More cyber-ships

My ship building programme is almost complete.

All 26 English ships now built and only eight more of the Spanish to go. Thank ph#ck! It is/has been several parts tedium and several parts rewarding. Fortunately, more the latter; most of the time! :)

The cyber-fleets: English all completed in the middle-background (previously assembled and part-painted French behind them). Spanish, in progress, in the foreground. Since taking this photo this morning I have completed the two frigates at front of picture and put all three masts on the six 74s in the middle of the photo. So I only have to complete the 74s and construct the two 'big girls': Rayo and Santisima Trinidad.

Thank you to all of you who have made comments, which are as encouraging as ever. It's nice to share a bit of 'show and tell' with like-minded people via these blog posts and beaut when people take the time to leave words of encouragement, suggestions or questions. I have not replied to your comments recently, so will do so via this post (which is a bit light on for content).

Naval wargaming is not for everyone—I have wondered if it is for me as well, when trying to get small bowsprits and the jib sails onto the smaller of these models! :) I can completely understand, Keith that you would not bother. I am the same when it comes to mediaeval wargaming. Besides, we all need some periods that we do not 'do', or the madness will overwhelm us, haha!

Yes, simple rigging and ratlines are the order of the day Peter/Lawrence. I have tried the same approach as you mentioned Peter, with the couple of French ships that I have experimented with so far, and am happy enough with the result.

I was determined to push through and to get all of these ships built, so it is great to see the end within sight. Painting will then begin in earnest, which will be a great relief and it will also enable me to put a bit of paint on some of my many land forces (Napoleonics and others).

These ships are not intended for the game of Trafalgar. Julian is on 'lead-electric wargaming direction' for that one and he/we will use his Ares Games 'Sails of Glory' ships, with 'Grand Fleet Actions in the Age of Sail' as the rules. I will assist however and whenever he needs me and I am able to do so. We should have a sizeable, final playtest of the rules sometime in our late spring (late autumn for you northern hemisphere people).

My plans for these 1/3000 Navwar ships are not so grand. Nor would I have sufficient ships to do so, if I they were. Once ready, they will be for small and mid-sized actions using more detailed rules.

Boat building programme

I have been doing some ship building.

Twelve English ships constructed. At left, eight 74-gun third rates (e.g. HMS Bellerophon) and four 64-gun third rates (e.g. HMS Africa), one behind the other, at right. All models are Navwar 1/3000th scale by Tony Anderson (RIP).

It was inspired, indirectly, by our recent, terminal play-test of "It's Warm Work", since it lead to my 'discovery' of "Action Under Sail" amongst the discarded rule sets that Julian had passed on to me. A skim-read had me interested, a more detailed look, working through some of the mechanics (in my head) made me really keen. They look to be sufficiently detailed, but playable for my tastes.

As Julian has said in replies to comments in my previous post, he (and I) have settled on "Grand Fleet Actions in the Age of Sail" for his megalomania of staging a re-fight of Trafalgar in the near future (likely early in the new year)—barring uncovering something 'disastrous' in a final play-test of the rules later in the year.

My desire to explore other rules is spurred by wanting something with more detail that is workable and enjoyable that I can use for actions that can be played over several sessions at my place, or perhaps even solo.

It was 2004, bloody hell, that is twenty years ago(!), when I ordered two 1/3000 fleet packs (French and British) from Navwar. I had a bit of a go at building and painting the French ships around 2006, I think, but they have sat in the same, part-completed state since then, save for having a go at adding some rigging with cotton.

Two French Océan class ships and a transport with a base-coat paint job. The former have some strips of cotton as rigging. A bit 'slack', but it will do. The left hand one has a piece of flyscreen as a shroud (plus some evidence of strands from small pieces of shade-cloth that I tried but discarded!

I purchased another British and a Spanish fleet pack in 2022, but they went into the pile; to be completed sometime later.

After our game I got the ships out again and thought, "I must get to these one day..." This changed rapidly to "it is time to do it", driven in large part by my eagerness to give "Action Under Sail" a spin and to not distract Julian from his own focus.

I have constructed 12 English ships, with two more nearly done, which will leave 12 more to go (and then the 14 Spanish). I have also been messing a bit with my 3/4 painted French ships, using the two largest/easiest Océan class, adjusting the rigging and adding pieces of flyscreen as ratlines/shrouds. These are a reasonable-enough looking compromise that I will use.

