I have a copy of the old Seapower II rules that I'm interested in trying out. How old are they? Copyright 1970 by Alnavco – the folks who used to make 1/1200 metal recognition models of WWII warships, before the molds were sold off to Superior.
I know that naval wargame design has made great advances in the past 46 years, but I want to take a crack at Seapower II, because these rules are engineered for games on a ping-pong table, using small numbers of 1/1200 models of big ships, and that describes my collection pretty well. So even though the rules suggest using a slide rule to simplify calculations, I figure I can bring them forward into the 21st century by using a calculator. I want to try.
Problem: I'm having trouble reconstructing the 14 special dice that came with the original game and were essential to play. My copy contains a printed statement that:
"The inclusion of the 14 dice with the SEAPOWER game has been discontinued because of their rising cost…We recommend the use of regular dice for the three special dice referred to in the rulebook. A suggested conversion code follows:"
Um, yeah.
So, apparently, the game originally included 10 X D6 with colored faces: 3 X blue, 2 X orange, 1 X red. I can substitute numbered D6 for these, or paint some D6 different colors myself, no problem.
And the game contained one D6 with letters instead of numbers: B, C, D, P, S and T. I can substitute a numbered D6 for this die, or make one myself.
But. The note concludes: "The numbered die would of course correspond directly to the regular die." This is obscure to me, because the rules suggest that these remaining three special dice faces were both numbered and colored. The rules read:
"…refer to the three numbered dice you rolled. Special damage has been inflicted if either of the following two results show on the dice.
1. If the three dice show the same color and the same number, the target ship has suffered a magazine explosion…
2. If the three dice show the same color but different numbers 'special' damage has been inflicted."
Okaaay. So it seems the faces of these three dice are both numbered and colored. But what numbers do they carry? 1-6? And what colors? And how do the numbers match with the colors? And how do these special numbered dice, "…correspond directly to the regular die."?
Is there an old, old, very old, experienced, well seasoned gamer on this board who can riddle me out how these very special dice were supposed to work for Seapower II, in 1970?
Please?
experiments to find a better way to mount aircraft for wargaming.