On the 13th of June, 1801, Rear-Admiral Linois, with the 80-gun ships Indomptable and Formidable, 74-gun ship Desaix, and 38-gun frigate Muiron, put to sea from Toulon, bound to Cadiz, intending to join a French squadron of six sail of the line; but, delayed by adverse winds, did not arrive in sight of Gibraltar until the 1st of July. On the 3rd, the brig Sophie. Commander James Aubrey, was fallen in with, and, after a long and skillfully conducted retreat, captured. Having learned that Cadiz was blockaded by a superior force, Linois bore up for Algesiras; and at 5h. P.M. on the 4th anchored in front of the town. The British squadron off Cadiz at this time consisted of-- Guns Ship Commander 80 Caesar Rear-Adm. Sir James Saumarez (blue) Capt. Jahell Brenton 74 Pompee Capt. Charles Sterling 74 Spencer Capt. Henry D'Esterre Darby 74 Venerable Capt. Samual Hood 74 Superb Capt. Richard Goodwin Keats 74 Hannbal Capt. Solomon Ferris 74 Audacious Capt. Shuldham Peard Frigate Themes Capt. Askew Paffard Hollis Brig Pasley Lt. William Wooldridge Lugger Plymouth Lt. Robert Elliot On the 5th of July, at 2h. A.M., Lieutenant Richard Janvrin, who had been dispatched for that purpose in a boat from Gibraltar, by Captain G.H.L. Dundas, of the Calpé. arrived on board the Caesar with intelligence of the arrival of the French squadron at Algesiras. Sir James Saumarez, after dispatching the Pasley to recall the Superb, employed blockading the river Guadalquivir, immediately proceeded in search of the enemy. The wind being very light on the 6th, the admiral was drifted out of sight of the Superb, Thames, and Pasley: and at 4h. A.M., on the 7th, the squadron was standing into Algesiras Roads, in the following order: -- Venerable, Pompée, Audacious, Caesar, Spencer, and Hannibal. At 7h., the Venerable having rounded Cabrita Point, descried the enemy's squadron, and a signal was then made from the Caesar, directing the ships to engage the enemy as they arrived up. Linois had moored his ships in line ahead thus: -- Formidable, abreast of the battery of San Jago; mounting five long 18-pounders; Desaix, about 500 yards astern, and Indomptable about the same distance from the latter ship. The Muiron was a little within the Isle of Verda; a Spanish gun-boat was anchored to the south west of that island. The captured Sophie was anchored between Fort San Jago and the Formidable with a large enough prize crew to man one broadside, but inadequate to get her underway. The preceding has been taken largely from Joseph Allen's Battles of the British Navy (London, 1852), the exception being that Mr. Allen unaccountably. states that the captured brig was HMS Speedy, commanded by Lord Cochrane. Since all readers of Patrick OBrian's Master and Commander know that it was actually Aubrey's Sophie. this curious error has been rectified. What follows is adapted from the account in O'Brian. On the poop of the Desaix, Captain Pallière and his officers watched the maneuvers of the Pompée, the Venerable, the Audacious and, farther off, the. Caesar, the Hannibal and the Spencer as they worked in on the light, uncertain westerly airs, through the strong, shifting currents running between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean: they were all of them seventy-fours except for Sir James' flagship, the Caesar, and she carried eighty guns. Pallière and Aubrey talked away with great perseverance, their voices rising as the shore batteries began to roar and the thundering broadsides filled the bay. With a high-pitched shattering crash the stern-windows of the Desaix fell in ruin; the padded locker beneath, Captain Pallière's best wine-bin, shot half across the cabin, projecting a flood of champagne, Madeira and broken glass before it; and in the midst of the wreckage trundled a spent ball from HMS Pompée. It was curious position. The wind had picked up. The Pompée had glided well past the Desaix to fire at the Formidable, swept past, tacked and engaged her. again with her starboard guns. This, combined with the raking fire of the Venerable, which crossed her stern, resulted in a furious pounding which was sufficient to cause her to strike. Desaix was engaged by both Caesar and Hannibal was pounding them furiously. Caesar swung away to close with the Indomptable, already in action with the Audacious which passed her to exchange long shots with Muiron. Hannibal beat closer to Desaix to rake her bow and, under fire from the heated shot of the San Jago Battery, proceeded south to join in the fighting with