Mar Rojo
Mar Rojo Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
Mar Rojo (Red Sea) is a game for 1 or 2 players of naval warfare during the Spanish Civil War. Players command a naval squadron, with each ship or aircraft squadron represented by a fleet card from the Fleet deck. The squadrons of both players are made up of between 5 and 15 fleet cards. Players command their units to perform activations, or interrupt enemy activations, using the cards from the Action Deck. Each game represents a variable number of hours (in short scenarios), or days (in long scenarios).
The objective of the game is to sink, or damage, the most enemy units and to safeguard their own merchant ships.
The game includes 3 historical scenarios and the possibility of creating your own scenario in which players create their squadrons using a points system.
2. Components
- 1 Fleet deck, with 56 fleet cards (Republican, Nationalist and Intervention fleets).
- 1 Action deck containing 52 action cards.
- 14 red damage cubes.
- 14 green stress cubes.
- 5 six-sided dice.
- 1 Rulebook.
3. Game Cards
There are two types of cards in the game: Fleet and Action cards. Fleet cards represent the ships and aircraft of the combatant navies. The Action cards are used in the game to activate units, restore damage or invoke special effects.
3.1 Fleet cards
Each fleet card represents a single ship or a squadron of aircraft. There are the following categories of fleet cards:
Capital ships: Powerful battleships, battlecruisers, light and heavy cruisers. Ships with main armament.
Destroyers: Light escort ships.
Auxiliaries: Less powerful surface ships, usually for escort missions. This category includes gunboats, torpedo boats, armed trawler (armed fishing boats), and armed merchant ships. The destroyer and auxiliary ships are considered escorts.
Submarines: Submersible ships.
Merchant ships: Civilian ships not used in combat, although they may have some form of armament. Tankers are also included in this category.
Aircraft: Fighters and bombers which may also be seaplanes.
During the entire game the player can consult his fleet cards at any time, but not those of his rival.
[Component diagram: the fleet card layout is labelled Side, Date, Type, Name, Hull, Main Armament, Movement, Torpedoes, Armour, AA Heavy/light, Anti submarine, Secondary Armament and Cost. The example card shown is the Baleares, Heavy Cruiser, dated 1930.]
3.1.1 Fleet cards properties
Hull: This is the number of hits that the fleet card can take before it is destroyed.
Main Armament: This is the number of dice rolled when the main armament is used to fire at an enemy surface ship card.
Secondary Armament: This is the number of dice rolled when the secondary armament is used to fire at an enemy surface ship card.
Movement: This number denotes the movement ability of the unit from 0 (lowest) to 3 (highest).
Armor/Save: This is the possibility of a saving roll to cancel hits made by the enemy.
Torpedoes: This is the number of dice rolled when torpedoes are used against an enemy surface ship card.
AA Heavy/Light: This is the number of dice rolled when firing its anti aircraft guns against an enemy aircraft card.
Anti-submarine: This is the number of dice rolled when the anti submarine armament, depth charges etc., is used against an enemy submarine.
Air Combat: This is the number of dice rolled for combat between aircraft cards.
Bombardment: This is the number of dice rolled when aircraft are attacking (bombing) ships cards.
[Component diagram: the aircraft card layout is labelled Side, Type, Name, Hull, Anti submarine, Save, Air Combat, Cost and Bombing. The example card shown is the Tupolev SB-2, Bomber, dated 1936.]
Date: The year in which the unit entered service.
Cost: Point value of the card.
3.2 Action Cards
Action cards are used by players during the course of the game to determine the number of units (fleet cards) that may be activated, invoke the special effects specified on the card, interrupt enemy activations, or to reorganise (remove stress markers) from the player's own units. A player may only have a maximum of 5 action cards in his hand.
There are 3 types of action cards:
-
General: During his turn, a player may use this type of card to activate the number of his own fleet cards shown by the RED factor, or reorganise his own fleet cards by removing the number of green stress cubes from his own fleet cards shown by the BLUE factor, or to invoke the special effect shown on the action card.
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Interruption: The player can use an action card of this type during his own turn as an action card of the general type as described above, or during his opponent's turn to invoke the special effect shown on the action card.
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Support: The player can use an action card of this type during his own turn as an action card of the general type as described above, or to modify his own or his opponent's action by invoking the special effect shown on the action card.
