- slightly adapted text, based on discussions at Facebook Group 'Modern Naval Gaming' (Okt 2024) -
Shipwreck.
The naval wargame ‘Shipwreck’ dates from 1999 and was written by Martin Bourne. It is available at www.wargamevault.com, can be used for all common model scales and has a number of expansion packs: the specific wargame rules (paid PDF), (free) ship data cards (with a thematic top view of the ship, on which you can insert battle damage and see weapon fire arcs), grouped by continent, 4 scenarios (paid PDFs: 2 in the Mediterranean and 2 in the Persian Gulf), a submarine expansion pack (paid PDF) and a paid PDF
‘Freeplay ’88’ (actually the NATO exercise Teamwork ’88). The 50-page rulebook contains all rules, gives advice on how to paint miniatures (2 pages), a quick reference card (2 pages), a damage card (1 page showing weapon effects vs. ship types), 4 pages explanation of a 5-turn battle between 4 ships and has tables to look up essential information about weapon systems (6 pages, picture above), aircraft & helicopters (3 pages) and submarines (1 page); in order to calculate detection chances and hit chances. A turn consists of 4 phases: movement, damage control, detection and combat phase. There is no dice rolling for initiative! No use of actual ranges of radars and weapon systems, but these are divided into 6 range bands: very short (4 nm.), short (4-12 nm), medium (12-25 nm), long range (25-85 nm.), very long (85-150 nm.) and extreme (>150 nm.). ‘Shipwreck’ pays limited attention to the different ship speeds.
Naval Command 2021
This is the 2021 version of ‘Naval Command’ (the 3rd version of ‘Naval Command’?). An improved version is reportedly being worked on. The rules were written by Rory Crabb. It is available at www.wargamevault.com, can be used for all common model scales and has 1 (paid) expansion pack: Falklands 1982 (30 pages with 10 scenarios, 1 campaign and a fleet list of UK and Argentina). However the Falklands Supplement was issued in 2020 and therefor uses the former ruleset (and discarded concepts such as 'construction rating' and 'data points'). There exists a not very active Facebook page, where updates can be downloaded. The rulebook of over 40 pages contains all the rules supplemented by many explanatory pictures regarding maritime tactics. These 40 pages seems less than 'Shipwreck' but it is not: ‘Shipwreck’ has only 20 pages of proper regulations, the remaining are tables and info that ‘Naval Command’ has organized in a different way (including the Ship Data Cards/Fleet list of over 200 pages, included in the Rulebook). Besides Surface Warfare, ‘Naval Command 2021’ also focuses on Rules of Engagement, air warfare, submarine warfare, sea mines, piracy, amphibious operations, and the use of nuclear weapons. The fleet lists (Ship data cards) contain many more modern ships/aircraft/armament, including those from the 21st century. Damage is dealt by rolling dice and is indicated with counters.
A turn consists of 6 phases: initiative, sensor status, navigation, detection, combat phase, damage control. In general, actual ranges of weapon systems are used, but not radars/ sensors. Sensors and Air Defense uses only 3 range bands: close (0-12 nm), intermediate (12-30 nm), long range (30-100 nm.). ‘Naval Command 2021’ takes into account different ship speeds.
This wargame pays equal attention to surface warfare, air warfare, and submarine warfare. In my opinion, ‘Naval Command’ handles Electronic Warfare differently: during Air Defense, there is no specific attention to softkill (chaff, IR flares, jammer), but there is much confidence in the EW capabilities of modern units: a good EW rating apparently makes it possible to avoid/influence radar detection (I am wondering: are you supposed to jam that search radar?) or to mislead (ditto, generation of decoys?).
General impression of both games:
Both games are kept as simple as possible, so that you can play them 'quickly'. Each game consists of turns, each of which is built up of different phases. However, a game of 6-10 turns might last several hours, especially if you do not yet master the rules. The much more expensive and more extensive naval wargame 'Harpoon V' is more a proper simulation, taking into account many more issues & details. 'Harpoon V' therefore takes much longer. The rulebook of 'Naval Command 2021' explains much better war at sea than 'ShipWreck'. And 'Shipwreck' has no standard provision which player has initiative during a turn. All together, with more aspects of maritime warfare and more modern units, 'Naval Command 2021' is preferable to 'Shipwreck'. Financially, both wargames are not expensive, unless you buy all the expansion packs of ‘Shipwreck’.
