Welcome to the Vassal version of Harpoon: Captain's Edition. The original board game was created in 1990 by Larry Bond and published by Game Designers' Workshop.
This module can be played solitaire or with two players via PBEM. The module can also be played live with up to four players and a referee for a double-blind gaming experience.
PBEM games can be played with two players by sending the vlog file to each other, or by playing via the Vassal server. This would represent a "traditional" board game experience where both players can see all the counters on the board. Games of this type should be played without using the Invisible feature or a Referee to speed up play.
For a true fog-of-war game, a Referee will be necessary to facilitate the detection rules and allow visibility to enemy units. By default, all counters placed on the map should first be set to "Invisible". The Referee and friendly side playes can see the counters (shown as a "ghostly" image), but the enemy players will not see them until the Referee sets the appropriate counters to Visible in accordance with the detection rules.
The missile counters have a value that is the "missile factor" of the attack. Use the missile counter with the same number of factors of the raid, then use the Minus key to adjust the number of missiles remaining after defenses take their toll.
The Turn/Move button will show a window that approximates the process of drawing chits from a cup. During the scenario setup, right-click and select each task force and patrol chit in play from the "All Movement Chits" box, and drag/drop them into "The Cup" box. During the movement phase, left-click on The Cup box and drag a chit onto the Draw Chits box. A random chit will be drawn from The Cup as you click-drag. Execute the movement phase for the task force/patrol aircraft represented by the top chit in the Drawn Chits box. The turn ends when all the chits have been drawn and the last move is made. The chits will be automatically sent back to the cup when the Next Turn button is pressed.
If you draw a chit for a task force or patrol aircraft that is no longer in play, then click-drag the chit back to the All Movement Chits box.
At the bottom of the Turn/Move window are the turn indicators. The turn number and time of day are shown, and are advanced by clicking the Next Turn button. Advancing the turn will automatically send flown aircraft back to the ready boxes of the respective bases and carriers. Also, the Moved markers and movement trails for all units will be reset.
This button displays a scanned image of the Game Reference Chart.
Use the player Forces button to show player-specific (and private) decks from which to draw your ship and aircraft data cards. Right-click the deck to show a list of cards. Select a card and drag/drop it to the blank area on the right. Drop cards on each other to form a task force stack. You should also use a Task Force Marker counter to identify the task force stack by dragging/dropping a counter near the card stack (but do not place it on the card stack, as it may disappear underneath it).
Aircraft cards are just for reference and do not form task forces. Place any aircraft card in use for the current scenario anywhere on the Forces display for quick reference.
Each player's Task Forces window has Mission markers for use with advanced scenarios. To randomly select a mission, right-click the marker stack and shuffle. Whichever marker is now on top is the mission number for that player.
The player Base Charts will hold all the aircraft counters that are in play. The bases have a Ready Aircraft box, from which aircraft counters will be moved to the map, the Task Force window, or the Detection/Combat window as appropriate. Surviving/landing aircraft are returned to the Flown Aircraft box of the respective base.
The aircraft carriers have Ready Aircraft boxes that are meant to hold just one counter each. Any number of returning counters can be placed in the carrier's Flown Aircraft box.
Clicking the Next Turn button (on the Turn/Move window) will automatically send Flown Aircraft back to the Ready Aircraft of the respective bases and carriers.
The player Roster button displays the Roster Sheet. The status of damage, aircraft, and missiles can be tracked by checking/unchecking the respective boxes for each platform.
Individual boxes may be checked or unchecked by clicking on them. Many boxes can be checked or unchecked by dragging a selection rectangle around a group of boxes, then use Ctrl-F to "flip" the boxes. Also, many boxes can be reset to the unchecked state by dragging a selection rectangle around a group of boxes, then use Ctrl-R to reset them.
The player Counters window will show all the available task force, aircraft, and patrol counters. There is a black and white background image that shows which counters are currently deployed to other windows or the map. Right-clicking on a counter and selecting Delete (Ctrl-D) will send the counter back to this window. Aircraft that have been reduced in strength will be reset to full strength.
The original board game came with plastic aircraft markers to show the location of patrol aircraft. This Vassal module will instead use Patrol counters that can be found in the player Counters window. Use these counters on the map in the same way the plastic aircraft markers would have been used. The undetected aircraft represented by the counters should be placed on the player's Task Force window in the Patrol Aircraft boxes matching the patrol counters. Once an aircraft is detected by the enemy, move the aircraft counter from the task force window to the map and place it under the patrol counter. (An alternative is to make the patrol aircraft invisible and place it under the patrol marker until it is detected.)
The movement counters mark the speed of a task force. Drag/drop a movement counter on top of a task force. The black number side indicates no radars are on. The red number side means the task force radars are active. Once a counter is dropped on a task force, select the speed and radar status by using the right-click menu or +/- keys.
Special CAP and DLI counters were added to the module to facilitate the CAP and DLI rules. Aircraft on CAP or DLI should be placed under the respective CAP/DLI counter. CAP counters may be flipped to show the CAP radar status. The black CAP counters are for radar off, and the red/orange CAP counters are for radar on. The CAP/DLI stacks can be placed on the airbase hex or any hex out of the way for carriers (so they remain public but does not give away the carrier's location). Alternatively, CAP/DLI stacks can be placed on the Base Charts or made invisible for fog-of-war secrecy.
The Detected/Combat Board button will show a blank window that can be used to display detected task forces, patrol aircraft, and combat resolution. Think of it as a "white board" that can be utilized in any way. The contents of this Board is visible to both players.
To display a detected task force, drag the detected task force card stack from the player Task Forces window to the Detected Board (also move the task force marker for easy reference). This will make the task force visible to both players.
Combat can also be resolved on this board. If the task force cards are "stacked", then double-click to "break them apart" so the individual cards may be moved around to form escort and screened ship columns. Missile markers may be dragged/dropped from the Counters window, and attacking aircraft may be dragged/dropped from the player Base Chart window.
Missile and aircraft markers may be decremented during the combat phase by using the Minus key. If a mistake is made, you may increment the markers by using the Plus key (Shift-Equals). The markers cannot be incremented beyond their original value.
Missile markers may be deleted by right-clicking and selecting "Delete". Aircraft markers may also be deleted the same way, but surviving aircraft should be returned to the player Base Chart by drag/drop.
Ships that are sunk may be sent back to the original deck by right-clicking and selecting "Return to Deck". Surviving ships should be restacked on the Detected Board if they remain detected. Otherwise, they should be restacked and dragged/dropped onto the owning player's Task Forces window.
This button will prompt you to type in how many d6 dice to roll, and also if there is a modifier that will apply to all dice to be rolled. The results are displayed in the messege window in numeric order for easy reference.