Indomptable. The fire from Desaix and Indomptable had damaged Caesar and the flagship drew off, but Audacious and Hannibal were able, along with some passing fire from the Spencer, to cause Indomptable to haul down her flag. Desaix had suffered severely and a final broadside from the closing Spencer left her with no choice but to strike. All of the Royal Navy ships but the lugger (which had stayed at the fringes of the action but still received some damage in the furious cannonade) had been severely handled. If the strangely silent Spanish batteries on Verda Island and facing Algesiras had been engaged, the course of the battle may well have been different. As it was, a halfhearted attempt to cut out the Sophie was deterred by red hot shot and the action died away. AS PER MARGIN III (Simple Rules for the Age of Fighting Sail by Ælred Glidden) DETERMINING INITIAL WIND: 1=N, 2=E, 3=S, 4=W, 5,6=TOSS AGAIN: 1=NE, 2=SE, 3,4=SW, 5,6=NW TURN SEQUENCE: Check Wind Direction & Speed, Move Dismasted ships, French/Spanish Move Ships, English Move Ships, All Ships anchored bow & stern Pivot, English Fire, French/Spanish Fire, Boarding Actions. CHANGES IN WIND DIRECTION: l-4=No Change, 5=Back 1 Point (Counter-clockwise), 6=Veer 1 Point (Clockwise) WIND SPEED: All distances are determined by the ship's heading after completing any turns prior to beginning movement. Each Turn Toss 2D6: TOTAL is Maximum # Inches Ships may sail with or across the Wind. HIGHER DIE is Maximum # Inches Ships may beat into the Wind (up to 45°) AND the distance Damaged Ships may sail with or across the Wind. LOWER DIE is # Inches Damaged Ships may beat into the Wind AND the distance Dismasted Ships must drift with the Wind. UNDAMAGED SHIPS (that is, that have not had their top line of Mast boxes crossed off) that are moving independently (scouting frigates, ships in flight, ships in General Chase) may also each toss an additional 1D6 OR pivot after completing movement (decide before tossing). ALL SHIPS not anchored or aground must move at least the # Inches on the lower die. FALLING ABOARD Ships within 3" must check to see if they Fall Aboard. Toss 1D6 (-2 if either ship anchored): 6=collision; 4,5=collision if within 2"; 2,3=collision if within 1"; 1=no collision. If a collision occurs move the ship checking into contact. The ships have Fallen Aboard and are treated as Dismasted until separated. To separate toss 1D6: 1-4 remain locked together, 5 or 6 separate. TURNING SHIPS: SHIPS may pivot up to 180° before beginning movement. UNDAMAGED SHIPS moving independently may pivot after completing movement if they decide not to move an extra 1D6. DISMASTED SHIPS automatically pivot as necessary before moving with the wind. FIRE: TOSS 1D6 per Gun box remaining that can bear (up to 45° from center). TOSS DOUBLE DICE FOR: INITIAL BROADSIDE (cross out P or S the 1st time that side fires) OR RAKE--(that is, within 12" of enemy whose guns cannot bear). TOSS TRIPLE DICE FOR RAKING INITIAL BROADSIDE. RANGES: UP to 8" HIT on 3-6, UP to 16" HIT on 5,6, UP to 24" HIT on 6 EFFECTS of HITS: 3=CABLE (only anchored ships), 4=HULL, 5=GUNS, 6=MASTS Cable hits: toss again 1-3=bow anchor cable cut, 4-6=stern. BOARDING: Ships must be Fallen Aboard with one side announcing a boarding attempt. Men-of-War toss 1D6 per hit box (MASTS. GUNS & HULL). Merchants toss 1D6 per GUN hit box. Loaded Troop Transports toss 1D6 per GUN hit box plus 2D6 per HULL box. Both ships toss simultaneously: 1-3=NO EFFECT, 4-6=HIT BOARDING HITS cancel each other--surplus 4's, 5's & 6's score hits on the enemy's GUN Boxes. REMEMBER that a ship strikes when losing all GUN boxes. If the shore battery fires red hot shot, score hits normally & toss 3D6 for each hit scored:1-3 no further effect (fire under control), but 4's, 5's or 6's score hits on hull, guns or masts (caused by spreading flames). When batteries are fired on, GUN hits are scored normally, MAST Hits are Misses, and HULL hits count as hits on the Magazine--for each hit toss 1D6 for # Gun boxes knocked out. BUT this battery is situated too high for ships' guns to bear. THE SPANISH GUN BOAT is a frail, oar-driven craft with only 1 mast and a few large caliber guns mounted to fire across the bow. It may use its sail (2D6) or row (1D6). [DESIGN NOTES] Many wargamers seem to believe that the way to achieve realism in a wargame is too add as much detail as possible in the way of divers charts and a myriad of rules that itemize all the details which could conceivably have a bearing on the course of a battle. My