Wargame Design Studio

 

 

 

A new wargame studio has been set up by the folks behind the recent Panzer Battles games.

 

We wish them good luck and hope they continue to make new wargames to keep us entertained long into the future. I also hope we get to see some unique designs and features in some of their future games.

 

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Steve Smith Wargame Vault Interrogation



Steve Smith runs Wargame Vault. I’m sure most wargamers have browsed the Wargame Vault website if not made a purchase or two or five or ten.. For those who don’t know Wargame Vault it’s rather unusual for a wargame online store. They deal mainly with rulebooks for miniature wargames or print old classic wargames long out of print in their original boxed format. Take the classic Upfront, a game many consider the greatest board wargame ever released. The actual game can be bought in separate parts, so the games card sets are separate purchases as is the rulebook which can be bought in either a PDF version or printed. I purchased Upfront from them myself but at the time the rulebook was PDF only, however recently they have released a printed version which I jumped at. The best way for you to understand how they work is to go visit the website yourself. Whilst there I’m sure you’ll find something that takes your fancy. So with that in mind in another expertly carried out covert operation we managed to kidnap Steve Smith, take him to a secure location and start out interrogation!

The following is a transcript of our "chat" with Mr Smith, recorded on our special ACME interrogation recording device.

First we will fire a round of quick fire questions at you…what the wires..lie detector of course.. Pardon…funny that last one sat there said there was no need for all this aswell, but we will be the judge of that!! Now remember no lies..oh and we have ways of making your talk!!

Name? Steve Smith

Age? 55

Current whereabouts? Northern Indiana, USA

Favourite TV program? Archer

Favourite Music genre? Metal/Rock

Favourite band\musician? Many! Metallica, Judas Priest, Queensryche to Static X and 5 Finger Death Punch!

Favourite Film? Dune

Favourite period of history? WWII

Favourite Superhero? Deadpool

Favourite colour? Blue

Favourite animal? Dogs

Lucky number? 26

Spitfire or P51? P51

Panther or T34? Panther

BF 109 or FW 190? FW 190

Patton or Rommel? Patton

Interesting, very interesting. Now be good, answer the questions and all will go well!

What was your profession pre Wargame Vault and what year did you start up the business?

Well, like many folks in the wargame business I have a day job as well as a job in the hobby. I know most wargamers think us guys in the wargame business live like rock stars, but sadly it's not true! I am a machinist in my day job.

As mentioned in the introduction Wargame Vault is pretty unique in the way it runs compared to other wargame shops on the net. I’d love to know what sparked the initial idea and how you went about setting it all up to become the successful business it is today. So could you give us a run down on how you came by the initial idea and then turned that idea into a viable business, including the highs and lows of the process and if there were any hurdles you had to overcome?

Well, it actually wasn't my idea, I just fell into it! Wargame Vault is actually an offshoot of DriveThruRPG/RPGNow. These sites were owned by and run by several guys including Steve Weick, Mike Todd and James Mathe. They had been successfully running digital download sites since 2001 for RPG rules and such, way before downloading anything was cool. As time went on they were getting more and more wargaming material loaded up, and being mainly RPG/Larp folks they weren't familiar with the material, manufacturers or the unique genre that wargaming is.

At the time (2007) Sean Patrick Fannon was employed as Publisher Relations for RPGNow. Sean and I had worked together for GAMA running the GAMA Trade Show and the Origins Game Convention, and he knew that I had been into wargaming for many years. So, when they decided that they needed a separate site for Wargame downloads they needed someone who knew the ground, and Sean brought up my name. They offered me the job and I took it! Nine years later it's still the best job I've ever had.

Starting out was a bit rough at first, selling wargame authors and publishers on the idea of selling games without printing them! We acquired Mongoose's Wargame Downloads website at the launch and gained a good number of titles, and when we kept sending out royalties checks to publishers every month others began to take notice. Also, downloading content became more commonplace, even among grognards! Our goal has always been to have every wargame ever made to be available on our site, so I just kept bugging authors and publishers thru emails and at shows and conventions and we eventually became the largest digital wargame publisher on the net.

If someone was thinking about starting up an online wargame store what advice would you give and is there anything they really need to watch out for?

Do you have any pointers that might set them in the right direction? I would say get the best IT/Technical people you can. If your site doesn't work right nobody will use it. We have been very fortunate in having some great folks on staff writing code for us and fixing technical issues, guys like Mike Todd, Chuck Childers and others who really know what they're doing. Also, customer service is incredibly important, as is knowing what you're selling. 

My introduction was a rather poor attempt to explain how Wargame Vault works. So what’s best is if you could explain what Wargame Vault does and how it works including who can use it and what the costs and terms are etc?

How we work is really very simple. Authors and publishers make an account and upload their titles to their "storefront" on our site. They can use about any format they like, but PDF works best. They can also set up titles to be printed on demand and sent to customers anywhere in the world thru our print houses in the U.S. and U.K.
We can handle about anything, books, cards, cardstock terrain and minis, board games, 3-D printing files, audio books, PC games, etc. The authors set their own prices and margin and what they choose to offer on the site. There are no out-of-pocket costs, as we engage in revenue sharing. We only make money if a title sells. When a title sells the publisher gets 70% or 65% depending on whether they are an exclusive digital publisher with us or not. We get the remainder.

