Ironclads vs. B Movies

Was fighting your first ironclad scary?

No? Then how about your first Sea Monster!?

One of the regular hosts in the local gaming group has a flair for both historical and non-historical gaming, and occasionally he combines them. I've always missed those games and then regretted it later, so when his "Ironclads v. Mysterious Phenomena" was upcoming, I made sure to get there.

Each of the players got two Ironclads or ACW Iron ships from about 1865. On the other end of the board, a huge archway with dazzling lights within it turned out to be a portal through which monsters were coming. The job of the USN on this occasion?  Destroy the monsters and close the portal!

The first few turns were full of suspense, but only Moby Dick and a Giant Narwhal showed up, the latter ramming a ship but getting stuck for a turn...

However, it was soon joined by Giant Frogs, a Troll and Sea Serpent. The Troll mounted a small atoll and began hurling boulders at the gallant ships opposing him.

As if that wasn't bad enough, a dragon soon flew into the battle, his breath worse than any tarheel to take ship in the Western Hemisphere!

Below, Moby attacks my ironclad, which unleashes a full broadside into it - unfortunately missing 5 / 6 shots!  Clearly, my sailors were at their wits end with terror!

My iron frigate did hit, which made Moby swim off and blubber quietly a while...pun intended.

But that wasn't all!  The Sea Serpent decided my ships looked the tastiest. Rearing it's ugly head and baring its menacing teeth, it charged in my direction!

 

Below, the menace facing the USN - they thought the war was over!  Wait, are these monsters CSA, French or British??  Will they interrupt shipping?

As they reload their broadsides, my ships take up positions to "unleash hell" against the monster next turn.  Moby is blubbering well behind as we slowed him down.

A terrifying view from the deck of the Mohican!

Meanwhile, the Scottish Kraken - Phil Mac Kraken - chases down and attacks the Onandaga, snatching and snacking upon sailors through any opening it can get a tentacle thru! "Tentacally Sir, I don't think his tentacles should fit through those ports" says the officious engineering officer...

In a furious attack, the dragon dives down, huffs and sets an ironclad afire - sailors flambe??

While the surviving frog shoots his sticky tongue claiming the lives of a few more flies, erhm, sailors, crunchy them in his slimy mouth. The horror!  The horror!

In a masterful move, Commodore Alexander circles and then blasts the Sea Serpent, while staying out of reach of Moby Richard. Sheer nautical genius, if I do say so meself...

With an unholy scream, the Sea Serpent gushes his last...

But don't get complacent, laddies!  The Dragon has got us in his sights, and is flying a full cup over the battlefield, too high for our guns to elevate!  Oh, for a slightly more advanced weapon that could fire higher... the AD Gun?  Anti-Dragon Gun?

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the board, the Leviathan sinks a Union ironclad...

In the end, altho the USN was closing with and firing upon the supernatural archway into another dimension, monsters were slightly ahead, having sunk a few vessels while replenishing their numbers through unnatural means.

A fun game!  It would likely freak out some of the rivet-counters who tend to love ship [and tank] games, and would be likely to argue the relative effectiveness of huge sticky tongues and the reloading period for dragon's breath.  But I say sometimes you just have to relax. And that's what we did with this interesting adaptation of "Beer'n Pretzels Ironclads" by Buck Sardu and Michael Miller. Which had some streamlining changes by the host to give it more Beer and less Crunch! 

Quick-Play WWII Naval "One-Hour Wargames"

"I fear we have awakened a sleeping wargamer..."

"...and filled him with a terrible resolve!"

from: [click]

Well, at least a terrible resolve to play a lot more WWII fast-play naval games!

With building excitement for my periodic naval wargames projects, I redid my fast-play WWII naval rules previously posted [CLICK] in the distinct style of One-Hour Wargames. I used the 6-Hits and 3-dice mechanics, which are very similar but give less attritional outcomes [ie you can totally miss] as naval battles in this era are focused more on gunnery than attriting your opponent, and well, you really can miss completely in naval gunnery!

Mr. Winkie is getting to be a young man, so I will have to see if I can convince him to play this out on the table so for now this version has NOT been playtested!  You have been warned... Do submit questions and ideas below, as Fb is well, evil, and a pain to track things on. 

