Portable Naval Wargame Pre-dreadnought Playtest 4: "Battle in the Bay!"

Colonial Wars can be a real growth enterprise, and the hats get better and better!

https://www.sutori.com/story/opposition-to-the-spanish-american-war-5197
But it should be remembered that "Pigs get fat while hogs get slaughtered"...

Was eager to try these rules with the changes listed in Playtest #3, so you didn't have to wait very long for Playtest #4! This time I pushed the Spanish farther back and gave them sea room. I also made a bunch of choices for expressing the ships in game terms.

Ships from history stats to rules::

• Spanish ships had "older" guns [their own guns were noted as being slow, inaccurate, etc, inferior to the latest in general].
• US ships had "modern" guns
• Flotation Points were 1.5 x Displacement / 1000 [with some rounding]. For example, the Pelayo displaces 9,750 tons x 1.5 / 1000 is 15 FP.
• Furthermore, a bonus FP or two were given if heavily armored, e.g. Pelayo and Olympia got 2 bonus FP, Boston and Raleigh 1.
• An FP or two were taken away if there was no armor, e.g. Castilla.

Not used but worth noting:

• Tertiary guns were noted as a "Yes / No" Y/N if plentiful, or y/n if just a few. They will be used against Torpedo Runs by torpedo boats and destroyers.
• Speaking of which, a Torpedo boat of 500 tons would have one FP [barely]. So I made a "torpedo boat" three boats so they'd have 3 FP altogether. Also, rather than give a penalty to hit / range in on a small target, I just added a couple of FP for being a small, fast target. This is the same mechanic for the same effect as armor, i.e. survivability. This will have to be tested more in the future.

I felt a lot better with some sort of historical system in place, rather than just working by game types, which don't necessarily suit the older, Spanish, ships.

Game Changes to Portable Naval Wargame as used in this post:

1. Turn sequence changed to: Initiative, Move, Shoot.
2. Target Acquisition. Before rolling Gunnery dice v. a Target, it must be acquired. Roll a 4+ on a d6 so succeed, with: 
• +1 for Short Range [3 hexes or less], 
• +1 for each previous attempt to Range in on the same target, and 
• -1 v. targets that are evading, obscured or have multiple shooters against it.
• -1 Poor / +1 Excellent Gunnery
3. No secondary batteries - each ship has one broadside.
4. Squadron Quality. Squadrons were rated by Quality against which 2d6 added together would be rolled - success was equal or less. The Spanish were a '7' [58% chance] and the US a '9' [83%]. Quality was rolled for passing a ship's Critical Point 'band' [about 75% of Flotation Points lost]. A failure causes the ships to retreat from the battle. Also, to enter or remain in Close Range of 3 hexes or less, ships had to pass a squadron "Q" roll or move out to >3 Hexes.

The net stats for each squadron:
- Spanish 41 Flotation Points v. US 31 Flotation Points
- Spanish 24 Gunnery Dice v. US 28 Gunnery Dice
- Spanish speed '2', US speed "3" [exc Boston "2"], so 50% faster.
- Spanish Quality '7' w' 2d6 v. US '9' [58 v. 83% chance to pass]
- Spanish Gunnery is "Poor" [acquires targets on 5+] v. US is "Average" [4+]

Playtest #3 results...a debacle of 4 Spanish to zero US ships lost, altho the Boston and Raleigh were at their Critical Point and would have to depart the fight. Hoping for improvement here for the Spanish, but not with a lot of hope!


At turn 1, US is entering Manila Bay, with Spanish building up steam to the South.

Unprotected [and small] Cruisers Castilla and Reina Cristina are to left, the pre-dreadnought Battleship Pelayo and Armored Cruiser Emperador Carlos V to right.

Turn 1, US forces the minefield. Again, no mines in the first hex, but a '3' in the second! So each ship has to roll a 4+ to spot and evade mines, or else they will be attacked. The Raleigh rolls a 2 and fails to spot a mine in time, taking 1 Hit with the '4' roll [all PNW hit dice are '4-5' 1 Hit, '6' 2 Hits]. This is the best the Spanish have done with mine placement yet!

