From: Chris Salander Subject: Translation of Spanish Wargame Hello! I have enjoyed your site VERY much, and I wanted to contribute something. What follows is an English translation of the rules for the game Grand Armada, published in issue #13 of the Spanish Wargaming magazine Alea. I hope some people can use it. - Chris Salander Santa Clara, California The Grand Armada - Alea magazine #13 [] - translator's comments 1. Introduction The Grand Armada is a historical simulation that reproduces the most important naval actions between the English and Spanish during the Armada's attempt to pick up the army from Flanders and the later evacuation of the regiment of Alejandro Farnesio in England. [Huh? Who is this guy, and why don't you admit you wanted to invade?] 2. Game Equipment The game components as well as the current rules are: 2.1 The Map All of the map represents the open sea except the zones printed in brighter blue that in some of the scenarios indicate the existence of sand bars. Also on the map is situated the turn counter, with numbered positions that, along with a counter, indicate whose turn it is; and the wind compass, that determines, along with the corresponding counter, the the direction of the wind at any moment. 2.2 The counters represent ships Spanish - white on blue (see counter sheet) English - blue one white 2.2.1 Types of counters Ship counters - on each counter there is a design with a silhouette of the type of ship. On the periphery are four letters that reflect the specific characteristics of the ship represented by the counter. (See Figure 1.) A. Defense & size B. Crew number and quality C. Armament D. Maximum Speed Some of the counters also have an pennant that designates the admirals' ships that lead the different squadrons that make up the Spanish Armada. Impact counters - These serve to control and record the crew injuries and damage suffered by the ships during the battle. Their position above or below a ship is determined by the rules. [Ship hits are recorded with counters *above* the ship, while crew hits are recorded with counters *below* the ship.] There are different numbers printed on the impact counters that can be interchanged to conform to the exact damage to each ship. 3. Play Sequence 1. Determine the direction of the wind every sixth turn. 2. Movement and firing (over distance or between crews), ship by ship, according to the mechanism described below. 3. Simultaneous firing by all those ships that are adjacent (0 to 1 hex) to an enemy ship. 4. Boarding battles between adjacent ships. 5. Retire ships with cowardly crews that are not in combat. 6. Surrender ships with cowardly crews that are adjacent to an enemy or cannot retreat by themselves. 4. Initiating The English player always moves and fires a ship first. After this first action, both players determine by the throw of a die (1d6) who has the initiative to move next. Both players throw a d6. He who obtains the highest result selects one of his ships that has not moved previously that turn. In case does not want to move, he can opt to force his adversary to move a ship (picked by his adversary). This procedure is repeated ship by ship until all the ships in a scenario have moved or attempted to move. In case of a tie in throwing the die, the English player moves. The English player always adds 1 point to his die roll. 5. Movement 5.1 Generalities Each unit has a movement factor based on its manueverability, equipment, crew, and nationality. The movement factor is determined by those compass points that indicate movement (abbreviated in the rules as PM) and are used to enter each hexagon or to change the ship's aiming, according to Figure 3. Ship movement is modified by the relation between the ship's direction and the direction of the wind. A ship cannot perform maneuvers that cost more movement points than the high number displayed on the ship counter or the number of movement points that the ship has left for that turn. You cannot accumulate movement points from one turn to another, nor can you transfer movement points between ships. Each player has the option of spending one, all, or no points in his movement phase. The order of movement of the ships is always determined by the initiative. 5.1.1 A ship cannot end its movement on the same hex of another ship, friendly or enemy. 5.2 Direction Aiming of the ship with regard to the wind (Figure 3.). 5.3 Turns - change of direction It is always possible to change a ship's position (hexside pointed to) at the end of movement, without additional cost in movement points, even when the ship may have moved at the maximum possible velocity. Changing more than one direction (hexside) in the same hex at the end of movement costs a number of movement points (including the effect of wind). (See Table of Turns.) Example - a ship with a speed of 6, faced toward side 3, with a lateral wind (sides 1 or 5). If he wants to aim toward side 5, it will cost 3 movement points, if he wants to make a 180 degree turn, and aim toward side 6, it will cost all of his move, or 6 movement points. 5.5 Movement When the number of movement points per ship are assigned, consider the type of wind as shown on the following table (See Movement Table). Example - A ship with maximum speed of 5 can move a total of 3 movement points with an aft wind. 5.6 Movement Restrictions Slowing. Only those ships with a max speed of 4* are able to pause in the same turn in which they have advanced. Other classes of ships trying to slow their movement cannot reduce any speed greater than one to less than one. They must move at least one hex that turn, or turn one extra hexside, at the end of the turn, or at the beginning of the next turn. [*Rowed galleases. Ships already going 1 can stop.] Exceptions - if a player has effected a boarding action in the last turn, consider his ship grappled to the boarded ship. When a ship is left adjacent to another enemy, the only move possible is to turn or change aiming, except in the case of towing. (See Towing, 11.1.) [You cannot ungrapple until the boarding battle is over.] Sand Bars - Ships with characteristic A greater than 2 run aground upon entering hexes marked as sand bars. (There are sand bars in only one scenario.) 