To summarise, all action cards can be used to reorganise (remove stress cubes) from the player's fleet cards, to activate the player's fleet cards, or to invoke the special effect shown on the action card.
3.2.1 Action Card Properties
Side: All action cards, except Faccioso or Cabo Palos, can be played by either side. If the special effect shown on the action card may only be used by one side and not the other, this is denoted by flag shown on the action card.
Support or Interruption: This action card is of the specified type, either interruption or support.
Effects: The special effects that can be invoked by playing this action card.
Stress: The number of stress points (green cubes) that can be removed from any fleet cards in the player's squadron if this option is declared when playing the action card.
Actions: The number of fleet cards that can be activated to perform an action (movement, firing, discovery, or reorganization).
[Card diagram: the action card layout is labelled Side, Description, Name, Type, Effects, Actions, Stress and Number. The example card shown is Cabo Palos, a Support card with the description "The sinking of the Baleares" and the effect "Double all destroyer torpedo hits this subturn."]
4. Game Set Up
Before starting a game, the players decide which scenario to play; either one of the scenarios included in this rulebook, or by creating squadrons using the points system (see point 9).
Once the fleet cards that make up each squadron have been chosen, each player deploys them face down in front of him in three horizontal lines or rows.
The first row, that is the row furthest from the player, represents the short distance or range, from the enemy.
The second row, that is the row below the first row, which is closer to the player, represents the medium distance or range, from the enemy.
The third row, that is the row nearest the player, represents the long distance or range, from the enemy.
The fleet cards of both players are deployed with their short range rows facing each other.
At each of these distances, there can only be one more fleet card than in any of the other rows, for example 3-2-2 in the short, medium and long rows. Only escort (destroyer and auxiliary types) and aircraft fleet cards can be deployed in the short range/distance row, unless there is no other unit type in the squadron. Merchant ships can only be deployed in the long distance row.
Five action cards are then dealt to each player and the remaining cards are left in the game deck, except for the The End card. Faccioso and Cabo Palos cards are optional, and are only played if both players agree. The End card is entered into the game deck when each player has drawn 5 cards. The first player is decided according to points 8 and 9.
Optional Rule: Before starting the game, each player, starting with the player who has the first turn, reveals one of his cards from his close range row, and another from any row of his opponent's squadron.
Example: The Nationalist squadron has nine fleet cards; three destroyers, two cruisers, one auxiliary, one aircraft and two merchant ships. Fleet cards are always initially deployed hidden, that is face down. The fleet cards are deployed in three rows, each representing a distance or range. In the close range row, the Nationalist player can only deploy his escort fleet cards (destroyers and auxiliaries), so he places his three destroyers in that row. In the long distance row, the row closest to him, he must deploy his merchant ship fleet cards. The remaining fleet cards of the Nationalist squadron are then deployed in the medium and long distance/range rows as desired, bearing in mind the limits on fleet card placement described above. The Republican player simultaneously places his fleet cards in the same manner. Five action cards are then dealt to each player.
[Set-up diagram: the Republican fleet cards are shown face down in the Long, Medium and Short rows, and the Nationalist fleet cards in the Short, Medium and Long rows, facing each other. The cards are shown uncovered as an example.]
5. Game Sequence
Every game turn is divided into two identical sub-turns, one for each player. In his sub-turn the active player can either play an action card, or draw the top card from the action card deck. As noted above, the player who will have the first sub-turn, is specified in the scenario description. During the active player's turn, his opponent is the passive player. When the current active player's sub-turn has been concluded, his opponent becomes the active player in his sub-turn.
During his sub-turn, the following is the sequence of play:
1- The active player chooses whether to play an action card from his hand OR take the top card from the action deck, subject to the maximum of five action cards in his hand. If the active player does not have any action cards in his hand at the start of his sub-turn, he must draw the top card of the action deck.
2- If the player chooses to play an action card, this is the card in play. The player must declare which one of the following actions he will take. The options are:
- Invoke the special effect described on the card. OR
- Remove stress markers from his fleet cards; a reorganisation action. OR
- Activate one or more of his fleet cards.
3- The active player declares whether he wishes to play a single SUPPORT card, whose special effect will be resolved prior to resolving the action card that he has just played.
4- The passive player declares if he wishes to play a single INTERRUPTION card. The special effect of this card is resolved before the action card played by the active player is resolved. However, in the case of the Mines, Faccioso and Fog cards, the special effect of this card is resolved after the special effect of the action card played by the active player has been resolved.
