Playing NSP

[plpazodo]

Hi,

I'm new with this game and really enjoying.

I have some questions related to the rules that I would like to clear:

1.- Aircraft squadron record sheet: What is RNG? (I suppose it is related to the total hex range that the squadron can fly in the scenario?)

2.- The use of counters: The rulebook states the following "You will notice that there are 20 (per side) division counters with a “?” on them:" I cannot find 20 but 6 per side in my set of counters, is not a big issue because I can print more if needed but I just want to make sure that I'm looking to the correct counter with the ? symbol.

3.- Advanced Rules in tactical game: Please explain the correct use of the radar during the spotting phase. I can see on the supplied table for example: A ship with F2 type radar has 8 in search and 6 in Fire, how are these ranges supposed to be used and his relationship with the visual spotting range that each ship has in his sheet and the gunnery range?

That's all for now.

Thanks

Pedro

P.D.

By the way I found the CA - Portland class labeled incorrectly as Indianapolis, the same is true with CV - Saratoga, the correct class should read Lexington, not a big issue and can live with that but just to let you know.

[williammiller]

Pedro,

Welcome to the forums!

My answers to your questions are as follows:

Q: 1.- Aircraft squadron record sheet: What is RNG? (I suppose it is related to the total hex range that the squadron can fly in the scenario?)
A: This value is explained on page 26 in the Rules Manual:

"Aircraft Ranges: Aircraft have a RNG value listed on their squadron record sheets. This is the squadrons Range Rating.
The plane can fly that many hexes before it must land at an airfield/airbase or carrier. Any aircraft that cannot land at a base
before it exceeds its Range rating flown in hexes is considered destroyed."

Q: 2.- The use of counters: The rulebook states the following "You will notice that there are 20 (per side) division counters with a “?” on them:" I cannot find 20 but 6 per side in my set of counters, is not a big issue because I can print more if needed but I just want to make sure that I'm looking to the correct counter with the ? symbol.
A: Ah, the figure quoted is a holdover from the printed version of the game, which would have had "?" printed on the rear of some division counters. We had a limited run printed version of the game available for a while...

Q: 3.- Advanced Rules in tactical game: Please explain the correct use of the radar during the spotting phase. I can see on the supplied table for example: A ship with F2 type radar has 8 in search and 6 in Fire, how are these ranges supposed to be used and his relationship with the visual spotting range that each ship has in his sheet and the gunnery range?
A: You use the highest of either the net Visual or Radar spotting ranges to determine the maximum range at which an enemy ship may be spotted. The first value shown for FC (Fire Control) radar (i.e. the 'Search' range value) is the maximum range (in hexes) at which a target can be spotted by the radar; the second value ('FC', or Fire Control range value) is the maximum range at which the radar can be used to gain a Fire Control (FC) bonus if the spotting ship fires upon the target. In the case of an "F2" radar the ship with the radar can spot another ship up to 8 hexes away, but can only gain a bonus for using Fire Control radar up to 6 hexes away. Look on Page 15, the SHIP-TO-SHIP-GUNNERY COMBAT table ADVANCED RULES section for details on this...

Thanks!

[plpazodo]

Thanks William

Rgds
Pedro

[plpazodo]

I was trying to setup the 2nd Guadalcanal but I have found that the Benham class destroyer unit sheet is missing, not sure if this has been reported in the past. This unit is also required for Midway.

The same happens with the JP Mutsuki Class destroyer required to simulate 2nd Kula Gulf.

Is there any way to get these units?

Missing units US:
DD Benham
DD Clemson

Missing units JP:
DD Mutsuki
DD Momi
DD Wakatake

Thanks
Pedro

[williammiller]

Mar 28, 2016 22:39:02 GMT -6 plpazodo said:

I was trying to setup the 2nd Guadalcanal but I have found that the Benham class destroyer unit sheet is missing, not sure if this has been reported in the past. This unit is also required for Midway.

The same happens with the JP Mutsuki Class destroyer required to simulate 2nd Kula Gulf.

Is there any way to get these units?

Missing units US:
DD Benham
DD Clemson

Missing units JP:
DD Mutsuki
DD Momi
DD Wakatake

Thanks
Pedro

Hello,

Some unit sheets in the game cover "consecutive-construction" destroyer classes that were identical (at least in game terms):

The DD Benham and DD Bagley classes are identical as far as game stats go, so they both use the "US DD BAGLEY" sheet.

The DD Clemson and DD Wickes classes are also identical in game terms (and refits), so they both use the "US DD WICKES" sheet.

The DD Mutsuki and DD Minekazi classes are identical, both use the "JP DD MINEKAZI" sheet.

The older Japanese DD Momi and DD Wakatake classes were mostly converted into patrol boats, ersatz mine-layers or mine-sweepers, etc either before or very early in the war, and thus were not included (and no scenarios in the rules use them to my knowledge).

Thanks.

[plpazodo]

Hi William,

I have a doubt with the tactical advanced gameplay.

The step number 2 on the sequence states the following: "All players decide which of their units will fire at which enemy unit."

Number 3 all units are moved.

Number 4 al gunnery and torpedo attacks take place.

Ok what happen if after moving the units in step 3 I decide to attack a different unit from the one selected on step 2? Can this be done or do I need to wait for next turn?

Thank you
Pedro

[williammiller]

Apr 3, 2016 0:48:08 GMT -6 plpazodo said:

Hi William,

I have a doubt with the tactical advanced gameplay.

The step number 2 on the sequence states the following: "All players decide which of their units will fire at which enemy unit."

Number 3 all units are moved.

Number 4 al gunnery and torpedo attacks take place.

