The Fever Islands

The Game (Part 1)

Introduction

by Peter Lawson

Amphibious operations throughout history have proven to be fraught with dffliculties for their respective commanders; this is certainly true of His Britannic Majesty's Royal Navy and Land Forces engaged in such activities during the 18th., 19th. (and 20th.) centuries. Luck (and pluck) rather than sound judgement and pre-planning normally carried the day. The 'art of improvisation' was considered an essential skill for a budding 'webfoot' officer.

This 'fun' game (the writer assumes that, sadly, not ALL of our wargames fall into this happy category, a general malaise of the hobby in general that should be urgently treated. "kick away his soapbox, someone....'] is an attempt to recreate the problems arising with such a venture (from 'area-of-ops.' level down to the hapless 'lobster' who sprawls out of the ship's boat only to lose his best powder in the surf whilst receiving friendly encouragement from his warmhearted NCO...

"Don't give me excuses, you disease of a human being, you! Get up that beach and skewer the b.....ds!"

...and also to present a basic introduction to a fascinating 'forgotten' theatre of the early Napoleonic era.

Although this game has been played several times since conception (with many amendments and additions) with all levels 'interactive', the original aim of the designer was to stage a mini-campaign of the 1790's onwards with particular attention to "the Caribbean theatre", a somewhat euphemistic phrase coined by latter day historians; the actual participants of these campaigns, with, understandably, very bitter memories termed the area as: THE FEVER ISLANDS.

(Note: the references and primary sources for this period are extremely few and far between (it will definitely involve the urgent revival of your O level French!) but for the scholars amongst you, I will furnish a list of sources after the smoke has cleared and you await the returns from the Ship's Surgeon...)

AWAY ALL BOATS!

Without further ado, we will dive straight into the 'dramatic personae' of the action. Some of the narrative background may prove to be somewhat peremptory, but it should serve as a flavouring for experienced gamers and novices alike. there are six principal character briefings (two are optional at the outset) but, if your press-gangs are having a lean time of it, the scenario will operate successfully with as few as three participants plus an umpire; alternatively, if you stage the game on a Club day and United are playing away, you should be able to find useful occupation for about twelve players plus one umpire (and one umpire's menial!).

Incidentally, it is fairly essential that someone takes the umpire's chair for this game (umpire, Games Master, Dungeon Controller, Billy Big Bananas, or what you will...); if one wishes to play at all levels. The admin setting-up and general games management duties require an 'independent mind'. Also, on a lowly gamer's point of view, once the action hits the beach (hopefully), various aspects most suitable for umpire control (such as hidden movement, surprises (!?) and combined arms coordination) will create enormous fun for the players. Many die-hard gamers believe umpires to be very strange fish (they may be right; I will close this digression by stating that I cannot remember the last game I played WITHOUT an umpire of some sort.

The following character briefings should illuminate the general situation fairly conclusively, and, as far as your chosen umpire is concerned, it is by no means essential for the respective briefings to remain privy to each gamer; sometimes this can be a source of great amusement for the umpire (what was that about strange fish?), but if some good old-fashioned "roleplay" is encouraged, the players should develop a healthy loathing for each other very quickly. Combined operations were not known for their resemblance to mutually co-operative knining circles.

In any case, the Editor of this illustrious magazine may take umbridge with the writer if gamers cancelled their subscriptions en masse merely to host this scenario with dutifully concealed character briefings!

THE CHARACTERS

(with defererence to Patrick O'Brien et al)

Fever Islands Part 2: The Game

Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #7
Back to First Empire List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1992 by First Empire.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com