own experience of playing with rules of this type has been that I had no feeling of commanding in battle. Instead, I found myself (and other players) forgetting various (sometimes important) rules, felt that I spent most of my time searching for charts and trying to remember how many modifiers to add or subtract. Afterwards someone usually remembered some important rules we had overlooked which would (according to him if he was the defeated player) have changed everything. There are occasions when one can overlook the fact that the hobby is supposed to be fun. My own preference is for rules that give the players a feeling of making command decisions, of exciting events rushing by quickly with inadequate time available for careful consideration of the ramifications of all the possibilities and consequences. It is the intention of these rules to achieve this kind of enjoyable wargame, even at the expense of accuracy. This modification of my original "As Per Margin" rules came about for several reasons. My game with Tom Barkalow indicated to me that my attempt to add realism had detracted from playability: the constant shuffling of hit charts for each ship was a nuisance, the fixed movement rates (created to simply movement) lacked excitement (compared to sets of rules like Stuart Asquith's Marlburian Rules & Hal's ACW rules where move distances were determined each turn by a die toss), the need to consult charts to determine modifiers and results of die tosses slowed the action and having ships fire during the enemy movement didn't work (the idea was that both players would have something to do all the time, but I was always firing before he moved in an attempt to damage his masts and he was always firing before I moved since I was trying to run away, so we ended up firing in sequence anyway). I used a system of hit boxes for flotation in my ironclad rules (about 1 box per 1000 tons). The varying length of time needed to load different calibers of guns meant that each ship needed it's own hit card (to keep track of the stage of readiness), but I realized that using the system for the age of sailing ships (where a turn could represent an average broadside) would allow an entire fleet record to be kept on a single page. Another gaming device that I find increasingly attractive is minimizing the number of modifiers--the most appealing being where the calculations to determine the number of dice to be tossed and the numbers showing on each die indicate hits. ln the ironclad rules I used this method only for range (4-6 up to 12", 5 or 6 up to 36", 6 if the target was over a yard away), but I realized that for sailing ships it could also determine which part of the ship was hit (mast hits being more likely at long range and so on). In the course of another re-read of Patrick O'Brian's magnificent "Lucky Jack Aubrey" novels I decided that I had to try adapting these various ideas to use in the age of fighting sail. The heart of the rules is the hit boxes (perhaps about 250 tons per box, but determined by the ship's rating in any case). A 1st rate ship (100 or more guns) has 12 boxes for masts (arranged in 2 lines of six each to indicate no significant damage, damaged, and dismasted), 12 boxes for guns (arranged in two lines to indicate Port and Starboard) and 12 boxes for hull (arranged in two lines for convenience). The arrangement of the hit boxes are in two lines each for the categories of masts. guns and hull for the different ratings: 10 boxes each for 2nd rates (90+ guns), 8 for 3rd rates (60+ guns), 6 for 4th rates (40+ guns), 4 for 5th rates (30+ guns) and 2 for 6th rates (20+ guns). Gunboats are handled in a similar manner. At times the differences caused by this approach need to be fudged (to have a 32 gun frigate twice as powerful as a 28 gun frigate is the worst offender), but it works as a general guideline. Combining all of these ideas into one system has led to some curiosities. The extreme variations possible in wind speed from turn to turn are not realistic, but make for an interesting game. That a calm is completely impossible may seem unlikely, but one assumes that there must have been enough wind to bring the ships into the same area in the first place and it avoids the frustration of having two forces becalmed just out of range (perhaps realistic, but not necessarily an enjoyable game). Simplifying ship types does make it possible to have a fleet record on one sheet of paper. Having a ship that is moving independently of the fleet decide whether or not