Form Line of Battle

Naval Wargame Rules 1650-1820

review by David M. Soucy

Form Line of Battle by David Manley is a third edition set of rules that sets out to recreate on the tabletop, naval warfare from the mid 1600’s to the end of the Napoleonic wars. The original rules were designed to allow for more expedient play of fleet actions, and the third edition looses nothing in that regard. Form Line of Battle deals well with some of pitfalls of other naval rules.

Naval war games by nature tend to involve many charts - ship charts, hit and movement tables and extensive record keeping for damage, heading and sail settings. At Old colony wargamers we found that it was possible for each player to handle from 2 to 4 ships with all of the major charts on the front and back of 2 sheets of paper. For those of you who loose their nicely painted models under a blizzard of papers rejoice!

The turns are divided into 3 phases. One command phase and two action phases. Order of play is decided by 6 regular playing cards (3 red and 3 black). By drawing cards order of play is kept random.

The rules also provide a nifty means for inferior crews to start the game a little out of line and somewhat jumbled. The basic rules will give you a fair sense of an Admiral’s command, whose focus would and should be on the strategy of winning the battle, not on which sail has enough men on it, etc. The basic rules include weather, crew quality, tacks and gybes, collisions, damage, repairs, and port defenses. Optional rules include shore batteries, signaling, fire ships and special rules for small actions.

The rules cover a broad period from The Dutch Wars to just after the end of the Napoleonic wars with special modifiers to allow for changes over the period.

Two scenarios (Battle of the Nile and Bantry Bay) are included with the ship information for each. Along with a generic chart for building scenarios using a point system for balance. The only problem with the rules was that in order to keep record keeping simple, players must rely on estimating a little bit to determine the attitudes of their ships to the wind. A process occasionally made more complex by a ship model being knocked about by the players. However in the big picture honesty should keep it from being a major problem.

If you are interested in all the salty details of an Age of Sail battle most of your needs would be fulfilled with Form Line of Battle. It’s best quality lies in its ability to play out a large battle with lots of ships.

Form Line of Battle is licensed to be published in North America by Brookhurst Hobbies and is available through them for $14.95.Brookhurst 714-636-3580 or info@brookhursthobbies.com

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