Mini-Game (Postcard Game) "Pursuit of the Graf Spee"

This is English rules of "Pursuit of the Graf Spee", a free postcard game presented by Command Magazine Japan Edition (CMJ) in 2008. Original webpage is here.

[1.0] INTRODUCTION

This game reproduces the battle of the German Navy's "Admiral Graf Spee" developed from 30 September 1939. One takes charge of the German Navy (the Graf Spee's captain), another one takes charge of the Royal Navy. The German Navy's purpose is escaping after commerce raiding. The Royal Navy's purpose is prevention of it.

[2.0] SETTING UP THE GAME

This game uses 10 playing pieces in total. Please clip them out, or please use playing pieces included in CMJ #83.

(1) Voyage Log: The German Navy player's movement is executed secretly. Paper (for logging this) is necessary. Please prepare a memo paper. In addition, you may download log sheet from the following.
Log sheet download (192KB)

(2) Dice: Please prepare 6-sided dice.

(3) Setting up the Graf Spee: The Graf Spee had already sailed for the Atlantic Ocean before the battle. The Graf Spee starts from the hex among A1-A5 or B1-B5. Please record the position at the beginning of the game in the log.

(4) Setting up supplying ships: The German Navy player decides 3 hexes where supplying ships wait, records them in the log. The supplying ships may not move.

(5) Setting up the Royal Navy: The Royal Navy has 9 playing pieces in total (including 2 dummies). The player flips them to their back side and divides them between off-map Atlantic Ocean and off-map Indian Ocean at the beginning of the game. The player may divide them freely.

To a person who does not have the game (postcard):
Please download the game from the following, print it, and use it. In addition, there is a module for the people using VASSAL.
Game download (3.2MB)
Module download (2.1MB)

[3.0] SEQUENCE OF PLAY

The game progresses by repeating a procedure called "Turn". This game does not have a Turn limitation, repeats a Turn until either achieves a victory condition.

Each Turn is executed by the following procedures:
1. Recording the Graf Spee's movement
2. The Royal Navy's movement
3. Combat / Commerce Raiding

[4.0] THE GRAF SPEE'S MOVEMENT

(1) The Graf Spee may move 2 hexes per Turn, may not move to the outside of the hex (the continent).

(2) The Graf Spee's movement is always executed on the log. Please fill in the hex number after the end of the movement. The Graf Spee may enter or pass a hex containing the Royal Navy.

(3) Refueling: The Graf Spee starting movement in a hex containing a supplying ship may move 3 hexes (2 hexes if damaged). Refueling is optional, but each supplying ship is usable only once.

[5.0] THE ROYAL NAVY'S MOVEMENT

(1) The Royal Navy's playing pieces move on the map. The Royal Navy Player flips them to their back side and puts them on the map so that their identity is unknown to the German Navy player. There is not the upper limit of playing pieces put in 1 hex.

(2) The Royal Navy player may move 3 playing pieces each Turn, may not move the same playing piece twice per 1 Turn. When the player moves a playing piece from the outside of the map, the player chooses the playing piece at random, confirms the contents and puts it on the map.

(3) If the Royal Navy player wants to move more than 3 playing pieces per 1 Turn, the player gives the German Navy 1 point and rolls 1d6. The player may add the die roll to the number of playing pieces which may move (3 pieces).

(4) The Royal Navy's playing pieces may move 2 hexes per 1 Turn, but the Battleship (BB) may move only 1 hex.

(5) Search: After the Royal Navy's movement, If there is a Royal Navy's playing piece in the same hex as the Graf Spee, the German Navy player clarifies it and puts the Graf Spee playing piece on the hex. The Royal Navy player also clarifies the playing piece's identity and takes combat (see 6.0). If the Royal Navy's playing piece is a dummy, the combat is not taken, the dummy is removed (not used in the game after that).

(6) Search by the Aircraft Carrier: If the Graf Spee is not discovered as a result of (5), the Royal Navy player may search by the Aircraft Carrier (CV). To search by the CV, the Royal Navy player flips the CV playing piece to its front side and searches 1 hex adjacent to the CV. If the Graf Spee is in the hex, the Royal Navy player may take aviation attack (see 6.0).

[6.0] COMBAT

(1) If it comes to light that there are both forces in the same hex as a result of the search, the combat occurs.

