The objective of the game is to succesfully cut out a naval vessel from the safety of its home port and put out to sea as a prize of the navy.

The game may be played as a team vs. an empire or with both sides being represented by oppossing players.

The table layout is very simple, a harbor setting with one or more shore batteries, covering the ship. The action will normally occur at night. Each player would normally command a boat or section of boats with marines and sailors with the mission of cutting out the vessel.

TURN SEQUENCE

1. All boats move and land forces and shipboard forces move
2. Ship's challenge
3. Defender rolls a die to spot OR gives alarm, OR responds to alarm or firing
4. Raiding party fires
5. Defenders fire
6. Melee of all forces in base to base contact OR attempting to board either ship or shore battery
7. Rigging rolls are made
8. Morale is checked

MOVEMENT

• Boats go 3" PLUS a 6d roll (each boat makes a seperate die roll)
• Ships that are 1/2 rigged go 3", PLUS a 6d roll
• Ships that are fully rigged go 6" PLUS a 10d roll
• On land figures travel 3" PLUS a 6d roll
• Marines and soldiers traveling as formed for volley fire travel a 6d roll
• Figures boarding a hostile vessel roll a 6d with a -1" (so that a 1 or 2 would not permit figures to climb up the side of a hostile ship)
• The turn that figures land on a beach they travel a 6d
• Crew figures on board than own ship, or figures that have successfully boarded a ship can move up to 6" a turn

DEFENDER ATTEMPTS TO SPOT

Nearest boat is:	0-6" away	6.1"-1' away	1.1' - 2' away
Spotted on a 6d roll of:	4-6	5-6	6

THIS ROLL IS MADE ONLY ONCE PER TURN

If the raiding, party is spotted:

• The NEXT turn the Alarm is sounded
• The turn after the alarm is sounded the defenders may respond, i.e. the ship's crew may begin to turn out, shore battery crews may run to their guns, etc.,etc.
• The turn after the crew and garrison turns out they may fire.

EXAMPLE. On turn one the boats are spotted. On turn two the alarm is given. On turn three the defenders come out. On board the defending ship four figures come out of the hatch on a 6d roll of 4. The next turn, four, the defenders may fire. Three more defenders come out of the hatch on a 6d roll of 3.

IF the attack is made in daytime add +2 to the spotting die roll AND the alarm sequence begins when the raiders are spotted without a turn delay. If the raiders should fire BEFORE they are spotted the alarm is automatically given that turn.

During movement the raider's boats must make physical contact with the target vessel. The turn AFTER contact is made the boarding party may attempt to climb on board.

SHIP'S CHALLENGE

If the raiding party is undetected and along side the target ship, the target ship's guard will issue a challenge. On a 6d roll. On a 3 or less a raiding officer is able to disguise his voice and fool the guard long enough for the raiders to gain the man deck (assuming they did not roll a 1 or 2 for movement). On a roll of 4 or more the guard will sound the alarm

THlS turn and every boats' crew that is opposed by a guard will have to overcome that guard during the melee phase.

PLEASE NOTE that the raiding party may attempt to shoot the guard (requires a die rod of 6) but that the act of shooting automatically sounds the alarm.

MELEE

• Each figure rolls a 6d
• If the winner gets a +3 difference over the loser (a 4 vs a 1 for example) the loser dies.
• If the die roll difference is a +2 the Ioser is captured.
• If the difference is a +1 the loser retreats the number of inchs equal to a 6d roll.
• If the loser is forced to retreat off the ship the figure is out of the game.
• If the loser was trying to board a ship the figure is considered to be dead no matter what the difference is.

FIRING

Small Arms Chart - RANGE 1" 2-5" 6" British/American sailor to hit roll 4-6 5-6 n/a British/American marines
or soldiers to hit roll 3-6 4-6 6 French sailors to hit roll 5-6 6 n/a French soldier or marine to hit roll 4-6 5-6 n/a Other sailors to hit roll 6 6 n/a Other marines or soldiers to hit roll 5-6 6 n/a

Cannon Fire

Each crewed gun may fire. There are four figures to a gun crew. Roll 2 6d, a red one for hit determination and a white one for effect determination. If firing grape shot substitute a 10d for the white 6d on effect determination.

Modifiers to cannon fire
-1 each gun crewmen killed
-1 firing at raiders' boats
-1 foggy or moonless night
+1 bright moonlight
+2 daytime

Guns may choose to fire grape shot at a target. The decision to fire grape must be made before firing (roll a 10d or a 6d as directions indicate, each pip or 1/2 pips, rounding down, removes a figure). Swivel guns MUST fire grape against figures.

CANNON FIRING CHART

EXAMPLE. A ship's guns chooses to fire grape at a target 7" away. A roll of 3-6 is needed to score a hit . A 5 is rolled. Now a 10d is rolled to determine how many figures become casualties. Since the chart calls for 1/2 10d the number rolled on the 10d is halved rounding down. A 5 is rolled so two figures become casualties. A land based gun firing grape at the same distance would require a die roll between 2-6. The land based gun would roll a whole 10d for effect.

Once a hit has been determined on the above chart it will be necessary to consult the chart below for the effects of the shot to be determined (unless grape was fired)

Cannon ball hits determination chart.

