CreditsAuthor

David Manley

EditorNick Robinson

LayoutWill Chapman

Cover Ben Wootten

Interior IllustrationsAndrew Dobell

Special ThanksPeter Swarbrick of www.shipspictures.co.uk and David Page of www.navyphotos.co.uk

ContentsIntroduction 2

The Turn 4

Movement Phase 6

Attack Phase 7

End Phase 12

Special Actions 13

Special Traits 14

Advanced Rules 16

Scenarios 28

Historical Scenarios 35

Campaigns 43

The Fleet Lists 51

The Royal Navy 53

The Kaiserliche Marine 80

The Imperial Russian Navy 98

The Turkish Navy 115

The US Navy 121

Civilian Shipping 124

Age of Dreadnoughts - Victory at Sea (C) 2009 Mongoose Publishing. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this work by any means without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden. All signif cant art and text herein are copyrighted by Mongoose Publishing. No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without written permission. This material is copyrighted under the

copyright laws of the UK. Printed in the USA.

Victory at Sea

Age of DreadnoughtsAge of DreadnoughtsVictory at SeaVictory at Sea

Age of DreadnoughtsWorld War I Naval Miniatures Game

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Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts is a game of naval combat during the First World War. Now you can play out these confrontations on the tabletop with entire f eets drawn from the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet, the Kaiserliche Marine’s Hochseef otte or any one of the many other nations featured in Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts.

From skirmishes involving single cruisers hunting down merchantmen and surface raiders to the clashing of f eets, Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts is your gateway to exciting battles that took place on the oceans during the Great War.

Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts

This game is divided into several chapters which may seem to contain a lot of rules you need to remember but it is far easier than it looks! The core rules of Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts are detailed in the following chapters.

The Turn: A short description on how players take turns moving and attacking with their ships.Movement Phase: Describes how ships move on the ocean.Attack Phases: Once your ships have moved into positions of advantage, you will want to know how to target your enemies and sink them! The basic game concentrates on gunnery attacks. Advanced rules bring in torpedoes, air attacks and more.Special Actions: Ships need not only manoeuvre and f re – there are a whole range of Special Actions that players can choose from to enhance their tactics.Special Traits: Many ships and weapon systems have special rules that make them different from the norm – these are all described in this chapter.

IntroductionThese chapters contain all you need to know to begin playing Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts, though you need only consult Special Actions and Special Traits as a reference, rather than trying to memorise them from the outset. Once you are familiar with these, you can proceed to the Advanced Rules and beyond, to experience the full dynamics of naval combat in the First World War.

What You Will NeedAs well as this set, there are several other things you will require in order to play Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts. A minimum of two players are required, each with their own f eet of ships. You will also need a f at playing surface – the kitchen table will do, though the scenarios included in this book assume a playing surface of six foot by four foot in size.

In addition to this, you will also need pens, scrap paper to jot down notes and a measuring device marked in inches. With all those collected together, you have everything you need to begin f ghting on the oceans of the Great War.

ScaleVeteran players will probably possess entire f eets of miniatures. Regardless of the scale of your miniatures, they can be used freely in Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts. However, we have assumed that miniatures of 1/6000-1/2400 scale will be used for most of the battles featured in this game. For games using 1/1200 miniatures it is recommended that you double all movement and distances.

All distances in Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts are measured from

the very centre of a counter or ship miniature (you can use the bridge or forward funnel on the latter as a guideline, as long as you are consistent). All distances in Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts are measured in inches. Each inch is equivalent to approximately 500 yards.

Re-RollsSome special situations may call for you re-rolling a dice. This simply means you ignore the f rst result that a dice rolled and roll again. You must always accept the result of the second roll, even if it was worse than the f rst – re-rolls can be used to get you out of a tricky situation but they are never guaranteed! You may only re-roll a dice once, no matter what the circumstances.

Pre-MeasuringYou are never allowed to pre-measure distances and ranges in Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts. Although the gunnery off cers of the Great War were equipped with rangef nders and other optical instruments they were prone to error; human judgement still played an important part in determining the range of gunf re – you will have to do the same when trying gauge just how far you can move or the range to the nearest enemy vessel.

Movement & FiringEvery ship in Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts has a number of f ring arcs, all of which are marked out on the Fire Arc Counters. These are the areas that various weapons can f re into, as noted in their descriptions in the f eet lists later on.

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Ships in Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts Every ship in the game is def ned by its roster sheet, though you will also f nd plenty of information in the f eet lists covering their general statistics, history and the tactics involved in their use.

A ship’s roster looks like this – the example given here is of HMS Invincible, one of the Royal Navy’s ill-starred battlecruisers that saw fame at the Falklands in 1914 but was blown up at Jutland in 1916.