Once the action card played by the active player has been resolved. Once the action card in play has been resolved, including any effects from an enemy Interruption card, the active player's sub-turn is over and play passes to the passive player for his sub-turn which follows the same sequence. Once both players have concluded their sub-turns, the game turn ends.
5- All action cards that have been played by both players are placed on a separate discard pile.
Example: the Destroyers card can be played in one of these three ways:
- As an effect: all destroyers of the squadron can be activated to do one action each.
- To reorganization: 4 stress markers are removed from any card.
- As actions: two actions can be performed with two fleet cards.
[Card diagram: the Destructores card, an Action card. Its printed effect text is in Spanish ("El jugador puede activar todos los destructores de su escuadra", that is, the player may activate all the destroyers of his squadron). The blue value is 4 (stress removal) and the red value is 2 (actions).]
5.1 Actions
When playing an action card to activate fleet cards, the number in the red box indicates how many actions may be performed. Alternatively, fleet cards may be activated using an appropriate special effect on the card. For example, playing the Cruisers card, allows the active player to activate all of the capital ships in his squadron once. Each ship or submarine fleet card can only be activated once in any sub-turn, unless the first action performed is to discover the fleet card (i.e. turn it face up). Aircraft units may be activated twice in every sub-turn. The actions that a fleet card may perform are as follows:
- Movement
- Combat
- Discover
- Reorganise
The player may perform any combination of actions with his fleet cards subject to the limitations described above. For example, if the player plays a card worth 3 actions, he could choose to move one fleet card and engage in combat with two other fleet cards.
5.2 Movement
During a movement activation, the active player can, at the cost of one action:
- Uncover (turn face up) one of his own fleet cards. This is the only action that allows a ship or submarine fleet card to perform another action in the current sub-turn.
- Cover (turn face down) one of his own fleet cards.
- Move a fleet card from one distance to another. The chosen fleet card moves from one distance (row) to another distance (row), for example, from Short to Medium, Medium to Long or vice versa. Fleet cards with a movement factor of 2 or 3 can move up to 2 distances, for example from Long to Short or vice versa. All aircraft fleet cards have a movement factor of 3. Any movement made CANNOT leave the squadron deployment layout in an invalid state (See Section 4).
- Exchange positions. Two fleet cards swap positions within the deployment of the squadron. At least one of the fleet cards involved in the exchange of positions MUST have a movement factor of 3.
A fleet card with a movement factor of 0 cannot make any movement actions except to uncover or cover.
5.3 Combat
A fleet card that is uncovered (face up) can engage in combat. The following are the types of combat which may be allowed for a fleet card depending on its type:
- Main armament fire (against surface ship cards).
- Secondary armament fire (surface ship cards).
- Anti-aircraft fire (AA).
- Torpedo fire (against surface ship cards).
- Anti-submarine combat (AS).
- Air to air combat (aircraft only).
- Bombardment (aircraft only).
5.3.1 Combat procedure
The active player declares which one of his uncovered (face up) is going to be activated and the following steps are followed:
1. Choice a target: The active player declares which enemy fleet card is the target of the attack. An enemy fleet card MUST be uncovered. Anti-aircraft (AA) fire and air to air combat can only have aircraft as its target. Anti-submarine (AS) combat can only have submarines as its target. Submarines and aircraft can only attack, or be the target of enemy combat, if they are located at close or medium range.
2. Calculate the range: This is done by comparing the distances (rows) in which the active and target fleet card are physically located. The distances are cross referenced on the following table which gives the range for the purposes of combat resolution. This range is called the combat distance. If the result of the cross reference is Speed, then the player that controls the fleet card that has the highest speed factor, chooses the combat distance which may be the distance (row) of either the active or target fleet unit. When the speed factors of the two units in the combat are equal and the cross reference result is Speed, then the active player chooses the combat distance which may be the distance (row) of either the active or target fleet unit.
| Active \ Target | Short | Medium | Long |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short | Short | Speed | Medium |
| Medium | Speed | Medium | Speed |
| Long | Medium | Speed | Long |
Attacks made by aircraft fleet units are always made using a combat distance of Medium. Only main armament may fire at a combat distance of Long. Torpedo attacks can only be made where the combat distance is short or medium.
