Task Forces

ALL military ships at sea travel as a Task Force. A Task Force counter can therefore represent a single ship or any number of ships working together irrespective of type.

There are two 'Task Force' counters. One is for use on the strategic map and one is for use in the private 'At Sea' window.

The counter on the right, with limited information, only displays the task force number. This is the counter that will be placed on the strategic map.

The counter on the left contains more information about the task force and this is the counter that is placed in the 'At Sea' private window.

The information displayed is as follows (from left-to-right):

1. ID number: this is the same as the corresponding counter that is placed on the strategic map.
2. Fuel Usage: this represents the daily fuel consumption of all ships in the Task Force. This number is changed as and when ships leave or join the Task Force (see TF Fuel Tracking)
3. Endurance: this is the current endurance rating of the Task Force. A Task Force cannot stay at sea forever. The Endurance rating is an indication of how many more days the TF can remain at sea before it needs to return to a Port for replenishment (see Task Force Endurance).

Task Force Fuel Tracking

Right-click on the counter. From the options list click on 'Show Data' to see the Task Force data-table;

The top-row of the data-table contains an entry for each type of ship that may be in a task force.

The second row indicates the number of fuel units consumed by each of the ship types; for instance, a single Battleship (BB) burns 5-units of fuel per day whereas a Destroyer (DD)only uses 2-units per day.

When the TF is created, you should enter in the third-row the total number of each type of ship that is in the Task Force;

E.g. This Task Force contains 2 Battleships (BB), 1 Carrier (CV),
2 Heavy Cruisers (CA), 4 Light Cruisers (CL) and 6 Destroyers (DD).

Finally, multiply the number of ships by the amount of fuel burned by each ship type and enter that number in row 4 of the data-sheet;

Finish off by adding up all the sub-totals and entering the final figure into the first cell of row 6 on the data-sheet.

In our example the total fuel units burned by this TF is 47-units per day.

Make a note of the total fuel units burned per day.

Right-click once more on the TF counter (the data-sheet will close and the options menu will open). This time from the options select 'Change Fuel'. In the dialogue box that opens enter the Total number of fuel units burned by the TF per day. Click on 'OK' to confirm.

The counter will now display at a glance how many fuel units this Task Force is burning per day.

Example Counter: this is Task Force #1, it burns 47-units of fuel
per day and it has sufficient endurance for 30-days.

If ships either join or leave this Task Force, simply open up the data-sheet again, change the entries as appropriate and then change the counter total to reflect the new number of fuel points burned per day.

Task Force Endurance

The Task Force Endurance number indicates how many days (game-turns) the Task Force can remain at sea before it needs to return to port for replenishment

The endurance number of ALL task Force counters is reduced by one on every game-turn. This is done simply by clicking a button named 'Endurance' on the VASSAL tool-bar.

Reducing Endurance is part of the standard game-turn and requires you to do nothing more than click the 'Endurance' button.

Every click of the 'Endurance' button will reduce the endurance rating of all Task Forces of both sides by 1. This is reflected on the Task Force counters by a reduction of 1 in their endurance.

Task Forces should aim to be back in a friendly Port before their endurance reaches zero. There are penalties for remaining at sea with a negative endurance number;

1. Endurance 0 to -5:
   1. Task Force movement reduced by 25%
2. Endurance -6 to -10:
   1. Task Force movement reduced by 50%
   2. All ships in the Task Force take 5% damage per day (for a maximum loss of 25% of damage points)
   3. If engaged, ship weapons can only fire every alternate turn
3. Endurance -11 to -15:
   1. Task Force movement reduced by 75%
   2. All ships in the Task Force take 10% damage per day (for a maximum further loss of 50% of damage points)
   3. If engaged, ship weapons can only fire every third-turn
   4. Task Force MUST put in to the nearest Home Port or Neutral Port
4. Endurance greater then -15:
   1. Task Force movement reduced by 80%
   2. All ships in the Task Force take 20% damage per day. Ships reduced to zero damage points sink!
   3. If engaged, ship weapons cannot fire
   4. Task Force MUST put in to the nearest Home Port or Neutral Port

Example: a ship that has an original points value of 40,000 and a speed of 20-knots

1. Day 31 to 35: speed reduced to 15-knots
2. Day 36 to 40: speed reduced to 10-knots. Suffers 2,000-pts damage per day, for a total of 10,000-pts. Points value reduced to 30,000.
3. Day 41 to 45: speed reduced to 5-knots. Suffers 4,000-pts damage per day, for a total of 20,000-pts. Points value reduced to 10,000.
4. Day 46: speed reduced to 4-knots. Suffers 4,000-pts damage. Points value reduced to 6,000.
5. Day 46: speed reduced to 4-knots. Suffers 4,000-pts damage. Points value reduced to 2,000.
6. Day 47: speed reduced to 4-knots. Suffers 4,000-pts damage. Points value reduced to -2,000. SHIP SINKS.

Copyright ©. All Rights Reserved. Mike Ruffle. 2011

No part of this site may be reproduced in whole or in part without the express permission of myself as the owner.

This website was launched on 8th May 2011. It is a work in progress and I shall be adding more pages as they become available.

If you would like to use material from this site for inclusion in your own site or for educational purposes, then please contact me: mike(@)eleven-bravo.co.uk.