While these ships are my main focus last week and this (and for a few more yet), I have been getting lots of figures prep'd and based in recent times and am still chipping away at them.

Early Saxons cleaned up, some conversions completed and now on bases ready for undercoat and basing material.

Early Saxon grenadiers and guard grenadiers and Sardinian cavalry ready for basing material.  Early Prussian cavalry, more Sardinian cavalry and some Neapolitan cavalry undercoated. Some early grenzer and Gyulai Freicorps that I began painting back in 2022, now to be finished. More Austrians and Prussians to be added, along with Russians and, naturellement, French.

Duchy of Warsaw cavalry and artillery that I showed in posts in March. Only a bit of gold and silver detail and some bits of touching-up to go with these. These has been 'on hold' while my mass prep'ing and basing has been going on (along with researching and preparing orders of battle that are a necessary step in the process for me).

So, a bit here and a bit there. I am progressing with some grand aims and getting stuff out that has been waiting far too long.

Boating with Julian: trying out "It's Warm Work"

Julian devised a beaut little scenario for us to try out the rules "It's Warm Work".

English at left, nearest camera, Spanish on the right. Both are in a good position with respect to the wind, which is blowing down the floor boards, towards the viewer.

A Spanish squadron detached from the transport ships that they were escorting to try to prevent an advancing English squadron from intercepting and capturing the precious cargo. The floor in Julian's wargame room became the ocean for this one, providing handy parallel lines that made assessment of wind direction a 'breeze'. Each side had six ships, but the Spanish had more firepower# which would be off-set, in some way, by superior English crews.

#474 total Spanish guns v 366 for the British, of which 366 and 264 respectively were in the ships' broadsides.

Julian sent me the rules to read prior to the game. I skimmed through them. They are clearly laid out, well written and seemed simple, but for some reason did not inspire. I was not sure why. Perhaps it was the skim-read? He had the same impression, but was also not sure why. We'd find out soon enough once we put them into 'action'!

It took only until the second turn for us to realise what it was; they are simplistic, rather than simple.

The squadrons came into action on the second turn. Moving second, I turned the Spanish squadron to starboard and drove them at the English line, attempting to cross their 'T'.

Movement is alternating. At the beginning of the turn, each side rolls a six-sided die, high roll moves second. Ships' speed is determined by position to the wind and is divided into three possible 'points':

i) full movement with following wind (90º–150º or 210º–270º),

ii) reduced movement (7/10, 5/8 or 4/6 of full, so average ~65%) if running (wind at 150º–210º) or into the wind (>90º to 135º), and

iii) no movement at 45º or closer to the wind (i.e. 135º–45º).

Ships may make one turn of up to 45º and must move at least 1" after the turn.

This all seems pretty good and is common to rules for Napoleonic naval. The template for the wind gauge is attractive and simple to use.

Wind guage template from "It's Warm Work".

The problem comes with the detail. Ships can move up to their maximum allowable distance (in inches) according to the position relative to the wind and type of ship. From fastest to slowest, these are: i) sloops or frigates, ii) ships of line and iii) slow ships—"...include cargo or troop laden ships, large East Indiamen and any older worn ships". A ship must move forward at least 1". Straight forward and seems okay.

Except, "a ship must move forward at least 1"". Clearly, the crews on these ships are so talented that they can adjust sail from, say, fighting sail to minimal sail or storm sail in an instant. Then back again, if needed? Ah, of course, time is an illusion and no more so than in wargame rules, so the adaptable movement is purely a way to manage time and to remove any problems needing to determine whether a ship could have fired as it moved past another. Of course, that ship was also moving, but we don't know that yet, since we have alternative movement. Okay, it is a simplification and mechanic to prevent us having to plot moves, determine time in firing arc, or such. Perhaps, I can live with it. For a few more turns at least. 

 

The lead ships in each squadron exchange broadsides: Spanish fired first and had better luck with hits to each English ship targeted.

I laid out all of the 'smoke', so the photos don't indicate the order of firing in the game.

Three hits on the frigate Sybille (top of photo) produced a critical hit. A roll of '2' meant rudder damage.

As with movement, each side rolls a die at the beginning of the firing phase. This time the high die roll goes first, which is a clever little mechanic. Ships may fire at a target in range and within their broadside (a zone bordered by an imaginary line 90º drawn from bow and stern respectively). The trouble is, firing is not simultaneous, so firing first means that you inflict damage before the other mob get to fire. I'm not keen, but will accept it as a way of dealing with the alternate movement.