3. Resolve escort attack on an attacking submarine: Submarines carrying out a torpedo attack, may be attacked by an enemy escort that is in the close distance, BEFORE the torpedo attack is carried out. This is resolved using the escort fleet card's AS factor.
4. Submarine evasion of anti-submarine attacks: In the case of AS attacks by the active player against an enemy submarine fleet card, BEFORE the attack is made, the targeted submarine may make an evasion dice roll. If the result of this roll is 5+, the submarine has successfully evaded the AS attack. The attack is cancelled, the active player loses one of his actions, but the attacking fleet card unit does NOT gain a stress marker.
5. Play a Support card: The active player may play one support card from his action card hand to apply its special effect to the current combat action. In the case of torpedo attacks, only the Cabo Palos support card may be played.
6. Play an Interruption card: The passive player may play one Interruption card (Smoke, Surprise or Collateral) from his action card hand to apply its special effect to the current combat action.
7. Resolve Anti-Aircraft Fire: If the target fleet card is being attacked by an aircraft fleet card (Bombardement), the passive player rolls one die for each light AA factor on his fleet card. Each 6 rolled results in a hit on the attacking aircraft fleet card.
8. Hit resolution: The active player rolls one die for each point of the weapon being used. A roll of 5+ is needed to obtain a hit. If the attacking weapon is Secondary Armament or Torpedoes, subtract one from each die roll if the combat distance is Medium. Main armament deducts one from each die roll if the combat distance is Long. If the combat type is air to air combat, both aircraft fleet units engage in combat and receive hits simultaneously, rolling one die for each combat factor, gaining hits for each die roll of 5+.
The procedure for torpedo combat is different. For each torpedo hit achieved, roll one die, and determine the effect of each hit from the following table:
| 1d6 | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | No effect |
| 2-4 | 1 Hit |
| 5 | 2 Hits |
| 6-7 | Sunk |
Note: the table is printed with the range "6-7" for "Sunk". A d6 cannot roll 7, so the only result that produces a sunk ship is a 6. The range is transcribed as printed.
Capital ships add one to the number rolled on the die. A ship that receives a "Sunk" result is removed from the game immediately.
9. Faccioso (Nationalist) Interruption card: If the Nationalist player is the passive player, he may play this card if he has it in his action card hand.
10. Saving Roll: For every hit received by the target unit from the above steps, the passive player rolls one die to try and nullify the hit. The dice roll required varies according to the Armour/Saving factor of the target fleet card and is determined as follows:
- X: There is no saving roll.
- L: 6
- H / S: 5+
- E: 4+
Note: In the case of torpedo combat, there is NO armour saving throw except for escorts which have a special saving roll of 5+ because of their size and agility.
11. Hit Assignment: For each hit that has not been saved in step 8 above, place one Yellow damage marker on the target fleet card.
Note: step 11 prints "Yellow damage marker", while the Components list gives red damage cubes. The printed term is kept as it appears.
12. Stress Assignment: All ships or aircraft that have fired (except for AA fire, Step 7 above), gain one stress marker (one green cube). If the main armament has been used, an additional stress marker is gained.
13. Submarine dive: After carrying out a torpedo attack, an attacking submarine may be covered (turned face down), without the need of a further activation.
Lucky hit: If a fleet card has any of its combat values reduced to zero as a result of damage or stress, it can still make a lucky hit roll. If it rolls a 6 on a first roll, followed by a 4+ on a second roll, then one hit has been achieved.
Example: The Libertad, a cruiser with a hull value of 6 has received 4 hits and has 5 stress markers. When using her main armament (5 dice), one die is deducted for the damage sustained (4 hits is greater than half the hull value) and 4 dice are deducted for the 5 stress markers, so a hit could only be obtained with a lucky hit. She rolls 1 die, a 6; then she must roll again, needing 4+; a 5, a hit is scored!
5.3.2 Effects of stress and damage
If the number of damage markers that a fleet unit card has is equal to, or greater than the hull value, the fleet card is eliminated and removed from the game immediately. If the number of damage markers that a fleet unit card has is greater than half the hull value, the fleet card unit has been badly damaged and has ALL of its combat values reduced by one die and its speed is reduced by one point. For each stress marker greater than one that a fleet card has, ALL of its combat values are reduced by one point. If a ship fleet unit has more stress markers than its hull value, the ONLY action it may take is to reorganise.