Comparison of ship data cards:
The free ship data cards of ‘Shipwreck' (picture above) are about warships from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Cuba, Denmark, Germany, Ecuador, Philippines, Finland, France, Greece, Great Britain, Ireland, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Soviet Union, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay, Venezuela, the US, South Korea, Sweden. Yugoslavia (or Serbia) and India are sorely missed. The expansion packs will probably contain the relevant countries, such as Iran, Iraq, Israel and Libya (?). For important countries there are cards of warships from 1950-1990; some smaller countries fare worse. Not all auxiliary warships (tankers, etc.) are available and there is no attention to merchant ships. Data on aircraft is limited and can be found in tables of the game rules. You have to figure out for yourself which armament can be carried by which aircraft. The data card itself provides additional information (compared to ‘Naval Command’) regarding weapon fire arcs and offers the possibility to record damage. You could make additional data cards of missing ships yourself, but then you have to estimate what the EW value, Radar value and sonar value of the relevant ship classes are. This requires quite a bit of maritime inside information, which most players do not have.
The supplied data cards of ‘Naval Command 2021’ concern warships and aircraft of the same countries, except: Belgium, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Philippines, Finland, Ireland, Indonesia, Libya, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Uruguay, Venezuela, South Korea. But information on China, India and merchant ships is provided. However Yugoslavia/Serbia, Libya and Venezuela are sorely missed here (again).
Verdict: Both wargames have their good and bad sides regarding datacards. They are sometimes good in specific countries and/or specific time periods.
Detection phase comparison:
In modern naval wargames this is an important phase. How much data do you need to achieve a successful detection? How many times do you have to roll the dice and how complex are the calculations? Etc.
In ‘Shipwreck’ only 2 pages in the rule book are devoted to radar detection. Detection can take place in the maneuver and/or combat phase. Ships must indicate during detection phase which sensors are active. There is also an ‘emergency activation’ option anytime, but then you have to keep the radar active for 1 extra run (so that the enemy can detect it in the next detection phase). Ships are allowed multiple detection attempts within a phase (so against multiple ‘targets’), aircraft generally only 1x against 1 ‘target’. That seems logical to me because ships have more personnel, radar screens and situational awereness. Passive detection is always allowed. Active radar detections from ships against other ships can only take place within 25 nm. (radar horizon). From aircraft within 85 nm. (long range). Passive detection is 1 range band further (rightly so). A 90% detection probability is assumed, to which 8 (sometimes potential) modifiers apply, which include the radar quality of the transmitting ship, the EW quality of the reflecting ship, the size of the reflecting ship, whether it concerns a passive detection, etc. The calculated detection probability value must be thrown with a D10 dice. If the calculated value is not thrown, no detection has taken place. ‘Shipwreck’ has only 1 page for sonar detection. The sonar detection logic is similar to radar detection logic.
‘Shipwreck’ has specific rules on how a detection can be reported to other ships: via data link (immediately) or via radio (can only be done the next turn; so it resembles a telex message?). In ‘Naval Command 2021’ 2,5 pages are devoted to radar detection and 2 pages to sonar detection. Detection seems only be possible during detection phase within a turn. The rules assume that after the initiation phase all ships will become active (which is tactically not smart…)! If you want to activate your radars outside the initiation phase, you have to roll for them… All units are apparently only allowed to do 1 detection/turn, passive or active (surprisingly no distinction is made between a modern multi-radar/radarband warship with lots of radar screens, 360 degrees radar view and computer power and a 2-person simple helicopter with1 forward looking I band radar system). A nice/realistic feature of ‘Naval Command 2021’ is the use of ‘contact markers’. In this case, the actual ship is not shown, but only a number/digit in that position. The actual ship (and therefore the identity) is only shown when it is detected. Detections are made in only 3 range bands (close, intermediate and long range). The radar horizon is almost the same (30 nm. at ‘Naval Command 2021') and the range extension due to passive detection is also 1 band further. A D10 is rolled, whereby only 3 modifiers need to be applied: the search radar quality of the transmitting ship, a distance-dependent modifier and possibly a weather-dependent modifier. The result of this is held against the EW value of the object to be detected: if the result > EW value, detection is successful. For passive detection, there is a similar comparison, but then with only 2 modifiers, such as ESM value of the detecting ship. For sonar detections, 'Naval Command 2021' takes into account if the submarine is above or under the thermocline layer. 'Naval Command 2021' does not roll for the proper functioning of the data link; it is assumed that it always works.