Once again though, the devil is in the detail—and this diablo has multiple horns.

Firing is carried out by rolling a number of dice equal to the ship's current fire value, read from the strength track (see below). Hits are scored on 6s if long range, 5s and 6s if short range and 4s to 6s if raking. The other side gets to roll a die for each hit and 'saves' on 6s. English ships get to re-roll one fire die that initially missed.

Each ship is described by a strength track. Larger ships begin with higher numbers (5s or 6s) and have more 'spots' on their track, e.g. 6-6-5-4-4-3-2-1 for 'Santissima Trinidad'. Smaller ships begin with lower numbers (3s or 2s) and have fewer 'spots', e.g. 2-2-1 for the Spanish frigate 'Ninfa'. So, at full strength, 'Santissima Trinidad' rolls six dice, Ninfa two.

If a ship receives a hit and is not able to save it, one of the 'spots' on the strength track is crossed out and the next number on the track becomes the ship's fire value. Once half of the numbers on the track have been crossed out, the ship's maximum speed is reduced to half.

So, we have two of my greatest dislikes: rolling handfuls of dice and saving throws. While these do not appeal, it is the oversimplifications and missing details that detract for me. Without any defensive factors, it is as easy for a frigate or sloop to inflict damage on a large ship as it is for another ship of the line. Sure, the latter will throw more dice, but these are independent events, so it's a 1 in 6, 2 in 3 or 1 in 2 chance for each if firing at long, short or as a rake respectively. Then there are the more subtle problems: a ship has either broadside loaded at any stage, damage to rigging, hull or crew losses are all morphed into one, hits to rigging are especially abstracted with no effect until a ship is a half strength, then a halving of movement. A ships defensive value and firepower are all convoluted into a single number, which may be a clever game mechanic, but is far to simplistic for mine.

Let's get back to the game and see how these mechanics performed.

We pick up from where the Spanish had cut the English line.

Moving second, Julian manoeuvred the English squadron to engage the Spanish along the line,

...but the Spanish got to fire first, inflicting some more damage on the ships of the line, while a broadside on poor 'Sybille' turned her into a fire-ridden wreck. 

The English returned fire. This time Julian's rolling was better and my saving worse, so it was the turn of the Spanish ships to receive hits. This included the 'travesty' of the two hits inflicted by the little 52-gun 'Iphigenia' on the mighty 'Santissima Trinidad'. 

Being in a better position with respect to the wind, the English began to pull away from the Spanish squadron and were also able to bring more ships to bear on the leading Spanish. 

Only two Spanish ships got to return fire, producing little additional damage. 

The commander of the English squadron had decided to break off the action (you simply move, no orders/signals required), the rear-most ships loosing off a parting shot.

Final long-range firing from each side, with a little bit of damage, but more as a kind of fond adieu (or should that be a 'pluck yew'?). 

The bulk of the English squadron sailed away to fight another day. Needless to say, Admiral Nuisance will have to 'dance a merry dance' for the Lords of the Admiralty. 

It was an enjoyable game. Easy to pick up and fast-paced. The luck began with me and then swung more towards Julian, so losses were about equal in the end.

Strength tracks for the English (above) and Spanish (below) showing the damage (in colour). The Spanish had an advantage in points due to total number of guns and of broadside. 

Julian had said that these rules are popular. I can understand why. If you want a fast-paced game with a friend or a few friends, pushing boats around (almost at will), with plenty of rolling of dice and a clear outcome in a handful of turns these are for you.

If you are interested in Napoleonic naval warfare and want a game that is a representation of it, that is challenging and provides insights or is thought-provoking about the period then, like us, these are not for you.

So, "Grand Fleet Actions in the Age of Sail" remains the best of the lot that we have tried as a sufficiently simplified and detailed set for a large fleet action with multiple players. These appear to enable a game that is a reasonable representation of action at sea in the golden age of tall ships.

That said, there are two more sets, that I am aware of presently, that I'd like to try: "Admirals" and "Action Under Sail". These are more and much more detailed than "Grand Fleet Actions in the Age of Sail", respectively. I expect that they are more likely to suit me than Julian (or other players in a multi-player game). Julian is happy to indulge me in this, but we'll give them a go chez moi. I have French ships nearly completed, but some building and painting of British ships is required.