Rules we use

Action Under Sail
Charlie Company

Action Under Sail

Action under sail (4th edition), Steve Birnie, Tabletop Games 1993

Action under sail is a set of rules for Naval Warfare 1756 - 1815. The set includes data lists for most types of ships used by the following nations: America, Britain, Denmark, Netherlands, France, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey.

We like this set of rules, they are fast and make for an enjoyable but realistic game. The sailing rules are simple but believable, the combat system is easy to master. Recommended unless you are looking for a ruleset which tracks the position of every sailor throughout the entire battle.

Components

Rulebook, Quick reference sheet, turning circles, wind gauge (an ingenious play aid - I wish all naval games had such devices)

Scale (for 1/1200 scale miniatures)

1 ship miniature = 1 ship, ground scale = ?, time scale = ?
The average move is 100 - 150 mm / turn for a ship of the line. Effective "long gun" gunnery range is up to 300 mm, maximum range is 750 mm.

Design Philosophy

The rules emphasize crew quality. Crack crews such as the British have a considerable advantage in gunnery and morale over incompetent landlubbers, such as the Spanish. Advanced rules make the elite ships very good indeed.
    The game is based on orders and simultaneous movement, but flows smoothly and playing the game is quick and painless.

Move Sequence

Fleet Orders (if needed)
Ship orders (course and distance, e.g. 50 straight ahead, turn starboard for 20, 30 straight)
Fire ranging shots / signal shots
Move ships
Resolve collisions
Asses the point at which each ships fires during the move
Execute gunnery
Test for fires / explosions
Small arms fire / Boarding
Morale tests

Combat system

The ships have a certain number of batteries (which are used to deliver punishment to the enemy and keep track of damage - if all your batteries are destroyed your ship sinks). Batteries have differing strengths based on the size of the guns.
    The firing ship decides whether to fire on the hull or the rigging. Range and angle of fire is measured (i.e. for raking). Two d6 are rolled, one counting positive, one negative. The difference is looked up in a table to find out the chance factor - shorter ranges and better crews make the positive difference really count as a bonus. Damage to the target is (chance factor + tactical factors (i.e. first shot, raking, weather) + gunnery factor (i.e. weight of shot) x number of batteries. Quite simple to do after the first couple of times. Critical hits may occur if the chance dice are doubles.
    The damage is compared to the defence factor of the target, which is derived from the size / rate of the ship. For example, a 3rd rate ship has a hull defence factor of 60, and a broadside from the same ship might do 70 points of damage from medium range, knocking out 1 battery from the 20 (10 perbroadside) the ship has. Should the ship suffer, say 180 points of damage, three batteries are destroyed.
    All damage also kills men in the target ship. Losses among the crew have an effect on the morale (the effect on firing is already counted in the loss of batteries).
    The ships have all the usual options of firing shot, grape, double- or triple loads, dismantling shots etc. Fires may result, captains may be mortally hit, and all other heroic and tragic things are not only possible, but frequent, at least in our games.
    Boarding is perhaps the most complicated feature of the rules, requiring a bit of bookkeeping. The action consists of rounds of combat, usually three, fought at a rate of one / turn. Basically the ships compare the number of men available for the boarding action, roll dice and see who runs out of men or decks first, the winner of each round advancing one deck into the enemy ship, or towards the bulwarks repelling the invaders...

Miniatures we use

So far we have used Navwar's 1/1200 napolenic ships. They are not the best ships on the market, but are inexpensive. The quality could definitely be better, especially with the masts and sails, which tend to have casting defects. We are considering ordering some of Langton's reputedly excellent ships.
    One of our plans has been the construction of Swedish and Russian fleets for our Napoleonic 1808 campaign efforts.

Review by AA