Note that the facing of the ships - to the spine - gives a free small turn in that they can turn  to 60 degrees left or right, or 'zig-zag' and basically go "straight". It also gives a fairly accurate broadside of about 140 or 150 degrees.

Turn 1, Spanish check to see if they were caught napping - but they weren't! Only a 1, 2, or 3 chit would've resulted in a delay [of 1, 2, or 3 turns] to get up steam.

The Spanish move a hex forward and pay to turn a full 60 to the next spine to Port.


Turn 2, the US continues to force the entrance; the Baltimore evades but the Olympia passes too close to a mine and is attacked! Fortunately, she suffers no damage [faulty fuse?]. Only the Boston needs to clear...

The Spanish continue closing in. 
I'm torn between attacking separately and attacking together... It might be useful to force the US to attack up the middle between the two Spanish divisions. As I want an "open sea" playtest, I decide not to be clever. Besides, the US ships are faster and might outrun the lagging Castilla and Reina Cristina, resulting in the Pelayo and Emp Carlos taking them all on. With several weaknesses, dividing up seems like a bad plan for the Spanish.

Turn 3, the Boston safely passes the mines [rolling a 4+] but the lines only advances one hex to get the Boston in formation. Despite having good guns, I don't want the Boston to be lagging behind, giving the Spanish an opportunity to overwhelm her alone.

As for the Spanish, I decide to begin pulling them into a Line Ahead. As everyone is still out of their 6-hex range, the turn ends.

Turn 4, the squadrons continue to close on each other. The Spanish lose Initiative, but it's pretty obvious what they'll do, anyway. The ships don't have the speed to turn fast enough to do anything radical. The Baltimore and Olympia are in range but fail to acquire the Emp Carlos and Pelayo as targets, respectively [they'll get a +1 next time]. The Emp Carlos also fails, but the Pelayo redeems her poor performance last game by acquiring the Baltimore on the first try! She has a 7-dice broadside, -1 dice / hex, so at 6 hexes fires with 1d6 but does get a hit on a 4 - first blood to the underdogs, Viva Espagna!


Turn 5. ES lose IN again and must move first. Neither side rolls low enough to enter close range. However, the Spanish move in forcing the US to end their move within close range as you have to move one hex forward before making one 60-degree turn. I like this, as it presents some interesting possibilities and makes the IN matter, even if you lose.

The US move one hex forward, and doesn't turn [I should probably have said they must]. Gunnery starts to really pick up at this point. Raleigh has total fail but the others all acquire targets, inflicting 3, 4, and 4 hits on the ECV, Pelayo and RC respectively - ouch! Looks like this will be another US success story... The ES reply with two failures to acquire, but the Pelayo hits the Baltimore for 2 and the RC acquires but then fails to hit with 1d6. 11 to 2 hits is not a sustainable gunnery exchange for the Spanish - the US has to run out of luck!

With turn 5 ending, the Reina Cristina is nearly sunk, altho the Baltimore is getting there, too, and it a much more important ship.


Turn 6, the US loses IN and moves first, pushing forward to cross the "T" of the ES squadron. The ES can't have this as they are already weaker in gunnery and will have to re-acquire targets or suffer halved broadsides.

Ergo, the Spanish move a little forward and start running parallel to the US. They can't willingly move within 3 hexes, but they must move forward a hex to turn and so end up at close range, anyway.

Gunnery is pretty heavy. The US hit down the line for 3, 2, 2, and 4 respectively, sinking the Reina Cristina and probably killing any survivors floating in the water, too! The ECV acquires Olympia and deals 5 Hits to her! Unfortunately, the Pelayo then entirely misses the Baltimore, ugh! The RC and the Castilla failed to acquire. Hit exchange is 11-5 this time.

Status end of Turn 6 shows the US still having a bit edge, but Olympia is hurting a bit. Another turn like that and she'll sink! The Dons can only hope - and shoot better!



Turn 7 the ES win IN, and there's some interesting issues. The US again fails to roll low enough to have the option to close [I decided to make it very hard - you must roll less than half your Q value or 5 US and 4 ES] so they must move first and away from the ES squadron.