to turn at the end of movement to fire at the enemy or add the toss of a die for more speed adds a lot of cheap thrills. Allowing the English to fire before the French and Spanish indicates the generally superior seamanship and fire discipline of the Royal Navy. This avoids confusion about who moves and shoots when and might seem to give the Royal Navy too great an advantage, but as long as the Franco-Spanish succeed in keeping an action at long range and in line ahead (typical of the 18th century) the sequence will not make a difference. Of course, if the Royal Navy can manage to bring about a "pell-mell battle" like Trafalgar, it will be quite another matter. Having a maximum range of four cables (800 yards or 24" on the table) is too short for the theoretical range, but is a reasonable effective range and plays well. Four cables was a typical opening range in a fleet action. Anything longer than that was likely to be fire during a stern chase from bow or stern chasers in an attempt to carry away something from the enemy's rigging (allowing escape or capture, as the case might be). Since that sort of action (say a single sloop chasing a poleacre loaded with doubloons) is not the sort of thing these rules are for. I did not bother with individual chaser fire and its rare likelihood of temporary damage to rigging. I had thought about adding a distinction between wearing and tacking but, after reflecting on the sorts of things one forgets in the excitement (one hopes) of playing a game, decided that it was an eminently forgettable complication. The most complicated part of the rules is "Falling Aboard". I wanted boarding to be possible but didn't want to it predominate and I didn't like the idea of the English always being able to sail away from a boarding attempt (if boarding only occurred at the end of the turn) or both sides being able to do so (if boarding occurred at the end of each side's movement). Requiring that ships become locked together before a boarding attempt can be made, means that a ship can fail in an attempt to grapple (a toss of 1 is always a failure, even if the ships are in contact). A ship in a bad way still has a chance to escape (one third, to be exact). The rule also makes players keep a reasonable and realistic distance between their own ships (say 4" or two thirds of a cable) to prevent collisions. A word about time. The pivot of the naval day was noon. When the sun reached its zenith. a sextant was used to determine the highest angle of elevation it attained. This determined the ship's latitude. The ship's clock was kept on Greenwich Time and comparing its reading to the ship's "local apparent noon" made it possible to determine the ship's longitude and establish the ship's position (this really does work). As a result of the importance of "local apparent noon," the old naval custom (beginning to wane only in the age of Nelson) was to start the new day at noon. Thus the ship would count time from the only point where they could be certain of accuracy, "local apparent noon." The "watch" would begin at this point and the half-hour sand glass would be turned accordingly and the bell struck the appropriate number of times (remember that the clock was always kept on Greenwich Time so that longitude could be determined). The watch beginning at noon was called the afternoon watch (one of the few logical names in the navy) and, like all but the dog watches, lasted four hours. The next two watches were the first dog watch and the second dog watch, each only two hours long. The ship's crew was divided into two "watches," starboard and larboard. Since four hour watches would have meant that groups were keeping the same watches every day, dividing the dog watch in two made for an odd number of watches each day and an equal distribution of desirable and undesirable times to be on watch. Beginning at 8:00 PM (2000 hours in the yet to be invented modern military jargon) was the first watch (remember, they began the day at noon). From midnight until 4:00 AM was the middle (or mid-) watch, followed by the by the morning and forenoon watches. The watch was subdivided into "bells" rung every half hour, ending one watch and beginning the next at eight bells (note that the bells that began the first dog watch were continued into the second). Thus 5:30 PM (1730 hours) would be 3 bells (during the first dog watch). In these rules the first ten turns are 1.5 minutes long (total of fifteen minutes), but after that the wind begins to die and all subsequent turns are 