Hobbies And Interests
Setting Up
Begin the game by deciding who will play as the British and who will play as the Germans. Each player takes a Fleet Search sheet and a Hit Record sheet that matches their chosen nation. Each player will then take their Ship Counters and a Task Force board. The British player arranges three groups of ships in formations chosen from the Hit Record sheet on the following locations: A17, D13 and K9. The German ships start out from BB16. Do not share your formation or movement information with your opponent, because he will have to search for the location of your ships. During each turn, you will move your ships by marking their movement with a pencil on your Fleet Search sheet. Each movement must be recorded with the number of ships moved and the time of arrival, with each square representing one hour of time sailed.
Searching
After each round of movement, the players take turns searching the location to see if there are enemy ships in the area. The German player begins by calling out the location of all squares in which she has ships. The British player must say whether or not he has ships in that square. If he does, combat is initiated. If not, players begin movement again. Play will continue until players have reached the same location, at which point a battle will ensue.
Battles
During a battle, place a Battle Area Marker sheet in the center of the table. Players will then arrange their ships on the Marker facing the same direction as when they entered the Search sheet square. Ships must also be in the same formation as decided on the Fleet Makeup sheet. The front ship of each formation should be 18,000 yards from the center of the Battle Area Marker. During a battle, the German player moves first and can shift the direction of her ships, move them along the Battle Area, or fire on the enemy. Use the Range Finder to determine damage based on the distance between ships. While the German player will fire first, damage occurs simultaneously. This means that if a British ship is destroyed during a round of firing, it will still damage the German ship before being taken off the Battle Area. Six actions in battle result in one hour of game time. Mark these hours accordingly on your Hit Record sheet. Battle continues until either all ships of one player have been destroyed or a player has retreated out of the Battle Area.
Time Frame
The game begins on May 30, 1916, at midnight. The game will end on June 1, 1916, at 12 p.m. This means that players must keep track of the hours that have passed during movement and battle phases. At the start of each turn, one player should announce the in-game time. Any discrepancies should be settled before play continues. During battle, count each move as 10 minutes of game time, and at the end of the skirmish mark the total time that has passed.
Victory
When the game time has reached 12 p.m. on June 1, 1916, the game stops. If players are in the midst of battle, they continue until the skirmish has finished. Outside of battle, all other actions must cease at this time. Players then will count their total remaining ships, with the winner being the side with the greater number of ships. If both players have an equal number of ships, then the game is considered a draw. Victory can also occur if one player has destroyed the opponent's entire fleet.