Tag Archives: Maritime

Rules

Bireme and Galley

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A pretty old set of rules produced by Fantasy Games Unlimited, the set can be played with either miniature galleys or a series of cutout counters for a variety of different vessels.  There is also a large map showing a couple of basic oared vessels for staging man-to-man combat during boarding actions.  The map and one of the counters can be seen in the photo above.

For what it covers, the rules offer a fair amount of information and appear to be usable for all oared naval actions from ancient to encounters during the Renaissance.  The rules were likely meant for historical gaming but appear to offer enough detail to allow their use in RPGs.

One thing to make note of is that a clear overlay is provided with the rules for determining such things as turn radius for ships so if purchasing the set used which I assume is the only way to get it these days, make sure the overlay is included.

 

Past, Vehicles

Thoroughbred Figures 1/600 ACW Vessels

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The USS Roanoke triple turret monitor alongside a Union tin clad gunboat. The models dwell in that limbo between the more common 1/1200 scale for naval models and 1/300 as a lower limit on ground forces.
The USS Roanoke triple turret monitor alongside a Union tin clad gunboat. The models dwell in that limbo between the more common 1/1200 scale for naval models and 1/300 as a lower limit on ground forces.
Two Confederate ironclads. Top is the CSS Charleston. The lower ship is listed as CSS Columbia/Texas.

Thoroughbred miniatures ACW vessels are just a bit on the large size for gaming but I doubt that will stop anyone from using these, especially if they have enough space.  The range is extensive and the models well-detailed with many small pieces for some ships like the Hartford making these more of a project than most.

I first encountered these when with nothing to do on a weekend in Columbia, SC, I wandered into a toy soldier convention.  It was a small but interesting gathering.  The Thoroughbred display drew my attention more than any other.  I have been slowly gathering them since then.  ‘Then’ was likely about 12 years ago.

There are a reasonable number of rule sets available for ACW ironclads.  One likely candidate is the Ironclads games originally offered by Yaquinto.   The size of the larger ships, though, make these unlikely candidates for hexagons on all but the largest game mats.

Of course, the charm of these miniatures is the careful attention to detail.  These miniatures straddle the line between display and gaming.  Since the reality of gaming is that most gamers select a scale based on space available and cost of the miniatures, that most of these battles involved small numbers of ships and occurred in a limited area, the large size will not seem out of place.

 

Rules

Battlewagon

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A board game suitable for miniatures as I suspect most naval games are. This covers WWI and WWII though detail for early Japanese ships seems weak. Another Task Force Game product.
Battlewagon

A board game Battlewagon is suitable for miniatures as I suspect most naval games are. This covers WWI and WWII though detail for early Japanese ships seems weak. Another Task Force Games product now produced by Amarillo Designs Bureau. I have read that the rules were originally an adaptation of the Star Trek battles rules which in turn were created from the rules for the Avalon Hill game Jutland.

Rules provide involved multi-phase movement. Ship scale is 1 to 1 with each ship provided a chart showing weapons, armor, speed, etc. which is also used to record damage received from hits. Air power is an element noticeably absent from the game though supposedly this was added in an article in Nexus magazine, a publication put out by Task Force Games to promote their products. The games provides an interesting simulation with less involved rules than some but the need for an individual rather complicated chart for each ship suggests that the number of ships involved will never be very large.

Role Playing, Rules

Privateers and Gentlemen

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These are pretty old rules for Napoleonic warfare at sea complete with an interesting role playing component. The combat rules are pretty detailed so smaller actions would seem preferable. There is an earlier version of these which I also have buried in the closet somewhere.
Privateers and Gentlemen.

These are pretty old rules for Napoleonic warfare at sea complete with an interesting role playing component. The combat rules are pretty detailed so smaller actions would seem preferable. There is an earlier version of these which I also have buried in the closet somewhere. The rules went beyond games existing at the time in covering ship movement, crew allocation, and combat. Some of the rules seem eccentric. The method for determining who fires first involves slowly pushing ships towards each other and seeing who shouts ‘fire’ first. Move distances sometimes drop to single digit millimeters, small enough that an accidental bump of a miniature might exceed the ship’s movement allowance for that turn.

There is also an interesting role-playing component that allows players to generate a range of naval officers and follow their successes and failures as they captain ships in battle. The rules also provide a useful overview of the life of a British naval officer while providing helpful details on the minutia of the cloistered world of a Napoleonic era ship. This includes a description of the responsibilities of the various personages that could be found aboard a ship of war. This is all very helpful information for anyone who wonders about what a carpenter or sailing master or marine might be called on to do. It also will aid in understanding films and novels based in this era such as those by C.S. Forester, Alexander Kent, and Patrick O’Brien.