REACH OUT AND TOUCH

                                          As the cost of wars both in men and materials soared ever higher, the tacticians searched for cheaper alternatives to the ships of the line.  One of the answers was the attack craft, Fighters, bombers etc. However the demands on space and operating systems required  a new breed of warship.  The carrier

CARRIERS AND ORDNANCE IN BFG

I have been interested in naval wargames for almost as long as I have been wargaming.. In particular I love that aspect which covers carrier operations.. In fact that is one of the things that attracted me to BFG. I liked the carrier and attack vessel rules but something wasn't quite right. Then I realised it was the models themselves. ( not the attack ships they are superb) It was the carriers themselves.. I had been brought up with the visions of modern carriers.. huge giants . The biggest things on the sea. Cities afloat.. So much bigger than other warships.. Yet in BFG to get a carrier you just take off weapons deck and add a launcher .. Voila!! Instant carrier.. Well no sir.. Where are the great open hanger decks .. the huge service areas .. in BFG the workshops to build new attack craft.. All that extra area just wasn't available. SOOooo Build one.. and I did.. Also the models had too much weaponry. Their medium to long range weapons should be the craft they carry. Short range the fighters and turrets anything else just didn't ring true..

Carriers should also offer more than just the fighters and bombers.. Now I use the additional attack craft approved officially i.e. the torpedo bombers and also some of the additional classes suggested by Jeff Hodges in an article at RoI plud several of my own invention. I allow the ship to carry all types but in finite predefined quantities.. I also only allow assault boats to be launched by dedicated carriers or battleships with launch bays. The following ideas and rules variants are very much a conglomeration of the work of others and my own thoughts.. I do not claim the work as my own but only to have drawn all the relevant ideas together in one document.

Likewise non dedicated carriers should be penalised and less versatile.. Therefore non dedicated carriers may only carry fighters or if fitted out to do so fighter /bombers.. BBs fitted with launch bays may also launch assault craft if so equipped however this applies only in campaigns for predefined vessels. They may carry twice the number of squadrons as the launch bays they have available.. This is the maximum. If they carry a mix of fighters /assault craft /fighterbombers , then this maximum may not be exceeded.

In order to make the carriers more distinctive , I have introduced some concepts relative to carriers

For each carrier (I use less then most players because I allow only dedicated carrier types) I have a hanger and launch bay box ( the shuffle box) that hangs on the table edge.. All ordnance starts in the hanger bays and auto loader.. . On the next friendly special order phase units in the auto loaders are moved into the Launch bays if the LD reload test is passed. If not they are returned to the hangers and new ordnance loaded into the autoloaders for next turn.. This has a serious disadvantage in that you must plan your launch a move in advance.. This could mean you have bombers in the bays with incoming attack ordnance hence it severely reduces flexibility..
I do not use the out of ordnance rules.. The amounts of ordnance are finite.. Units that successfully complete an attack mission are placed in the landing holding box and then after reloading is complete landed into the hanger bays.. Ordnance that is dispersed as a result of gun fire, turrets or fighter attack are diced for immediately on 1234 bombers and E.W. types are removed from play. On 123 fighter and stealth types are removed from play.. In the event of fighters taking out torpedoes , the fighters are destroyed on a 1. All others are returned to the hanger bays.. With this method you lose what you lose and can end up without the type of ordnance you require..

The introduction of dedicated carriers allows for other specialities not currently available in BFG

THE LAUNCH BAY AUTOLOADER The sheer size of carriers make manual handling slow and unwieldy the imperial carriers have automated loading systems carrying the attack craft into the bays.. LD +1 on all launch bay reload rolls. If any launch bays receive a critical hit then they take that hit and test again .. On a score of 5 or 6 the autoloaders are disabled. Treat as critical damage that can be tested for repair in the end phase as normal..

ADVANCED SENSOR ARRAY The carriers are fitted with large non standard prow sections filled with sensor and targeting equipment with numerous turrets equipped with ECM equipment.

LD+2 on all leadership tests for battleship classes

LD+1 For cruiser and below

Apply only to non reload leadership tests. Any critical hits on the prow are also a critical hit on the sensors and they are no longer capable of functioning or applying the LD modifier.. Treat as critically damaged and can be repaired in the end phase as normal..

ADVANCED DAMAGE CONTROL carriers make very big and attractive targets and their commanders soon realised the value of highly trained damage control teams.. When rolling to repair critical hits roll +1 extra D6 for light carriers +2 extra D6 for medium and heavy carriers. These additions are made after all normal halving and rounding etc

EXPLODING CRAFT DAMAGE  If the launch bays or auto loaders contain armed and fuelled attack craft when hits are taken, then the possibilities of fire are greatly increased. If Launch bays suffer critical hits then they suffer that hit as normal but must take a further test. Roll 2 D6 and on a result of 8 or more count fire critical due to armed and fuelled craft exploding in launch bays. Treat all ordnance in the affected launch bays at time as dispersed and dice for each .. 1234 bomber types are destroyed.. 123 fighter types are destroyed..

FLASHBACK With attack craft being moved continually through the system by the autoloaders , it is impossible to completely isolate each area in an oxygen rich atmosphere. This means the threat of fires spreading is inevitable. 

    1/ In the event of fires burning in the launch bays check for major flashback into the auto loaders bays. Roll 2D6 and on a result of 8 or more major explosions occur in the auto loaders. Test for all attack craft as if dispersed

    2/ In the event of fires burning in the auto loaders check for major flashback into the hangar bays. Roll 2D6 and on a result of 8 or more major explosions occur in the hangar bays. Test for all attack craft as if dispersed

LAUNCH READY CAP

                    carriers may choose not to launch all their ordnance. They may hold one fighter squadron in a launch bay which is considered as launch ready cap. this is normally a heavy fighter but any fighter may be used. This may launch even if the vessel fails a reload LD. The LRCap may be launched at any time in it's own or opponents ordnance phase.   

THE HANGAR AND LAUNCH BAY SHUFFLE BOX

 Hermes shuffel box

Each carrier has a shuffle box.

Let us consider the box for the "Hermes" which has  6 port bays and 6 starboard bays.  

 The box consists of a hangar bay section and launch bay section. 

The Launch bay section is sub-divided into port and starboard each compartment being the correct size for the number of counters it can launch. Since all my ordnance bases are 20mm square this is easy . The Hermes has a port launch bay  40mm x 60mm and a starboard launch bay 40mm x 60mm 

The hangar bay is big enough to hold all the vessels ordnance which in the case of the Hermes is 40 pieces and the bay is 80mm x 200mm sub-divided into hangars and auto launcher with the auto launcher being the same size as combined total size of the the launch bays ie 80mm x 60mm  The box shown above is for the carrier Hermes a fleet carrier. The large rear compartment is the hangar bays. The two forward compartments are the port and starboard launch bays. 

At the start of the game the launch bays are loaded and the auto loader too. 

When the carrier launches the pieces are taken from the Launch bay boxes and placed on the table. Ordnance that dies is removed from play and ordnance that returns to the carrier on either your own or your opponents turn, is placed in a seperate landing holding box or container.

The  sequence of play is now: 

a/ special orders roll for reload:- If successful the ordnance is moved from the auto loader to the launch bays. 

b/ load the auto loaders from the pieces currently in the hanger bay

c/ place any ordnance in the landing holding box into the hanger bay. 

Thus ordnance launches are planned a move in advance i.e. placed in the auto loader this turn  and moved into the launch bays on the following turn. Returning ordnance is placed in the hanger bay after filling the auto loaders. so ordnance landing on will not relaunch for at least 3 turns simulating reloading without complicated paper work.