Heart of Oak

Miniature Rules

by Bruce Mulligan

Heart of Oak

Williams, Jon. Heart of Oak: Naval Miniatures Rules for the Age of Fighting Sail. Fantasy Games Unlimited, P.O. Box 182, Roslyn NY 11576. 40 pp., numerous charts and illustrations. Can be ordered separately for $7.00, or as part of Privateers and Gentlemen role- playing set ($20.00 total).

The origins of these rules are shrouded in mystery. Suffice it to say that after first appearing several years ago, being widely hailed, and then disappearing, HEART OF OAK has bobbed to the surface again, in a new and greatly improved guise.

HEART OF OAK is intended to simulate naval combat during the 18th and early 19th Centuries. The scale is one turn equals one minute, and one millimeter equals one meter. Although designed for use with 1:1200 scale ships, the rules can be used with no changes with the popular Valiant 1:2000 ships (my preference), Avalon Hill's cardboard WOODEN SHIPS, or the 46 thin counters the publisher has thoughtfully provided (counters must be cut out, and probably won't last long, but they'll get you started).

HEART OF OAK, while presenting a wealth of detail and simulating single-ship actions extremely well, is meant to be used primarily for large or small fleet actions. Although the rules cover every eventuality which a warship of this period might face, they are ideal for introducing beginners to the period, because provided somebody knows all of the rules, all that is necessary for the other players is to know how to move their ships (which takes about five minutes to explain). Some basic knowledge of the rudiments of combat under sail wouldn't hurt, either, but that will come with experience, albeit under fire.

No grid of any kind is used for sailing, instead the ships maneuver on tabletop or floor using a compass rose (provided) with 16 points of the compass indicated. The course of a normal turn has ship captains choosing the direction they wish to be heading at the end of each of two legs, along with their sail setting. Crew factors, which come in increments of 10 men each, are also assigned, but this is generally standard, and no unusual assignments are required unless there has been an extraordinary occurrence, such as a mast falling or the rudder being shot away. And that's it.

After rolling for initiative, fleets take turns moving one ship at a time, with fire being allowed by any vessel at any time during the turn (if both sides wish to fire at once, the side with initiative is allowed to do so first). The effect of this devilish rule is that a French ship, being approached by a British vessel, might loose a broadside at short range, raking the British ship across the bow, only to find to the French captain's horror that the British ship (with a crack crew, of course), will be sailing across the French vessel's stern, letting go a fresh broadside at point-blank range. No knowledge of this particular set of rules is required to imagine the result. The effect of this rule is to prevent a ship from beginning its turn in a dangerous position and then sailing to safety by virtue of the fact that fire does not occur until everyone has moved. In HEART OF OAK, you reap what your faulty tactics have sowed.

With a lifetime's experience of racing and cruising aboard sailing vessels of all sizes, I can truthfully say that this game has the best and simplest sailing system I have yet seen for this period.

Tacking, wearing ship, backing sail (but only while sailing to wind ward), and heaving-to are all included, along with more exotic actions such as towing, camels, kedging, wetting sails, boxhauling (don't ask) and even starting water.

Let's face it -- if they could do it, you can do it. But, again, rookie captains need not be bothered with most of this information. In numerous games with beginners I have found that if the two admirals know the rules, everyone else will learn them easily by osmosis as the game goes on, with no sneaky tricks possible against them, or at least not any more than Nelson used against his less skilled opponents.

Combat is almost exclusively by broadside. The author makes (and proves, in my eyes) a convincing case that no successful boarding action was ever fought by one uncrippled ship of the line against another. Nevertheless, for those who deny this reality, he cheerfully includes an optional "Heroic Boarding" chapter to allow you to attempt it anyway.

Both main guns and carronades are available, and optional rules cover bow and stern guns (which I heartily recommend you not allow at less than long range), fortifications, red-hot shot, bombs, rifle-armed marines, and clearing for action, among others.

Fleet actions require signals, and signalling charts are included, whose chief purpose seems to be to demonstrate the great difficulty an 18th Century admiral had getting anyone other than his own captain to do what needs to be done. It's lots of fun trying, though.

Additional rules, of which space allows no other mention, cover such actions and results as taking possession, fires aboard ship, weather, shoals, repairs, jury masts, initial and continuous broadsides (firing at 20-60% of the original factor after the first fire), advanced ship design, razees, ramming, and more. There is also a short but useful section on the mechanics of a naval campaign, with good suggestions about how to run one.

Appendices to HEART OF OAK contain handy definitions (for those of you unfamiliar with pinks, luggers and schuyts), permissible orders for ships (from "Clear for Action" to "Strike"), and a list of ship types and characteristics for the British, American, Russian, Turkish, Dutch, Danish, French, North African, Spanish, Swedish, and various privateer ships.

While not within the scope of interest of THE COURIER, the two role-playing additions to HEART OF OAK, TRADITION OF VICTORY and PROMOTIONS AND PRIZES, are highly recommended for their tremendous wealth of information on this period, the former containing the names and some data on every naval battle of significance between 1754 and 1827.

There are a few criticisms; the usual first edition typos appear, and some of the more important charts are buried in the rules book while less necessary ones are stiff pull-out sheets. All in all, however, HEART OF OAK should go a long way toward helping to popularize an exciting and easily playable sphere of miniatures.

Imagine: No thousands of castings; no trees, hills or villages; no casualty caps -- just your ships and the blue felt ocean.

HEART OF OAK is highly recommended.

Other Reviews:

Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. IV No. 5
Back to Courier List of Issues
Back to Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1983 by The Courier Publishing Company.

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