Variant rules for mark herman’s empire of the sun
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- 5.23 Japanese Search And Float Plane Doctrine (Optional Variant) (Add the following rule to Section 5.2)
- 7.37 Allied Airfield Construction (Optional Variant)
- 11.2 Submarine Warfare (Optional Variant)
| VARIANT RULES FOR
MARK HERMAN’S EMPIRE OF THE SUN By Don Chappell These variant rules add some chrome plating to an already excellent game. They touch on three elements of the war in the Pacific that interest me, but the main effort is on simulating some aspects of the submarine war in more detail. In no way should one assume that these variants “fix” anything. They make the simple more complicated. All three variants, but especially the submarine rules, are prime examples of Jim Dunnigan’s and Mark Herman’s design philosophy that maintains that it’s much more important to know what to leave out of a design than what to put in. EOTS wisely left this kind of detail out. I sincerely appreciate the fact that Mark Herman is willing to let people play with his creation in this fashion. I am honored that he has included some comments in these rules, and I thank him for the suggestions that he offered… both the ones I accepted and the ones that I rejected. That said, there will be some who, like me, welcome the additional texture and complication and are willing to give up playability to taste such every once in a while. To that audience – enjoy. 5.23 Japanese Search And Float Plane Doctrine (Optional Variant) (Add the following rule to Section 5.2) At the start of every scenario except the 1944 scenario, the Japanese player receives the AV Chitose counter in Truk (4017). Either use the variant counter supplied by GMT in Issue #19 of C3i Magazine or create your own. If creating your own, draw a facsimile of a ship and give it a combat strength of zero and a defense strength of three. This is a single sided counter with the yellow dot that indicates that it cannot be replaced. Depicting the defense strength in red will help remind the players of specific rules to be applied to this unit. The AV Chitose is a Japanese naval unit and although it historically handled aircraft, it is NOT considered an aircraft carrier within the scope of the EOTS rules. However, it does have two other characteristics that are not typical of other naval units: it performs Air Reconnaissance as if it were an aircraft unit and under special circumstances it does not have to end the turn in a port hex. (Designer’s Note: For those who are wondering where the Japanese CVS units (includes the CVS Chitose) are in the published game, they are part of the CVL Ryuho that begins the game in Palau (hex 3416). When playing with this variant, the Chitose counter actually de-abstracts a capability that was provided by over 14 merchant vessels converted to wartime use as seaplane and float plane tenders but is already included in the general intelligence values.) A. If it in supply, the AV Chitose has a two space ZoI for the purposes of modifying the intelligence roll (5.22) and enabling a Special Reaction Move (6.27). This capability exists whether the AV Chitose is in port or “on patrol” as described below. This special ZoI cannot be neutralized by Allied air or carrier units. The AV Chitose ZoI has no effect of any kind on Allied ZoI nor on the tracing of supply or activation by either player. B. If activated as an Offensive naval unit and starting in port, the AV Chitose may be placed “on patrol” by being moved, within the movement limits of all naval units for that activation, to any coastal or atoll hex that is not an enemy controlled port, air base, city or resource space and that is not occupied by enemy units. Both the land and the ocean portions of the hex must be playable. At the completion of the offensive, the AV Chitose may remain in the hex, “on patrol” instead of conducting Post Battle Movement (PBM). This is an explicit exception to the general rule that naval units must end their movement in a port. The AV Chitose may move into a battle hex along with other Japanese forces even though it contributes no combat strength in order to be left behind if the battle hex is subsequently empty of enemy units, and is otherwise a legal patrol hex, at the completion of the PBM phase. If the AV Chitose is in a battle hex, the Reaction Player may apply hits to it as if it were in battle, subject to the usual restrictions applied to single sided counters. C. Once on patrol, at the Japanese player’s option, during any subsequent PBM (either as the Offensive or Reaction player) the AV Chitose may conduct PBM using the current movement allowance. The AV Chitose does