Fire in the Blue is a game for one or two players that simulates three battles fought in the Mediterranean Sea during World War 2.
Many counters in the game have a right-click menu as an aid to executing the most common actions in the game. This brief highlights the unique elements of the hidden movement system and various automation features.
Counters are laid out on the main map for each scenario. Ships are deployed in single fleets, which the controlling players may choose to split into multiple fleets. All fleets start unsighted. Use the Peek command (right-click menu) to view and manipulate the contents of fleets. Once sighted, both players have access to the "Peek" command to view a fleet's composition.
The Allies' multi-role aircraft are placed in the rearming boxes. The Allied player should choose their initial armament before starting the scenario. Use the right-click menu to select the desired armaments which then moves the aircraft to the ready area.
The turn and phase tracks are located in the top left corner of the main map. Use the "plus" button or the function key F5 to advance to the next impulse.
All fleet movement is on the main map. Unsighted units are hidden from the other player until sighted. Once sighted, your opponent can peek at your ships in that fleet. The owning player can always peek at his/her unsighted fleets without revealing the ships or fleet location to your opponent.
To split a fleet, drag a new fleet counter from the "Pieces" palette and move ships from one fleet to the other. To open the palette, click on the "Pieces" button on the toolbar. New fleets are created unsighted. Ships moving from an unsighted fleet to another unsighted fleet remain hidden. The fleet ID is randomly assigned to promote the fog of war.
The "Weather" button in the toolbar changes the weather on the map. It removes any existing clouds and then checks for clouds in all zones containing search markers. The cloud markers are automatically placed as determined by the die rolls.
Rather than moving individual units, you can drag a fleet counter to the combat or battle windows. The game will deposit the ships or aircraft as appropriate and return the fleet marker back to the main map. After combat, drag the surviving units back to the fleet counter.
Clicking on an airfield symbol on the main map, or from the toolbar, opens the corresponding airfield display. Airfields are private, and visible only to the owning side.
This Vassal module does away with the Air Formation counters. Place air formations into stacks and move them onto the main map or directly to the battle displays.
Place Target Markers on designated targets prior to rolling any results. After placing target markers, press F2 or use the right-click menu to roll dice. The unmodified dice roll total appears on the counter. Players must then apply all appropriate combat modifiers to compute the final results. When targeting ships during naval combat, set the class of the firing ship from the right-click menu. The F4 key resets all target markers on the map main and all battle displays. The toolbar button on the battle displays re-rolls all target markers without requiring a reset.
The module automatically moves sunken ships to the appropriate side of the Victories window. This window displays the current victory point total. For the final scoring, drag the surviving cargo ships and oil tankers from the port of Malta to the Allied side of the Victories window.
Tip: Sometimes you just need to remove a counter. If a counter does not support the usual ctrl-D command try pressing the Delete key.
Choose the Solitaire player side to play any of the solitaire scenarios. The solitaire player has access to all the Allied carriers and the Axis airfields.
Another Vassal Module by Ray Lament