15 minutes (or "half a glass"). CHART FOR NAVY TIMES NOON to 4:00 PM -- Afternoon Watch Noon-8 Bells, 12:30 PM-1 Bell, 1:00 PM-2 Bells, 1:30 PM-3 Bells 2:00 PM-4 Bells, 2:30 PM-5 Bells, 3:00 PM-6 Bells, 3:30 PM-7 Bells 4:00 PM to 8 PM -- Dog Watches 1st Dog -- 4:00 PM-8 Bells, 4:30 PM-1 Bell, 5:00 PM-2 Bells, 5:30 PM-3 Bells 2nd Dog -- 6:00 PM - 4 Bells, 6:30 PM-S Bells, 7:00 PM-6 Bells, 7:30 PM-7 Bells 8:00 PM to MIDNIGHT -- First Watch 8:00 PM-8 Bells, 8:30 PM-1 Bell, 9:00 PM-2 Bells, 9:30 PM-3 Bells 10:00 PM-4 Bells, 10:30 PM-5 Bells, 11:00 PM-6 Bells, 11:30 PM-7 Bells MIDNIGHT to 4:00 AM -- Middle Watch MIDNIGHT - 8 Bells, 12:30 AM-1 Bell, 1:00 AM-2 Bells, 1:30 AM-3 Bells 2:00 AM-4 Bells, 2:30 AM-5 Bells, 3:00 AM-6 Bells, 3:30 AM-7 Bells 4:00 AM to 8:00 AM -- Morning Watch 4:00 AM-8 Bells, 4:30 AM-1 Bell, 5:00 AM-2 Bells, 5:30 AM-3 Bells 6:00 AM-4 Bells, 6:30 AM-5 Bells, 7:00 AM-6 Bells, 7:30 AM-7 Bells 8:00 AM to NOON -- Forenoon Watch 8:00 AM-8 Bells, 8:30 AM-1 Bell, 9:00 AM-2 Bells, 9:30 AM-3 Bells 10:00 AM-4 Bells, 10:30 AM-5 Bells, 11:00 AM-6 Bells, 11:30 AM-7 Bells A half-hour glass marks the interval between "bells" except for clear days when "local apparent noon" is used to begin the day and a fresh glass is turned (since watch keepers had a tendency to "flog the glass" to speed up the time and shorten their time on watch, the glass was usually empty before noon actually occurred). LANDING PARTY RULES SCALES: 1 figure = 25 men, 1" = 100 feet (3"=1O0 yards), 1 turn = 15 minutes I. TURN SEQUENCE: Complete movement at sea. Both sides attempt rallies of Routing units (II). Landing Party Checks Morale of units attempting to contact enemy (III). Garrison Checks Morale of units contacted by enemy (IV). Landing Party performs regular Movement (V). Garrison Checks Morale of units attempting to contact enemy (III). Landing Party Checks Morale of units contacted by enemy (IV). Garrison performs regular Movement (V). All eligible Artillery may Fire (VI). All eligible Muskets may Fire (VII). Check Morale of all units taking hits from fire (VIII). Resolve Melees (IX) & Check Melee Morale (X). II. ATTEMPT RALLIES OF ROUTING UNITS: Toss 1 die, +1 if formed or behind cover, -1 if routing: 1-3 Continue Rout 2 dice inches backs to enemy (must be rallied). 4 or 5 Shaken--fall back 1 die inches facing enemy and rally. 6 Good--rally in place. III. CHECK MORALE OF UNITS ATTEMPTING TO CONTACT ENEMY: Only Cavalry and Infantry units may close with the enemy. They must be within movement distance (12" Cavalry, 6" Infantry, 4" for both types if crossing rough terrain) and must complete the last half of their movement straight forward. Toss 1 die: Infantry: +1 for Landing Party, +1 if formed: 1 or 2 = Stand Shaken (may not move or fire). 3 or 4 = Stand and fire. 5 or 6 Close to contact, enemy pinned. Cavalry: 1 or 2 = Stand. 3-6= Close to contact, enemy pinned. IV. CHECK MORALE OF UNITS CONTACTED BY ENEMY: Toss 1 die, +1 if formed or behind cover, -2 if routing: 1 or 2 = Rout 2 dice inches backs to enemy (must be rallied). 3 or 4 = Stand Shaken--may not fire. 5 or 6 = Stand and fire (Cavalry Counter-charge -- meet half way). V. REGULAR MOVEMENT: 1. Unformed units (including Artillery) toss 1 die per unit for inches moved, regardless of terrain, but if Artillery attempts to traverse rough terrain or an obstacle, an even score is no penalty, an odd score is no movement but no fire is permitted. 2. Formed infantry moves 6 inches, cavalry 12. If they traverse rough terrain or obstacles they become unformed and move accordingly (that is, on one die), needing a turn to reform on clear terrain. 3. All units that move forfit their opportunity to fire in steps 8-10. Artillery pivots & fires, tossing 1 die per crew member: up to 6 inches hit on 4-6 up to 12 inches hit on 5,6; up to 18 inches hit on 6. VII. MUSKETRY: Muskets have a 6 inch range and fire at 1 die per figure. The 2nd rank of formed troops may fire. If the target is infantry in the open hit on 5,6; if target covered or skirmishers (at least 1" between figures) hit on 6; if target mounted or fired at from enfilade hit on 4-6. VIII. MORALE FROM FIRE: Toss 1 die, +1 if formed or behind cover, -1 if routing: 1 or 2 = Rout 2 dice inches backs to enemy (must be rallied). 3 or 4 = Shaken--fall back 1 die inches facing enemy and rally. 5 or 6 = Good. IX. MELEE: 1. Toss 1 die per figure in contact with enemy or adjacent to figure in contact: against equals hit on 5 or 6; against superior hit on 6; against inferior hit on 4, 5, or 6. (See #4 for attacks on rear or routing units). 