not have to be activated, nor in supply, to conduct this PBM (It met these conditions when it went on patrol, and it loses its special capability if it becomes out of supply) . If at the end of the Offensives Phase of the Game Turn, the AV Chitose is still on patrol, use the OC Value of the last card played to conduct a PBM movement. If the AV Chitose cannot reach a friendly port with the available movement allowance, the counter is automatically lost. (Note: The Japanese player should exercise caution to ensure that the AV Chitose counter isn’t trapped by a low OC card played by the Allies as the last card of the game turn.) D. The AV Chitose is otherwise treated as any other naval unit. It may be activated and participate in Offensive and Reaction movement. It may escort ground units using amphibious movement. It may make an Emergency Naval Move if other naval units are, or would be, eligible to do so. While on patrol it is considered an activated unit and is thus an eligible target for a submarine attack event. Except for its capability to provide air reconnaissance support and to remain on patrol after PBM, it is treated as a naval unit in all other respects. Commentary: Adding the Chitose to the counter mix gives the Japanese player extra capabilities that in certain specific situations can prove important. One general concept of operations is to activate the Chitose along with an amphibiously moving unit. After the target hex is seized, then the Chitose will remain on patrol to provide the air reconnaissance DRM during any subsequent attempt to change the Intelligence condition. Historically Chitose accompanied the Midway invasion force for exactly this purpose. Later, Chitose supported the Japanese occupation of Attu, Kiska and Amchitka. In EOTS, the DRM to the Reaction die roll, as well as the presence of even a minor naval force, would give these Japanese garrisons a bit more of a fighting chance. It is not enough to turn back a determined attack, but it is enough to be sure that a deliberate effort be mounted. Some may question giving full naval unit capabilities to a fleet auxiliary, but the Japanese seaplane tenders not only supported their own complement of float planes, but the long range seaplanes such as the Mavis as well. They were normally escorted by patrol boats, submarines and the occasional destroyer section. Taken as a whole this seems to represent at least as much combat power as the APD Kamikaze. It is certainly enough to justify not writing a lot of exceptions to limit the unit’s capability. For the real grognards out there, I realize that most sources call Chitose a CVS as opposed to an AV. This counter represents all the capability of the IJN and thus similar vessels of about six to eight classes as well as shore base facilities like the one established at Tulagi that ignited the campaign at Guadalcanal. I chose AV to represent the capability because CVS is typically interpreted as an Anti-Submarine Warfare Carrier. I chose the name Chitose because that vessel in particular is ubiquitous throughout the major campaigns in the Pacific. 7.37 Allied Airfield Construction (Optional Variant) (Add the following rule to Section 7.3) The Allied player may construct up to two additional airfields during the course of play. Either use the variant counters supplied by GMT in Issue #19 of C3i Magazine or create your own. If creating your own, draw a facsimile of the regular airfield icon on both sides of blank counter. On one side place the number 1 (hereafter referred to as an Airfield-1 counter) and on the other side place a 2 (an Airfield-2 counter). A. To construct an airfield, the Allied player uses two activations to place an Airfield-1 counter into an eligible hex. During any subsequent offensive, the Allied player may use one activation to upgrade an Airfield-1 to an Airfield-2 as long as the hex remains an eligible hex. To be airfield eligible, a hex must have all of the following characteristics:
Definition of “Allied Controlled” for this rule only. To prevent extensive bookkeeping EOTS normally applies the definition of hex control only to ports, airfields and resource spaces (See 12.1). However this variant anticipates turning an otherwise unimportant hex into an important one, so regrettably the concept of hex control must be reintroduced. Rather than reinstituting the onerous bookkeeping task of tracking of which side controls each hex on the board, apply the following general guidance which is definitive and is intended to be conservative rather than uniformly accurate. (If this guidance is insufficient for the two players to mutual agree on hex control, then they should NOT be using this variant.)
