As in real ancient naval combat, ships will tend to be difficult to control (even more so than land troops), and once in contact, should be more-or-less out of the battle. Ships powered by sail and muscle are very difficult to turn around, and most naval melees involved grappling and entangling, so that an overpowered ship was most likely doomed. Lighter galleys will be more likely to effect a break-off, since base-to-base contact with their elements is assumed to involve significant close-in maneuvering (unlike other types).
I opted not to allow any shooting, since most shooting in the ancient and medieval eras was at fairly close ranges even on land, and would likely have been even less effective at anything beyond point-blank ranges from a moving ship. Missile and gun fire is assumed to be a regular part of any contact between elements (especially overlaps), and is factored into the combat values of each element.
I decided that the occasional super-sized ships of any period didn't deserve a separate troop type, since their fighting style is represented by broader types already, and an element can represent a single large ship as easily as many smaller ones. Such ships were invariably used as flagships anyway, so will have extra fighting power just by being part of the general's element (thus getting a +1 in contact).
A word about the "destroy" result: ships of destroyed elements are not necessarily sunk. Without ramming, sinking of enemy ships in combat was far less common than capture until the use of exploding shell at sea in the 19th century. Sometimes ships could be sunk by ramming, holing, or fire, but more often the crew would be killed, ejected and subdued and the ship would either be captured or abandoned to drift until it came to grief from grounding, leaks or unchecked fires. However, captured ships were usually wrecked and undercrewed enough to be nearly useless in further combat. In the context of this game, "destroyed" indicates the reduction and capture of some portion of the ships represented by an element, the rest being left to sink, drift or flee. A victorious element is assumed to include any combat-worthy vessels captured from a destroyed enemy element, while other captured ships drift or sail off on their own, away from the action.
| Type | CV | Speed | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cat | Cataphracts | +3 | 300p | Representing galleys which relied primarily on shooting and boarding for victory, and were often fully decked over ("cataphract") to provide a better fighting platform. Elements may represent one or more of the gigantic, multi-banked, oared capital ships which were rare, but very difficult to sink or capture, or groups of triremes, quadriremes, quinqueremes, etc., |
| Lib | Liburnians | +2 | 400p | Biremes, triremes, quadriremes, "liburnae", and other light galleys relying on maneuver and ramming tactics rather than boarding. |
| Lng | Longships | +2 | 300p | Open, oared ships such as Viking and Saxon longships, Greek pentaconters, Mediterranean pirate ships, etc. designed primarily for transportation, raiding and piracy, but also used as fighting platforms in sea battles. |
| Wr | Warships | +2 | 200p | Sailing vessels such as cogs, caravels, carracks, etc., built for trade but modified for war with built up "castles" and filled with archers, crossbowmen, soldiers, guns, etc. |
| Tr | Transports | +1 | 200p | Sailing or oared vessels which are heavily laden, unprepared, or otherwise unsuited for fighting. |
Basing:
For 6mm or 15mm scale, use 1/1200 scale ships on 40mm x 40mm bases.
For 25mm scale, use 1/600 scale ships on 60mm x 60mm bases.
Use 1-3 models per base, depending on the size of the models.
Battles between fleets are fought just like battles between armies, except as noted below.
Terrain. The defender chooses terrain. He declares one edge of the table to be the coast, and may place up to 2 islands, reefs or peninsulas. Each island, reef or peninsula must be 600p or less in length, and not more than two-thirds as wide as it is long. The defender may also declare a second edge of the table to be coast, but then may only place 1 island or reef or peninsula. The defender must also lay string or chalk lines around all land indicating where the shallows begin; the shallows may extend 0-300p from land. When the terrain is laid out, there must be enough open water such that a line extended across the table, perpendicular to an edge, from any point along that edge, must not include less than 1600p total of open water (free of land or shallows). There must be at least 600p of open water in all directions from the center point of the table. All gaps between shallows must be at least one element base width across.
Wind direction. Determine the wind direction next. The defender picks one corner or side, then both players dice. The attacker's die roll moves the wind direction clockwise, the defender's die roll moves it counter-clockwise, counting one for each side and corner around the table from the spot the defender chose. The ending side or corner is the direction from which the wind originates. It blows straight across the table to the opposite side or corner.
Example: The defender chooses the side closest to him, and rolls a 1, moving the wind direction counter-clockwise one point, to the corner nearest the defender's right elbow. The attacker rolls a 4, moving the wind direction clockwise 4 points around the table, counting side-corner-side-corner. The wind is now coming from the left table corner opposite the defender, blowing diagonally across the table to the corner nearest the defender's right elbow.
Terminology. For purposes of this game, upwind is any direction that is more than 90 degrees off the direction of the wind. Downwind is any direction up to and including 90 degrees off the direction of the wind. A vessel has the wind astern if it is going directly or diagonally downwind, up to and including 45 degrees off the direction of the wind.
Deployment. The attacker chooses one side of the table, which may not be a shore side, nor may it be upwind if he has any ships in his fleet. The defender sets up first, on the side opposite the attacker's, placing all units within 600p of his edge, then the attacker places all his units within 600p of his edge.
Movement.
All elements of the moving fleet must drift 100p in the direction of the
wind, maintaining their facing, unless they make a legal move using PIPs.
All elements which drift must end slightly separated from any other
elements, so as not to form a legal group anymore, unless they began the
drift in frontal contact with enemy.
Enemy elements in contact with drifting ships remain in contact and drift
along.
All moves, including drifting moves, are made in any order, at the discretion of the moving player.
Once made, drifting moves absolutely may not be taken back, under any circumstances.
Naval elements which drift or recoil onto land or a reef are destroyed.
Naval elements which make even a part of their move upwind or through shallows must move at -100p for the turn.
Ships and Lng which make their entire move with the wind astern may move an extra 100p.
Galleys may move as a group straight backward (no wheeling or oblique moves) at -100p.
Ships in close combat follow up any type but Lib for one base depth, if their opponents recoil downwind.
Transports may not move into contact with enemy.
| Type | Combat Results | |
|---|---|---|
| if beaten | if doubled | |
| Liburnians | Flee 400p from Cat; else recoil. | Recoil from Tr; otherwise destroyed. |
| Cataphracts Longships |
Destroyed by Lib; otherwise recoil | Recoil from Tr; otherwise destroyed. |
| Warships | Destroyed by Lib; otherwise recoil if this would be downwind. | Recoil from Tr if this would be downwind; otherwise destroyed. |
| Transports | Recoil if this would be downwind. | Destroyed. |
Die Roll Modifiers.
+1 if galleys supported by a second rank of galleys, and fighting galleys to their front.