Adding Seaplanes (reconnaissance) to the game

In the thread about Tactical Bombers I already mentioned how I would add Seaplanes to the game. Even though I had the optional rule of Hidden Movement in mind, it would also work without using it. For those who don’t want to search, here it is:

Seaplanes
Cost: 3; Range: 5; Air: 0, Sea: 0, Land: 0
Set-up: 4 seaplanes are placed on both Rabaul and New Caledonia

Seaplanes are used for reconnaissance of enemy naval forces. They take off and land exclusively from Rabaul (Japan) and New Caledonia (USA) respectively. Thanks to their range, they can reach any sea zone on the map, but not the sea zones around Rabaul and New Caledonia.
Turn Order:

1. Starting with the first player, transports and destroyers are loaded and the movements of naval units are secretly noted as mentioned in the rulebook.
2. Then seaplanes are sent out, once again starting with the first player. A player can scout a maximum of five sea zones per turn and send a maximum of two seaplanes per sea zone.
3. The secretly planned sea movements are executed.
4. A die roll is made for each seaplane that is in a sea zone containing at least one enemy ship. For a roll of 1 through 4, the attacker receives the appropriate number of bonus dice, but not more than one bonus die per fighter, tactical bomber and bomber he orders into that sea zone for combat. On a roll of 5 the seaplane does not sight the enemy, on a roll of 6 it is lost.
5. Special Case: If a seaplane rolls a 1, instead of rolling one bonus die for an attacking aircraft, it may force an enemy submarine that is in the sea zone to submerge. A submerged submarine may not attack in this round.
6. The other subs attack – hits and damages are assigned and removed.
7. Starting with the First Player, bombers, (tactical bombers) and fighters are moved.
8. For the bonus dice gained by seaplanes, the attacker may roll once for 1 to 4 aircraft before starting air combat. Hits are assigned to enemy sea units according to the Casualty Strip, damaging or destroying them without returning fire. A maximum of 8 bonus dice is possible, if a player has two seaplanes in a seazone and rolls a 4 for both of them. Snake Eyes could force two subs to submerge and save a valuable capital ship from getting sunk or damaged. But: two sixes let your seaplanes get smashed to smithereens.
9. After casualties have been removed, the regular combat sequence takes place: air combat, sea combat and land combat.

Unlike my rule for Tactical Bombers, this rule needs to be play tested. But I think it will add a nice twist to the game without unbalancing it.

I am still working on a different approach without attack bonus, but this is tricky.

Here is a second variant for adding Seaplanes to the game – this time without a bonus attack round. This variant can only be applied when playing with the optional rule of Hidden Movement.

1. Players secretly plan all sea movements (including freighters, destroyers and their cargo).
2. Seaplanes are sent out - with the limit of maximum five sea zones and two seaplanes per sea zone.
3. Submarines may be moved to scout ships. No attacks at this time!
4. Dice are rolled separately for seaplanes and submarines: The result determines how many and which ships the opponent must reveal in that sea zone - i.e., he must reveal (= execute movement for) one ship of each category that either remains in or is moved to that sea zone. The following assignment applies: 1 = one freighter, 2 = one freighter + aircraft carrier each, 3 = one freighter + aircraft carrier + battleship each, 4 = one freighter + aircraft carrier + battleship + cruiser/destroyer each. On a roll of 5, the seaplane returns to base because it missed the enemy; on a roll of 6, it is destroyed. For submarines, a roll of 4, 5 or 6 means no enemy sighting. Thus they cannot sight cruisers and destroyers.
5. Optional: for every die roll of 1, a seaplane may force a submarine that has remained in or moved to its sea zone at this point to submerge instead of having the enemy to reveal a freighter.
6. Example 1: Japan rolls a “1” and a “3” for its two seaplanes in sea zone H. The US player must reveal the following units, if available: 2 freighters, 1 aircraft carrier, and 1 battleship. He does not have to reveal the planned movements of the other ships in sea zone H.
7. Example 2: The US rolls a “2” and a “5” for a seaplane and a submarine in sea zone G. Japan must reveal one freighter and one aircraft carrier, if available. It does not have to reveal a second carrier or any other ships.
8. Starting with the First Player, players move their bombers, tactical bombers and fighters.
9. Only now the remaining naval movements are executed. Submarine attacks are also done in this step. This also applies to subs used for scouting in step 3 (unless they have been forced to submerge).
10. Following the submarines, as usual, the battles take place in the order of air, sea and land combat.

Everyone is kindly asked to playtest and report on both variants. Depending on my gaming buddy, I will give both variants a try. Perhaps the first variant without using Hidden Movement, the second variant using this optional rule.