These rules are focused on ship fighting, but give some - reasonable, I believe - nods to subs and airpower, which on most occasions were supporting the ship effort in a surface battle. My main thinking has been the USN v. IJN in mid-war, and perhaps the RN v. the RA in the Mediterranean, circa 1940-1942. You can tweak these to be a bit more specific as you like, and please send me your ideas!

Without further ado:

One-Hour WW2 Naval Warfare
By Alexander A. Moore of RED IN THE MORNING...
 
SCALE
This is not very NT/OHW to define, but the scale is a 6 minute turn, 1”=1,000 yards. This works out to 5 knots of speed is 1” for example, and 2” is a nautical mile [nm].
 
SHIP TYPES
Battleship BB, Cruiser CA, Destroyer DD, Submarine SS.                 
Force Composition is using the regular charts substituting as follows:
Infantry = CA, Archers = 2xDD, Skirmisher = CA or 2xDD as desired. Cavalry = BB.
 
Basing should be about ½“ - 1” wide and long enough to give ½” of space front and back. Put the naval flag, class and name of the ship on the base!
 
TURN SEQUENCE
The Attacker takes the first Player Turn, the Defender then takes a Player Turn. This ends one Game Turn. Each Player Turn is composed of the following Phases:
Movement. Player sequentially moves all his ships.
Fire. Player declares all Fire at a Target, resolves it, then moves on to the next Target, until all his ships have Fired.
Incidents. Opposing Player removes his smoke, then rolls to sink his ships with six or more Hits.
 
MOVEMENT

Ship Type	Movement	Turns	Turn at
Battleship	4”	90°	End of Move
Cruiser	5”	90°	End of Move
Destroyer	6”	90°	Start and/or End of Move
Submarine	4” / *2”	90°	Start and/or End of Move. *Submerged Movement.

Turns. Ships can turn up to 90° at the start and/or end of the move as indicated.
Minimum Move. Ships must move 2” a turn.
 
TERRAIN
The terrain features in the OHW scenarios must be adjusted for nautical warfare as follows:
Woods = Fog/Squall. Half move speed, Range within is 2” @ -1d6 to all Fire.
Town, Hill = Island. No ship movement into area; blocks Line of Sight.
Marsh, Lake = Shallows. Only Small ships may enter, or none at all as seems best.
Rivers = Peninsulas, Reefs and Sandbars [take your pick[ which count as impassible terrain.
Bridge, Ford = Channel thru Peninsulas 2-3” wide; may be passed by all ships.
Roads = Remove from scenario.

FIRING
The arcs of Gun Fire are 45°off the front, rear and right and left sides. Measure between closest points of a base, or the closest smoke stacks. Roll 3d6 scoring Hits as below:

Ship Type	Range	Hit on	Armored	Size	Torpedo	Notes
Battleship	18”	3+	Yes	L	N
Cruiser	12”	4+		M	N
Destroyer	6”	5+		S	Y	Torpedo: 6” Range, 3d6 @ 4+ to Hit.
Submarine	6”	6+		S	Y
Shore Battery	12”	4+	Yes	L	N

Adjudicate Hits
If target is Small or Armored, lose 1d6 for each.
If at half range or less, add 1d6. If Firing out to an additional 6”, lose 1d6.
Gun Fire through Firer’s Front or Rear arc, lose 1d6.
Ship Torpedoes are only fired through the Side Arcs; Submarine torpedoes thru the Front Arc.
Ship Damage and Sinking
Each ship can take 6 hits, after which they are Sinking. Roll a d6 for Sinking ships each Turn:
1-2 ship stays afloat, 3-4 ship catches Fire obscuring like Smoke, 5 quietly sinks, 6 explodes! Attach all ships within 1” with 3d6 @ 5+, become 3”x3” burning oil slick obscuring as Smoke.
 