A rigging 6d or 10d means that the result of such a die roll is deducted from the raiding party's attempt to rig the ship and sail away. (SEE RIGGING)
A crew 6d or a crew 10d on ship's boats indicates the number of figures killed on that kind of a die roll.

Hull hits for each vessel need to be detemiined by mutual consent or by an umpire BEFORE the game begins.
When 1/2 of the hull points needed to sink a vessel are accumulated the vessel will then go 1/2 speed (rounding down) for the rest of the game. Obviously when all the hull points have been taken the vessel sinks.

RIGGING

A ship is considered HALF RIGGED with an accumulative score of 20.
A ship is considered to be FULLY RIGGED with an accumulative score of 40.

The raiding party may roll a 10d rigging roll each turn that the top deck has been swept clean of active enemy forces AND the main hatch is under guard.

The raiding party may only roll a 6dif there are active defenders on the main deck OR the main hatch is not under guard OR the ship was HIT by cannon fire this turn. If the cannon fire resulted in a rigging hit the firing unit rolls a 6d or a 10d as instructed and DEDUCTS the score from the raiding pany's total accumulated points.

EXAMPLE: With the ship still not secure but with raiders on the main deck, the raiders roll a 6d and get a 3. They now need 17 more points to be 1/2 rigged. Next turn the ship and hatch are secured and the ship has not been hit by cannon fire. The raiders roll a 10d and get a 7. They now need 10 more points to be 1/2 rigged. The very next turn the shore battery opens up on the ship and scores two hits.. The raiders roll a 6d because of the cannon hits and get a 4. The ship's total is now 14. The battery rolled a 2 and a 4 for effects. The ship recieves a hull hit for the 2 and now rolls a 10d for the 4 (anchored target) with a result of 5 for rigging hits. The 5 is subtracted from the 14. The ship now has an accumulated rigging total of 9.

MORALE

Once the deck has been swept of defenders and the main hatch is held by the raiders for a turn (i.e. any attempt to break out of the hatch has been defeated or no attempt was made the turn after the deck was swept) the ship's crew becomes docile. If friends board the ship to re-take it the crew may agains join the game and attempt to break out of the hatch. If the raiders abandon the ship the crew may regain the upper deck. Defending crew are allowed only one turn after the deck is swept to break out from the hatch

Boat's crew and land garrisons

When a boat's crew or garrison is reduced to 1/2 or less of their original numbers they will test morale every turn with a 6d.

1-2 surrender if enemy is within 6" or retreat off ship or out of fort
3-4 next turn fallback away from eneny or re=enter boats until rallied (requires a 5-6 on next morale check)
5-6 Rallies or carries on as normal

Modifiers British vs. French +1 for British
US vs pirates +1 for US
Charismatic leader +1

SAMPLE GAME

On turn 6 the boats' movement carries them to the ship's side. The defender sounds the alarm.

On turn 7 the real fun begins. The defender rolls a 6d to see how many crew come up on deck to help the ship's guard (remember ship's crew can travel 6") . The raiders roll a 6d to see if they can climb on board. (Remember this is done with a -1 so that a roll of 1 or 2 will not allow the boarders enough distance to climb up) Some of the raiders do not make the climb. Other raiders must suspend their climb to fight with opposing ship's guard and crew. Since the alarm has been given there is no harm in the raiders firing their weapons at the guards. A roll of 6 kills a guard. Melees are then fought. Let us assume that the raiders, with overwhelming numbers, overpowered the guards and the few crew that climbed out of the hatch.

Tum 8 and the deck has been swept of defenders and a marine guard placed on the main hatch. The defender's shore battery now can open fire. No hits are scored. The marine guard adds a +2 defending the hatch (+1 for defending +1 for a marine in melee) so the enemy crew (only 2, 2 on a 6d) do not break out. The raiders roll a 6d to start rigging the ship.

On turn 9 the ship is secured. Again the shore battery misses with their guns. Therefore the raiders can roll a 10d for rigging.

Play continues until the ship has put out to sea or is sunk or re-captured. The garrison may try to send out boats to try to re-take the ship. Really anything could happen.

GENERAL NOTES

Although the ship board fighting, can take place on model ships (especially if the rigging is removable) it is sometimes easier to conduct the boarding, deck melees and fighting on a cardboard cut out of the deck. The cutout had two advantages: 1, it is easier to reach if the cut out is near the edge of the table rather than a model which might be in the middle of the table; and 2, it is easier to manipulate the figures on an uncluttered cut out.

The game is a good solo game. It is very easy to spice up a solo game with random events cards. These cards should be your own invention based on a general possibility or a scenario specific event. I would suggest putting a random events card draw at the beginning of the turn. Many of cards should be NO EVENT HAPPENS cards. Card Event Ideas

1. Moon comes out from behind the clouds this turn. Spotting is a +1 as is firing.
2. Choppy seas renders boarding party's muskets inoperative for X turns.
3. Ensign gets confused in the dark. On ship's boat will make a random movement based on a roll for direction.
4. Ship's guard is asleep. There will be not spotting check from on board ship this turn.
5. Garrison will take one extra turn to respond when alarm is given due to raucous party earlier that evening.

Well, you get the idea. Any questions or comments? Contact me at hgl1@ix.netcom.com or Henry G. Lubbers, 2519 Hazelcrest Ln., Cincinnati Ohio 45231. Hey, on the E-mail I have two teenagers so my computer access is limited - be patient.