A Hotter Fire ...

Naval Wargames Rules

for the
American Civil War
(1861-65)
By
Alan Saunders

Version 1.2 January 1998

Introduction

These rules have been written specifically to allow wargamers to fight naval actions from the
American Civil War. They are designed to give a quick game, which captures the flavour of these
actions without requiring extensive book-keeping. Another feature is that only minimal information is
required about each vessel allowing some of the more obscure or less well documented vessels to be
used in games.

It should be stated here that the basic core of these rules is not of my creation. They are a heavily
modified version of the classic AndyCallan 'Rules for ACW Naval Actions', published in Miniature
Wargames many, many years ago. I was inspired to start wargaming in this period by
Andy Callan's rules, and set out to find a more detailed and realistic set. None of the commercially
available sets seemed quite right though and I was forced to the conclusion that the only way to get a
set I liked was to write my own. The basic mechanisms in Andy's rules were so good though that I
used those as my starting point. The turn sequence and movement rules are basically unchanged from
the original. The firing rules now differentiate between hitting the target and scoring damage, the
armour rules cover some of the more out of the ordinary ship designs and the rules for ramming and
for the recording of damage are completely new.

I endeavoured to keep the whole set based around D6s and inches , but found that the only an Average
dice gave the correct spread of probabilities to allow the armour penetration table to work. Sorry. I did
stick to the inches though.

Although written for use with 1/1200th scale models, there is no reason why 1/600th scale models
couldn't be used instead. Indeed they have been used with such at my club. I would suggest that if
using ships of this scale that all distances are doubled.

This edition is Version 1.2, January 1998

These rules are (c) Alan Saunders 1998. They can be copied and distributed freely as long as they are
not changed.

Equipment Required

2 six sided dice (referred to as D6)

1 Average dice (numbered 2,3,3,4,4,5, referred to as DAV)
A tape measure marked in Inches
A protractor
Ship record sheets
Model ships
Turn Sequence

1) Plot speed and angle and direction of any turn

2) All ships move half of plotted movement distance
3) Any ships performing turns do so
4) Any ships not turning may fire
5) All ships able to do so move any remaining movement distance
6) All guns that have not fired this turn may do so
7) Roll for any repairs and reload guns

Scale and Movement

Speed: 1 Knot = 1"

Acceleration/Deceleration: 2 Knots/turn
Reverse: Must spend one turn stationary; speed is 1/3 maximum forward speed, unless double-ended.

Armour

Calculate rating for Bow, Midships and Stern. The general armour of the ship is that of the casemate,
side or belt. More specific armour protection is covered below.

None 0
Cotton Timber or Tinclad 1
Up to 2" Iron 2
Up to 4" Iron 3
Up to 6" Iron 4
Up to 8" Iron 5
More than 8" Iron 6

Count 20" of wood backing as 1" Iron

These are the default ratings for each area of the ship. Some sections of the ship may have armour
ratings that are different to the defaults, such as an ironclad with unarmoured paddle wheels, or
an unarmoured vessel with cotton bales protecting the engines. Possible sections are Armament,
Steering, Machinery, Pilot House and Propulsion. If any of these sections have a different protection
to the rest of the ship then their armour value should be calculated separately. Monitor turret armour is
assumed to be Armament armour, the general armour factor is that of the side armour.
Hull Hits

Add together the ship's length and beam in feet:

Total Length Hull Hits

Up to 105' 2
Up to 120' 4
Up to 135' 6
Up to 150' 8
Up to 165' 10
Up to 180' 12
Up to 195' 14
Up to 210' 16
Up to 225' 18
Up to 240' 20
Up to 255' 22
Up to 270' 24
Up to 285' 26
Up to 300' 28
Up to 315' 30
Up to 330' 32
Up to 345' 34
Up to 360' 36
Up to 375' 38
Over 375' 40

Turning

This table shows the maximum turn a vessel may plot for a given move.