If a fleet card has any of its combat values reduced to zero as a result of damage or stress, it can still make a lucky hit roll, as described in step 8.
5.4 Discovery
During his sub-turn the active player can activate one of his fleet cards to discover (turn face up) any enemy fleet card. The activated fleet card must be an escort or an aircraft located at short or medium distance. An escort card can discover one enemy card at long distance or up to two at any other distance. Seaplanes always discover up to two cards.
Playing the Scout action card as an event, also discovers enemy fleet cards as indicated on the action card.
If a fleet card uses its main armament, the opposing player may automatically discover one fleet card, either one of his own, or one belonging to his opponent.
5.5 Reorganisation
Reorganisation is the action performed to remove stress markers from fleet cards. No more than two stress markers may be removed from the same fleet card per sub-turn. There are three ways to remove stress markers:
- Playing any action card and using it to reorganise removing the number of stress markers equal to the BLUE factor on the action card.
- Spending an action gained from playing any action card and opting to perform a reorganisation of the fleet card activated to remove one stress marker.
3. Using the General Quarters action card.
Example: It is the Republican player's sub-turn. He has 3 action cards in his hand; Planes, Optics and Destroyers. He decides to play the Destroyers action card as an effect which means that he can activate all of his destroyers. The Ferrandiz performs a reorganisation action so one stress marker is removed from the two that she already had. The Alsedo performs a movement action. At the start of the sub-turn it was uncovered and the player chooses to cover it (turn it face down).
[Diagram: the Republican and Nationalist fleet cards in their deployed positions for the example above.]
The Lepanto and Ciscar both perform combat actions. The Lepanto will perform a torpedo attack and the Ciscar will use its secondary armament. Lepanto is located at close range and has two stress markers and subtracts one die from the 2 dice that it may roll in a torpedo attack, leaving only one die. Her target is the enemy destroyer Velasco which is also located at short distance, so the resulting combat distance is short. Lepanto's one die roll is a 5, a hit has been achieved. As Velasco is a destroyer, it has a saving roll against torpedo attack, but rolls a 4 which is a failure. Lepanto then rolls on the torpedo hit table and rolls a 5 which gives a result of two hits on the Velasco. The Velasco's hull value is two, so the Nationalist destroyer is sunk.
Ciscar targets the enemy destroyer, Teruel. The ships are at medium and short range which gives a result on the combat distance table of "Speed". The Ciscar is faster than the Teruel so the Republican player has the choice of combat distance and chooses short. The Republican player plays his action card OPTIC as a support card which means he can add one to his dice rolls. He rolls 4 dice for his secondary armament and rolls 2, 3, 3 and 5, so only achieves one hit. The Teruel has a saving throw and rolls 6 which is a successful save as the Teruel has an armour factor of "L", so the hit has no effect. As the Lepanto and Ciscar both performed combat actions, they both gain one stress marker. This completes the Republican player's sub-turn so play passes to the Nationalist player.
6. Game Length
There are three possible game lengths, short, average and long. This information is given in the scenario details. They each have different procedures to follow once the The End action card has been drawn by one of the players. The procedures for the three game length possibilities are as follows:
-
Short: When one of the players draws the The End action card, he must show it to his opponent, and then draw a replacement action card from the action card deck. From this point, neither play may draw a new card from the action card deck and play continues until neither player has any more action cards in his hand. At this point the game ends.
-
Average: When one of the players draws the The End action card, he must show it to his opponent, and then draw a replacement card from the action card deck. The action cards that have already been played in the discard pile, including the The End card are returned to the action deck which is then immediately shuffled. Play then continues with the new action deck until the The End card is drawn again by one of the players at which point he must show it to his opponent and then draw a replacement action card from the action deck. From this point, neither play may draw a new card from the action card deck and play continues until neither player has any more action cards in his hand. At this point the game ends.
-
Long: The procedure is the same as the Average duration process described above, except that the process of mixing the discarded action cards and the The End card back into the action deck and reshuffling is repeated a second time.
The game also ends if one of the players plays the Retreat action card as an effect. At this point, all action cards, including those that have been discarded, are shuffled again and play continues until the Retreat or the The End card reappears. From this point, neither player may draw a new card from the action card deck and play continues until neither player has any more action cards in his hand. At this point the game ends.
7. Victory Conditions
The victory conditions are described in each scenario.