Suggestions for Scenario Rules
Fortified Islands. If scenario has a Fort, e.g. #15 or 22, the island may have shore batteries, which count as Armored ships with 12” Range, Firing 3d6 @ 4+ to Hit. These are assumed to be scattered around the island, so draw Range and Line of sight from any point. Alternately, base them on two DD bases, and actually deploy them on the island, then draw Range and LoS from them at 180°.
Mainland. If a side can’t go within 6” of the table edge, the mainland is there, shallows, reefs, etc.
Mountainous Terrain. Large island, may have shore batteries or airfield.
Confusion. No Fire on Game Turn 1.
Scouting. Morning mist blocks the player[s] Fire one turn; the sun then burns it off.
Blundering into Contact. Both fleets move in a column [line ahead] until 6” of the center island; each then rolls a d6 to see if they leave it to port [left] or starboard [right] and turns in that direction, keeping the island 3-6” away, until one of their ships sights the enemy – they then move normally.
Wooded Hill. The shore battery is concealed by terrain, and Fire at them loses another -1d6.
Surprise. Red ships may not move Turns 1-3, or fire Turn 1. Get +1d6 Firing at Stationary Ships.
Scenario 23. Eliminate the river, keep the exit point – should play fine.
Red Disorganization. Red Ships may not move Turns 1-3 so are Stationary. They Fire normally.
Elite Defenders. The Shore Battery hits on a 3+.
Redoubt. This is a Shore Battery that replaces one CA and counts as Armored due to concealment. If invaded, a Landing Force is delayed a turn dicing an attack while the obstacles are negotiated.
 
 
Optional Rules
Submarines
Only the Defender may have a Submarine, which is exchanged for a CA.
Arc of Fire. Submarine torpedoes fire out of the Front Arc; its Gun fires into any arc.
Start. Submarines must start the game on the board and Submerged. They set up with 2 dummy markers anywhere in the setup area that may move like a Submerged SS. A dummy marker is removed when Hit by Gun Fire, or a DD comes within 2”, or if the SS Fires Torpedoes or surfaces. 
Submerged. Submarines may Surface or Submerge at the start of their Movement Phase. When Surfaced, they are like a slow DD per above rules. When Submerged, they have a 2” Move with no minimum, count as a Target in Fog/Squall, and can’t Gun Fire.
Deep Dive. A submarine may Deep Dive at the start of its Movement Phase. This removes it from play. It does not count as destroyed but as having left the play area.
 
Aircover. If one force has BBs and the other has fewer, Aircover is available to the force with fewer and attacks on Turn 1, or the first turn an opposing BB is on the table. Airpower attacks 1-3 Targets [1/2 d6 round up] and each target gets one air attack. The value of the attack is:
3d6 @ 3+ to Hit if one force has one BB and the other none;
3d6 @ 4+ to Hit if one force has two BB and the other one.
Air attacks get +1 d6 if attacking a Large ship or Island.
Battleships attract significant opposing resources as impressive targets!
 
National Characteristics for Torpedoes
IJN Type 93 “Long Lance”: 12” Range, 3d6 @ 3+ to Hit. Cruisers may have torpedoes!
USA Mark 14 Torpedo: 6” Range, 3d6 @ 5+ to Hit
If using this rule, it is advised that the USN force get Aircover.
 
Torpedo Hits result in the loss of 1d6” of of movement each – halve for Armored ships. Once all movement is lost, the ship is Stationary. If using this rule, switch all Torpedoes to 2d6 instead of 3d6.
 
Island defense. In scenarios with a town that has no Fort, the defender may exchange one CA to give the Island a Shore Battery as above.
Airfield. For the cost of a second CA, an atoll / island may have an airfield. This is an unarmored ship that may attack one ship every other turn [8 total attacks] with a sortie of planes worth 3d6 @ 4+ to Hit and with unlimited Range. If an Island has an Airfield, it must first have Shore Batteries.
 
Two Targets. Most BB and CA in this period had two Fire Direction Centers and could handle two Targets. Accordingly, 1 dice may be fired at one Target, and two dice at another target. Each Fire is then modified according to the circumstances.
 
Target Acquisition. Ships generally picked a target and stuck with it until it was out of the fight. This is because acquiring a new target was difficult and took time and skill.  One way to handle it is to penalize a ship -1d6 if it has started firing upon a Target this Turn. Another way to handle it is to give +1d6 for “Fired upon the same target as last turn”. If the Target moves out of Line of Sight, the acquisition is lost and the penalty is applied again. I prefer the -1d6!
 
Smoke. Many ships could lay smoke as an obscurant to enemy Fire. Smoke is a linear terrain feature along the path the laying ship took this turn. If a Target is completely on the other side [ship model or entire base, as you prefer] of the smoke, all Fire at it is -1d6. A black pipe cleaner is perfect smoke!
 