Armour: The higher the value here, the better armoured a ship will be to withstand incoming f re.Damage: The f rst f gure shows how many points of damage a ship can withstand before being destroyed. The second marks the point at which the ship becomes Crippled. In the example above, once Invincible takes 28 points of damage, reducing it to 13 overall, it becomes Crippled.Crew: Much the same as Damage, this shows how many Crew are on board the ship. The second f gure shows how far the Crew can be depleted before they become a Skeleton Crew. In the example above, once Invincible loses 21 Crew, reducing it to 10 overall, it is crewed by a Skeleton Crew.Special Traits: Many ships have special rules that allow them to perform actions impossible by others. Special Traits are detailed in Chapter 7.Command: The average f gure here will be 4, which denotes an Experienced crew and Captain on board. This can vary to ref ect especially green or elite crews, or very capable Captains. Until you start using the rules in Chapter 8, use a score of 4 by default for Crew Quality. Command varies from scenario to scenario and does not appear on the ship stats.In Service: The year in which the ship came into service and thus when it can be used. This is important for campaign games and some scenarios.Weapons: Any warship will have a range of weapons from heavy guns to rapid f ring secondary and tertiary batteries and torpedoes. These will be detailed here. Every weapon is def ned by its Range, the number of Attack Dice it uses, and the Damage Dice dealt when a hit is scored. Some weapons also have Special Traits, as def ned in Chapter 7, which further inf uence their effect in the game.Characteristics: This part lists the actual length, displacement, speed and crew of the ship. This is presented for information only and doesn’t affect play.

Weapon Range AD DD Arcs SpecialA Turret (2 x 12”) 32” 2 1 F,P,S APQ Turret (2 x 12”) 32” 2 1 P,SW APR Turret (2 x 12”) 32” 2 1 S,PW APY Turret (2 x 12”) 32” 2 1 A,P,S APPort Secondary Armament (8 x 4”) 16” 4 1 L Casemate, Very WeakStbd Secondary Armament (8 x 4”) 16” 4 1 R Casemate, Very WeakPort Torpedoes (18”) 10” 1 (-1) P Slow-LoadingStarboard Torpedoes (18”) 10” 1 (-1) S Slow-Loading

Characteristics

Length: 567 ft.Displacement: 20,078 tonsSpeed: 25 kts.Crew: 784

Ship Name: The name of the vessel. For hypothetical scenarios you are of course free to use whatever name you like, but it has been noted in our playtesting that ships with names always seem to last longer!Priority Level: Every ship has a Priority Level ranking listed alongside the ship name which is used to construct broadly balanced f eets to meet in battle, as described in the f eet lists. For Invincible the Priority Level is “Raid”Speed: This is the maximum distance in inches a ship can usually move in a single turn.Turning: As described in the Movement Phase chapter, this ref ects how quickly a ship can turn.Target: This is the base score needed to strike a hit on this ship. Large or particularly cumbersome ships are much easier to hit than small, agile vessels.

Invincible class BattlecruiserRaid

Speed: 7”Turning: 2Target: 5+Armour: 3+Damage: 41/13Crew: 31/10Special Traits: Director 1916, Flash 1917In Service: 1908

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The TurnTo make naval combat a lot easier to manage, with the huge range of options and strategies available, each turn is split into four distinct game phases. Players will run through each phase together and, when each turn is complete, every ship on each player’s side will have had a chance to act and effect the outcome of the battle.

There is an Initial scouting phase that is carried out at the start of the game. The Scouting Phase only takes place at the start of the game. Thereafter each turn comprises the four game phases which are played in order – Initiative Phase, Movement Phase, Attack Phase and End Phase. When the End Phase has been completed, the turn ends and the next one begins with the Initiative Phase.

Pre Game ScoutingBefore the start of a game players can detach some or all of their scouting forces to form a screen. A screen may include battle cruisers, light cruisers, airships and sea planes launched from seaplane carriers (NOT land based aircraft). Each ship, airship or seaplane carrier gives 1 scouting point (note – 1

point for a seaplane carrier including its aircraft, not 1 point for the ship and 1 point per aircraft). RN and USN f eets can also use Armoured Cruisers and Destroyers in their screens (each Armoured Cruiser gives ½ a scouting point, each Destroyer gives ¼ scouting points ). Roll a d6 and add the number of Scouting Points (rounding fractions down). If one side scores 3 or more than their opponent they have outscouted the enemy – the enemy must deploy f rst and the initiative winner has a +2 to initiative die rolls from the start of the game (although this effect may be lost; roll a d6 at the start of each turn – on a 6 the bonus is lost).

Only one ship or airship used in the scouting screen may begin on table. Others may arrive later. Roll a d6 at the start of each turn. On a 6 one ship (or 2 destroyers or smaller ships), or an airship may enter at any point along the owning player’s table edge and not within 6” of either table corner

Initiative PhaseThe Initiative Phase is used to resolve any actions that do not require players to make any choices and to decide who

will have the initiative for the turn – in other words, who has gained a position of tactical advantage.