B. The normal stacking limit of 3 air or ground units to a hex continues to apply to a hex with an airfield counter but with an additional constraint. An Airfield-1 counter may only host one air unit. An Airfield-2 counter may only host two air units. Per 7.43 two air units with the same designation count as one unit for stacking purposes. An airfield counter may not host a B-29 unit. Any air unit may use an airfield counter as a transit point during both regular and strategic movement. As with regular airbases, any number of activated air units can temporarily occupy an airfield counter during an Offensive. C. Once placed on the map, Airfield counters become part of the map. They are never removed (except to upgrade from Airfield-1 to Airfield-2). They may be captured and used by the Japanese player and recaptured by the Allied player. They may not be destroyed or removed. They become “named locations” for 16.47 Progress of War. D. An Airfield-1 counter cannot be used as either a base or a transit point until AFTER the PBM phase of the offensive during which it was placed. An Airfield-2 counter can be used to host two air units at the start of the PBM phase of the offensive during which it was upgraded from Airfield-1 status. Exception: As a reflection of their expeditionary nature and doctrine, a Marine Air Unit may use an Airfield-1 counter at the start of the PBM phase of the offensive during which it was placed. (Designer’s Note: Ndeni (hex 4723) may not have an airfield built upon it. An airfield was begun there, but due to a very deadly mosquito borne tropical disease (in the meningitis family) human habitation of the island was impossible and construction was abandoned.) Commentary: The phenomenal accomplishments of U.S. Army engineers and U.S. Navy Construction Battalions (aka SeaBees) in the rapid construction of airfields in the most remote and inaccessible portions of the world deserves specific recognition in EOTS. Their efforts were well matched by Commonwealth forces, especially in the CBI theater. Building the runways and revetments gets all the attention, but there is much more to be done to turn a flat piece of ground into a base supporting aerial warfare. Fuel handling is particularly challenging as provisions must be made for storage and distribution to the refueling point and also for unloading tankers. This often required dredging channels or laying pipelines. Similarly the massive amounts of ordnance must be safely unloaded from transports and stored. Finally and most importantly, as every dogface infantryman and grunt Leatherneck knows, the Officers’ Club must be built and fully stocked! Engineers were able to meet very aggressive schedules in this construction, so that means the span of one card play seems about right. However, the logistical effort to support such an undertaking was not insignificant, therefore airfield construction requires the Allied player to use two activations from his current offensive. Being able to construct an airfield and thus morph the map potentially gives the Allies some tremendous advantages. As players experiment with this rule it may very well turn out to be too powerful. In which case I recommend either limiting airfields to Airfield-1 status, or limiting the construction to only one airfield counter per game, or both. 11.2 Submarine Warfare (Optional Variant) (Replace 11.2 in the EOTS rules in its entirety with these rules.) During the Strategic Warfare Segment (4.13), the Allied player conducts unrestricted submarine warfare. The Japanese Player may lose up to two strategy cards from his hand due to Submarine Warfare. The effectiveness of Allied Submarine Warfare depends upon two factors, the proximity of Allied Advanced Submarine Bases (hereafter referred to as Sub Bases) to Japanese sea lines of communications (SLOC PV) and the Submarine Warfare Modifier (SWM). 11.21.A Allied Advanced Submarine Bases. The Allied player either starts the scenario with or receives Sub Bases along with his routine reinforcements. Like HQ units, Sub Bases are never delayed as reinforcements. Use the Sub Base counters supplied by GMT in Issue #19 of C3i Magazine or create your own. A Sub Base counter has five items of information on it as depicted below. The C3i Magazine counters are printed front and back in order to reduce the number of counters to be printed. For game purposes, however, a Sub Base is considered a single sided counter. 
Turn of Arrival: Indicates the turn when the Sub Base may be first deployed or when new Sub Base replaces a Sub Base already in play. During Turns 1-5 only one Sub Base is in play; from Turn 6 on there are two Sub Bases in play. (11.21.B) Counter ID: Used to distinguish one Sub Base from the other, the names are those of the historic commanders of significant U.S. submarine forces. Attack Factor: The Sub Base does not contribute an Attack Factor in Air Naval combat. The asterisk indicates the Sub Base is used only during the Submarine Warfare Segment (4.13) and during play of certain Event Cards (11.24) Defense Factor: The Sub Base may be attacked during Air-Naval Combat. The Defense Factor is circled to indicate that damage need not be assigned to this counter (11.21.D). SLOC Proximity Range: Used to determine the Sea Lines of Communications Proximity Value (SLOC PV) during resolution of Submarine Warfare (11.22). Range is calculated as a pure geometrical count without regard to map terrain, enemy units or ZoI. Example: Landlocked resource hex Harbin (3302) is within a range of 15 from a Sub Base placed at Davao (2915) and would be counted when determining the SLOC PV (11.22.C). Note: This simplification helps capture the density of traffic in the Sea of Japan and the importance of Japanese fishing in the Sea of Okhotsk. Similarly being able to trace the SLOC Proximity range across significant land masses (e.g. to Rangoon from across Indo-China) helps capture the nature of the key SLOC choke points such as the Straits of Malacca without having to explicitly model them. Use the values in the following table when creating your own Sub Base counters.
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