Verdict: In 'Shipwreck' you do a lot of mental arithmetic, with a mathematical equation of '9' -/+ various 8 modifiers. In 'Naval Command' the number of modifiers is less, which makes the calculation easier. I also really like the feature of 'contact markers' at the beginning of the game. However, the rules for active and passive radar detection in 'Naval Command' are far too restrictive for modern ships. During a game of ‘Naval Command 2021’, detection of relatively modern helicopters (due to their high EW value) turned out to be very difficult; much more difficult than in 'Shipwreck'. Given the advantage of modern radars, the detection chance of ‘Shipwreck’ seems more realistic to me (together with their more realistic rules). Neither 'Shipwreck' nor 'Naval Command' have the option to detect a submarine periscope with radar.
Combat phase comparison:
In ‘Shipwreck’ Rule Book 5 pages are devoted to combat between surface ships and/or defense against air attacks. One page is the damage table. I found the explanation too brief/not clear enough. However, with the 2 page engagement example (5 turns) a lot became clear! Combat takes place in the combat phase; annoying is that ships are no longer allowed to maneuver in that phase - only missiles and (attack) aircraft maneuver in this phase. According to the rules you have to take into account the limited weapon arcs of your armament, but you are no longer allowed to make a maneuver during the flight time of an enemy missile (this flight time can take several minutes!) to optimize your fire sectors. In the real world, attacked ships maneuver at top speed during such an attack.
Missiles/attack aircraft jump from range band to range band; each range band you have 1 chance to defend yourself. If you fire multiple missiles at the attackers within that band, you must use a negative modifier (intended to save ammunition). There are rules for the use of anti-aircraft missiles, for the use of cannons and for the use of softkill (chaff). The hit probability calculation for air defense is as follows: from the table you get the anti-air value of the anti-aircraft missile to be used, some modifiers are applied to it (e.g. the EW value of the target). The rolled D10 (per anti-aircraft missile to be used) must reach that number ('final anti-air factor') (or lower), otherwise it is wrong. Ideally, the D10 must roll 2 numbers lower than the final anti-air factor. If just above that, aircraft are only chased away. For missiles (cannot be chased away), you must always roll < final anti-air factor-2. Attention is also paid to the success factor of chaff and the possibility that a missile flies through a chaff cloud and then finds a new target! (real situation).
Deployment of anti-ship missiles is initially easier: if you have detected a target and you are ‘in range’, you fire them. Per range band they jump to the target (while the attacked ship tries to detect them and starts shooting at them). Only when your missiles have defeated the enemy air defense, the hit probability calculation starts: look up the anti-ship factor of your missiles in the table, apply modifiers (including EW value of target ship). The thrown D10 (per missile) must reach this number (or lower) to hit the target. Then your opponent looks in the damage table (tonnage of target ship vs damage effect of the anti-ship weapon used) what the consequences could be. Then your opponent throws a D10 to see what the actual damage is. The result can be recorded on the ship data card.
In ‘Naval Command 2021’ at least 12 pages are used to describe the different combat possibilities. For each type, there are handy process cards included in the book. The explanation is more extensive and easier to understand. Here too, combat only takes place in the combat phase. Because the ship data cards do not take into account the weapon arcs of the ship's armament, this is not an issue in the combat phase (as it was in ‘Shipwreck’).
