Fastgun Campaign Option

Many moons ago, Jeff Lipp and I started a discussion about how to give the campaign battles in Fastgun, and maybe even a day during our monthly battles, just a little more activity. Basically, more stick time!

What I mean by more activity, is that on a normal monthly battle, the captains may get in 3 battles a day. That makes it 6 sorties. What’s the average sortie time for a smaller group of captains? Maybe 30 minutes? Heck, I have seen sorties at NATS end in 30 minutes as well, and that’s with so many captains we had two fleets running. So in a given day you have 6 sorties, totaling an average of 3 hours of stick time in combat. If you hit the pond at say 8am in the morning, and leave the pond say around 6pm, that’s a total pond time of 10 hours. That is 7 hours of talking, telling jokes, maybe eating, and for some – patching holes, and only 3 hours of stick time on the water. Believe me, I love the conversations, and friendship time as well as the next captain does…. It is part of the hobby, but my main reason for being at the pond is shooting BB’s. I can talk with my old friends over a beer at the hotel that night…. The goal of our idea is to increase the actual ship on water time, while at the same time, allowing the usual bantering at the tents.

This can be done by changing up the battle system on a certain day or by changing the campaign. This is not meant to replace the current system we have now. What we have works great, but for smaller groups, on weekends, this may be a way to increase the time on water and still have some great battles. It may even be a great way to run the campaign at NATS or have a try at it on the last day to test it out with the masses.

Here is the proposal/idea for changing up the campaign.

I. OVERALL CONCEPT
The overall concept is to have a “running” battle that last all day. The battle may be halted for a lunch break, but the main idea is to have the combat last all day long.

How many captains, both young rookies, and seasoned vets, have we seen miss a sortie because of an issue with the ship? Be it a gun, air, motor, you name it. We have all been there. With this style of combat we can help eliminate that issue to some extent.

Captains will be allowed to place ships on the water, and take them off whenever they need to, provided they use the correct procedures listed later. There is no more beginning of a sortie, and then calling a cease fire when everybody is out of ammo…. If a captain needs to take a break, they can do so. If they have an issue with their boat, they have the opportunity to remove the boat from the water, fix the issue, and return, without the rush and worry over missing the sortie. If they run out of ammo, they can re-arm and return to the battle…… the fighting last all day, not just in short burst during the day.

The campaign will be scored by sinks(100 points), convoy ship runs(50 Points), Carrier “Task Force” Presence(100 points per Carrier), and total sea dominance(250 Points). Hits are nice, but let’s face it, a sink is what we all look for, so why not remove the hit counting and score the sinks only. This way, when a ship leaves the water they may rearm, change batteries, and make repairs as needed, and then return to the water to fight, without everybody having to wait on the tables, wasting time counting holes…. Remember, this battle last all day, there is no need to take mass breaks, count holes, and then restart the battle. Simply count the sinks. There are other scoring methods to be discussed as well, but to count holes may not be necessary.


