From: "John F. Kranz" Subject: GDW's Coral Sea first playthrough Just finished my first ftf playthrough of GDW's Coral Sea. Game system is truly a breeze, so I was able to dive into the game very quickly. Using TAHGC's Flat Top as a reference, this game represents a good trade off for anyone not wishing to invest the time/effort needed for Flat Top. Needless to say, I much prefer the level of detail offered in the latter game, but Coral Sea plays very quickly without all the required bookkeeping that is a headache for some. For those familiar with the game system, here are my initial comments along with some house rules we added: TF Marker Placement TF markers are _NEVER_ placed on the map for sea spotting or air spotting purposes as written. Also, air units didn't have to show their complete move on the map, they need only be displayed when conducting active air spotting. This aided with the limited intelligence very much. This worked very well in our first playthrough and we see no reason to go back to the original system (the only drawback is a reduced capacity for fighter interception, but this is a reasonable trade-off). TF Scouting Report I don't like the fact that one has no scouting report whatsoever until time of attack for enemy sighted TFs. Having sent off all available units to only find an AO and DD is pretty ridiculous...and this happened to me TWICE (aargh!). Some scouting mechanic a la Flat Top which includes estimated on # of vessels (w/i 50% accuracy) and type (as listed on Web-Grognards Coral Sea game support site) will definitely be added next time. Sure, I might make the same mistake, but it won't be nearly as embarrassing ;-) Air to Surface Attacks When attacking an enemy ship in a main body, attacking planes are only fired upon by one vessel from the screen and then the target itself when it reaches the main body. Fired upon by only 2 ships...this doesn't feel right and makes having all those extra screen units unhelpful unlike Flat Top. The saving grace for the system is that the Flak table is bloody and combat is conducted per attacking wave (5 air units max). Reading Squall Placement The Squall markers are sorta a pain to try and read where the zone of influence spans on the hexgrid due to the irregular shape. I wish they had something similar to Flat Top in which the storms project two hexes outward period. Lot of eye squinting on this one. From the Rules Missing File: The system make no mention whatsoever of how enemy bomber craft can damage an enemy airfield (only how to damage planes situated on the field), or what happens to returning planes which can't find an undamaged base to return to (they are either permanently destroyed or placed in the 'limbo' pile). I chose the latter, softhanded approach. I was also able to devise a house rule by adapting the way they handle airfield damage from sea bombardment. All in all, this game was a lot of fun and extremely playable; Flat Top offers a lot more bang for the buck, but this form of Flat Top 'Lite' is also satisfactory, given a few house rules for added chrome. I'm looking into hosting a PBEM game of Coral Sea or Indian Ocean Adventure, I just have to first figure out all the necessary rule mechanics before moving forward. ___________________________________________________________________ John Kranz kranz@earthlink.net Virtual Wargamer HQs (VWHQ): VWHQ & Web Grognard Discussion Board: ___________________________________________________________________ From: Markus Stumptner Subject: Re: GDW's Coral Sea first playthrough >I don't like the fact that one has no scouting report whatsoever until time >of attack for enemy sighted TFs. Having sent off all available units to >only find an AO and DD is pretty ridiculous... Actually, it's merely historic. That's exactly what happened at Coral Sea. I'm impressed. :-) >and this happened to me TWICE >(aargh!). Some scouting mechanic a la Flat Top which includes estimated on ># of vessels (w/i 50% accuracy) and type (as listed on Web-Grognards Coral >Sea game support site) will definitely be added next time. I'd be very careful not to add too much - it's generally acknowledged that search in Flat Top is too effective, and Hara would certainly have liked a Flat Top-like search system at the Coral Sea. :-) Markus