In scenarios created using the points system, one point is awarded for each enemy capital or merchant ship that has been sunk plus one point for every 4 other types of enemy fleet card that he has destroyed. The player with the most points is the winner. In the event of a tie, the player that has sunk the most ships (i.e. non aircraft fleet cards), is the winner.
8. Historical Scenarios
In these scenarios, each player chooses a side and deploys his fleet according to the game setup rules. The victory conditions are given in each scenario.
8.1 Battle of Cabo de Palos
5th March 1938. Three Nationalist heavy cruisers, faced with a chronic shortage of escorts, are forced to escort a convoy of merchant ships. Unexpectedly, the bulk of the Republican navy puts to sea to attempt a surprise attack on the port of Palma de Mallorca. Both fleets meet without having anticipated making contact.
Nationalist Squadron: Cruisers: Canarias, Baleares and Almirante Cervera; destroyers: Teruel, Huesca and Velasco; merchant ships: Ebro and Olite.
Republican Squadron: Cruisers Libertad and Mendez Nunez; destroyers Lepanto, Gravina, Ulloa, A. Valdes, and Ciscar.
Victory Conditions: The Republican player wins if he sinks a capital ship or a merchant and an escort. Any other result is a victory for the Nationalist player.
Scenario game length: Short. First player: Republican.
8.2 Crossing the Strait of Gibraltar
July 1936. The Army of Africa awaits its opportunity to cross to the peninsula. To prevent this, the Republican navy has deployed its full potential in the Straits of Gibraltar. However, the transfer of a large number their of ships to the Cantabrian Sea and the losses suffered at the battle of Cape Espartel, allows Nationalist cruisers to gain control of the straits and to attempt to transport the invasion force.
Nationalist Squadron: Cruisers Canarias and Almirante Cervera; gunboats Canovas and Dato; torpedo boat T-19; bomber SM-79; submarine Sanjurjo; merchant ships Ebro and Palma.
Republican Squadron: Battleship Jaime I, Cruisers Libertad and Mendez Nunez; destroyers Lepanto, Gravina, Ulloa, Ferrandiz and Alsedo; gunboat Laya; merchant ships Barcelona and Lealtad.
Victory Conditions: One point is gained for each enemy capital or merchant ship sunk. In addition, the Nationalist player scores one point for each of his merchant ships that is at the short distance (The Nationalist player is considered to have managed to land the Army of Africa on the European shore). The player with the most points wins the game.
Transfer to Cantabrian sea: The first time that the The End action card appears, the Nationalist player removes two enemy ships from the game. The ships so removed, are NOT considered sunk so do not count as victory points. Scenario game length: Average. First player: Nationalist.
8.3 The Mediterranean campaign
1937/1938. Both sides relied on keeping the seaways open in order to receive overseas aid. Domination of the Mediterranean was the top priority for both fleets.
Nationalist Squadron: Cruisers Canarias and Almirante Cervera; destroyers Teruel, Melilla, Huesca and Velasco; airplanes SM-79 and CR-32; submarines Sanjurjo and Mola; merchant ships Domine, Ebro and Palma.
Republican Squadron: Cruisers Libertad, Cervantes and Mendez Nunez; destroyers Lepanto, Gravina, Ulloa, A. Valdes and Alsedo; bomber Tupolev SB-2; merchant ships Barcelona, Mar Caribe and Lealtad; submarine C-4.
Victory Conditions: One point is gained for each enemy capital or merchant ship sunk. In addition, both players score one point for each of his merchant ships that is at the short distance. The player with the most points wins the game.
New ship: The first time the The End card appears, the Nationalist player deploys the cruiser Navarra, into his squadron at any legal position in his deployment.
Scenario game length: Long. First player: Nationalist.
9. Creating Your Own Scenario
Players may decide to play their own scenarios, building their squadrons using a points system. The players choose the scenario duration from the options in section 6 above. Once the duration has chosen, the players secretly build their squadrons. The duration chosen affects the maximum number of points that may be used to build each player's squadron. Optionally, players may elect to set their scenario in a certain year, so fleet cards with a date later than the chosen year may not be chosen. The following table shows the values and limitations for each scenario duration:
| Scenario | Cards | Points | Capital ships (max/min) | Merchants | Aircraft and submarines (max/min) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short | 5-8 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0-1 |
| Average | 6-12 | 15 | 1-2 | 2 | 0-2 |
| Long | 8-15 | 20 | 2-3 | 3 | 1-3 |
Table key (as printed): capital ships (max/min number); merchants (number); aircraft and submarines (max/min number).
