CREDITS Game Design: Brian M. Herr Playtesting: Robert Kachur, Chris Jordan, Chris Hadsall Counter Art: Ilya Kudriashov Map Graphics: Ania B. Ziolkowska Rulebook: Paul Stuhlfaut TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 Playing Admirals’ War ...................................................................................2 21.0 Turn 11 ............................................................................................................21 2.0 The Mapboard ..................................................................................................3 22.0 French Fleet Dilemma ............................................................................21 Table 1: Initial Port/Base Control — Allies ......................................3 Table 6: Operation Lila ...........................................................................22 Table 2: Initial Port/Base Control — Axis ........................................3 Table 7: Operation Torch ......................................................................22 3.0 The Playing Pieces ..........................................................................................5 23.0 Pearl Harbor Tension ...............................................................................22 4.0 Prepare for Play ................................................................................................7 24.0 Tora, Tora… Uh-Oh ..................................................................................24 5.0 Sequence of Play ............................................................................................7 25.0 Gunnery Radar ...........................................................................................24 6.0 Movement ..........................................................................................................8 26.0 Hidden Submarine Deployment .....................................................24 7.0 Combat .................................................................................................................9 27.0 Submarine Targeting ..............................................................................24 8.0 Retreats ..............................................................................................................11 28.0 Damage Control ........................................................................................24 9.0 Carrier Air Raids ............................................................................................12 29.0 Task Forces ....................................................................................................24 10.0 Returning to Base (RTB) ........................................................................12 30.0 Greek Navy ....................................................................................................25 11.0 Repairs .............................................................................................................13 31.0 HMS Argus ....................................................................................................25 12.0 Land-Based Air (LBA) ..............................................................................13 32.0 Pocket Pride .................................................................................................25 13.0 Amphibious Units.....................................................................................14 33.0 German Carriers .........................................................................................32 14.0 Submarines ..................................................................................................15 34.0 Alternate Ship Names ............................................................................25 15.0 Hilfskreuzers .................................................................................................16 35.0 Japanese BB-CV's ......................................................................................26 16.0 Capturing Ports and Bases ..................................................................17 36.0 Aging British Fleet ....................................................................................26 Table 3 Italian Ship Surrender ...........................................................17 Table 8: Overhaul Markers ...................................................................27 17.0 Controlling Sea Areas .............................................................................18 37.0 Italian Ineffectiveness .............................................................................27 18.0 Minor Navies ................................................................................................18 38.0 Italian Naval Buildup ...............................................................................27 Table 4 French Ship Disposition ......................................................18 39.0 Examples of Play ........................................................................................28 19.0 Japan & The US Entering The War ...................................................19 40.0 Pacific Theater Beginner Scenario: Midway! .............................31 Table 5: US Location Uncertain Groups .......................................20 © 2019 by Brian M. Herr OPTIONAL RULES.................................................................................................20 Licensed to Canvas Temple Publishing 20.0 Turn 0 ...............................................................................................................20 Date modified: 02/01/19 (supersedes any/all previous printings) 0018CTP_Admirals_War Rule book 11 PRINT.indd 1 3/4/19 8:00 AM 2 ADMIRALS’ WAR — WWII AT SEA Admirals’ War: WWII at Sea (AW) is a board game recreation – a four-player game with each player controlling one of the of strategic naval warfare in WWII, from the early months of following: Britain + the minor allies, US + France, Germany + the Atlantic war to late 1944, when Japan had her naval “back” Italy, or Japan. broken in the Philippine Sea. All major combat ships for both 1.2 OBJEctIVE: GAIN VIctORY POINTS the Axis and the Allied powers are portrayed in the game (along with numerous optional units). The board shows all the The objective of the game is to gain Victory Points (hereafter, VP) contested sea lanes as well as the bases and ports that straddled by controlling the various sea areas of the mapboard. These VP them — from the Barents and Murmansk to French Polynesia are recorded on a track printed on the mapboard. There is one and Samoa. Admirals’ War is a basic simulation of the war on pair of markers for the Atlantic Theatre of Operations (ATO) and a grand strategic level, and while there are certainly tactical one pair for the Pacific Theatre of Operations (PTO). decisions to be made, most of the details of the actual combat The number of VPs that a player gets for controlling a sea area is are dealt with abstractly. This approach yields a relatively fast- printed beneath the name of each sea area on the mapboard. paced game, with an entire battle campaign that took days or These VP numbers reflects how valuable each sea area was to even several months to fight resolved in only a few minutes with that side's war effort. a handful of dice. It is not, however, as realistic in a technical sense as some other simulations. Admirals’ War is mechanically similar to the classic games War at Sea (WAS) and Victory in The Pacific (VITP), applying a modified version of that system to the sea wars in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. Players familiar with these older titles will immediately notice the expanded and altered map, especially in Examples: As seen in the picture above, the North Sea is worth the Atlantic, which has changed radically. This was done for two 1VP to the British player and 3VP to the German player. The main reasons: 1) to more seamlessly combine the mechanics of Indonesian oilfields were crucial to the Japanese war effort, so the two games, and 2) to better reflect the nature of the Atlantic the Japanese player gets 3VP for controlling Indonesia, while naval fighting. The original WAS, for all its appeal, essentially the US player gains only 1VP there. In the Atlantic, virtually all recreates a Jutland-style scenario using a WWII order of battle, England-bound convoy traffic passed through the Western something that never really happened — or ever would have Approaches; hence it is the single most valuable sea area on the happened. The Battle of the Atlantic was much more a game of board: 4VP for Germany/Italy, and 2VP for the British. hide & seek — even whack-a-mole — than anything else. Also, 1.3 BASIC MECHANISM OF PLAY the U boats that were so central to the real war were relegated To control a sea area, a player must have a patrolling surface ship in WAS to very much a supporting role. Admirals’ War attempts or a land-based air unit still at sea in the area after combat has to address these issues while maintaining most of the original concluded for the turn. Only one player at a time can control system's simplicity, and minimizing special rules that only apply a sea area, so if both sides have units in the same sea area, to one theatre or the other. At the heart of the new system is the units must fight until all of one or both sides’ units have the replacement of the single round of two-area movement in retreated or been destroyed. The players use their ships, subs, WAS with the double round of three-area structure of VITP, while land-based air, and ground units