Kriegsmarine - Naval rules for WW2

Kriegsmarine is a naval wargame for the Second World War before the advent of radar fire direction. It is a game for players who do not want to do higher level math for gunnery, nor want damage to be so generic as” light” or “heavy.”  The game covers surface, air, and submarine combat, even merchant vessels. 

Gunnery is salvo-based (not individual rounds), with percentage chance to hit (including multiples) calculated on a ship’s actual weapons, rate of fire, accuracy at range, and conditions, for main guns and secondaries (depending on arcs of fire). Torpedo fire is abstracted, assuming that crews and TDCs rather than players deal with angles of fire, relative movement, etc. 

Damage is by points to systems: floatation, propulsion, steering, main guns, secondary guns. Each ship has points in each system and each hit damages them according to the firing guns’ armor piercing and damage values in relation to the target’s general armor value. Fire and flooding can also occur. Each kind of damage reduces a ship’s capabilities, such as gunnery effectiveness, speed, and staying afloat. 

Sailing is simplified but accurate to ships’ capabilities, using distances travels before turns instead of arcs. An easy system of pre-plotting moves prevents player reactions in a turn that can spoil good tactics. 

Ships’ logs (which one prints out  per ship) describe the vessel’s characteristics and allow for easily tracking damage with tallies. The separate ships’ log PDF file lists all major classes from destroyers to battleships, for Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and France. Expansions will soon be available for navies in the Pacific through 1942. The rules include most of the combat or reconnaissance aircraft used through 1942 in Europe.

Kriegsmarine can easily be played on a 6’x4’ space, with models of various sizes, 1:2400 or smaller being desirable. The sea scale is 1” = 1000 yards, with movement in the 2”-6’ span, and ranges out to 28” for the biggest guns. A battle with 25 or so vessels, plus aircraft,  per side can be resolved in about 4-6 hours.

Kriegsmarine has been meticulously researched by the author, a professional historian with decades of wargame experience, and extensively play-tested by veteran players and newcomers to naval warfare. The rules are clear, and contain examples of play. The game is extremely playable, but still a good simulation.

KREIGSMARINE REQUIRES THE SEPARATE SHIPS' LOGS FILE AVAILABLE ON WARGAMES VAULT FOR AN ADDITIONAL $10.