I move them forward 1 and the Boston 2 to close up the gap. I'm still trying to decide if they should have to actively seek more distance or force it upon the other fleet if they move first.

Spanish don't roll low enough to remain close in, either, so shift forward and to starboard.

All gunnery is now at over 3 hexes. The ECV pounds the Olympia for 3 while Pelayo misses again and Castilla fails to acquire - AGAIN - needing to roll a '3' is all. The US gunnery is better, despite the Raleigh experiencing total failure to acquire - someone dropped the Stadometer overboard?? - inflicting 2-2-1 hits on the Spanish.

Turn 7 status: Olympia and ECV may have to leave Castilla and Pelayo are OK. US still has a big advantage at this point. I think the Spanish are cursed by history - and fate.


Turn 8, the Spanish lose and must move first. They have no option to close and get Castilla into better range [rolling an '8' and needing a 4 or less], but the ECV decides to continue fighting [by zero margin of error, I might add - noticeable lack of enthusiasm here]. They advance one hex, not wanting to risk the range lengthening.

The US rolls low enough and closes in, with the Boston aiming to finish off the Castilla in one turn if possible! Even Raleigh should be effective now...


Turn 8 Gunnery is pretty violent. The Pelayo finally gets it right and smacks the Baltimore for 4 Hits, while the ECV sinks the Olympia with a hit to spare!. Unfortunately, the Baltimore in a vengeful fury over the Olympia, apparently, blows ECV out of the water with 5 Hits! Castilla finally acquires but misses while Boston plugs her for 4 in return for splashing her decks. An ignoble performance, I'd say.

Turn 8 status: Olympia sunk [forgot to mark] is a new milestone for the Spanish - Hooray for them! Baltimore is almost sunk [makes two turns of missing even more annoying]. But the Castilla, ECV and RC are all gone, leaving Pelayo to fulfill its nickname of "Solitario".


Turn 9. The US loses IN and neither side is able to remain close up - can't blame them after the horrible destruction of last turn! - so a bit of distance is tacitly agreed upon. Perhaps it is time to end the slaughter and pick up survivors??


Turn 9 gunnery. US manages 2 Hits, Pelayo none. Fatigue perhaps?

Turn 9 status: Pelayo is approaching her Critical Point, and must roll some hot dice to finish off Baltimore and two more unscathed - if smaller - ships with 12 total Flotation Points!


Turn 10, I finally forget to turn over the Blue Dice! Still, I manage to track things much easier with the Move-Shoot turn sequence. Spanish lose but have no cunning plan. The US moves Baltimore off to force Pelayo to make hard choices - weaker shot v. Baltimore, or attempt to acquire a new target [and risk failure]? That's a cunning plan, cursed Yanquis!


Turn 10 gunnery, an annoyed Pelayo, with just one dice, rolls a ''4' and sinks the Baltimore! Honors to Solitario! In return, she takes two Hits from the Baltimore and Raleigh.

Turn 10 status: Pelayo has almost reached her Critical Point. The two strongest US cruisers are sunk but the remaining two, albeit smaller ones, have 11 Flotation Points left between them, which is quite a lot compared to Pelayo's 4!


Turn 11. The US wins IN. The Pelayo passes Q and moves slowly ahead. The US close to within killing distance.

Unfortunately, the Boston [the heavy-gunned of the two] doesn't acquire Pelayo as a target, and the Raleigh inflicts no damage! The Pelayo Acquires Boston and hits her for 3 - Viva!

Turn 11 status - the Pelayo can accept this exchange - Boston half sunk for no damage in return.


Turn 12, the US wins IN but there's not a lot of choice with the big guns on the table. Pelayo rolls a 2 to stay in the fight - must like the sight of Boston taking hits!


Turn 12 Gunnery. Boston has a critical failure to acquire Pelayo! Pelayo has no such problem and sinks her [barely]! Raleigh hits for 2 on a long shot!

