Submarine Attack Before Surface Attack?

BrownBagnostic · Submarine Attack Before Surface Attack?

Hi all! New to the forums, fairly new to the game. (LOVE IT, btw)
I have very little knowledge of WWII naval combat, but the guys I play with are often citing battles or engagements they have read about. I was talking to one of the guys after our Tuesday night gaming session, and we both agreed (him from his historical knowledge, me from my limited play experience) that submarines seem to be "underpowered"?
I will admit that we haven't used any special rules like Night battles or even the submarine Hidden rules yet. We have thus far just played about 5 or 6 100-200 point head-to-head battles: pretty straightforward.
Still, we were tossing around the idea of moving the Submarine Attack Phase up a notch, so that it happened before the Surface Attack Phase, in hopes of giving the subs a little more bite.
Has anyone played around with this? Will it flip the balance and make subs too powerful? Should we get a dozen more games under our belts before we make such a rash house rule?
Looking for advice from the veterans of this wonderful game =)

BB

p.s. I've read the various "sonar" house rules, we are definately going to try those, at least...

chesty

Hey, BrownBagnostic!

Welcome to the forum! Very Happy

I'm not sure about anyone else, but I don't like to mess with the basic rules. Me and the people I play with argue enough, as it is. Wink

I'm not sure I'd call Subs underpowered, since they can sink things on a regular basis. Are you using the updated rules?

Here's a link to something NeuralDream put together...
http://aaminis.myfastforum.org/about5695.html

jfkziegler

Actually, most of the updated rules came in because submarines were overpowered. Back when the game first came out, submarines dominated everything. Now, their power level is pretty close to other units, which is how it should be.

BrownBagnostic

Thanks for the replies, and thanks for the info =)

Looks like we need to get a few more battles under our belts with the official rules to really see how subs play out. I was curious if anyone else had played around with it, though.

Again, thanks for the replies.

***Submerging back in to lurk mode, but I'll be back =)***

BB

swarbs

And historically, their main influence wasn't in sinking ships in pitched battles at sea anyway, but rather in taking out merchant ships. They were at their best when there were no enemy warships around, rather than in the situations which WAS portrays.

Another thing to consider is how you use them. To get the best out of any 'swarm' type build, either with destroyers/ptboats, aircraft, or subs, you need to use a lot of them to overcome the enemy's defenses. In a two hundred point game, take one big battleship, a few surface/air support units and 100 points of subs and see if that makes a difference.