(2) Both players roll a die for the number of times of the Combat Strength. When the Graf Spee attacks a ship except the BB, the die roll of "5" or "6" gives 1 hit. When the Graf Spee attacks the BB, the die roll of "6" gives 1 hit. When the Royal Navy attacks the Graf Spee, the die roll "6" gives 1 hit. In case of aviation attack, the Royal Navy player may roll a die 3 times. A playing piece which was hit once is "damaged". A playing piece which was hit twice is "sunk". If there are multiple playing pieces of the Royal Navy, the German Navy may aim at only one of them. If there is a playing piece which is not the CV, the German Navy must aim at it.

(3) CV: The CV may attack the Graf Spee only if the CV discovered the Graf Spee by the CV's search. If the CV was in the same hex as the Graf Spee, the CV is attacked one-sidedly by the Graf Spee.

(4) The Graf Spee's Damage: If the Graf Spee is sunk, the game is finished and judges victory or defeat at that point (see 8.0). If the Graf Spee is damaged, the Graf Spee may move only 1 hex per Turn. If damaged Graf Spee is hit once again, the Graf Spee sinks.

(5) The Royal Navy's Damage: A sunk playing piece is removed. A damaged playing piece is put on the Atlantic Ocean.

(6) Pursuit: If the Cruiser (CA) takes combat and is not damaged, the CA may pursue the Graf Spee. On the next Turn, the Graf Spee moves earlier and clarifies the hex where the Graf Spee moved to. The Royal Navy may move after that.

[7.0] COMMERCE RAIDING

If the Graf Spee is not discovered by the Royal Navy's search, the Graf Spee may take commerce raiding, but the Graf Spee may not take commerce raiding on the hex that its final figure is "1". When the Graf Spee takes commerce raiding, the German Navy player clarifies the location of the Graf Spee.

If an icon of the troopship is printed on the hex, the German Navy player gets 2 points from the hex. In the hex except them, the player rolls 1d6. If the die rolls 1-3, the player gets 0 points (loses the target). If the die rolls 4-6, the player gets 2 points. The German Navy player may get 2 points from the hex which an icon of the troopship is printed only once during the game. The German Navy player rolls 1d6 and judges after that.

[8.0] JUDGEMENT OF VICTORY

(1) The game continues until the Graf Spee sinks or escapes from A1-A3 to the Atlantic Ocean or escapes from B6 to the Indian Ocean. If the German Navy scores 15 points or more at that point, the German Navy wins. Otherwise, the Royal Navy wins. If the German Navy scores 21 points or more, the game is finished at that point and the German Navy wins.

(2) The German Navy's Score: In addition to the score by the commerce raiding (see 7.0), whenever the German Navy damages a Royal Navy's playing piece, the German Navy scores 1 point. Whenever the German Navy sinks a Royal Navy's playing piece, the German Navy scores the same points as the Combat Strength (but the CV is 6 points).

(3) The Points Given up of the German Navy: If the Graf Spee sinks, the German Navy player rolls 1d6 and loses the same point(s) as the die roll. The German Navy player may declare "scuttling" anytime. In that case, the player loses the same point(s) as the half of the die roll (rounding up), but the Graf Spee may be scuttled only on the hex E1.

[9.0] LIST OF PLAYING PIECES

Admiral Graf Spee (Combat Strength of 3) *1
BB (Combat Strength of 9) *1
CV (Combat Strength of 3) *2 (Combat Strength at the time of the aviation attack)
CA (Combat Strength of 2) *4
Dummy *2

[10.0] CLARIFICATION

Q: At the time of setting up, does the Royal Navy player divide playing pieces between the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean randomly without watching their identity?
A: Yes.
(18 Nov. 2008)

Q: Can the Royal Navy's CV search all 6 adjacent hexes?
A: No. The CV can search only 1 hex of them.
(18 Nov. 2008)

Q: If a Royal Navy's playing piece is damaged and put in the Atlantic Ocean, does it consider that the same type of different ship is committed and the ship become undamaged?
A: Yes.
(18 Nov. 2008)

Q: Even if the Graf Spee is not discovered, does the Graf Spee need to take commerce raiding?
A: No. In that case, the player need not clarify the position of the Graf Spee.
(18 Nov. 2008)

Q: If the CV searched or a Royal Navy's playing piece took combat, does it remain face up after that?
A: No. They are flipped to their back side again at the end of the Turn.
(4 Nov. 2008)

Q: If a Royal Navy's CA succeeds in pursuit once, is the pursuit continued automatically after that?
A: No. The possibility of the pursuit is decided according to whether the requirement of the pursuit was met in the previous Turn.
(4 Nov. 2008)




Last-modified: Sun 01-Jul-2018 04:02:20 PM +0900 JST