Turn 12 status: Pelayo has little left and is now sinkable, and qill have to pass Q to avoid retreating. Still, Raleigh doesn't have great gunnery at this range so anything is possible. Heck, at this point the ES has done their best showing ever, and can float back to Manila with honor for all they care!


Turn 13. Spanish win IN, Raleigh starts to cut her off and cross her T. Pelayo fails Q [as badly as possible - sudden panic?] and veers off to Starboard. BUT, in the gunnery phase, Raligh again misses while Pelayo squeaks out just 1 hit.

Turn 13 status: Pelayo has two Hits, Raleigh 3, but is outgunned badly at this range.


Turn 14. US wins IN, but can't close the range. Pelayo continues retreating, and blasts Raleigh out of the water with 4 Hits. Not to be outdone, Raleigh sinks her with 2 Hits rolling a '6'! Note that the '4' shouldn't even be there...


Final Butcher Bill [well, Fishmonger's Bill, anyway]: a tactical tie, but a strategic win for the Spanish who've several small ships more than the US in the area. Also, with the Home Port advantage, they've a better chance to float one of their ships sooner.


Wow, great and grueling battle! 

I'm happy with the changes, and the decisions available to the Admirals. There's an ongoing tension to enter close and deadly range and remain there, and important decisions about which ship to target, switching targets, etc. I feel like these rule additions influence tactics and choices in an historical manner that make it worth a little more complexity. 

Much will be eased if I make splash markers with ship identifiers on them. I really like the ones in David Manley's "Fire When Ready!" as well as many of his scenario and other detailed rules. I just want a rule set that streamlines the mechanics while preserving the decisions! 

I do need to get more detailed on the Q rolls and perhaps nuance the roll a bit. Much like Manley's "Broadside and Salvo" rules, I'm looking for squadron leader decisions for a player while allowing the "non-player" ships to provide friction for their own side in this era of "lesser" communications.

Future Work:
- Nuance the Q rolls a bit,
- ditching hexes for table top,
- torpedo boats, torpedo runs and defensive fire!
- critical hits!
- optional: differentiating guns by rolling 1 dice per gun?
Happy to take suggestions as well!

I hope these playtests have given you an opportunity to learn about these lovely set of simple rules that you can have fun with your newbie friends and family, and add details as you see fit for your serious gamer pals.

"Remember the Maine!"

Portable Naval Wargame Pre-dreadnought Playtest 3

After some to-ing and fro-ing with Bob Cordery, and a bunch of research including closely reading his Modern Land Rules, I decided to focus on ranging in as a mechanic that adds "feel" and more importantly affects player decisions / tactics on the table. The historical reasons being:

1. Acquiring a target was key to gunnery hits.
2. The longer you fired upon a target your better chance to get the correct range and start getting hits.
3. Ships purposefully maintained relative course and speed to increase their chance of getting hits, or altered course and speed to reduce the enemy's chance, i.e. chasing the splashes.
4. Close range combines the flat trajectory zone of the gun, the capabilities of the sights, quality of the crew / gun, and good sighting during sea conditions.
5. Targets that evade, turn, have multiple ships firing upon it, or are obscured by smoke / fog / mist are harder to hit.
6. Ranges of 2000-4000 yards were about the best one could manage depending on sea state as guns were still mostly under local control and firing from a rolling ship.

This became the following rule:

"To roll the gun dice for damage, a target must first be ranged-in, i.e. acquired. The base roll to acquire a ship target is a 4+ on d6, modified as follows:

+1 for Close Range [3 hexes or less]

+1 for firing at the same target as last turn

-1 if target is Evading, obscured, or multiple ships are firing upon it

+1 / -1 for Excellent or Poor crew.

The goal being to intro target acquisition as something that impacts TACTICS as well as gives period feel.

I also changed the facing of ships to facing directly along a hex spine - it just works easier and allows gentle turns with no rules issues.

So, how did this all work out?

Well, I used the latest version of the Portable Naval Wargame, right from Bob C's draft, which he kindly sent me and I kindly read it and offered some suggestions to make the text clearer, etc. So this is the latest PNW.

