Dan Rurak - 03:25pm Feb 11, 2002 PST (#1168 of 1205)

"Can you describe these a bit more - especially the air/naval scale and
the interaction of the air/naval units (and perhaps an opinion as to
what other game system, if any, it most closely resembles.)"

I was going to email further information on these games to John, but as
there is other interest I will try to do it in this post.

The Arctic Convoys and Operation Matador are part (the only parts I
think) of the game system entitled World War II Naval Campaigns. The
designer is listed as David Shewchuk, with graphic credits to Elizabeth
Creith and copyright dated 1981 by Gryphon Graphics in Guelph Ontario.

Each of the games comes with a series rulebook, a scenario book, 2
identical search boards, comprised of interlocking squares (not sure of
scale), 1 battle board comprised of hexagons and 1O hexes across (scale
6 miles/hex), and hand drawn counters on thick card, so they simply have
to be cut out prior to use. The counters comprise naval units
(individual capital ships and groups of smaller vessels, i.e.
destroyers, corvettes, etc), aircraft (individual fighters and 3-5
search/strike aircraft) and informational counters (shadow markers,
breakdown counters for multiship counters, and for Operation Matador
counters representing islands and coastline for surface combat that
occurs close to the coastline of Malaya).

The game turn sequence involves 4 hour turns on the search board and 15
minute battle turns for surface combat, which is conducted on the battle
board. The turn sequence is: 1) determine visibility, 2) move all units
one wishes to on the search board, 3) conduct searches and then resolve
all shadow attempts, 4) resolve any surface combat rounds, 5) resolve
air attacks, 6) resolve undersea attacks, 7) determine air availability
for the next turn.

As noted, surface combat occurs on the battle board and each 15 minute
battle turn is composed of 5 movement sequences, with the number of
sequences in which a ship can move 1 hex being dependent upon the speed
of that ship. Gunfire and torpedo attacks can occur in each movement
sequence following movement. Fire attacks involve the type of gun, range
to target(max range 4 hexes)and protection value of the target and can
result in hull, weapons and special hits. Torpedo attacks occur at 0 or
1 hex range and hit on a roll of 6, although in Operation Matador
Japanese torpedoes have greater ranges and damage capabilties. Each ship
has invidual values for max speed, primary and secondary gun
characteristics (type, number, location), AA value, protection value,
max hull hits, torpedo number and number of aircraft).

Air naval combat involves aircraft moving to squares containing
successfully shadowed surface vessels, dealing with AA and defending
fighters (simply add the number of fighter to the AA strength), then
attacking the selected ship with bombs or torpedos, rolling one die for
each aircraft and hitting with a 6 (5 & 6 when ship speed is 1 or less).
Damage is determined by using the bomb or torpedo damage tables. Air
units are more generic than ships, as they only differ in type and
range.

In terms of the individual games, Operation Matador deals with the
(unsuccessful) sortie of the Prince of Wales and Repulse off the coast
of Malaya in Dec, 1941. It has the historical scenario and 3 plausible
what-if scenarios. The Arctic convoys deals with the battles involving
convoys bringing supplies to the Soviet Union and focusses on the time
period from early 1942 to late 1943. It has 7 scenarios, including of
course the destruction of the Scharnhorst in Dec. 1943.

In terms of the game system that these games most closely resemble, it
is the GWAS/SOPAC system from Avalanche games. Both use essentially
identical search boards and battle board in terms of scale and have the
same turn length of 4 hours. However, the WWII Naval Campaigns has a
more complex (and realistic) surface battle system and simpler air-naval
system than GWAS/SOPAC. Of course the Avalanche games have much higher
production values and a feature that the WWII NC system really needs:
hit record sheets for the naval vessels. I am planning to make some of
these up to make playing the games easier.

I hope that folks find this information useful. I have no idea of how
many copies of these games were produced. Overall, I think they are good
games that stand up today and that if elements from them were combined
with elements of the SOPAC system, it might result in a great
operational game system for WWII air-naval warfare.