2. Ranking is: Cover > Charging Cavalry > Standing Cavalry > Infantry > Artillery > Flank > Shaken 3. Note that "Shaken" takes precedence over all other categories. 4. Units attacked in rear immediately Check Morale as Routing units cnotacted by the enemy. 5. Note that Skirmishers are automatically penalized by their dispersion. X. MELEE MORALE: Loser of Melee checks but if he passes, winner checks. Toss 1 die, +1 if formed or behind cover, -1 if routing: 1 or 2 = Rout 2 dice inches backs to enemy (must be rallied). 3 or 4 = Shaken -- fall back 1 die inches facing enemy and rally. 5 or 6 = Good. XI. ADDITIONAL NOTES: Only formed troops can be fired at from enfilade. Determining what constitutes an enfilade is up to the players observing the situation on the table (approximately at right angles to the target). Units that fail morale and do forced movement ignore terrain movement penalties. Units "eligible" for fire are those that are not Shaken or Routing or have not already moved or fired during the turn. Units that fire as a result of a Morale result do so immediately and are not eligible to fire again. XII. SHORE BATTERIES: Each Gun box represents 8-14 guns. If the shore battery fires red hot shot score hits normally & toss 3D6 for each hit scored: 1-3 no further effect (fire under control), but 4's, 5's & 6's are hull, gun, or hull hits caused by spreading flames. When fired on: GUN hits are scored normally, MAST Hits are Misses, and HULL hits count as hits on the Magazine -- for each hit toss 1D6 for # Gun boxes knocked out. CAMPAIGN IDEAS In the first day after an action ships at sea can do emergency repairs of 1 hit box of each type. All further repairs must be done in port at the rate of one day hit box. A ship spending one week victualing in port can sail with enough wood and water to last 3 months and enough other provisions to last 12 months. A ship can replenish wood and water by spending one day in port or one week in a harbor near a source of firewood and fresh water. A ship that runs out of provisions loses 1 Gun hit box per day and if no more remain, the ship is lost. For campaign movement on charts, determine wind direction and speed as in the tactical rules, but add 2 to die total during stormy seasons and subtract 2 during periods when calms are likely. If the total is over 12, ships at sea are forced to move with the wind at half rate, otherwise ships on charts are never forced to move, since it is assumed that there is plenty of room to maneuver. Ships that are being towed must be cast adrift if the score is over 10 and the ship that was being towed tosses a die to determine additional hull damage. Ships may turn at any time in the move, but may not exceed the maximum distance of the slowest leg of their course (that is, if any part of the move involves beating against the wind, only one die can be used to determine overall distance). Use daily turns with intervals of 10 miles (thus a fleet's maximum movement in a day is 120 miles--a single ship's 180). Measure days from noon to noon. Daylight (use 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM) visibility is 20 miles. In certain cases weekly turns may be used--ships move in intervals of 70 miles (so a fleet's maximum weekly movement is 840 miles--a single ship's 1260). When ships come within sight (20 miles) both sides must report the number (but not types) of ships. Movement is transferred to a homemade 7.5" X 7.5" chart where intervals of 3/8" represent 1 mile (5 feet on the table). Turns are 2.5 hours. When ships are close enough, movement is transferred to the table. Ships may not anchor in greater than 50 fathoms. Ships moving across uncharted shoals at minimum speed, may cast a lead-line. First and 2nd rate ships will run aground in 3.5 fathoms, 3rd and 4th rate ships in 3 fathoms, 5th rates in 2, and 6th Rates in 1.5. If a ship runs aground toss dice according to ship's rating (1st=6, 2nd=5, 3rd=4, 4th=3, 5th=2, 6th=1) & score hits as for close range gunfire. To refloat toss 1D6: 1=breaks up, 2-5=stuck (try again next turn), 6=kedged off. Although a referee is a great help in campaign games, it is possible to dispense with him by having the players write the orders for their fleets and then moving them. Although this reveals one's location at the end of each day or week, this represents the reports of passing merchants and the like. One remains ignorant of where the enemy might move the next turn, but is able to formulate increasingly accurate guesses and attempt to bring him to action. In one off games each side scores 1 point for the first ship taken and loses 1 point for the first ship lost, 2 points for the second ship taken and loses 2 points for the second ship lost, etc.