One big change is that there are Primary and Secondary batteries, with different dice and ranges. There is a net increase in firing dice, which has been somewhat offset with a net increase in Flotation Points [representing both armor and displacement].

The scenario is very similar to last time. In this alternative Battle of Manila Bay, the Spanish have mined the entrance and stand guard out in the bay after the successful arrival of Adm Camara's Flying Squadron, which includes the Battleship Pelayo and the Armored Cruiser Emperador Carlos V, with 12" and 11" main guns respectively. They have 6 mine markers numbered 1-6, and 1-3 actually have mines which attack a passing ship at the marked value. Meanwhile, the Spanish ships have the possibility of being caught unready by the attack, so have two markers picked from the numbered 1-6 available. They are turned over turn 1 and show what turn the Spanish can get under way. 

Below, the US Fleet prepares to enter from left. Boston, Baltimore, Olympia and Raleigh [using an Atlanta counter so it will be full-sized]. To the right, the Spanish squadron is getting under way in two divisions, the right with Pelayo and Emperador Carlos V, a battleship and armored cruiser, and the left with Castilla and Reina Cristina, both unprotected Cruisers.

The Stats are something like: 
Spanish Flotation Points = 45, US Flotation Points = 43
Spanish Batteries = 34 dice, US Batteries = 41
So parity on hulls, but the US is 50% faster, and has an edge on gun dice. Plus there is the tradition I'm building of Amazing Yankee Dice!

Turn 1 Movement [note the blue d12 is wrong!]. There is no gunnery [everyone is well out of range] and the US loses the move roll so moves first. They elect to stay North in the channel, and the first hex is clear [the '5' doesn't count] while the second does have mines, but only attack at a 1 on a d6. Naturally, the Boston rolls a '1' while the Baltimore has a close shave with a '2'! Having been successfully attacked by the Spanish mine, damage is rolled for and the 4=1 Hit. The Spanish reveal no delay to Pelayo's division, but the Unprotected Cruisers are delayed until Turn 2.


Turn 2 Movement. Again, no gunnery. The US again loses so moves first. The Squadron eases thru the North channel and turns South.Olympia manages to pass thru, but the Raleigh also rolls a '1', and fortunately the Spanish mine is a dud [rolling 1-3 misses]. The Spanish edge closer at their 2-hex movement. All the US ships except Raleigh are 3-hex [turns out this is an error - the Boston was the slow one, oops].


Turn 2 Gunnery, Turn 3 Movement. The big ES ships were in range and I forgot to roll for them. The Pelayo fails to range in [a continuous problem, it will turn out to be]. The Emp. Carlos manages to do so and acquires the leading Boston, and inflicts a Hit.


Turn 4 gunnery. The Pelayo again fails to acquire Boston, but the Emperador manages a hit. The USN fails to range in with anyone but Baltimore who puts a hit on Pelayo [14 more to go...]. I'm noting which ships is an acquired target on the log sheet.


Turn 4 Movement. The ES lose and move first, advancing a hex then turning. The USN pulls ahead to bring superior numbers against the lead Spanish ships.


Turn 5 Gunnery [*sigh* I should stop using a turn dice...]. Pelayo fails for the third time to acquire a target. Castilla is barely in range of Olympia, but also fails. Emperador Carlos gets 3 Hits with her main and 2 with her secondary batteries, trashing the Boston who now has to retreat from the battle and fight to stay afloat! 
In return, the Olympia quickly ranges in and inflicts a whopping 7 hits on Pelayo - holy moly! it should be noted that Olympia has rolled hot in every game I've played thus far. The Boston also ranges in, and adds 3 more. Baltimore then plasters Emperador Carlos with 7 hits, getting her well on the way to retreat or sinking in one fell swoop. Damn Yanquies!!


So halfway thru turn 5, we stand with Pelayo and Emperador both in trouble, with 11/15 and 7/12 Hits, and in return Boston has 8/10 and must retreat. But at this range and with this firepower, I'm uncertain how long these Spanish ships will be afloat! Now if it was the Olympia that was in trouble, this might be a better contest...