6. Wind Direction The direction of the wind in each scenario can change. This probability of change is reflected in the game in the following manner: Procedure - On every sixth turn of play and having in mind the initial direction of the wind in the scenario, throw a d6 and consult the wind direction change table. Adjust the wind direction according to the adjacent graph (See Figure 4.) 7. Zones of Control A ZOC is composed of the 6 hexes that surround the one occupied by a ship. (See Figure 5.) When one of your ships enters a hex next to one occupied by an enemy ship, you must finish your move in that hex, but you are permitted to make a turn, (change direction), without losing additional movement points in accordance with 5.3. If the boarding phase of combat is over and the ship has not been captured or had a cowardly crew (see parts 10 & 11), you are able to leave an enemy ZOC in your next movement phase. [This assumes you won the battle. Since the other ship cannot leave, and no one else can fire on the other ship during a boarding battle, that is the only possible interpretation. However, you risk losing a captured ship if you leave it. (See Below.)] 8. Combat 8.1 Types of Combat Distance Combat - calculation of distances. It is important to take into account at all times that we always talk of distance in hexes, referring to the hexes between the two ships, not counting the hex occupied by the attack or the defender. [So adjacent ships are at 0 distance.] Discharge of artillery - Artillery has no range limit. Throw a d6 to obtain the value in points of the ship's artillery, add the die roll to the artillery value of the ship, and subtract the number of hexes between the target ship and the firing ship. (Spanish ships count one additional hex). If the result is 7 or more, put a marker on top of the target ship. For every 3 hits a crew point is lost; which is indicated by placing a marker below the ship. When a ship has as many hits as defense points, it sinks, giving up all its corresponding value in victory points. Boarding combat - occurs when two enemy ships are adjacent. Resolution - each party throws a die to which is added the crew value of his ship. If the ship has an admiral on board, add two points to the result. Each 3 points of difference in the result of the die throw causes the loss of 1 point of crew to whoever has the lowest result. Any other result has no effect. Crew Firing - effected by the crew and always has as its objective another crew, with a maximum range of 1 hex distance. Resolution - a die is thrown, to which is added the value of the crew and the distance in hexes between two ships (max 1). A result of 7 or more causes the loss of a crew point as indicated by a marker under the ship. [Apparently this is small arms fire.] Restrictions - Boardings are made one on one in the order that the Spanish player wants. Crew firing can happen just once during movement, but in any one of the hexes travelled. Events - If while moving, the player passes within 1 hex of a ship that has not been fired on, the crew may fire at it without cause. The target ship loses the possibility to fire during its own movement.* If at the end of movement a ship remains next to another enemy, both can fire reciprocally if they have not fired previously. [*I would say this applies only to cannon fire, not small arms.] Restrictions - Ships adjacent to enemy units after boarding combat cannot fire their artillery. Angles of Fire - Each ship has its own angle of fire for artillery fire that will varying according to its heading. Only oared Spanish ships with a speed of 4 can fire through any of the six sides of the hex it occupies. Other ships can fire only through the sides marked with an S in the graph. (See Figure 6.) Special cases - Any ship can fire its artillery at one objective and fire at a different one with its crew. Ships engaged in boarding combat cannot be the target of fire except by the crew of the ship with whom they are fighting. [No cannon fire once the boarding battle starts, I guess.] 8.3 Firing Arc Each type of ship, paying heed to its angle of fire, will have a firing arc according to the graph in Figure 7. When a friendly or enemy ship blocks the firing arc, you cannot fire upon targets situated behind those ships in the firing arc. Note: It is recommended, given the high number of ships that are involved in some of the scenarios, to photocopy the impact counters to have enough counters to go around. 8.4 Withdrawl from Combat Any ship that has a negative crew value (that is to say -- that has more crew loss in combat than its original capacity) must withdraw from combat. You must do this in the withdrawal phase in the turn in which you suffered the crew loss. You must move the ship an extra move in which it does not pass or approach less than 3 hexes distance of enemy ships. During subsequent turns, move the ship in the normal movement phase until it manages to leave the board, but if in any movement phase it lands less than 2 hexes from enemy ships, it automatically surrenders to them. If the ship manages to leave the board, it has no effect on victory points. Restrictions - Withdrawing ships cannot fire. If a ship has surrendered or been captured, it cannot move unless towed. 