Where a range of numbers is shown in the above table e.g. 6-12, these are the minimum and maximum number of cards or units of this type that may be chosen.
The cost in points of each fleet card is shown in the bottom right hand corner of each card. The total of the points value of all the cards in each squadron may not exceed the points value for the relevant scenario length in the above table. The player with the most escort unit types is the first player. In the event that both players have the same number of escort unit types in their squadron, the Nationalist player is the first player.
10. Night Combat (Optional)
10.1 Overview
When the night combat rules are used, the Day/Night and Flares cards are placed in the game deck and a Scout, a General Quaters and an Optics card are removed.
The game begins in the daytime period and the rules of the game apply as normal. Each time a player draws a Day/Night card from the game deck, there is a change in the playing period:
- If up to that moment the game period was daytime (normal), it is changed to a night game period and the night combat limitations apply.
- If until that moment the game period was night, it is changed to a day game period and the normal combat rules apply.
The player discards the Day/Night card and picks up another card from the deck instead.
10.2 Night Combat Limitations
- All types of armament add 1 to hit.
- There can be no lucky hit.
- The only card that can be played as support is the Flares card.
- Combat actions cannot be performed with aircraft cards.
11. Neutral and Intervention Fleets Cards (Optional)
Before starting a game, both players can agree to play neutral fleet cards and/or the intervention fleets cards.
Green fleet cards are neutral and can be used by any player. The brown fleet cards are from the Royal Navy and can only be used by the Republican player. The black (Kriegsmarine) and yellow (Regia Marina) cards can only be used by the Nationalist player.
12. Solo Game
12.1 Overview
Unless otherwise indicated, the general rules are used without modification.
The player chooses one of the two sides and forms his squadron, either according to the historical scenarios or with the scenario generation system according to point 9. The other side is generically called Artificial Intelligence or AI.
During the course of the game the AI fleet cards do not gain stress markers, so they are not used in their fleet cards.
The AI does not draw action cards, it only resolves one action card each sub turn according to 3.4.
Note: the printed reference "3.4" in this paragraph (and the "10.3", "10.4.2" and "10.4.3" references in sections 12.3 and 12.4) is kept as printed; no section 3.4 or 10.3 appears in the printed rules.
12.2 Preparation
The player deploys his squadron in the normal way. The "maneuver" of the AI is then determined by a die roll: 1-3: Aggressive 4-6: Passive.
The player chooses the duration of the scenario and then creates his squadron. For the constitution of the AI squadron the player separates the fleet cards of the enemy into three decks, to later deploy them according to the different distances:
- 1st Deck (short range): With half (including the upper fraction) of all escort, submarine and airplane cards.
- 2nd Deck (medium range): The rest of escort cards, submarines and airplanes, a card of capital ships and another one of merchant ships.
- 3rd Deck (long range): The rest of cards of capital ships and merchant ships.
Once the decks are constituted, the AI fleet cards are deployed randomly in the three distances. In each distance as many cards are deployed as indicated in the following table:
| Distance | Short | Average | Long |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Medium | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Long | 2 | 2 | 3 |
#: No. of fleet cards deployed at each distance (columns are the scenario length).
The player randomly draws five action cards to form its playing hand, the AI does not draw any card. In case of being Aggressive the AI starts the turn.
12.3 Sequence
-
Player Subturn: the player subturn is done in the same way as in the two-player game, except for the use of interruption and support cards by the AI.
-
AI Subturn: The first thing done in the subturn is to check the number of AI fleet cards discovered. If there are less than half discovered, a random AI card is discovered with a die roll:
- 1-3: A card is discovered at close range.
- 4-5: A card is discovered at medium distance.
- 6: A card is discovered at long distance.
If there is no card to be revealed at this distance, another card is revealed at the following distance: short to medium, medium to long and long to short.
Exception: If during the previous sub-turn the player discovers a capital ship card, the AI discovers a player's card placed a long distance.
The top card from the action deck is then drawn and resolved:
- The General Quarters, Retreat, Torpedoes, Scout, Depth Charges, Air Defence, Merchant Ships, Cabo Palo, Faccioso, Fog and Collateral cards are played as actions.