Variable obscurants. Fog, Squalls and even chemical smoke laid by ships can be quite variable, largely depending on the effect of wind. It is therefore more realistic to have a ship decide on a Target that is obscured by these and roll 1d6 for the number of inches to the Target that it can see. If it fails to roll enough inches, the Target can’t be fired upon. Alternately, subtract another 1d6 from its Fire – it’s your scenario!
 
Minefields. Some setups may need an obstruction that attacks, e.g. Scenario #6 Zone 1. For the cost of a CA, the setup area has a minefield that attacks any ship moving through it once a movement phase at 3d6 @ 3+ to hit.
 
Hit the Beach! Some scenarios seem to demand that a Town/Hill be seized, not their batteries merely silenced – consequently, the Island must be invaded!  If both players agree, the defense gets a Shore Battery, and the Attacker may substitute Transports for 1-2 Destroyers [or 2 for a Cruiser]. The Transports may attack the island with a landing force which has a range of 2” and attacks at 3d6 @ 4+ to Hit. If the Shore Battery is based, then the landing Force advances up to 1” a Turn and attacks on contact, per the Melee rules! Neither side may shoot into a melee.
 
Night. The IJN made huge efforts to prepare for it, and even early radar didn’t improve USN performance much. The best one can say is it enabled a sort of parity for a while, until the USN improved both the tech and the technique of radar fighting. Easiest is to limit ranges to 6” or three nautical miles on a moonlit night, using one marker per ship until they are at that range. You could shorten it to 3” even for a new moon. Expect the fight to be short and violent!  For variable visibility, roll a d6 and add it to the Range you set each time a ship Fires at a Target – if it falls short the target is out of Line of Sight. Ships that fire always replace their marker. For flares, Fire them at the start of the Fire Phase, make visibility 6” or 3” around the flare depending on the moon. Ships that do not Fire and are not illuminated or within Line of Sight may become markers again – markers cannot be Fired upon.
 
Traditional OHW Fire Dice. You can return the Fire mechanics to the OHW by giving the ships firing at 3+ the d6+2, the 4+ the d6, and the 5+ the d6-2, and all ships get 15 Hits. But why??  😊

Forged in Battle 1:3000 fleets hit the streets! Well..."Hit the waves!"

Alexander Hay-Whitton, a South African based in Bangkok has corresponded re: the Forged in Battle review posted here [CLICK]. We went back and forth a few times and I cajoled some extra commentary and pics from him. This is undoubtedly what the FiB sculptor wants to see, so, enjoy!

"The first outing for the Forged in Battle Trafalgar fleets. I finished them yesterday [he did it in a month...I'm envious!]. They look pretty good, even with my less-than-renaissance brushwork.

The rules in question are 'Rum, Buggery, and the Lash', trying to do a sort of DBA for sailing fleets, since I don't think the usually massed record-keeping ruleset suits local conditions. 

Less than glorious, it was a disaster! The rules actually penalized the fleet with more frigates, and we ended up starting way downwind. There were also numerous opportunities for the sort of gamer who plays the loopholes rather than the game.... I need to do a lot to the rules before we try again!"

lovely overview with an island or peninsula to left

"The cloth representing the ocean is cheap Chinese silk (Thai silk is better, but would be wasted on such a project)."


Very nice building models - must ask what they are!

View from the crow's nest - sails ahoy!


maneuvering for a positional advantage but it seems blocked!

things are looking pretty scrappy here

***********************************

"Since then, we've had another, much more successful go, following a lot of rule revisions."

"Too Geometrical"

"This second time we brought off a Nelson act, coming in from windward and cutting an enemy squadron in half, beating it down with a full squadron's fire, boarding, and capturing five SOL before nightfall." 

"Break the line!"

Wild melees above and below!

"We also landed some 2mm Irregular Miniatures marines and captured the land battery."

"S. Valentine is captured!"

Players were myself (Nelson), my wife Krisanan (Collingwood), and my regular opps Anthony Reardon (Villeneuve), and Englishman, and Mike Seely (Don Miguel da Siljio), a Canadian.

