To try to speed up the development I have made some smaller squadron cards, requiring a smaller playing area, allowing me to keep a test area in operation while still playing other games. Not being able to have the usual Tuesday evening English Civil War campaign game this week has given me time to get cards printed out and to set up a trial game.
 |
| The cards have simple graphics to give a general indication of the types of ship in a squadron, and a reference letter to link the movement card to a record of key data. This picture shows one of each type of card available. G is a squadron of trieres, tetreres or penteres - the main workhorses of any fleet. M is a mixed squadron of large - hexeres to deceres - and smaller ships. S is a squadron of only large ships and W one of small ships - Triakonters to Dieres. |
 |
| Each card has two sides, one indicating that a squadron is deployed in line abreast, the reverse showing deployment in line astern. |
Each squadron is rated for the quality of their helmsmen, crew and hulls. For ease of use during play, these separate ratings translate into a single 'agility' factor. The type of ship also gives a weight class and capacity to carry marines, factors that modify combat results. The number of ships in a squadron can vary. A key part of the game are the pre-battle decisions by a player as to how to organise the fleet to best effect. A number of small squadrons in the centre of the line, able to support each other and not presenting any flanks or easy break through opportunities to the enemy may be able to hold out for quite a long time against larger forces, but may be vulnerable if the enemy has heavy ships that can make effective head on attacks. More agile squadrons may have advantage out on the wings if there is room to use their agility to gain advantage in attacks.
Squadrons are moved on a square grid. Ordinarily, only one squadron can be in a square. The exceptions are during combat and if a combat result either requires opposing squadrons to remain engaged due to grappling or requires one to recoil into an already occupied square. All squadrons move one square in a turn. They can move directly forwards or backwards while retaining their current formation, or to left or right while turning from line abreast to line astern (or vice versa). A squadron cannot move and change formation while retaining its original facing. Any such change of formation requires a squadron to remain in a square for a turn, during which it may be more vulnerable if attacked. A squadron that does not move may also place itself on a diagonal - covering two sides of the square - rather than facing only one side as required for movement. This is a defensive arrangement, allowing a fleet to adopt a crescent or even a circular formation to prevent outflanking. This gives smaller or less agile fleets the option to use historically attested formations.
I am experimenting with simultaneous movement. At the start of the game, every squadron is given two dispositions. The first is whether it is to move (and if so in which direction) or to hold position. The second is how it is to respond if adjacent to an enemy. All ships are then moved in accordance with the first disposition until engagement occurs. At the start of any turn before a squadron is engaged, dispositions may be changed. Once engaged, dispositions cannot be changed until either the squadron is dispersed or destroyed by enemy action or drives off or destroys the enemies it is engaged with.
The combat system can have several stages. First is to determine if opposing squadrons are able to obtain (or block) advantageous positions for attack. The probabilities of doing this are affected by the strength, agility and comparative types and formations of the squadrons, along with whether they have support, have room to manoeuvre or are already on the flank or rear of the enemy. If neither side gains any good opportunity to attack, nothing further happens for that turn. Where opportunities are gained, a second step follows to determine how many are converted into effective attacks that ram, damage or grapple enemy ships. Where grappling occurs, a third step follows to find if there is an immediate result or if fighting carries on into the next turn.
What follows is a description of the set up and a quick run through of the first test carried out with the revised rules.
 |
| The first clash |
Both fleets were made up entirely of trieres. The Red side were given more ships - 50 as against Blue's 45 - but had somewhat lower quality ratings - 20 with good helmsmen, 30 with good crews, 20 with good hulls as against Blue's 30 good helmsmen, 25 good crews and 30 good hulls. All other ratings were average. Each side had six squadrons and could decide how to allocate ship numbers and quality to each squadron. Under a campaign or prepared scenario, ship numbers and qualities would be given for each side. For one off games I am working on a card game in which players try to build up an optimal hand of hulls, crews and helmsmen, balancing that against the option of striking early with what you have to hand and getting an advantage in setting up the battle if the enemy is not ready. The basic idea comes from a very old board game (pre WWII) that my father had called 'Round the Horn'. This involves racing windjammer grain ships from Australia to England around Cape Horn. The card game I am adapting comes before the race starts, as ships compete to load up and set off as quickly as possible, amidst the usual Australian dock hazards of strikes and breakdowns. For the trial, which I was doing solo, I simply made allocations for each side.
Red deployed in four squadrons of 10 ships (A, B, C and F) and two of 5 (D and E). The better helms, crews and hulls were concentrated in squadrons A and F, giving each of these an agility rating of 3. The 10 other good crews were given to squadron C, giving this an agility rating of 1. The rest were left with average ratings for all factors, giving them agility ratings of 0. Red deployed in line and in alphabetical order from the left, giving him strength on the left but also a strong squadron on the far right, leaving the two small squadrons on the centre right without exposed flanks.
Blue had two squadrons of 10 ships (A and B), both given the best possible helms, crews and hulls, hence agility ratings of 3. The remaining good helm, crew and hull ratings were given to two small squadrons of 5 ships, E getting all good ratings so agility of 3, F getting only good helms and hulls so agility of 2. The two remaining squadrons, C and D had 8 and 7 ships respectively, all with average ratings and agility of 0. Blue deployed squadrons A and B in line astern on his left flank, followed by C and D in line in the centre and F and E in line on the right.
 |
| Initial deployment, Blue to the left with squadrons A & B in line astern at the top of the picture. Red squadrons are all in line on the right with A in the foreground. Squadron record cards are laid out behind the squadron markers for Blue, to the side for Red. |
The opposing fleets were set out with a gap of three squares between them. In turn one, the whole Red line advanced while Blue moved squadrons A and B further out to the flank while the rest of the line held position.
