FEAR NAUGHT Inter-War Naval Wargaming Written by Tom Mecredy Core Rules Movement: Weaponry: - Cargo/Tenders/Liners: 6” base move. Gun Batteries - Destroyers: 6” base move. May make 45 A Battery is composed of a number of guns. degrees at full speed. - The base number of 唈re dice used by a - Light Cruisers: 6” base move. battery is 1d6. +1d6 for each gun in a - Heavy Cruisers: 6” base move. battery, up to a maximum of four. - Battlecruisers: 8” base move. - Battleships: 8” b ase move. Must move in a A gun can be a number of sizes. All guns in a straight line for at least 1 turn before battery must be the same size. turning. - Light: 18” Range. - Dreadnoughts: 8” b ase move. Must move in - Medium: 24” Range. a straight line for at least 1 turn - Heavy: 30” Range. before turning. - Super-Heavy: 36” Range. At the start of each turn, each vessel must set its speed, determining move distance and turn Gun Batteries can be mounted in turrets or rate. casemates. Speed: - Turreted batteries can have a maximum Full Speed: Move full allowance, may not turn. 唈ring arc of 270 degrees, depending on Half Speed: Move half allowance, may make their placement on the vessel. turns up to 90 degrees. - Batteries in casemates can have a Stop: M ay not move, may make turns up to 180 maximum 唈ring arc of 90 degrees. degrees. Casemates have a maximum of 1 gun per Reverse: M ove half allowance in reverse, may battery. make turns up to 90 degrees. Secondary gun batteries Secondary batteries are usually mounted on the A vessel can only move one step up or down port and starboard of a vessel. The damage of between turns. these guns depend on the ship class. Firing: - Light + Heavy Cruisers: 1d6 within 12” Select a target within visual range and weapon - Battlecruisers: 2d6 within 18” range. Place 1 marker on the target location, - Battleships + Dreadnoughts: 3d6 within roll 1d6 for each additional battery 唈ring. 18” Place that marker X” away from the initial Tertiary gun batteries target. Battleships and dreadnoughts have additional tertiary batteries for close-in defense. Roll 唈re dice against any vessels under a - Add +1d6 if a target is within 9”. marker. Anti-Aircraft Batteries Ships armed with AA batteries may target Secondary batteries do not need markers, aircraft within 18” range. Roll 2d6. Aircraft is simply pick target in range and roll to hit. hit and removed from play on a 5/6. Terrain: Torpedoes Islands and land masses can block Line of Fired from deck-mounted launchers or Sight. submerged tubes. - Deck mounted launchers have a maximum Fire can be directed at targets behind terrain 唈re arc of 180 degrees, depending on providing the 唈ring vessel is more than 12” their placement. away from the terrain feature, and the target - Submerged tubes have a 45 degree 唈re is within visual range and Line of Sight of arc drawn from the vessel’s prow. another friendly vessel. Turn Sequence: Tubes and launchers may 唈re two kinds of Each turn is comprised of a number of phases. torpedo. Players act one after the other. - Light Torpedoes: 8” per turn. 1d6 per - Plot Fire/Launch Torpedos. torpedo. Hits on 5/6 - Set vessel speed. - Heavy Torpedoes: 6” per turn. 2d6 per - Movement. torpedo. Hits on 4/5/6 - Resolve Fire. 1 Morale: Roll 2d6 on the following table for each hit At the end of each turn, make a morale check for scored. any captains in the following circumstances: 2 Conning Tower Hit: Roll 1d6: 1-3: Use optical - Outnumbered more than two-to-one by sights to determine hits. 4-6 Lose 1 Crew enemy vessels. Effectiveness. - Engine on 唈re/Vessel Flooding. - Crew killed. 3 Engine Damage: V essel can only move at half speed. If this result is rolled again, the vessel may not move at all. Check morale by rolling 2d6 and comparing it to the captain’s morale score. If the result is 4 Rudder Damage: V essel may not turn. lower, the captain may continue to act as normal. 5 Fire: Roll on this table again at the start of each following turn. Fire can be suppressed by If the result is higher than the captain’s rolling 5 or 6 on 1d6 at the start of each turn. morale score, they will spend their next turn 6-8 Super唈cial Damage: No effect. moving away from any enemies and towards the closest table edge. 9 Flooding: V essel can only move at half speed - Green Captain: 6 Morale while ᰈooded. Vessel will go out of action - Experienced Captain: 7 Morale after being ᰈooded for three turns. Flooding - Veteran Captain: 8 Morale can be stopped by rolling 5 or 6 on 1d6 at the start of each turn. Crew Effectiveness: 10 Crew Killed: L ose 1 Crew Effectiveness. Vessel Represents the crew’s ability to manage the is lost if Crew Effectiveness reaches 0. ship. Each time the rating is reduced, it is assumed some crewmen have fallen. When it 11 Weapon Destroyed: Roll 1d6: 1-2: Lose 1 main reaches 0, there are no longer enough battery. 