New week is worth starting with good news – today we begin the pre-sale of the new designs of ship cards for BW: Togo. They will completely replace the old designs. The sale of these cards will last until April 14, after which it will be closed. After this date, the new cards will be available only with the models. Of course, all ships sent as part of the Kickstarter campaign will already have the new cards.
Details about why we are introducing new cards and how they were created were already discussed in a post at the end of 2023. We recommend the link: https://www.facebook.com/gmboardgames/posts/pfbid0TnwRsnJWqTaLz23mqkDVdAzmb1UPKBUkEj652f7ikoznbKixgF4DYyDrS1naN3r7l
Today, however, I would like to present the most important aspect, which is the changes compared to the old cards. To illustrate this, let’s take a close look at an example card of the cruiser Kasuga, which has seven points. Let’s examine each of them closely.
1. Armour. Many ships will have their armour thickness changed (for the answer to “why?”, I refer you to the previous, linked post). In the case of the presented cruiser Kasuga, this change is from 13 to 16.
2. The speed ranges have been slightly rearranged. It will be easier, among other things, to sail in formation.
3. The ranges of practically all guns have been changed, as well as the characteristics of torpedoes. They now more accurately reflect historical ranges and better demonstrate the technical differences between individual guns, thus affecting the usefulness of individual ships. For example, the 10-inch gun of the cruiser Kasuga now has a range of 42 inches. The best battleship guns will even have 48 inches.
4. We have made many adjustments to the distribution of artillery. The most important of these is the division of single gun batteries into two, so they will not be quickly destroyed and the ship will be able to continue fighting effectively despite damage. This is also associated with changes to the damage track (see point 7).
5. Most ships have their Hull points increased by 1. This does not apply to torpedo boats and destroyers. This change especially makes smaller ships, such as 3rd-class cruisers, much more useful in the game. This change also compensates for the increased range of artillery (and thus more damage).
6. We have reviewed and made certain changes to the special rules of ships.
7. Finally, and most significantly, a major change concerns the damage track. It has received a new, much clearer linear graphical form instead of squares. This makes it easier to understand when a particular gun is destroyed. Damage on the track is designed so that a ship loses a maximum of about half of its guns, allowing it to continue fighting (albeit weakly) until the end. In many games, ships lost their most important guns too quickly and could only “watch” as they were further destroyed.
These are the most important changes related to ship cards. We decided to make them due to the Kickstarter campaign and the creation of the English rulebook. New cards were already needed for new ships, so this was actually the only moment when such a change could still be made, improving playability and correcting certain errors that were on the old cards. We hope you will like these new ones. We just remind you that individual cards will be available for purchase only until April 14.