STICKY: Adjusting the Scale for Pre-Dreads

[TheDreadnought]

Naval Thunder was originally scaled to handle WWI fleet actions.

WWII could use the same scale because although the ranges are longer, there were fewer ships on the table so it didn't become a giant cluster.

Rise of the Battleship was released as a nod to the pre-dread fans out there but was not originally intended when the first game was written. Scale was kept consistent for compatibility with the other games.

However, if you're not playing with 1/6000 scale ships, the close engagement ranges can result in the miniatures getting extremely close together on the tabletop. This is fine if you're constrained for space, but if you want to spread the minis out a little, try this alternate approach.

Double all movement points for ships.

Ships must move at least 2" between turns instead of just 1"

To determine range to the target, measure range then divide by 2, before comparing to the ship data card. Thus, if you measure range at 26" to the target, you divide by 2 and arrive at 13", and then see where that falls on your ship's gun range bands.

These changes to pre-dread battles will make the ships move more dynamically on the tabletop, and expand effective engagement range from 20" to 40". Give them a try and see if you like them.

This approach will be included as a suggestion in Rise of the Battleship II, and I have mentioned it elsewhere, but I thought I'd sticky it here in the meantime.

[afilter]

So basically the scale become 1" = 250yrds, but the data is based on 1"=500yrds. I like it when we have a larger playing surface.

1/2400 models have not been a huge issue yet, but I did see the issue when playing with the 1/1000 Houston Models.

Thanks

[Bluebear]

Instead of halving the distance measurement, we could simply double the range bands . . . for example, torpedo ranges would then be 2",4" and 6".

I have a big table . . . and had already planned on increasing Pre-Dread movement rate by about a third . . . but your suggested changes would be simpler. Thanks, sir.


-- Jeff

[Bluebear]

The one caveat being that when including Pre-Dreads in WWI scenarios, they would revert to published speeds and ranges.

That works for me.


-- Jeff

[TheDreadnought]

Nov 15, 2010 17:33:07 GMT -5 Bluebear said:

Instead of halving the distance measurement, we could simply double the range bands . . . for example, torpedo ranges would then be 2",4" and 6".

I have a big table . . . and had already planned on increasing Pre-Dread movement rate by about a third . . . but your suggested changes would be simpler. Thanks, sir.


-- Jeff

Yeah, just thought it would be easier to always divide the tape measurement by 2, than to try and always be doubling the numbers on the cards. . . but either way.

[warchariot]

You could keep the speed the same and just know that 1 speed = 2 inches. That way you don't have to "mess up" the nice SSDs you made. Still doubling for 1/6000 sounds like a great idea.

[cartier76]

In the Excel ship card files it would be easy to create a version for 1/6000 fromthe originals that does this scale adjustment without modifying the original ship data tables--just multiply or divide the existing equation by 2 in the appropriate fields.

[ckosacranoid]

so any idea of what to do when playing with the 1/1000 scale ships? since i dropped the money for that scale since they looked so cool.

[TheDreadnought]

Just use this suggestion and you'll be fine.

[michaelk1776]

For Russo Japanese War, I modified the Excel spreadsheet for the increased scale ranges. I also added hit boxes and a few other items.

Attachments:

[admiralskipashita]

Hi guys, I"m new to the board and to the game. I sent an email to Harry Pratt about my conversion of the game to hexes for 1/1250 scale and he asked me to post it on the board. I hope I'm posting it in the right place.

I'm converting the game to a hex system and, as stated, playing the game in 1250 scale. My interest is pre-dreadnaught and specifically Russo-Japanese War. The average 1/1250 scale capital ship is about 4" long so we're using an "ocean" marked in 4" hexes. (I ordered the hex marked ocean mats from Hotz Mats in Canada.) According to my precise calculations and using Harry's guidelines for a more scale specific range and movement system we've lengthened the ranges. He suggested doubling the range for 2400 scale ships and since I'm using 1/1250 scale models I doubled it again. The basic movement and range factor equals 4". Yep, it takes a lot of table top real estate (or floor) but it gives a good game without the need for measuring movement and ranges with a ruler or tape.

By doing it this way the game can be played "as written" more or less.

Movement factors are read in hexes, not inches. So, a cruiser with a "5" movement factor can move five hexes.

Ranges are read in hexes, not inches, so the long range of an 8" gun is 18 hexes for example. Torpedo Long Range is 3 hexes.

When firing beyond "20" you are firing beyond 20 hexes and you add +1 for each additional hex.

When turning you must move one hex straight forward on your current course before turning one hex face to port or starboard. Then you must make another straight move before turning another hex face port or starboard.

We've eliminated the "agile battleship" rule.

With the exception of DD's and TB's it's one ship to the hex. DD's and TB's are ONE FLOTILLA to the hex. Since our Flotillas tend to be only 3-4 ships it's not too much trouble to move them individually.

Command distance is four hexes.

Gun ranges are pretty obvious and the visual aspect of the game is slightly lessened by the hexes, but game tables tend to collect all kinds of detritus anyway (ship cards, reference sheets, dice, etc) so it doesn't take away from the game that much and it speeds up and simplifies play immensely when you don't have measure the movement or the range (and occasionally whack your models with a tape measure or ruler).

When I started Naval gaming back in the early 70's we used 1/1250 and it's hard for me to move to the smaller ships. WE used to play our games in true scale on a ballroom floor at the local university. I tried teh 2400 scale ships, I just prefer the larger models.

I'm using Navis, Mercator, Copy and Hai 1/1250 models from MSM Ships. Very nice, but very expensive. Oh well, at least they are pre-painted! If you want to see some beautiful 1/1250 scale models drop by Morning Side Models on the web and see what's on offer in the larger scale. Nice looking models.

I'm sure I'm not the first one to make this conversion and your comments would be welcome.

If you like, I'll send a few pictures of our next game.

Take care, I look forward to hearing from you.