatigue modifiers when over 300 fatigue points or over 600 fatigue points. While "Damaged" the unit has a greater probability of becoming "Disabled" by enemy gunfire.
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When a gunboat is "Disabled" it means they have failed a morale check and are out of offensive action. The gunboat can move only half as far as usual and cannot fire at all. A unit can only recover from being "Disabled" at the start of their turn if the unit passes a morale check. The higher a unit's quality rating, the more likely that is. The game manual does a poor job describing just how gunboats become, and recover from, being "Disabled." In fact, the manual says nothing about it. My only guess is that the game rolls a six-sided die at the start of each turn a unit is "Disabled," if the die roll beats the odds then the unit is no longer disabled. The higher the quality the more likely the units recovers quickly.
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Below are shown the three designations a gunboat can have while in battle.
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Gunboats are also susceptible to underwater mines. These mines can be triggered when a gunboat unknowingly enters the hex with the mine and detonates it. When this occurs, the gunboat is immediately sunk.
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Another way a gunboat can be destroyed is when it reaches maximum fatigue. The ship will then "sink." When this happens, the losing side loses the points for the armor lost but NOT the guns that went down with the ship. More on point losses below.
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Victory Points for gunboats are a bit odd. Each gunboat "gun" which is destroyed costs the losing team the same number of points as a field cannons (in most scenarios this will mean 30 points per gunboat gun lost). A gunboat which is completely destroyed will also cost the losing side additional points. Points awarded for destroying a gunboat are based on their armor rating x10. A gunboat with an armor rating of 5 will cost the losing side 50 points if destroyed (plus the number of guns that went down with the ship. In the example of the U.S.S. Huron in the image above, if that boat hit a mine and sunk, it would cost the Federals 340 points (10x30 points for guns lost = 300, and armor rating of 4 x 10 for 40 additional points lost).
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Overall, the gunboats are powerful units. But they so seldomly appear in scenarios that they are often completely ignored or forgotten in the WDS Civil War world. Trying to engage them with field artillery or small arms fire feels useless. These boats must be fought with the heaviest guns in your arsenal (usually emplaced guns supporting forts).
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Marines and Amphibious Landings
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An even rarer thing than gunboats in scenarios are the use of “boats" in them. Very few scenarios actually feature such units. But these units are easily identifiable by having a “B” next to their movement points in their Unit Information Box as pictured below. They may travel over any water hex (using column formation) in their boats. Once the unit enters the waters the boats are considered "in use." When the unit exits the water, the boats are considered "used" and they cannot be used again. The "B" disappears from beside the unit's movement points and the unit cannot cross a water hex a second time.
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