Missiles/attack aircraft jump from range band to range band (there are only 3; in ‘Shipwreck’ usually more); each range band you have a chance to defend yourself; it is not clearly indicated that you can only fire once per band at a specific target. However, ‘Air Defence Markers’ (Chapter 19.3) are used to simulate the saturation of the anti-aircraft ‘bubbles’. Every time an anti-aircraft system is deployed, it gets a negative modifier on the chance of hitting the target the next time (within that turn!). This looks similar to 'Shipwreck', but is slightly different. It is assumed that you have to apply those 'AD markers' per ship instead of per weapon system (type) of a ship. If the AD Markers are applied to all Air Defense bubbles around the ship you would only be able to shoot 3 or 4 times before the ship is 'saturated'. I consider it would be more realistic if AD markers are assigned to specific air defense systems (or just assigned to 1 range shell): so in the largest bubble you fire your long range AD system until saturation, then your medium system in the smaller bubble and then your close system in the smallest bubble. 'Naval Command 2021' unfortunately has no specific rules for softkill (chaff) and does not mention DP gun systems under Air Defense Systems within the Fleet Lists! Therefor I made the mistake to forget about them during play! There are combat rules for the use of anti-aircraft missiles, for the use of guns against ships (chapter 23), for the use of anti-ship missiles (chapter 20), for anti-submarine weapons (chapter 22), for air attacks with rockets/bombs (chapter 25), for sea mines (chapter 29) and even nuclear weapons (chapter 30).
The hit probability determination for air defense is as follows: the result of the D10 roll (per air defense weapon system) is provided with the positive Defense Radar modifier (of the firing ship), from which the numbers of AD markers are subtracted. This ‘result’ is held against the ‘defense rating’ of the attacking aircraft/missile (see datacard). If the adjusted dice value > then defense rating = air target destroyed. Of course you must then assign a new AD marker.
Deployment of anti-ship missiles is also easy: if you are ‘in range’, you must roll the dice to see if you (or your on-board helicopter) have detected the target ship; D10 value + fire control radar of the detecting platform is held against the EW value of the enemy ship. If it exceeds that EW value, it has been detected and the anti-ship weapons can be fired. A bearing only launch is also possible, on passive radar info. After the opponent has done his air defense, the final lock rule follows: D10 + accuracy rating of the missile must exceed the EW value of the target to score a hit. Then the damage must be rolled (Chapter 27). Something strange is going on here: there are 4 types of damage (fire, flood, systems & structures) mentioned in the Rules but in the table ‘systems’ does not appear anymore… Damage control is described in Chapter 28 (1 page).
Verdict: Combat in ‘Shipwreck’ is limited in diversity; ‘Naval Command 2021’ has many more types of combat, which gives it more possibilities, also for the future (sea mine warfare, piracy of merchant ships, etc.). Within ‘Naval Command 2021’ you can use more weapon types (despite the lack of usage of EW weapons), which makes underwater warfare, air warfare or even amphibious operations really possible. However, a source of concern is the current use of ‘Air Defence Markers’; this may adversely affect the playing of Air Defence compared to ‘Shipwreck’.
Final verdict: both Modern Naval Wargame rules are well suited for post-WWII naval wargaming in the scales 1:1800, 1:2400 or 1:3000. A game can be completed within a few hours. ‘Shipwreck’ focuses on wargaming with surface ships in the period 1960-1990; ‘Naval Command 2021’ focuses on the period 1975-2015 and has many more types of maritime warfare. Although ‘Naval Command’ is the better candidate (and is still in development), it has more ‘minor flaws’ than ‘Shipwreck’ and ship data from about 15 countries less than ‘Shipwreck’.
Since a couple of months we use ‘Naval Command 2021’. We use the rules from the book, except for the following:
- we replaced the restrictions on the very limited number of radar and/or sonar detections per turn with: each ship/submarine may make as many detections in 1 turn as the value of its Search radar, ESM system or sonar system. In this way, modern computerized/ automated warships are able to detect more opponents than much older warships from the 1960s.
- we apply the rules regarding Defence Markers for air defense system (type) separately (and not for the ship as a whole), assuming that the use of these AD systems does not affect each other as they use their own Fire Control channels and ammunition.
- we assume that to turn off a radar, you are only allowed to do that during the Initiative Phase.
- we use DP guns also as (separate!) Air Defense Systems (at close/low range), especially against helo's, aircraft and older ant-ship missiles.
