Naval Wargames Rules for the period 1885 to 1945 using ships and aircraft
by Andrew Finch and Alan Butler
Quick Link to Stations Manned and Ready II Ship Data Page
Quick Link to Stations Manned and Ready II Battle Scenarios Page
Description
These rules are set at a squadron level, allowing relatively large battles to be fought on a normal table in 2 to 4 hours. The period covered by the rules starts in ca. 1885, and the data sets in the system are compatible throughout so ships from all periods could be matched against each other, though this may not be recommended.
Ship data is presented in sets for nations and time eras. The data sheets are fully prepared for you, so there is no need to fill out separate sheets. The only proviso is that when using smaller vessels you may have print several copies and the names will have to be entered individually by the player. Ships from cruisers upwards all have individual sheets, and all data sheets take account of revisions of armament at various times.
Time scales are 6 minutes for a game turn, combat is regulated by the use of 5,000 yard range bands, which provide gun penetration values and torpedo hit modifiers. Armour protection is converted to an armour class on specific areas of the ship, taking account of the armour type and date. Damage represents those hits that cause significant damage to the target, and critical hits cause degradation of the combat effectiveness of ships. Command and crew quality are important and ships are commanded and crewed by men of mixed ability, generated using systems which players will recognise from other A&A titles.
The chance of critical damage is keyed to the "size of the bang" involved, and the number of guns firing (in the case of ships). More guns means a more chances of causing critical damage, and larger shells/bombs mean a higher chance that critical damage will occur. Higher chances also mean that the damage effects may also be more extensive, because we have expanded the way in which the critical damage system works.
Play follows a sequence using initiative. The winner of initiative chooses which side will move a squadron first. Movement then alternates between the two sides. During movement the slowest elements finish their movement first, so the order is all submarines, then all ships, finally all aircraft. The winner of initiative then shoots with a squadron first, and then play alternates. Combat actions ignore the type of element involved.
Movement takes into account the manoeuvrability of ships of different sizes. Gunnery takes into account the crew skill of the firing ship, interference by shooting from other vessels, the size of the target and the number of guns firing. Hits will cause structural damage and may also cause critical hits, which will degrade the combat effectiveness of the vessel. As ships get more damaged, there is a possible effect on morale, which may cause formations to withdraw to lick their wounds.
Apart from the Main Rule Book, the rules have the following additional components, which are available to download free of charge from our website or the Wargame Vault. These files have been combined into a new Rules Support Package to download.
- Game Template Booklet
- Maritime Aircraft Data Booklet
- Ship Data catalogue
- Ship Data "Glossary" Booklet
- Merchant Vessel Booklet
- A selection of “Taster” Battle booklets which allow you to start playing the game and include the ship data sheets for the battle in question.
In addition the following products are available to buy through WargameVault. Follow the links below to the relevant pages on our website:
- Ship Data Booklets. These are required and provide the necessary ship data sheets to play the game. Data Booklets are provided for France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Russia, United States and Other Nations. Each set is divided into three eras covering 1885 to 1905, 1906 to 1925 and 1926 to 1945.
- Aircraft Data Booklet. This is required if you wish to include aircraft in your games.
- A series of Battle Booklets covering all periods.
Product Support
When accessing the files laid out below, the following rules apply:
If you Left-click on a link it will open in a new Tab.
If you Right-click you will see more options about what to do with this file. If you want to download the file to save onto your computer use the menu option 'save link as...' (on a Windows PC) or the equivalent on a Mac.
Quick Reference Sheets
Quick Reference Sheets for Stations Manned and Ready II
Rules Support
The Rules Support Package for Stations Manned and Ready II consists of a number of separate files, listed below. These have all been combined into a ZIP-file, which is just over 17 MB. If this file is too large for you to download comfortably, the individual files are available in our online library, which you can access via the Navigation Bar at the top of this page or by following this link taking you to the Other Stuff section on the Library page. The largest item in the ZIP-file is the Glossary (9 MB), which explains the content of the Ship Record Sheets. This file is also split into a number of smaller files covering groups of pages.
- Introduction
- Current Errata
- Game Template Booklet
- Maritime Aircraft Data Booklet
- Ship Data Catalogue (this has been updated to include a few ships that have been added and were previously download files)
- Ship Data Card Description Booklet (2020 version - this has been slightly altered in layout, though the content is unchanged)
- Ship Data Glossary
- Merchant Vessel Booklet
- A selection of 9 "Taster" Battles to allow you to get to grips with the rules using smaller battles. These come complete with all the required Ship Data Sheets.
Stations Manned and Ready II Rules Support Package
Clarifications
There are no Clarifications at the moment.
Errata
There is one correction which applies to the Gunnery examples on Page 39, where some spurious logic has crept in and we (well Andrew actually) got a bit confused about where the modifiers were being applied. The example has been rewritten so that the modifiers are better expressed, and the total is applied to the dice rolled. We would like to thank the eagle-eyed reader who spotted the mistake.
Rules Updates
There are no Updates at the moment.
New Data
There is no new data at the moment. The new data sheets that were shown here previously for the Swedish 'Dristigheten' and the Projected French battleships have now been incorporated in the appropriate Data Sets and the files on Wargame Vault have been updated.