Navarch is a set of rules to play out naval battles in Ancient Greece. They are complementary to the Polemarch rules presented above. Before getting into an analysis of the rules it is important to discuss the special toys one needs to play this game.
Polemarch and Navarch use 25mm plastic figures (formed into units of 24 figures). Navarch also uses specially made 4 inch balsa wood galleys. Each Galley holds one land unit (or so). I do not know how they are built, but am certain I can get this information for anyone who wants it. The Naval rules deal with the movement and combat of these ships.
Aelred begins Navarch with a sequence of play that looks similar to "Wooden Ships and Iron Men." This is deceptive though because the two games play completely differently. Movement is done by written orders and is simultaneous, which seems to have the effect of making sea battles more risky than land fights, since It Is possible to run into your own ships.
The written orders are written out in a chart which explains how to write them onto turn roster. When a ship moves fast It uses up the enegy of its rowers (and covers a lot of ground). This is kept track of on the ship roster. This bit of book keeping does not seem to be easily forgotten since ship captains have to refer to the roster every turn to write orders. In addition It seems to give ships captains a limited resource that could prove vital.
Ships move a certain number of Inches based on how many "oar points" they have and the speed order given. Apparently oars can be destroyed which will eventually make slower speed orders completely ineffective. Anyone who has seen "Ben Hur" will know this recognizable pattern. Oarsmen must exert more energy to move as the ship gets more damaged. Ships are riot allowed to gain or drop more than one level of speed a turn. The exception to this rule being ramming. Ships are allowed to sail - but can never sail Into the wind -(another recognizable pattern). Spartas are considered to be poorer sailors than Athenians and are thus slower in turning.
Turning is done on "turning circles" of varying diameters. Turning circles have been used in modern naval games and seem to give the players an illusion of precision. Athenian ships generally move on circle of a smaller diameter (ie a sharper turn).
Movement is still done in inches (of which there are obviously fewer of on a smaller circle). This rules mechanism seems to work but there is no way of knowing exactly how tightly Athenian ships turned. But since the point is to create a recognizable pattern, it works.
Crew sizes seem to be very small. Athenians have only 4 hoplites onboard (compared to the Spartan 6). Rowers are never represented as figures. This is likely to make sea melees shorted than land battles so this seems like a good idea. As .3 result of their crew size and manuever capabilities the Spartans are likely to go for boarding tactics, while the Athenians can attempt to rake enemy oars off and ram.
Ships hitting one another at 45 degrees or less are considered to be raking. This makes it easy to do and keeps players interested in their sailing. The number of ears sheared off is calculated by a simple die roll formula. For some reason these simple die roll plus modifiers seem to be so :such more understandable in Navarch than in Polemarch. It could well be in the way they are laid out. Navarch uses a table, while_ Polemarch did it in words.
Ramming happens when ships hit at angles greater than 45 degrees. Ramming is the way to sink ships. Another die roll with modifiers is used to determine the number of "loads of water" a rammed ship takes on. Get too much, and a ship sinks. This is a simple system that soon leads to stray men swimming (or drowning if one is a hoplite) about.
Morale for fleets seems to depend on the fate of the flag ship. If it is destroyed, then the fleet must test its mettle. It looks like it is possible to rout a whole fleet if one is lucky.
Ships crews are allowed to move anywhere they want to onboard ship. This makes sense, it Is only Important that the figures be placed somewhere.
Grappling appears to be done by a simple dice roll off. This seems to work well enough.
Once ships are grappled melee can happen. Melee and missile fire seem to be done the same way at sea as they are done on land. The only difference is in how morale Is resolved. Depending on who has more figures fighting on the attacked ship, the attacker will retreat or the defender will surrender.
Plugging holes and cutting grapples are minor repair tasks which are settled by a die roll. If a ship does not plug up the holes It takes on another load of water.
Navarch is generally a simpler game to learn to play than Polemarch. Both, though, are easy games to play and seem well suited for solo wargames. Both use a lot of rolls of six sided dice and thus give the player the illusion that they have power.
Afterthoughts
Well, did things work out the way you expected? Were the rules easy enough to comprehend? Were they fun to play? Would you be interested in using any of these rules again? Have you any suggestions for improving the rules?
The situation is based on the events at Pylos and Sphacteria island in the Peloponnesian War as described by Thucydides in his history. The time has been greatly compressed and the scales doctored badly-about 14-1 for figures, about 75 yards to the inch for ground scale (though the island is not the right shape anyway) and anywhere from 1-1 to 10-1 for the ships. An overall situation that took months to resolve has been compressed into a single day's action (basically by skipping over all those days when nothing happened).
