Jane's Naval Wargame

Rules

by Greg Rice

Fred Jane began publishing Jane's Fighting Ships in 1898. That same year he produced a pioneering naval wargame which soon attained considerable popularity. Bill Leeson (5 St. Agnells Lane Cottages, Hemel Hempstead, Herts HP2 7HJ, United Kingdom), has now published a facsimile of the final 1912 version of these rules. They have two points that particularly recommend them: pure nostalgia and inspiration for more modern rules, particularly campaign games.

The rules are straightforward, with a bare minimum of charts and no dice - although Jane was very concerned that the unpredictability of war be represented. Turns are 1 minute in duration; ground scale was originally 1:1200, but provision is made for playing 1:3000. Movement is either on maps or on the table, using turning circles. Firing is done by striking at a drawing of the target ship with a wand which has a pin fixed to one end at right angles. A cardboard disc larger than the target is fastened to the wand, covering the pin, which is slightly off center. A number of these strikers are used, each with a slightly different pin offset. What you puncture is where your shell hit.

The targets come in three sizes, varying from about 1 1/4 to 5 inches in length for a battleship, to be used at different ranges. Hits are checked for penetration, and damage is determined by the umpire. In this, as in many facets of the game, the umpire is running a free kriegspiel. It is entirely up to him to decide the effect of penetrating a turret or holing a funnel. The gunnery ranges reflect the era in which the rules were written: 10,000 yards is extreme range, with 6000 yards the expected maximum effective range. Leeson has provided an appendix with updates to reflect the experience of the First World War, where engagement at over 15,000 yards was the norm.

These targets are the stumbling point for anyone planning to use these rules to actually play a game, rather than as a source of inspiration. An example is provided, but you will have to provide your own drawings (cadged from FightingShips, of course). This need not be a fatal problem: I misspent a great number of hours in my youth playing a game derived from this one in a shed in our orchard, using an air pistol rather than a striker (back up at longer range, get hit in the director and you shoot left handed). In those pre-Xerox days the number of engagements was limited by the rate at which my brother and I could trace ships. With photocopying available, you need only make a single drawing of each class of ship you own.

Quite aside from playing these rules, they include a number of suggestions for cruising against merchant shipping, bombarding towns, capturing ports, engaging forts, carrying out night actions, and other warlike pursuits that can be readily adapted for use with other rule sets. The methods for dealing with fuel capacity and ammunition supply are simple and workable. Several example campaigns are provided to get the juices flowing.

The rule book contains 100 pages (81/2 by 53/4) with card covers and a plastic comb binding. Although a bit pricey at $20 (dollar-denominated checks acceptable), these are sure to have you digging out your ship models and finding excuses to fire those big guns in the North Sea.

Reviewing Stand

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