Rough being a wargaming Alexander, isn't it? Gives you a lot to live up to!

******************************

Yes, but Alexander wasn't much of a naval commander, anyway, altho some say he was "at sea" mentally!

Well, that's all for now - Alex's work is inspiring me to get back to these ships and playtest the rules I was favoring, Bob Cordery's Portable Naval Wargame. The rules and many others are a free download here [CLICK].

Age of Sail Project, p.1

'Signal "Close Action" Lieutenant - but not too close!"

Sailing competitions - they're just not what they used to be.  From: CLICK

I grew up sailing with my family, and spending most of the summer at the beach. We sailed into my college years and then I raced yachts for people as a young adult. Eventually, that got too crazy and I was busy with other aspects of life and stopped sailing. BUT I do love it! I read Hornblower and some Kent growing up, and the modeling challenges of beautiful Age of Sail [AoS] sailing ships is quite appealing.

However, gaming it has always been something else again. In high school, I played - and still own - Wooden Ships & Iron Men, both at home and with the local club who played with miniatures. When I got into sailing myself, I didn't like the artificiality of most game rules, and others were crazy complicated. Ultimately, I want:

1. Rules that feel like I commanding a sailing ship or squadron,
2. but are still playable, and 
3. where you win by out-sailing not "out-gaming" your opponent, and
4. ideally, can be played in both small and fleet actions.

Several years ago, I was interested in individual ship battles, so I got several of the lovely 1:600 Skytrex models, including a British, French and two US frigates, a Brit 64 and an East Indiaman, thinking to do small sea fights. I also got the rules reputed to have the best sailing mechanics  "Heart of Oak". And HOak _does_ have great sailing rules, but other mechanics are a bit clunky and old-school, and I couldn't seem to get the energy up to work with the intimidating Skytrex models, so the project languished. 

Eventually, I decided Age of Sail wasn't going to work out for me. I took pics of my copy of WS&IM to sell it on eBay with other board games, and took the skytrex ships and such to sell at Cold Wars. Then I didn't have time to put up the auction, and no one bought the Skytrex stuff at the 'con, so it all somehow survived by being 'out of sight, out of mind'.

Recently, I've been working on the "Portable Naval Wargame" for pre-dreads, I noticed that there were some ACW steam frigates in there. It also occurred to me that the shooting rules would work quite well for Age of Sail. This made fleet actions possible with some wind and command / control rules. A very tempting thought, since the sailing limitations of AoS are what make it interesting to game in the first place, along with the spectacle, of course.

However, I don't have time to build a big fleet of beautiful 1:1200 ships [nor the money for 1:600 ships!]. I need nice-looking but small ships that paint up quick. I checked around here and there, and eventually ran into the Forged in Battle 1:3000 ships, which looked perfect in the few pics I could get of the raw metal on line. 

Another clincher was checking into board games and finding a cheap copy of "1805: Sea of Glory by GMT". I also found a free copy of a small-ship action campaign system, "Narrow Seas", which looks promising. These fit into my new ethos that all naval actions are part of a strategic picture that affects the victory conditions of each action.

So in the end, I'm looking for:

• the above listed qualities in a set of rules,
• strategic impact and campaigns,
• easy to teach newbies, quick play at home on a small space,
• smaller ships that are easy to paint up but still look great on table.
• a flexible project that can be played quick and casual or in depth over time.

Product Choices
Forged in Battle 1/3000 Napoleonic era ships CLICK

War Artisan Paper Ships CLICK: many scales & periods that can be scaled up and down depending on how you print them up. PLUS free pennants / ensigns, also easily scaled.

"1805: Sea of Glory" boardgame by GMT [CLICK]
[check out the "in-depth reviews" at bottom of the Board Game Geek page]

"Narrow Seas" free campaign download by Curs'd Captain [CLICK]


Rules by priority of interest, but all purchased:

"Portable Naval Wargame Rules" CLICK

"Wooden Ships & Iron Men" CLICK

"Admirals" CLICK

"Fire as She Bears!" CLICK

"Signal Close Action" CLICK

"Fighting Sail: Sea Combat in the Era of Canvas and Shot, 1775-1815" CLICK

So, another old project manages to survive! This means that another one must be sacrificed in its stead, and I think a couple of the Role-playing game projects must go...

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!"