The ‘heavy guns’ keyword rules have sparked much debate. With the rule as written in the August 24’ rule book, ships with ‘heavy guns’ become unrealistically deadly. That’s our bad. The keyword isn’t meant to ALWAYS do double hull damage. So here is a clarification that will hopefully clear this up.
Here is the directed gunnery rule 5 as written:
‘5) Roll to see how much damage the target has received.
Roll the remaining shot dice. Use the ‘Damage Table’ to determine what number is required to cause damage with each ‘shot dice’. The target ship will have a ‘Protection’ stat. Compare this number to the ‘firepower’ of the directed battery on the firing ship. The target’s controller draws a Damage Card from the top of their Damage Deck for each hit that equals the required number. The target’s controller reduces the target’s hull integrity by one for each dice that rolls higher than the required number. If the number required to cause damage was 2+ or better, it is possible to inflict even more damage with this attack. Reduce the target’s hull integrity by one for each dice that rolled a 6.
SMS König’s guns have a firepower of 3+ if her shots hit HMS Warspite with a protection factor of 2 they become 5+. On the roll of a 5 the shots cause Warspite to draw a damage card, on a 6 they cause a hull damage, on any other number they bounce harmlessly off.’
Here is where the ‘heavy guns’ rule comes in:
‘If the number required to cause damage was 2+ or better, it is possible to inflict even more damage with this attack. Reduce the target’s hull integrity by one for each dice that rolled a 6.’
Ships that have guns with the ‘heavy guns’ keyword do double hull damage with the roll of a 6, even if the firepower required was greater than 2+.
That is what the rule on page 24 is referring to. Please be assured that the next print run will include a clearer definition.
Examples of this keyword in practice:
Mitch has activated his HMS Revenge. He nominates Cornelius’s HMS Warspite as the target of his Revenge’s primary gun battery. He ranges the guns in and Cornelius fails to evade any of the shots.
The firepower of the Revenge class primary battery is 2+ and the protection of the Queen Elizebeth class is 2. Mitch will need to roll a 4 to cause a damage card and a 5 to do 1 hull damage. Because the Revenge class have primary guns with the ‘Heavy guns’ keyword, if he rolls a 6 Warspite will take 2 hull points of damage instead of 1.
Mitch rolls eight dice and these are the results: 1, 5, 5, 4, 2, 2, 6, 3.
Cornelius reduces his Warspite’s hull by 4 and draws one damage card. The 5’s did 1 point of hull damage each and the 6 did 2 for a total of four hull points of damage.
Example 2:
Mitch has activated his HMS Revenge. He nominates Cornelius’s HMS Orion as the target of his Revenge’s primary gun battery. He ranges the guns in and Cornelius fails to evade any of the shots.
The firepower of the Revenge class primary battery is 2+ and the protection of the Orion class is 1. Mitch will need to roll a 3 to cause a damage card and a 4 or a 5 to do 1 hull damage. Because the Revenge class have primary guns with the ‘Heavy guns’ keyword, if he rolls a 6 Orion will take 2 hull points of damage instead of 1.
Mitch rolls eight dice and these are the results: 1, 5, 3, 4, 2, 6, 6, 3.
Cornelius reduces his Orion’s hull by 6 and draws two damage cards. The 4’s & 5’s did 1 point of hull damage each and the 6’s did 4 for a total of six hull points of damage.
Example 3:
Mitch has activated his HMS Revenge. He nominates Cornelius’s HMS Lion as the target of his Revenge’s primary gun battery. He ranges the guns in and Cornelius fails to evade any of the shots.
The firepower of the Revenge class primary battery is 2+ and the protection of the Lion class is 0. Mitch will need to roll a 2 to cause a damage card and a 3, 4 or a 5 to do 1 hull damage. Because the Revenge class have primary guns with the ‘Heavy guns’ keyword, if he rolls a 6 Orion will take 2 hull points of damage.
Mitch rolls eight dice and these are the results: 6, 5, 3, 3, 2, 1, 1, 4.
Cornelius reduces his Lion’s hull by 6 and draws one damage card. The 3’s, 4’s & 5’s did 1 point of hull damage each and the 6 did 2 for a total of six hull points of damage.
*Note that the six did not cause 3 hull damage. The ‘Heavy guns’ rule overwrites the standard section 5 rule where 6’s cause an additional hull damage.*