3-4: Lose Secondary batteries or 1 able-bodied crewmen to manage the vessel torpedo launcher. 5-6: Lose tertiary batteries or AA guns. effectively. - Destroyers: 2 Crew Effectiveness 12 Magazine Explosion: S hip taken out of action, - Cruisers : 3 Crew Effectiveness. roll 2d6 against vessels within 4”. Hits on 6’s. - Cargo/Tenders/Liners: 3 Crew Effectiveness Spotting: - Battlecruisers: 4 Crew Effectiveness By default, all vessels have a visual range of - Battleships: 5 Crew Effectiveness 24”. They may not target enemy vessels outside - Dreadnoughts: 6 Crew Effectiveness of their visual range unless: - A friendly ship has the target within Armour: visual range and Line of Sight. Heavy Cruisers, Battlecruisers, Battleships - The enemy vessel is within 12” of a and Dreadnoughts all bene唈t from being well spotter aircraft. protected against enemy 唈re. Spotter Aircraft: Once launched, the aircraft is moved during Armoured vessels roll 3d6 when determining the movement phase of each turn. The aircraft damage and pick the lowest result. moves a maximum of 8” per turn. Fire Control: They will spot any vessels within 12” range. Vessels are equipped with some sort of 唈re-control system, whether that is a spotter Smoke Generators: with binoculars or a radar director in the All classes of ship can generate clouds of oily conning tower. smoke to obscure friendly targets. Instead of - Optical Sights: Shots hit on a 6. 唈ring guns or launching torpedoes, a ship may - Centralized Fire Director: Shots hit on elect to lay a cloud of smoke 6” long and 2” a 5/6. wide. - Radar Fire Control: Shots hit on a 4/5/6. Smoke clouds block line of sight, and last until the end of the next turn. 2 Additional Rules These rules are not necessary for a quick game Gunboats move at a rate of 4” per turn. Monitors of Fear Naught, but provide extra elements for move at a rate of 6” per turn. use in scenarios or longer campaigns. Gunboats and Monitors are very heavily armed Coastal Gun Emplacements: for their size. But they cannot hope to match The coastlines and ports of any industrialized the array of armaments carried by a full-size nation will be protected by large calibre guns warship. mounted within formidable forti唈cations. Gunboats: A naval adage holds that 1 coastal battery is - Maximum 2 turrets of 1 gun each, of worth at least 3 ships at sea, due to the medium calibre or lower. steadiness of the mounting and the sturdiness - No secondary batteries. of the defenses. - May have torpedo launchers 唈ring light or heavy torpedoes. Coastal batteries work in much the same way as - 2 Crew Effectiveness shipboard ones. Monitors: Select a class of gun from the core rules. This - Maximum 2 turrets of 2 guns each, of gun operates as a single battery, placing one super-heavy calibre or lower. 唈re marker per turn. - May mount Destroyer secondary batteries. Coastal batteries roll 2d6 per shot, hitting on - May mount anti-aircraft guns. 5’s and 6’s. - May have torpedo launchers 唈ring light or heavy torpedoes. Coastal batteries have a 唈re arc of 90 degrees. - 3 Crew Effectiveness Coastal batteries may be targeted by enemy Submarines: vessels in the same way as another vessel. Roll These lightly armed submersible raiders came 2d6 on the damage table below for each hit into their own during the early 20th century, scored. sortieing out into unfriendly seas to menace enemy merchant vessels. 2 Magazine Explosion: A direct hit detonates some badly stored ammunition. Remove the Submarines move at a rate of 6” per turn. battery from play, and resolve a 1d6 hit against Submarines have 2 Crew Effectiveness. any other batteries within 2”. Hits on 6’s. At the start of each turn, before setting speed, 3-6 Gun Damaged: The gun may 唈re next turn, but may not traverse within its 唈ring arc. the controlling player must also set the depth of his submarine. 7 Near Miss: T he emplacement takes a beating but - Surfaced: Functions as a surface ship in the gun is miraculously untouched. all aspects. May 唈re deck guns. 8-11 Crew Stunned: The battery may not 唈re next - Submerged: May only spot targets with turn. sonar/hydrophone, may only be detected 12 Crew Killed: A blast of shrapnel kills all the by sonar/hydrophone equipped vessels. crew manning the gun. Remove it from play. May not use deck guns.