Motor Torpedo Boats
Variant Rules for Second World War at Sea
By Steve Cabral
August 2013

Add these rules to Second World War at Sea section 20.0, seen in Bomb Alley.

MTB Classes

Motor torpedo boats (MTB) are divided into five classes with the following stats:

• MAS: 1 Hull, 1 Torpedo
• Vosper: 2 Hull, 1 Torpedo
• MGB: 2 Hull, 1 Tertiary, no Torpedoes
• Elco: 3 Hull, 1 Torpedo
• S: 4 Hull, 1 Torpedo

If scenario instructions indicate that a player may use MTBs, he may deploy whichever types are available to the navies he controls, as follows:

Britain: May use all five classes of MTBs. 50% of all MTBs deployed must be Vosper-class. Britain may deploy a maximum of one S boat, but only from bases in Britain or Ireland.

United States: Uses Vosper and Elco.

Soviet Union: Uses MAS, and starting in 1944 may use Lend-Lease Elco-class MTBs at Murmansk only.

Germany: Uses S-boats. May also deploy MAS, but cannot have more than 20 deployed at the same time. Starting in 1943 they may use Vosper (captured from Italy).

Italy: Uses MAS. Starting in 1942 they may also use Vosper, but at least 80% of all MTBs they deploy must be MAS.

Japan: Uses only MAS.

Romania: May use up to 7 MAS.

MTB Night Attacks

Use the normal MTB Attack rules at night (20.6), except that enemy ships can fire at all MTBs that make nighttime surprise attacks on them, AFTER the MTBs make their attack. Halve the number of dice rolled by such enemy ships (round fractions up).

MTB Daytime Deployment

Navies used MTBs during the day only in certain desperate situations. A player who wishes to deploy MTBs during daytime rolls one die. A modified result of one or less allows him to do so. Subtract one from the roll in 1939-40 for all navies, and in 1941-42 for the U.S. Navy only.

MTB Daytime Combat

If MTBs contact an enemy task force during the day, they fight the enemy task force on the battle board in normal surface combat (6.0).

The MTB-owning player may use spare multiple-ship counters to represent the MTBs. The player should write down which counter represents which MTBs if there is more than one class of MTBs in the flotilla.

Japanese MTBs are Speed 3; all others are Speed 4. Russian MTBs (only) may move two hexes per impulse.

Enemy ships may fire at MTBs on the battle board with all their gunnery factors, but they fire at half-strength (round fractions up). Primaries may not hit MTBs at a range closer than 5 hexes, and Secondaries may not hit MTBs at a range closer than 3 hexes. Tertiaries have no special range restrictions, and AA factors may fire at MTBs at a range of 1 hex or less.

See MTBs in action in Second World War at Sea: Bomb Alley!