II. SAFETY
Section I. of the MWCI Rule set will be used with a couple of additions to cover the ports.
Addition:
When a ship’s captain is in the water at their port recovering a ship, other ships in the area, may not fire into the direction of the port entrance. To help with this, any captain entering the water at their port, must announce that they are doing so before entering the water. This will alert the other ships and give them time to stop firing into the port entrance direction. Other ships may continue to fire, as long as that fire in not in the direction of the port entrance.
III. SETUP
Ports
Two ports will be located on the pond. The locations should be as far apart as possible. Each port will have a L-Shape screen that has the open end of the “L“ face away from the main area of the pond where combat will be taking place. The area behind the screen should be large enough to allow more than one large ship to launch at a time if possible. The screen should be high enough to prevent bb skips from entering into the port area. The reason for the screen is to minimize the chance of bb's hitting a captain as he is moving a ship on/off the water.
Convoy Route Markers
Two or more convoy route markers made from anchored floats will be placed on the pond. These makers should mark out a large route for convoy ships. If more than two markers are used, be sure to use different colors to identify the proper route the convoy ships must take.
IV. BATTLE PROCEDURE
Standard Battle
The campaign begins on a set time, and ends on a set time. When time begins, captains may begin to launch their ships, and battle. At any time convoy runs may be attempted and/or completed.
When a captain needs to remove their ship from the water, they must use their team’s port. Before a ship can enter the port (except for those on convoy), the captain must use the 2/5 min rules as used in normal play. Once the 2/5 minutes have expired, the captain may enter their port, pin guns, and remove ship from the pond to make changes, repairs, re-arm ect…All damage may be repaired.
Ships not sunk, must use their port to exit the water. Ships returning to the water must enter using their port.
Ships that do not use their port to exit the water are considered sunk for scoring purposes. Ships that are sunk may be removed from the water (Standard safety rules apply) and the ship may be re-armed, repaired, and all damage repaired. Then they may return to the battle at any time.
Convoys
Convoys are unarmed ships such as freighters, transports, or carriers. Ships with main armaments may not be used as convoy ships.
To score a convoy run, the convoy ship must complete the designated route marked out, and return to their port without sinking or running aground. No 2/5 min rule is needed for a convoy ship to “complete” their run. If a convoy ship launches, and returns to their port before completing the marked run, they are considered sunk for scoring purposes.
Carrier Presence with "Task Force" Battles
Carriers during WWII became the dominating force. This will be used in the campaign as well. When a group of carriers (Three or more) is launched, it will be announced to the rest of the captains that they are on “Sea Duty”, and referred to as a “Task Force”. The CD will start a 20 minute timer. At each 20 minute increment that the carrier task force remains on the water, the CD will award the “Task Force” team with a set number of points determined by the amount of ships remaining in the task force at the end of the time. If one or more of the “Task Force” carriers are sunk, they must remain in the water till the timer reaches 20 minutes, or till the “Task Force” has been totally sunk or removed from the water. This is to prevent sinks from interfering with the timed event due to ship removal. Any carrier sunk that is part of the “Task Force” will award the other team with points for the sink as well as reducing the total number of task force points awarded. Carriers on Convoy runs are not included.
Sea Dominance
If at any time during the contest, a team is the only side with combat ships, or Task Force Carriers on the water, convoys not included, the CD will begin a timer. At the end of each 20 minutes that a team is the only team on the water, they will be awarded 250 points. Contest Director/Side Captains will need to stay alert for scoring teams that have control of the pond.

V. BOTTOM LINE
The main idea here is not to replace what we currently have. It is to provide another option for site host to look at for weekend fun.
My main goal here is to simply increase the time on the water fighting, and reduce the time on the bench. Several good things may happen here by keeping the fight going all day. It allows captains to fix things that normally break and cause them to miss a sortie all together… we have all been there. It allows those who do sink, the ability to recover ship, repair and return to the same fight. This alone will increase sinks, as captains will be less conservative in the battles, knowing they may return if sunk. So they will naturally become more aggressive. Because they can repair if they make it to port, they will also be more aggressive. Carriers can be used in a group to create a very intense fight.
The only down side I do see is two things, and both can be mitigated. One is battery consumption. We would all need extra batteries if we want to fight all day. Another issue is the need to reskin more often. But one way to look at that is this…. If I am skinning, that means I have been fighting… and that’s good because I would rather be reskinning my boat because I battle too much, then to be reskinning before NATS because my balsa is old and brittle from the ship being on a shelf and not on the water!
I think something close to this will defiantly increase our stick time, and more stick time, means more fun.
We are working hard here in Kentucky to get our club up and going so we can Host a few monthly battles. We surely intend to try this out on a day or two if we have some captains who are interested.
Any thoughts are truly welcomed here…

 

Sign me up. (I know, big surprise I'm for it).

Jeff

 

Normaly campaign is a hour. In 05 we did a 1.5 hour campaign. It was exhausting. To do an all day battle you'd need 100s of people.

 

I like the simplified scoring but you might want to include something like what we do. We stopped counting holes a while back because we are too lazy and would rather be fighting than doing math. With a flat point system the multi-pumped ships have way too big of an advantage and are way too hard to sink for how many points you get. Instead we count the number of guns units mounted multiplied by the number of pumps (1/2 rounds up for pumps). Larger ships are generally worth more than smaller ships this way.

So a Derf would be 4 points (4 cannons x 1 pump(1/2 rounds up)), a NC would be 5 points (5 cannons x 1 pump), and a two pump Baden would be 7 points (3.5 cannons x 2 pumps). Its simple and everyone seems to like it a lot better as it is reasonably fair and doesn't require a calculator.