At the start of each turn, both players roll for initiative using 2d6. Any ties are re-rolled unless one side has outscouted their opponents in which case they win the roll.

If a f eet has any civilian shipping, it will suffer a –1 penalty to its initiative roll. If a f eet is comprised entirely of civilian shipping, it will suffer a –2 penalty.

Movement PhaseThe order in which ships move may be important. A player holding the initiative may force the enemy to show their hand and allow them to take advantage. Movement is carried out in two stages. First, players alternate the moving of squadrons of ships. The player who won the Initiative Phase by rolling higher than his opponent decides whether to select a squadron f rst or force his opponent to do so. All ships in a selected squadron are moved together. Players then alternate the moving of their squadrons. This

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continues until all squadrons have been moved.

Once all squadrons have been moved he process is repeated for individual ships (those that are not in squadrons).

The concept of squadrons is introduced in the Advanced rules and they are not used in the basic game. All ships in the basic game are considered to be operating as individual ships.

In each of the two stages a particularly large f eet may still have ships or squadrons to move after its enemy has f nished moving all of their own. In this case, the larger f eet will carry on moving ships or squadrons until they have all moved.

Gunnery Attack Phase

Once ships have been moved into position, they are allowed to f re their ship’s guns in an effort to destroy their enemies. Players then alternate the f ring of their ships. The player who won the Initiative Phase nominates

one of his ships or squadrons and then attacks with it, the resolving all damage dealt. His opponent then nominates one of his ships or squadrons and attacks. This continues until all ships or squadrons have attacked, or had a chance to attack. Note that it is not compulsory for a ship to attack, even if it has a viable target. The player may simply nominate it and choose not to shoot. However, he may not select it again that turn and choose to shoot – he must make the decision to attack there and then, and not hold back until later.

A player may choose a single ship that is not in a squadron or may choose a squadron of ships. If the latter is chosen the shooting of all ships in that squadron is resolved simultaneously. A player may not select a single ship in a squadron to shoot and then select another ship in that squadron later in the same turn.

The Gunnery Phase also includes ship gunnery against aircraft and airships for those scenarios and games that include the advanced rules for aerial units.

Torpedo Attack Phase (advanced game)

Once gunnery has been completed any surviving ships with available torpedoes may make torpedo attacks against enemy vessels. The procedure followed is the same as gunnery except that players alternate in placing torpedo markers against their targets with all attacks and damage resolved simultaneously at the end of the phase.

Air Attack Phase (advanced game)

If aircraft are in play they make their attacks on ships and other aircraft in the f nal attack phase of the turn. Torpedo attacks by aircraft are resolved in this phase.

End PhaseThe End Phase is used to ‘tidy up’ the battlef eld and make sure all players know what is happening. This is the time Damage Control and other book-keeping is performed. Once complete, a new turn begins.

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Movement PhaseThe ability to manoeuvre a ship into a position of advantage is vital. By outwitting your opponent, you will gain the chance to keep your ships at optimum range for their weaponry while keeping out of your opponents most dangerous f re arcs.

Once it has been determined who has the initiative for the current turn (see last chapter), players then take turns to move their ships (either individually or, in the Advanced game, by squadron). A ship may only be nominated to move once in every turn and every ship must be nominated. You are not allowed to skip ships, even if it means you will move into a position of disadvantage if you do so. If a squadron is nominated all ships in the squadron must move.

Moving ShipsWhen nominated to move, every ship must be moved a distance in inches up to its Speed score. Unless the ship has had its Speed reduced to 0 due to damage, it must move at least 1”; other

than this limitation a ship may be moved at any speed up to its maximum regardless of how fast it was travelling in the previous turn. Movement is made in straight line segments with one or two opportunities to turn.

At some point a ship will need to change the direction of its movement. All ships have a Turning score, which rates how quickly they can turn.

A ship may turn twice in each Movement Phase, once after it has completed half of its move, and again once movement is completed. The f rst set of moves may be made after the ship has moved past the half movement point, but if it does so it may not make a second set of turns.

Place the Turn Key alongside your ship on the side you wish to turn, lining up the turn key point corresponding with the number of ‘points’ you wish to turn with the middle of the ship and then rotating the ship around the turn key. A ship is never required to

turn the maximum number of points its Turning score allows – it can turn at any lesser rate as well.

Example: HMS Iron Duke is moving at Speed 4 and has a Turn Number of 3. In the f rst turn of the game the ship is moved forward 2”. In the second turn of the game the ship is moved forward 2”, makes a 2 point turn, moves another 2” and then makes a 3 point turn. On the third turn of the game the ship moves forward 3”and makes a 1 point turn. It then moves ahead another 1” but cannot make any further turns.

Ships may never be stacked on top of one another. You may never end your movement ‘on top’ of another ship – simply stop moving before your ship makes contact with another.

There are a number of Special Actions that you can attempt instead of moving normally. See Chapter 6 for a list of these Special Actions.

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