Ripe for Rediscovery

Over the past few months I have been doing a lot of reading into the Anglo-Spanish War of 1588-1603. This reading has led me to ask why such a fascinating period of history has not been more exploited by naval wargamers. I am fully aware that Don Featherstone the grand old man of British wargaming, included very basic Armada rules in his book "Naval Wargames:" As did Philip Dunn in "Sea Battle Games" and a series of articles I wrote in the 1960's under the title "Towards the Armada". All of these were a long time ago and modern research has developed our knowledge of the period to a much greater degree since that time.

Archaeology has been very much in the forefront of the improvement of what we know about ship design armaments and sea life of that time. Margaret Rule and her team that worked on the wreck of the Mary Rose and indeed are still working on her, have solved various mysteries as to the early Tudor navy. Underwater exploration of the Armada wrecks still in progress off the coast of Ireland has also increased the amount of information to be found.

Oddly it is Spanish sources that give us the best first hand information on naval affairs, those of the English seem to have been lost. There is, of course, a largish number of letters and personal memoirs written by English participants. Mainly, however, it is to modern research that we must look for such facts as are needed to make a viable set of wargames rules.

First and most importantly in my opinion a war game needs to be both fun and as near as is reasonable a recreation of the warfare of the chosen period. Secondly any set of rules must be user friendly whilst remaining complicated enough to satisfy the more literally minded. Thirdly the system used ought to be at least in part contain something new. Not just in the research that has gone into them but a novel idea that gives food for though to other sets of new rule writers to either use or adapt. Such rules should also be as quick as possible in play regardless of necessary learning phase that we all have to go through with any new set.

A set of rules for the 16th century would I believe have to take into account at least some of the following, the large number of different calibre guns carried on the average 16th century ship. The problems of carrying enough shot for each type must have been a logistical nightmare. Further, as far as we can tell they lashed the guns into the ports before firing them, this must have made for a slow rate of fire even on the tightest run ship. To aim the broadside it most likely the whole ship was used instead of each gun being under the charge of a gun-captain. Ships of this time also we less "handy" than later types. English ships were, to our best information, handier than those of the Spanish, the older types of ship of both nations were even less nippy than the Galleon types. As both sides seem to have suffered from a shortage of seamen and the English were forced into use the "Press" to crew their ships. The Spanish had a similar system and on each side gunners were at a premium.

Another important thing to remember is that ships men guns food drink cordage shot and powder and all the sundry bits and pieces needed to make a fleet work cost money and money was for Elizabeth I a never ending problem. Philip II of Spain with an Empire to both provide him with funds and at the same time drain those funds often found himself short of readies.

Elizabeth attempted to solve some of her financial crises by forming what we would call joint stock companies with London Merchants and other parties who saw war as a way to not only serve the Queen but also to turn a nice profit. The fleets sent out by her were most often in part funded on that basis. This was true even before official hostilities had broken out. When Francis Drake returned from his round the world cruise in the "Golden Hind" the Queens share of the profits amounted to at least one whole years royal revenue, small wonder she knighted Drake on the decks of the "Golden Hind".

Philip II had the same way of raising his Grand Armada only some twenty odd ships out of a fleet of one hundred and thirty were royal ships pure and simple. Of the rest some were hired others pressed and the rest supplied by the shipping interests in the Empire. Even the famous Galeases were not Spanish but came from Naples.

The war went on for some 15 years and during that whole time only two major fleet actions took place for the rest of the time there were many small actions and lots of Piracy. English privateers and pirates raided the Spanish settlements in the Caribbean. Some of these unfortunate townships were robbed five or six times. The mainland of Spain was attacked and landed upon by Drake Howard and Essex. Sometimes the Spanish repaid the compliment, they put troops ashore in Ireland on several occasions and even land in Cornwall and burnt Penzance. They also successfully transported most of the annual "Flota's" from the New World to Spain.

They also took Drakes old flagship the Revenge in a most famous action that is well known to every old schoolboy of a certain age. For us wargamers the romance of the period has a clarion call. Best of all it has the advantage of giving both sides a chance of victory. They would have to use the advantages that their side had at the time of course. Money discipline and size of domain for the Spanish and ferocity better ships and pigheadedness for the English. Further the period was one of trial and error, no one knew how to best use broadside ships in a major open sea action but during the war they began, at least the English did, to learn the rules of the game. Systems of Naval tactics management and command were experimented with.

At the start of the 16th Century the English were the pupils of the Iberians in matters nautical by the end they had surpassed them and become teachers themselves. As a last word I might add that the Scots were at this time very important seafarers and pirates it was not only the weather that caused the English fleet not to pursue the Armada into Scottish waters. The Dutch used their ships to strike at Spain. Indeed it is without doubt that without the Sea Beggars the revolt in the Netherlands against Spanish rule would have collapsed. So I would given the evidence I would recommend that wargamers take a second look at this most neglected of periods.

Recommended Reading List

Rogers. N.A.M. The Safeguard of the Sea. Volume I, 1997. published in paperback and in the bookshops.
Martin. C. and Parker. G. The Spanish Armada. MUP paperback 1999.
Heath. I. Both of his superb 16th century uniform guides published by The Foundry.
Plus the new Osprey on the Armada.