12.4 Activation as actions
When the card is played as actions the AI performs as many actions as its red marker indicates. Each action is performed individually, and until its conclusion no other action can be performed.
Each AI card may perform only one action per subturn, except aircraft, which may perform two (discovering a card according to 10.3 does not count as an action). If there is no fleet card eligible to perform the action, it is lost.
Merchant ships may only be activated with the Merchant Ships card. With their activation they change their position with a card located at a long distance. If they are already located at long distance they are activated to be covered (face down.)
Note: the references to "10.3", "10.4.2" and "10.4.3" in sections 12.3 and 12.4 are printed as they appear in the source; the solo-game rules are in section 12.
12.4.1 Priority in the actions to perform
Once the number of actions to be performed is determined, it is checked which AI fleet card will perform each action. In general, the AI will try to retreat its damaged fleet cards from combat and perform combat actions on the enemy cards. If there is no player fleet card within combat range, the AI will try to uncover a player card or approach with one of their cards for combat (see diagram on page 28).
- If damaged AI cards are attempted to move, make a 1D6 roll.
- If there are no player cards discovered, the AI performs an action to discover the player's cards.
- If there are discovered cards, but out of range, the AI moves its fastest card to within fighting distance of the nearest player's card.
- If there are player cards discovered and within combat range, the AI attacks any of these cards according to the priorities in 10.4.2 and 10.4.3. (see diagram on page 28).
12.4.2 Priority card to perform the action
If there are several AI cards eligible to perform the same action (e.g. Destroyers activated with the Destroyer card) the one with the highest point value is chosen; in case of equality the one closest to the player's cards is chosen. The chosen card must be able to perform the action (e.g. use its main armament), it is not possible to choose a fleet card that cannot perform the action. For example, if the AI must perform a combat action it could not perform the action with a destroyer whose target is within long combat range. A fleet card from the AI with three or more hits remains the last priority for performing a combat action.
AI cards always use the type of weaponry that can throw the most dice, except for escorts against capital ships; in that case they use torpedoes. If an AI submarine performs a combat action at its conclusion it is turned to its covered side.
12.4.3 Priority card to receive the effects of AI combat
If there are multiple player cards that can receive the effects of AI combat, the AI target will be primarily a damaged player card. If there are several of them with equal priority, it will be resolved according to the scheme on page 28.
Submarines do not count as a discover card if there is no ASW factor card in range.
12.4.4 Default Priority
In case of doubt about which fleet card performs a action by the AI, the action is performed by the card with the highest value in points.
If there is any doubt about the application of any result on which player's card receives the effects of an AI combat it will be resolved on the card discovered with the highest point value.
12.5 AI action decision chart (page 28)
The printed page 28 is a flowchart that illustrates the priorities in 12.4.1 to 12.4.3. The branch routing is drawn with arrows that do not reduce cleanly to text, so the decision nodes are listed below in their printed wording, with the printed colour and legend conventions. The numbered steps of 12.4.1 are the written form of the same procedure.
Legend:
- Roll a Die (die symbol).
- F in blue: Player Fleet Card.
- F in red: AI (IA) Fleet Card.
- In red text end of action.
- +1: Aggressive AI adds 1 to the die.
Decision nodes:
- Less than half of the F discovered? (YES / NOT)
- A F is discovered located at: 1-3 Short distance; 4-5 Medium distance; 6 Long distance. (Roll a die.)
- Any F within combat range of any F? (YES / NOT)
- The fastest non-merchant ship moves to a shorter distance. (End of action.)
- Any damage? (YES / NOT)
- Can she move to a further distance? (YES / NOT)
- 1-3: swap position with a farther F; 4-6: Search uncovered. (End of action.)
- Are there any uncovered F? (YES / NOT)
- A F is discovered located at: 1-3 Short distance; 4-5 Medium distance; 6 Long distance. (+1 for Aggressive AI; roll a die.)
- Any damaged F? (YES / NOT)
- F is a capital ship? (YES / NOT)
- F is a merchant ship? (YES / NOT)
- Combat. (End of action.)
- 1-3: Combat against the capital or merchant ship; 4-6: Choose as target another F.
- Any capital or merchant ship at combat distance? (YES / NOT)
- Choose F at the shortest combat distance; in case of several, choose the one with the highest point value.