9. Surrender and Capture of ships The surrender and or capture of a ship occurs automatically when after a boarding battle there are ships left with a negative crew value and unable to retire from combat. The party that has captured the ship must locate a ship next to the one captured, even though during the rest of the scenario the captor can replace that ship with another as many times as he wishes. 9.1 Towed Ships Captured ships can be towed. The ship towing goes ahead and both will move in the same direction and speed of the ship being towed, lessened by the degree cost of the wind. (For example, a cross wind tha catches the prow.) [When you first start towing a ship, the movement point cost paid by the towing ship is determined by the facing of the towed ship, until you can get it turned around, in line with the tower.] 9.2 Recapture of a ship. At the end of the movement phase of the opposing player, if a captured ship does not have an enemy ship next to it, it is considered freed. If a freed capture ship wants to move, it must be towed by a friendly ship. 10. Game Duration and Victory Conditions The duration of the game and its conditions of victory are established in each scenario. The victory is determined by the number of victory points obtained. It is established by the corresponding tables in each of the scenarios. 11. Scenarios Given the impossibility of covering the entire campaign, it was decided to establish 4 distinct scenarios that try to reflect all the types of actions that occurred in reality. Some deployment lists give the names of the ships participating in the battles. In other cases only the ship's factors are listed, and for some Spanish ships, whether they had an admiral. Scenario 1. Battles in the vicinity of the starting point. At the beginning of the campaign, the Spanish were anxious to fight the English and did not yet know about their mobile tactics. They try to lure the English into a boarding battle by pretending to prime guns on one of the galleons under Recalde. (See Scenario Table 1.) [One ship broke down and fell behind the Armada during the night.] Wind - East by Northeast (side 5 toward side 2) Duration - 12 turns, finalized on the 12th turn, an inventory is made of victory points. Spanish Objectives: Recalde many not change hex course in the first three turns. He goal is to sink enemy ships. English Objectives: To surround the isolated ship and prevent its return to the Armada. Victory Points - 1 for Spanish ships sunk, 2 for Spanish ships captured. Spanish - 3 for each English ship sunk or captured. Scenario 2 Aug. 2, 1588 Battle off of Portland Bill After the Spanish discovered how difficult it was to overtake enemy ships, they tried to take advantage of the ability of their galeasses to move with oars against the wind in order to capture isolated English ships. Wind direction - East ot Northeast (5 to 2) Tide - Push is in Southeast dir. Towards side 3. Tidal Effects - Any ship that does not move in the same direction as the tide (towards side 3) will have to subtract from his move the result of a die throw. The result being the number of hexes to subtract. (The most that can be subtracted is 2. Sand Bars - The zone on the map in the lightest color represents sand bars and any ship that enters into the zone runs aground and for victory points is considered sunk. Duration - 9 turns. Spanish Objective: To sink or capture English ships. English Objective: To escape. Victory Points: Same as Scenario 1. Scenario 3. Aug. 4, 1588 Battle off the Isle of Wight. The Spanish intend to rescue two ships isolated from the rest of their armada and for this they are easy prey for the English. Wind - Northeast (5 to 2) Duration - 18 turns English Objective: Destroy or capture Spanish ships. Spanish Objective: Rescue the two ships and withdraw with them. Victory points: same as scenario 1. Scenario 4 Aug. 8, 1588 The Battle of Gravelines Besides the attack with fireships suffered at the Calais anchorage, the Spanish combat ships intend to prevent the enemy ships crossing their line and reaching the troop transports before the Armada is reformed. Reinforcements - turn 5. English - 7366 East border (Column A1) Spanish 2 galleons (max. speed 5, west edge (column A) turns 6 - 12 Spanish - 2 Galleons, max. speed 5, west edge (col A) turns 12 - 30 Spanish - choose 3 ships, except 4534(*), west edge (col A) Wind - Northwest from 4 to 6 Duration - 30 turns, or until the English retreat. (Each English ship can fire 10 times. ) Spanish objective: Impede the passage of the English. English objective: To leave the board by the Spanish side. English VP: Each 3 ships that left the board: 1 point Each Spanish ship sunk or captured: 2 points Spanish VP: Each English ship sunk or captured: 4 points Translations from tables: Lado: hex side Ship designations - by factors, in the order ABCD. (*) - an admiral's ship cualquier ladoe: whatever side Scenario 4: All the English except 7366 at whatever point up to 3 hexes from the east border of the battle, col A, J, in whatever position. [Editor's note: One hole in the rules is multiple ship to ship combat. You must decide how to handle this. I would suggest taking the side with the smaller number of ships and assigning each ship from the larger side to just one ship on the smaller side; a ship which it must be adjacent to. Then the battle is resolved as a series of number pair comparisons, with die roll, for each set of N:1 ships, where N can be 1 or more, and all of the crew of each of the N ships fight only one defending ship.] THE END