Length in feet Turn

Up to 100' 90º
Up to 175' 60º
Up to 250' 45º
Up to 275' 30º
Up to 325' 20º
Over 325' 10º

Gun Ratings
 Gun Type Rate of Fire Strength
Up to 12pdr Light (L) 1 shot/turn 1
18-60pdr or up to 8"SB, 7" Rifle Medium (M) 1 shot/turn 2
64-100pdr or up to 11"SB, 8" Rifle Heavy (H) 1 shot/ 2 turns 3
Over 100pdr or 11"SB, Rifles over 8" Extra Heavy (X) 1 shot/ 3 turns 4

Arcs of Fire

A turret may fire into any one of four 90º arcs, fore, port, starboard or aft. If both guns fire on the
same turn, then they must fire into the same arc and at the same target. The arc into which a turret is
facing must be plotted when the vessels movement is plotted; it may change by a maximum of one
point from the previous turn's facing if desired (from port to aft for example, but not from port to
starboard). Whilst a turret may face in any direction, on certain ships fire may be impossible:

On single turret monitors fire is possible into all arcs unless a stern wheel is fitted in which case the
aft arc is blocked.

On twin turret monitors, the forward turret may not fire aft and the aft turret may not fire forward.

On a triple turret monitor the fore and aft turrets are blocked as for a twin turret monitor; the centre
turret may not fire forward or aft.

On all monitors, the vessel's own funnel or superstructure blocks fire within a given arc.

The arc of fire of deck mounted pivot guns varies according to the vessel.

Guns firing through gun ports have a 10º arc of fire. Note that if they are pivot guns they may have a
choice as to which gun port they fire through.

Firing

Range Distance
Point Blank Up to 3"
Medium Up to 15"
Long Up to 30"

Light guns may not fire at Long range

To hit: For each gun roll 1D6, adjusting score as below. A final score of 5 or more hits.

Point Blank range +1

Rifle +1
Firer Stationary +1
Target Stationary +1
Firer or target plotted turns -1
or
Fire AND target plotted turns
-2
Long range -1
Target size is less than 100'
or
Target is Monitor -1
On fire -1
Filled with smoke -1
Filled with steam -1

Damage

For each hit roll 1DAV for penetration and 1D6 for location

D6 Roll Location
1-4 Hull - Damage is scored as below.
5 Armament - 1 Gun in arc of fire destroyed if any armour protecting it is
penetrated.
6 Critical Hit - Roll on table below. If applicable the shot must penetrate the
armour protecting the relevant section.

To the DAV roll add the firing gun's strength and subtract the armour rating of the area hit. The
armour rating that should be used is that of the most exposed side for Hull hits, otherwise that of the
armour protecting the relevant section. In many cases this will be the same as the armour of the most
exposed side. Adjust the total as follows:

Rifle +1
Long range -1
Point Blank range +1

Adjusted roll Up to 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+

Penetrate N N Y Y Y Y Y
Hull Damage - 1 1 1 2 2 3
Critical Hits

Roll 1D6 as tens and another as units

Roll Section Effect Notes

11 General Magazine hit. Ship explodes
12 General Major Fire. Extinguish on a '6'. May try for 4 turns, then abandon
ship.
13-14 General Minor Fire. Extinguish on a '5' or '6'. May try for 4
turns, then abandon ship.
15-16 General Holed. Roll 1D6 each turn: 1-lose 2 hull, 2-lose 1 hull, 6-
Repaired
21-22 Armament 1 Gun destroyed.
23 Armament 1 Gun destroyed and shot causes 1 point of hull damage.
24 Steering Steering damaged. May not change course until repaired. RA
25-26 Steering Steering destroyed. May not change course. A
31 Machinery Boiler damaged. -1D6 speed and filled with steam until repaired. R
32 Machinery Boiler damaged. -1D6 speed and filled with steam.
33 Machinery Boiler damaged. May not accelerate until repaired. R
34-35 Machinery Boiler destroyed. Ship decelerates to a stop, and is dead in the S
water. Fills with steam.
36 Machinery Engines damaged. -1 speed until repaired. R
41 Machinery Engines damaged. -1D6 speed until repaired. R
42 Machinery Engines damaged. -1D6 speed
43-44 Machinery Engines wrecked. Ship decelerates until it is dead in the water.
45 Pilot House No change of speed or course until repaired. R
46 Pilot House Captain killed. No change of speed or course until replaced. RS
51 Pilot House Pilot house wrecked. No further course changes. No speed R
changes until officers replaced.
52 Propulsion Screw or paddle blocked. Decelerate to halt until repaired. R A*
53, 54, Propulsion Paddle destroyed. Lose all speed if none left, otherwise lose 3/4 A*
55 speed. Reroll if no paddles fitted.
56 Armament (NP) 1 gun destroyed.
61 Steering (NP) Steering damaged. May not change course until repaired. RA
62 Pilot House (NP) Captain wounded. No change of course or speed for 1 turn.
63 Armament (NP) Turret jarred. May not fire any guns in that turret until R
repaired. Reroll if no turret fitted.
64 Armament (NP) Gun shutter jammed. May not fire into that arc until repaired. If R
the shot affects a gun, which does not fire through gun ports, then
that gun may not fire until repaired.
65-66 Machinery (NP) Funnel hit. -1 speed and fill with smoke.
Notes: R - Repair damage or replace dead crew at end of any turn on a 5-6
A - Only takes effect if the shot is from the rear half of the target. Otherwise reroll.
A* - As 'A' above if target is a screw vessel or sternwheeler. Other ships are affected by shots from
any angle
S - Crew surrender or abandon ship on roll of 5 or 6.
NP - Shot is not required to penetrate any armour for this critical to take effect.
Ramming