Ok what happen if after moving the units in step 3 I decide to attack a different unit from the one selected on step 2? Can this be done or do I need to wait for next turn?

Thank you
Pedro

Pedro,

THe rules as written do not allow for the player to "switch targets" later in the turn - this specific sequencing is intended to simulate how in some cases targets may quickly slip out of attack range or present a poorer/better target than initially thought.

Now, if you want to allow switching of targets that is fine, but I would suggest that you apply a " -1 " gunnery or torpedo modifier if a attacking ship does so.

[plpazodo]

Thanks William,

Yes, I thought that but just wanted to make sure, I prefer to keep targets unchanged like explained in the rules.

Regarding the strategic game in advanced mode:

1.- Is the search matrix used in advanced mode or only applies for the basic game?
2.- How do you split air operations? Example: I want to have 4 airplanes doing CAP and the remaining will escort bombers, Example 2: I have 20 dive bombers and I want 4 of them to attack ship 1, 7 to ship 2 and 9 to ship 3.
3.- Regarding AA, the following is not completely clear to me: "one-half the damage from Light AA guns (round up) is applied before the aircraft make their attacks, the second half after." Do you have any example?

Thanks
Pedro

[williammiller]

Pedro,

My answers are below:

1.- Is the search matrix used in advanced mode or only applies for the basic game?
A: The search matrix is intended for use with either the basic rules or the advanced rules, and is specifically used if you are operating aircraft and use the use "intelligence Levels" rule (see page 27 "Level of Intelligence and Spotting Chances" in the Rules manual).

2.- How do you split air operations? Example: I want to have 4 airplanes doing CAP and the remaining will escort bombers, Example 2: I have 20 dive bombers and I want 4 of them to attack ship 1, 7 to ship 2 and 9 to ship 3.
A: If you look at the D3A1 Val dive bomber record sheet you will see three numbers in the "BOMB" section box - the first number is the number of separate attacks that can be made with that load, the second number is the number of weapons that is used in each attack, and the third number is the base damage the attack does. Since the first number shown (which in the case of the D3A1 is "4") is the number of seperate attacks the squadron can make, so you can allocate these 4 attacks among individual ships/targets as you like. You could use all 4 attacks against a single ship, or attack four separate ships with one attack each, etc.
If you want even more division of the attacking aircraft you can multiply the first "BOMB" or "TORPEDO" value shown by the second value shown, which gives you the actual number of weapons carrid by the squadron, and you could thus divide these weapons up among targets as you like. In the case of a squadrom of D3A1 dive bombers, the squadron carries 4 x 5= 20 bombs, so if you wish you could divide these 20 bombs against individual targets as you like.

3.- Regarding AA, the following is not completely clear to me: "one-half the damage from Light AA guns (round up) is applied before the aircraft make their attacks, the second half after." Do you have any example?
A: For Heavy AA guns all of the aircraft shot down are assumed to be hit before they can close and release their bombs upon the target - light AA guns have much shorter range, and thus the assumption is that half of the aircraft shot down will have already dropped their bombs/torpedoes upon the target. So for light AA guns, if say 8 attacking aircraft were shot down then 4 of them would still be able to attack with their bombs/torpedoes/etc.

Thanks.

[plpazodo]

William,

2.- Ok so if using the Val example, let's say that I have the complete squadron 4 x 5 = 20 bombs, can I split this in 3 targets or separate attacks? It would be like this: 2 separate attacks of 7 bombs and 1 of 6? Or do I have to stick with the maximum number of weapons used for each attack (5).

Thanks
Pedro

[williammiller]

Apr 3, 2016 23:12:37 GMT -6 plpazodo said:

William,

2.- Ok so if using the Val example, let's say that I have the complete squadron 4 x 5 = 20 bombs, can I split this in 3 targets or separate attacks? It would be like this: 2 separate attacks of 7 bombs and 1 of 6? Or do I have to stick with the maximum number of weapons used for each attack (5).

Thanks
Pedro

Yes, you can certainly do that if you wish. Each Val is carrying a single bomb (since a Squadron is 20 aircraft and carries 20 bombs total), so each single bomb dropped is an individual Val attacking a target.

Now, for squadrons that carry more than one bomb per plane you cannot make more individual attacks in one turn than the number of aircraft in the squadron - for example, the US P-47 Figher sheet shows a squadron as 24 fighters, but the squadron carries 8 x 6= 48 bombs. So you could divide up their bombs among no more than 24 individual targets.

Bear in mind also that there is no rule that states you have to expend all of your ordnance in a single game turn, so in the example above you could have each fighter drop either 1 or both of its bombs when or if it attacks in a given turn.

Thanks.

[plpazodo]

Hi William,

I was trying to simulate the Point Stilo, Cape Matapan and Cape Spartivento scenarios included with the game but for some reason my unit sheets does not include the BB Queen Elizabeth and BB Royal Sovereign. is possible to get these units? (I suppose that they should be included in the Steel and Resolve game)

The same is true with the CL Gloucester and CL Perth, I suppose that Gloucester class can be replaced with Southampton or Edinburgh, and Perth with Leander?

Let me know how to proceed.

Thank you
Pedro

[williammiller]

Pedro,

The QE/R-Class is not included in the NSP game (it is in the WW1 game) - taking your post as a request, I created a data sheet for the RN BB Queen Elizabeth class for the NSP game  (note that the Revenge (or "R") class is identical in game terms so they can use the same sheet).

See attachment below for the PDF of the sheet...

For the other classes you mention you are indeed correct, the listed classes are identical in game terms and are used.

Thanks!

Attachments:

UK BB QUEEN ELIZABETH.pdf (104.32 KB)