In the second turn, both sides made changes to squadron dispositions before movement. Red changed E and F from move to hold and set F to angle back so as to prevent Blue getting a quick outflanking advantage. The rest of the fleet continued to advance, looking to attack as quickly as possible before Blue could get their blow in against the Red right. Blue changed the disposition of all his squadrons, A and B moving directly forwards towards Red's squadron F, the other four squadrons changing from hold to move but being given reactions of holding position rather than attacking.
 |
| After movement on turn 2. The squadrons on the right are now adjacent to each other. If both sides had had reaction orders to attack, engagement would have started, but Blue's hold reaction prevents this until the next turn. Still, Blue may have been better not to have moved forward at all as their attacking squadrons are not yet in position to engage Red's refused right flank. Red will now be able to get the first blow in and has 35 ships lined up against only 25 for Blue! |
Before movement on Turn 3, Blue changed the dispositions for squadrons C to F back to hold. The centre of his line - D and F - will have a strong defensive advantage as both their flanks are supported but C and E at the two ends will face attackers who have manoeuvre room that they can use to their advantage.
 |
| After movement on Turn 3. Blue's attack on the left has not yet reached its target whereas the main part of Red's fleet has attacked the whole of Blue's defensive line. |
Four single squadron vs single squadron engagements are now resolved, beginning on the right with the 10 ships of Red's squadron A against the 5 of Blue's E. Both have an agility rating of 3, so no advantage to either from that. Both being in line abreast gives Blue's holding squadron a defensive advantage - for each successful opportunity it gains it can block 2 Red opportunities - but it has an open flank which gives Red an advantage of an extra modified roll that can give between 0 and 3 extra attack opportunities. The result is shown in 'The First Clash' picture above. Blue rolled a 1 when needing a 3 or better. Red rolled a 6 on its unmodified die - giving 2 opportunities, but a 1 on the yellow (modified) roll, gaining nothing from its advantage. But, Red converted both opportunities into successful attacks - needing 4+ to do so. So, Blue E takes 2 losses to ramming, reducing its strength to 3 effective ships and having to fall back while Red A occupied Blue E's previous square.
In the other three engagements, Blue F rammed one of Red B's ships, a good result given the 2:1 imbalance in numbers but not sufficient to force Red to fall back. Blue D and Red C failed to deliver any blows against each other but Red D outfought Blue C, sinking one trieres.
 |
| Turn 4. Blue's left wing finally gets into action while Red presses on against the right and centre |
In Turn 4, Red's pursuit of Blue's squadron E went seriously wrong, failing to inflict any more damage and losing one ship themselves in the process. This was made up for by Red B. Attacking Blue F that no longer had both flanks supported, it secured 8 opportunities, none of which were blocked by Blue. The follow through was a bit disappointing as only 3 were converted into effective rams, but that was more than enough to drive the Blue squadron back, reducing it to only 2 effective ships. Both remaining Blue squadrons in the line each took a single loss. Out on the left, only Blue B could attack. Being in line astern would have given it advantage against Red F if it had had manoeuvre room, but with Red E guarding F's flank on one side and Blue A in the square on the other, the advantage was lost. No opportunity to make an effective attack was obtained.
Turn 5 was the last played. Blue squadrons E and F were both driven off. Blue squadron C managed to inflict two losses on Red D, forcing it back, but with Red A and B now in position to move against the flank and rear of Blue's centre, the position for Blue did not look good. Could a joint attack by Blue A and B against Red F deliver some compensation?
 |
| A final cast of the dice as 2 Blue squadrons - 20 ships - close in on one Red squadron of 10 ships. Red's angled position prevents a flank attack, but one Blue squadron has room to manoeuvre around the flank. |
It was not to be. The Red squadron was able to block a couple of Blue's opportunities while Blue failed to convert any of the four remaining chances into a successful ram.
Reflecting on this first trial, the movement and combat mechanics work OK but there are some things that are missing or need more trial and tweaking. The missing pieces are in respect of 'fast' squadron movement and with regard to morale. The agility ratings apply only in combat. At the moment, squadrons with good crews and new hulls move at exactly the same rate as those with poor crews and hulls. I will try addressing this by increasing the range of options that 'fast' squadrons have after movement, such as being able to engage adjacent enemies immediately even if they are holding position. I haven't drafted any morale rules yet but the outcomes on in the fight on the left between Red's massive squadrons and Blue's agile but heavily outnumbered squadrons call for some risk of a collapse of will rather than having to sink the last ship.
Tweaking is needed in the probabilities of securing attack opportunities and converting them into successful attacks. While this first game did give a decisive result on one flank, if Blue had deployed more evenly and used the defensive formations that Red adopted on their right, the game could have dragged on a very long time with only a few ships being lost each turn. I will modify the combat tables and try again with the same deployment before introducing a different mix of ships and larger numbers of squadrons to see how that changes the balance and duration of the game.
Interesting to read about how your game rules are developing.
ReplyDelete