A broadside ram must be within 45 of the perpendicular from the broadside of the target vessel else
the collision is a glancing blow.

A stern ram must be within 45 of the perpendicular from the stern of the target vessel else the
collision is a glancing blow.

If the ships are bow to bow then roll 1 DAV with the following modifiers:

If able to steer and turn is superior to other vessel +1 (Optional)

If stationary -2
If moving and at own option -1

The optional modifiers allow vessels of the same side a chance to achieve a glancing blow rather than
a ram. The ship with the highest score is the rammer. If the scores are equal then the collision is a
glancing blow.

In a glancing blow, neither ship is treated as rammer or target.

For bow to bow rams or glancing blows, a ship's speed for the purposes of calculating ram damage is
the sum of both ship's speeds. In a stern ram, the ship's speed for the purposes of calculating ram
damage is equal to the difference between the two ship's speed. For side rams, a ship's current speed is
used.

A ship is considered uncontrolled if it is abandoned, surrendered or has lost all of its hull points.

Both ships roll 1D6 and modify as follows:

Other ship has an armour rating of 3+ at impact point -1

Own ship has an original hull of 10 or less -1
Own ship has an original hull of 25 or more +1
Own ship has an original hull of 30 or more +2
Own ship's speed is 3 or less -1
Own ship's speed is 7 or more +1
Own ship's speed is 10 or more +2
Own ship's speed is 15 or more +3
Own ship's speed is 20 or more +4
Ramming ship and ram bow fitted +1
Ramming ship and no ram bow fitted -1
Target ship -2
Glancing blow -1
Ship is uncontrolled -1
Ramming ship or glancing blow and not stationary -1 (Optional)
The modified roll for each ship is used to determine the damage it scores on the target using the
following table :

Result Hull damage to Special hits

other ship
0 or less 1 0
1 1 1
2 2 1
3 4 1
4 6 2
5 8 2
6 10 2
7 12 3
8 16 3
9 20 3
10 24 4
11 26 4
12 or more 28 5

The ramming ship loses its ram bow if it scores less than the hull damage it receives on 1 D6.

If there is a paddle on the contacted side, then it is lost on a D6 roll less than the hull damage. Treat as
Critical hit 54-56 for effect.

For each special roll 1D6. On a 5-6 lose one gun, those nearest the impact point being lost first.

The ramming ship may also hole the target. Roll 1D6 for each special; a hole is caused for every
4,5 or 6 if a ram bow is fitted otherwise on a 6. See Critical hit 15-16 for effect.

A glancing blow causes loss of guns and paddles, but will not cause holes.

After a any form of collision, neither vessel may fire any guns for the rest of the move. After a ram,
both vessels are assumed to be halted, and must remain so for the next move. A glancing blow or a
stern ram causes each vessels current speed to be reduced by 2 knots for every special hit received.
The smallest vessel is deflected from its course by the minimum necessary to pass alongside the other
vessel.
Effects of Damage

When applying speed loss through damage, apply any deductions first followed by any reduction of
speed by a fraction. For example a ship with a speed of 6 receives damage which gives it a -1 speed
and reduces its speed by half. Its new speed is 2.5 ( (6-1)/2 ).

