Smoke on the Water

ACW Naval Rules 1861-65

Reviewed by Jerry Lane

The American Civil War is a fascinating period for the naval wargamer. It saw the age of Nelson's wooden sail-powered Ships-of-the-Line give way to armored steam-powered Ironclads. Actions were fought on rivers, in harbors, and at sea. Forts played an important part in the conflict. This same convergence of technologies that makes the period interesting makes it hard to find a set of rules that strikes the balance between playability and coverage of the technology.

Jason Gorringe and Simon Thomas' Smoke on the Water may just be those rules. Published by Canis Publishing of the UK and distributed by Langton Miniatures, they are wire bound and 54 pages long, 2 pages of charts are included. The back of the book contains blank ship data sheets and masters for the speed markers, turn gauges and fire templates; these need to becopied before use. [N.B. The book is on A4 paper so you will need to work with a bit to fit the turn gauges on US 81/2 x11" paper.]

The rules are intended for use with 1/600 scale miniatures but a conversion sheet for 1/1200 scale is included. Groundscale is 1mm = 2 feet and the timescale is 1 turn = 1 minute. Since the rules are English measurements are in millimeters, both D10's and D6's are needed. The system classifies ships and their equipment into broad ranges. So the USS Monitor has Medium speed, Medium armor on the hull, Heavy armor on the turret; and is armed with 2 Heavy Smoothbores. It is the combination of a limited number of categories to make up an individualized ship that makes this system work so well.

Actions are simultaneous in each phase, with movement being plotted for all at the start of the turn. Ships can move at one of up to 4 set speeds. The poorer ships are incapable of reaching the best speeds. Speed and size determine turning ability. Rules for grounding, ramming, or colliding are all included and resolved during movement.

Gunnery takes place at the end of movement. Guns are described in several ways, three types: Smoothbore, Rifle or Columbiad; five sizes: Very Light up to Super Heavy and Mounting. The mechanism is a fairly standard "roll to hit" with modifiers based on range, speeds and target. Guns have a change of blowing up or jamming when fired. Damage is then figured in a process that looks at hit location, armor, range and gun type. Armor comes in seven types ranging from none to Super-Heavy. When hits land on armored locations there is a chance that the shot may be deflected and cause minimal damage. Damage is tracked by losing damage points based on the size of the ship.

Morale is checked for ships after the gunnery phase when one of several conditions are met. A failure means the ship leaves the action by retreating, scuttling or surrender.

Certain critical hits have a chance of starting a fire. The Fire Test procedure is also used to put out an existing fire. Both these tests are made by rolling 2D6 and comparing the modified result to a results table.

At the end of a turn a crew may attempt to repair a limited number of systems. Each turn one pre-plotted repair can be attempted. The repairs may bring a jammed gun back into use or repair a disabled rudder. There is no way to restore damage points during a game.

Special rules cover the three types of torpedoes used during the Civil War. Stationary torpedoes, modern mines, can be command or contact detonated. Contact torpedoes could also be set to drift downstream. Spar torpedoes were fitted onto ships and rammed into the enemy. Torpedoes may fail to explode and those that do cause variable damage.

Forts, ranging from a simple battery to Sumter, can be designed using the fortification rule. The rules allow ships to engage fortifications to either silence them or merely by-pass them. No allowance is made for amphibious operations.

The rules include two pages of ship data summaries. This only scratches the surface of the many different ships of this era. The procedures for rating other ships are given and a little bit of research will let you use any ship you can find a model for.

The publishers have a website devoted to the rules that includes new optional rules, new and revised ship statistics, and distribution information. The address is www.canis-publ.demon.co.uk/sotw2/default.html.

In the US the rules are distributed by several stores: Attactix, 15107 E. Hampden Ave., Aurora, CO 80014; Brookhurst Hobbies, 12188 Brookhurst St., Garden Grove, CA 92840; Grandiosity, PO 750992, Dayton, OH 45475. Grandiosity also has a website at www.erinet.com/bp/index.html, they list Smoke on the Water there with a price of $23.95. Brookhurst's website,brookhursthobbies.com, lists SOTW at $16.

These rules play well and offer a game that plays easily yet gives a good feel for all the options and problems of the period. The search for an ACW naval ruleset sometimes seems to be a conflict between "Too Hard" and "Too Soft". These rules seem to be "Just Right". If you have any interest in Civil War naval wargames take a look at Smoke on the Water; they might be the rules for you too.

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