--regardless of the size of the ship. A difference of S points or less is indecisive. A victory with a difference of 6-10 points is marginal. A victory with a difference of 10-20 points is decisive. A victory of more than 20 points is Nelsonic! This scoring system should encourage admirals to keep small ships out of harm's way (rather than sacrificing them in an unrealistic fashion) and to attempt to withdraw from an unfavorable situation (rather than throwing away .the fleet in a lost cause). ADDITIONAL NOTES The variable time scale represents the universal belief that firing guns killed the wind. The first ten turns are each 1.5 minutes and all succeeding turns are 15 minutes. Except in campaign games, this makes no difference, but it does give a more realistic time frame for a battle. The wind chart allows for the wind to come from any of eight directions, favoring westerlies. It can be modified to allow for different prevailing winds. In a campaign begin with the prevailing wind and, on the first turn (and all subsequent turns that begin with the prevailing wind): 1-4=no change, 5=back 1 point, 6=veer 1 point. If a turn begins with the wind opposite from the prevailing wind: 1,2=no change, 3=back 1 point, 4=veer 1 point, Sback 2 points, 6=veer 2 points. If a turn begins with any other wind:1=move another point away from prevailing wind, 2,3=no change, 4,5=move a point toward the prevailing wind, 6=move 2 points toward the prevailing wind. North of 60° are "Polar Easterlies". From 60° to 30° N are "Westerlies". From 30 to 10N are "NE Trades". From 10° N to 10° S are "The Doldrums". From 10° to 30° S are "SE Trades". From 30° to 60° S are more "Westerlies". South of 60° more "Polar Easterlies". It was extremely rare in this period for large ships to sink as a result of gunfire. With these rules it is unlikely since hull hits are the least probable. When a ship does sink, this can represent actual sinking (more likely with small ships) or the possibility that it burned out of control or exploded, without adding extra rules to indicate these possibilities explicitly. Double-shotting and chain shot are not explicitly in the rules, but their use is implied. A ship using its initial broadside when the enemy is at long range is obviously hoping for significant damage to the enemy's sails and masts with chain shot. Likewise, a ship willing to take damage from the enemy while holding its initial broadside until close is attempting to do as much damage as possible with its double-shotted guns. A ship may send its boats into a bay in a nighttime attempt to cut out an enemy's anchored ships. Each boat (or group of boats) may move up to the number of inches shown on a toss of one die. A ship may send up to two thirds of its remaining hit boxes in boats for a cutting out, using one boat per box. The enemy ship may deploy its own ships as guard boats using one third of its boxes. Nighttime visibility is 1D6 inches (check each turn). Combat between boats is die on die. In the event of a tie or victory by a guard boat, it has succeeded in alerting the anchored ship which will react in the number of turns shown on 1D6. If an attacking boat wins, it is assumed to have succeeded in overpowering the enemy before he could give a warning. Once the attacking boats reach the enemy ship they attempt to board. If the ship has reacted to an alert, it fights with two thirds of its remaining hit boxes but if surprise has been achieved it fights at one third. Resolve as a normal Boarding operation, counting hits on Boarder's Guns as hits on boats. Bomb ketches must be anchored fore and aft to fire their mortars. Minimum range is 12" and maximum is 24". They may over intervening obstacles that are at least 6" from the ketch and 6" from the target. The 1st time of firing toss 1D6 per mortar, scoring 1 hit for each toss of 1 and missing on 2-6. The 2nd time of firing at an UNMOVING target score 1 or 2 hits on a toss of 1 or 2 and miss on 3-6, etc. For each hit scored toss again: 1-3=no effect (near miss, shell fails to explode, etc.), 4=Hull hit (magazine if shore battery), 5=Gun hit & 6=Mast hit (Miss if shore battery). Back to MWAN #63 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1993 Hal Thinglum 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