Turn 5 move. The US loses and turns the Boston away while the Olympia and Baltimore dog the Spanish. Raleigh moves up, and the Castilla and Reina Cristina close in hoping to sink her quickly and turn things around. The Pelayo and Emperador Carlos veer off but the distance is still close...too close.


Turn 6 West Gunnery is bloody. The Castilla quickly acquires the Raleigh and blasts her with 5 points of damage. The Reina fails to acquire by rolling miserably low and the Raligh returns with 7 points of damage to the Castilla, bringing her to the Critical Point.


Turn 6 East gunnery is brutal. The Spanish fail to range in while the Olympia contributes 7 Hits and sinks Pelayo. The Baltimore then hammers home 4 on Emperador Carlos, sinking her as well. Amazingly, the Spanish, once again, have been viciously out-rolled!


Turn 6 Moves. The Spanish lose and move first, advancing to block Raleigh from escaping.

Raleigh moves one up, then turns for 1 - I don't see any reason to use the quite detailed ramming rules, I don't think Raleigh should even have the option.

Olympia and Baltimore turn up to engage the remaining Spanish ships.


Turn 7 West Gunnery. Castilla puts in 3 Hits on Raleigh, which will cause her to retreat. Unfortunately, US gunnery is quite solid and gives 4 back, sinking her.

Turn 7 East Gunnery. Well, their luck didn't run out. Both ships acquire Reina Cristina, and put 11 Hits on her, easily sinking her - The Don is Down!!


Final Tally. Spanish lose all 4 ships sunk, including a battleship. The US has two protected cruisers retreating. This is largely due to bad dice rolling by the Spanish, and amazing dice rolling by the US! Still, I feel that gunnery is too deadly, overall.



Happy with the facing mechanic [ships now face spine, not hex side] and the ranging-in / target acquisition mechanic. Ships who haven't acquired a target or are out of range have a reason to be evasive while its better to repeat attempts to range in on the same ship. Short range is of course, easier to range in and get Hits.

Some things to work on:

1. The lack of differentiation between ships means some flavor is lost - these are definitely fleet battle games for 1-2 squadrons per player, at least.
2. Armor Rules would be nice! Even something as simple as -1 dice for light, -2 for medium and -3 dice for heavy armor.
3. Gunnery is too powerful. Granted, this is a fight in a harbor, but the firepower to speed ratio is off - if both sides close with each other, in two turns you can close from out side of range to deadly close range, which makes me wonder how long a turn is, really?? 
4. Secondary batteries seems unnecessary - the mechanic from the download version already allows for the broadside to get weaker with distance. And at 1-2 hexes the firepower of 8-10 dice results in 5-7 Hits on average - sinking ships in a turn or two depending on size. I will return to the original system from the downloads - you've one broadside that loses dice with distance. The only reason they might be useful is if there was a mechanic that allowed the Quick-Firing guns to fire first, before the big slow guns.
5. Shoot-Move turn sequence drives me nuts! There doesn't seem to be any particular need for it, and Move-Shoot seems like a much more natural way to play a naval game.
6. Ship Preservation Mentality Mechanic. There needs to be some reason for ships not to close into point blank range and blast each other to pieces in a couple of bloody turns. Something like a Morale or Tactics roll - the simple fact is that if both sides sink half a fleet, they should both lose. So maybe you get 1 point for forcing a ship to retreat and 2 points for sinking it, but you lose 2 points for having a ship retreat yourself, and 3 points for one of yours sunk [or 4 points]. It should be kept in mind that 
7. Retreating should halve gunnery, or something [the crew's busy trying to keep the ship afloat]. Simplest would be to say it can't fire any more.

Portable "Naval Wargame: Predreadnoughts" is definitely a somewhat stylized and streamlined game. I think that it does need just a bit more mechanics put into it, and that they should be there strictly to shape a more historical mentality for the players. These additions should not add to the book keeping or complexity much, if at all possible.

Overall, I think the system is worth tinkering with, but I should definitely practice with a simple, open-sea scenario, perhaps with a little fog thrown in to make it interesting...perhaps a coast-line as well? We'll see.