If a vessel's current speed is greater than its new speed it must decelerate at 2 knots/turn until it
reaches the new speed.

A ship, which has lost half of its hull, is reduced to 3/4 maximum speed (rounded down)

A ship, which has lost 3/4 of its hull, is reduced to half speed

Apply the above after applying any speed reductions caused by critical hits.

A ship, which has lost all of its hull, will begin to sink if it has any unrepaired holes. Roll a dice for
each hole at the end of each turn. On a score of 6 the ship sinks.

Otherwise a ship which has lost all of its hull will surrender, reducing its speed to zero and becoming
dead in the water.

A ship that is abandoned will drift to a halt. If it has any fires on board roll one dice for each fire at the
end of each turn with a 6 indicating that the ship explodes.

If the abandoned ship has any holes it may sink. Roll one dice at the end of each turn for each hole
with a 6 indicating that the ship sinks.

Running Aground

A ship which enters water with a depth less than its draft will run aground, its speed being reduced to
zero. At the end of each turn it may try to move if it is still able to requiring a 6 to break free. If it fails
four such attempts it is permanently stuck.

A ship that runs aground should roll for damage on the ramming table. The modifiers for speed are
applied as normal, other modifiers are :

Run aground on mud or sand -1

Run aground on rocks +1

Holes are caused as for rams, with mud or sand requiring a 6 and rocks a 4,5 or 6.
Torpedoes

Torpedoes should be marked on the table as areas of varying size, each with a varying density. Ideally
the density should be unknown to both players, but if this is not possible, only the player whose
torpedoes they are should know. For each density there is a chance that any ship moving through the
danger area will hit a torpedo. For each 1" a ship moves through an area, roll 2 D6 and total the score.
The ship will strike a torpedo on the following rolls:

Density Roll
None No chance
Low 2-3
Medium 2-4
High 2-5

If a ship hits a torpedo roll 1 D6

1 Dud - No effect
2 Torpedo explodes clear of hull - 1 point of Hull damage.
3-6 Torpedo scores full damage

The damage scored by a torpedo is determined by rolling 1 D6, adding 2 to the score and reading the
results from the ramming table. For each special hit a hole is caused on a roll of 3-6. In addition, if a
D6 roll is equal to or less than the number of special hits then the screw or one paddle of the vessel is
destroyed. For a screw vessel or a stern wheeler all motive power is lost and the vessel will drift to a
halt. For a side wheeler, randomly determine which paddle is affected, and treat the results as for
critical hits 53-55.

Spar Torpedoes

Ships may be fitted with a spar torpedo. The mechanism for operating the torpedo is treated as a gun
for game purposes, and will usually be unarmoured. A spar torpedo may be deployed or undeployed,
the decision being made when orders for the vessel are plotted. Ifundeployed, the vessel suffers no
penalty, but cannot attack with the torpedo. If deployed, the vessel's turn rate is reduced by one level;
thus if it is allowed a 60 degree turn normally it is reduced to 45 degrees when it deploys a torpedo.

A spar torpedo attack is resolved during the gunnery phase or at the instant of a ram; an exception to
the rule prohibiting firing by a ramming vessel. An attack can be made on any enemy ship within a 45
degree arc of the bow of the attacking ship and within 1/2" range.

Roll a D6 to determine how effective the torpedo is:

1 Dud - No effect
2 Resolve attack no dice roll modifier
3-5 Resolve attack with a modifier of +1
6 Resolve attack with a modifier of +2

Roll a second D6 applying the above modifiers to determine the damage caused. There is a modifier
of -1 if the target has an armour factor of 3 or more at the point of impact. Read the resulting damage
from the ramming table. Resolve special hits as if the target vessel was rammed by a ram bow. The
vessel using the spar torpedo also rolls to see what damage it receives using the same modifiers as
above but also applying a -3 to the roll. Special hits are resolved as if rammed by a ship with no ram
bow. Spar torpedoes cannot be reloaded during a game unless the ship was equipped to do so.