 

I like the simplicity of the scoring, plus I don't think I could ever get too tired to battle a ship in a day or two..LOL The continuous battle throughout the day does not mean you have to be on the water all day, what this does is enable you to choose when you are on or off the water. Thus the addition of the scoring for teams that are the only ones on the water for a certain time.

I think we will try this on a weekend battle sometime soon to see how it works.. If I can ever get the pond here secured.. been too lazy to get out and find the owner.

 

I like the idea. In a large fleet setting such as nats, more time on the water requires a very different mindset than the basic sortie format. It places greater emphasis on reliability and minimizing refit time, and also opens up a huge selection of additional tactics. Imagine if one fleet waited to launch several of their best battleships until the other fleet was low on ammo and started calling their five minutes. Or send a group of convoys out while everyone else is eating lunch.

Mostly, though, I like the emphasis it places on escorting non-combat ships. Convoys play a huge role in Big Gun combat, and that is one aspect I miss in Fast Gun. I do have a few minor quibbles. First, why is an aborted convoy run scored as a sink? That encourages suicidal tendencies among convoy skippers. If a ship has to abort its run, then it should have no penalty other than having to start its next attempt from the beginning again. Unless it sinks, of course. That's a sink.
Second, carriers. This section could use some clarification. Do carriers for this mission get their allotment of units? What happens if other ships are sunk during one of the 20-min periods?
third, sea dominance. I love the idea. This certainly has happened several times in WWCC campaigns, and a few fascinating tactics evolved around it. The original WWCC said that a fleet with no ships on the water at any point in time would surrender the battle. That's a bit too harsh, but the 20-min period you've suggested is a bit too long. It is very easy to hide a small convoy vessel somewhere on the pond, so that sea dominance cannot be achieved. It also doesn't require 20min to gas up a CO2 bottle, load magazines, and throw some sort of boat on the water. Thus one sacrificial lamb can buy time for the rest of a team to finish their refits.

Lastly, protective port screens. These have also been used in the WWCC, and they work very well. You can actually see one in my youtube video, Spahkreuzer in Action, at around 1:06. This was constructed of fine mesh screen-door material, zip-tied to tall gardening poles. Everything was bought from the local hardware store. Our tests showed that as long as the screen material was left hanging loosely, it could stop any round we shot it with. Our layout was simpler than the L-shaped ports you've suggested. The L-shaped ones will provide even more protection.

 

My first thought was to force the convoy once it began, to have to finish the run. Thought came from the actual convoys, if a ship in the Atlantic got into trouble, the ship could not just turn around and return to New York City... it had to keep going, normally to it's demise.

I forgot that carries actually have offensive weapons now... The last NATS I took part in was so far back, at that time Carriers were only for convoys... I would assume that it would be fine for them to have their normal allotments of units. Any other ship sinks would count as normal sinks.

That will have to be adjusted...

The idea does need a lot of tweaking, but the main idea I think is the key, an all day battle would very interesting, even if it was just for Campaign Wednesday.

The carrier idea is what I really like. It would be nice for a team to launch 3 or 4 carriers at one time... We would need to tweak the time limit, but can you imagine the battle? Trying to protect those carriers would be a dam dogfight from hell, especially when ships can re-arm and reenter if they use the 5 minute rule... So if you extend that rule to cover a longer time, say 30 minutes... you will create a awesome fight.

 

Curious about the repair damage part. Does that mean patching holes before returning to the water?

 

Seems pretty straightforward to me. If you make it back to port, you may repair all damage received. It's a day-long campaign, if nobody is allowed to patch then everyone would be guaranteed to sink at some point. Not that I mind sinking at all, but some people do. The trade-off, of course, is that time spent patching is time NOT spent on the water sinking the other team. I can think of at least a few instances in WWCC campaign games where skippers chose not to patch their boats, for various tactical reasons.

 

It's basically a running battle all day were captains can re-arm, repair, ect when they are off the water. They return to the water when they want. They have to call five to come off the water, and use their port to exit and enter.

 

Very neat.

Mikey D used to tell me stories of his BGun days and the battles he was in that ran much like this. It sounded like fun.

This is something that could be run during a local or even regional battle for a day to test and try.

 

Hopefully we will have our pond secured here in Ky after NATS. We can try it then.