Demosthenes and Cleon have their historical roles. Nicias was a strategos at the time but was actually at Athens (Euremydon actually had the command that Nicias is given in the scenario-Nicias is a more interesting character). Brasidas was present but had been wounded in the Spartan attacks on the Athenian base before the scenario opens (Epitadas had command of the forces on the island). Lysander has the command of Thrasymelidas (about whom nothing further is known) and of course did not make his name as an admiral until ten years after this. Callicratidas and Dercylidas were also commanders in the latter part of the war. About the actual whereabouts of all of these at the time of the action at Sphacteria, nothing is known.
Historically, the Spartans did occupy the island with the intention of cutting off the Athenian base (the interpretation offered here is that suggested in the most recent commentaries in the Journal of Hellenic Studies) but the Athenian fleet showed up and defeated the Spartans before they put their plan into effect. This resulted in the isolation of the Spartan forces on the island. The Spartans offered to negotiate and mart of the deal was to hand over their remaining ships to the Athenians during the truce while the Athenians allowed the Spartans to send supplies to their men (on a daily basis) and a Spartan negotiating team was sent to Athens. The implication in Thucydides is that Nicias was in favor of accepting the Spartan offer of peace and was opposed by Cleon. In any case, the Athenians decided that they had the whip hand and rejected the Spartan offer.
When the Spartan negotiators got back to Pylos they asked for their ships back and were told that there and been some violations of the truce and so the Athenians were keeping the ships. The Spartans were highly indignant but there was no way for them to recover from the unbelievable blunder of handing their entire navy over to the Athenians. The Athenians expected to be able to starve the Spartans out with little difficulty but the Spartans offered freedom to any helots who would bring supplies to the island and so small boats and swimmers managed to keep enough supplies coming in to allow the garrison to hold out. Winter was drawing near and the Athenians were beginning to regret their decision in rejecting the Spartan offer of peace. Cleon stood up in the assembly and criticized Nicias for not landing on the island and capturing the Spartans. Nicias offered the command of the force to Cleon who was forced by the mob to accept.
Once the landing was effected the Spartans were essentially over-whelmed by the Athenian light troops and unable to close with the Athenian hoplites. After a long hard day of being hit by arrows, stones and javelins without being able to deal out any damage in return, the remnant of the force decided to surrender. This was quite a feather in Cleon's cap, even though he had very little to do with the outcome. The war would continue.
POLEMOS
PLAYER AID CHART
Land (Polemarch) Turn Sequence
1. Initiative toss
12. Attacker moves
3. Attacker missiles
4. Defender disengages
5. Defender missiles
6. Attacker melees
7. Defender melees
8. Activities occur at sea
9. Repeat 1-8
10. End turn
| Moves | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Troops | Clear | (Rough) | Charge |
| U Inf | 8" | 6" | 12" |
| A Inf | 6" | 4" | 9" |
| Cav | 12" | 6" | 16" |
| F Hop | 4/5" | NA | 4+die" |
Morale (casualties, panic of - or better troop w/in 12" or charged by higher morale)
Check on 1,2 or 3,
+1 Elite, leader w/in 6",
-1 Poor, leader casualty causing check
If shaken toss again: 1-fall back 3 dice, 2- 2 dice, 3-1 die, 4-1/2 die, 5 or 6 OK
Disengage/high toss
+2 Cavalry, +1 Elite,
Unarm Inf, -1 Militia, F Hop
Naval (Navarch)
Turn Sequence
1. Write orders
2. Move ships
3. Check fleet morale
4. Move crews
5. Grapples
6. Missiles
7. Melees
8. Melee morale
9. Attempt plug holes, cut grapples
Codes
BO-Back Oars
RO-Rest Oars
1/4B-Quarter Beat
1/2B=Half Beat
MB-Maximum Beat
ST-Starboard Turn
PT-Port Turn
Speeds at 5 oar points remaining
BO & 1/4B = 9"
1/2B (costs 1 energy point) = 15"
MB (costs 2 energy points) = 24"
Turning circles
BO & 1/4B, Athens = A, Sparta = C
1/2 Athens = B Sparta = D
MB Athens = C Sparta = E
Sailing Athens = D Sparta = F
Deductions for R & R
Rake Ram
-3 at M.B. -0
-4 at 1/2B -1
-5 at 1/4B -2
-1 w 4pts -1
-2 w 3 pts -2
-3 w 2pts -3
-4 w 1pt -4
Sink or Swim
Un Arm 1,2 Sink, 3-6 Swim
Arm 1-4 Sink, 5,6 Swim
Missles and Melee for both land & naval rules
Long hits on 6, Medium 5or6, Short on 4,5 or 6
Archery (Javelins) Long 18" (6"), Med 12" (4"), Short 6" (2")
S/S hits Armored on 5 or 6, Un Arm on 3,4,5,6 (Dagger -1, Rt F1 +1, Rear +2)
Saves are leader 3,4,5 or 6, Arm Inf 4,5,6, Un Arm 5 or 6
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© Copyright 1991 by Chris Engle
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