We handle the storefront, site upkeep, digital storage, security watermarking on pdf's, real-time bookkeeping, tax forms, limited advertising, printing and shipping for printed titles and royalty payout thru Paypal or check. We also can digitize products for folks who have a hard copy but not a digital copy of a work, which is great for long out of print titles made before electronic means were available. We pretty much handle everything except the actual creation of the title.

How does your service work for the publishers?

Probably the best part of our service for publishers is the ease of use. Once titles are loaded they really just need to cash out thru Paypal! For publishers and authors that use our print service, they do away with minimum orders thru traditional printers, no warehousing, no shipping and no cost to sell their products. Customers place their order, we print it and ship it, the author gets paid royalties. Simple!

Where are you based?

We are truly a "virtual" office. I'm in Indiana, our servers and tech folks are in Georgia, Florida and I don't know all where, our Publisher Relations folks are in Illinois, Wisconsin, Georgia, the boss lives in Canada! We all work from home, wherever that may be. I've worked with some people for almost a decade and never actually met them. Publishing has changed over the years!

What formats do you support?

pdf, jpg, epub, mobi, html, stl, audio, video, print

How do you pay royalties?

We pay royalties by Paypal that can be cashed out at any time or at the end of the month automatically, or by check at the end of the month.

What options do publishers and authors have on our site?

Publishers can be as active as they wish. They can spruce up their storefronts in any number of ways, run sales, update rule sets, load new ones, remove others, advertise on the site using our virtual currency, or use us for crowd-funding fulfilments. Or not. They are in control of how they want to use our service and offer their products.

What’s been the most popular rule set\product you’ve sold?

We've had lots of great selling publishers. Rottenlead has sold well, Ivan at Nordic Weasel cranks out great stuff all the time, Admiralty Trilogy Group, Amarillo Design Bureau, Dave Graffam Models, Ganesha Games, MicroMark Army Lists, Mongoose, Steel Dreadnought Games, Osprey and many others have sold very well. But likely the best seller recently has been the one you mentioned earlier, the previously out of print Avalon Hill game Up Front and it's expansions released by Wizards of the Coast. We will continue to try to bring back old AH products in print format as we are able.

What era is the most popular?

From WWII to the present has been the most popular, but then there are a lot of WWII games out there too!

What era is the least?

The War of Jenkin's Ear doesn't sell particularly well.

Do you have a favourite rule set? If so which one is it and what makes it stand out for you?

I don't really have a favorite, I'll play anything!

What’s your favourite era to game?

WWII and ancients.

Do you play digital wargames? If so any favourites?

Rarely play digital games, but I have played a bit of Hegemony which I think is a great game.

As some will already know it’s not just Wargame Vault but you also have DriveThruRPG as well. DriveThruRPG runs exactly the same way. So if you enjoy your RPG’s as well then there’s double the reason to go check out the website!

And not just the RPG sites! We do have DriveThruRPG and RPGNow, but also DriveThruCards, DriveThruFiction, DriveThruComics, and DNDClassics. If it's gaming or Geek related we want to offer it!

You’ve been very cooperative! I see a very successful future for you!

Thank you for the opportunity, and I wish the same for you!

[Bob, tell me that’s not sirens…well what is it then…what!..you said it wasn’t sirens…aaarrghh..Steve we shall contact you soon about recruitment into our organisation..but first we have to run..Bob..run Bob run!!] (sounds of someone running into something, loud clattering sounds, faint cursing..tape ends)

The Chosin Few

from Victory Point Games

An episode from the Korean War 1950

Despite approximately 100,000 British troops fighting in the Korean War, many today in Britain would have little knowledge of that fact or of the war itself.  It is indeed, as many books on the subject proclaim, the Forgotten War.  Even for Americans who were by far the overwhelming number of combatants in the Korean war, this too is a little studied conflict in school.  A player of board wargames might have a greater chance of some acquaintance with the war and possibly this particular battle, but as an introduction to this review, a few facts wouldn't go amiss, I believe.  

Though the brief historical notes do acknowledge that it was a UN force, the battle as presented in VPG's The Chosin Few is totally an American one, albeit historically two British regiments and troops from the British Marine Commandos were involved as well.  Their failure to be included is purely a result of the nature of the game/simulation and the game's design.

At this early stage in the war in 1950, the UN forces had recovered from the initial devastating North Korean assault that was only halted at the Pusan perimeter at the toe of the Korean peninsular.  This reversal of fortunes had been achieved in September by the daring landing at Inchon by General McArthur.  The North Korean forces had been sent fleeing back and then pursued north towards the Yalu river.

Now massive Chinese forces were gathering to support North Korea and had begun to sweep south again, at times using the tactics that became notorious as the "human wave".  It is at this point that the battle of Chosin opens in November 1950.  It is best remembered as a desperate defence of The Few against the encircling hordes of the many enemy.  It is an immensely lopsided battle, with overwhelming Chinese forces surrounding and seeking to obliterate the small American contingent.  Most sources I've found give approximate figures of 120,000 against 30,000!  VPG's brief historical notes in the game booklet push the enemy numbers to 150,000.  However modern historians argue the niceties of these figures, no one disputes the huge disparity in numbers.

Perhaps because of this, VPG have cast the battle in their solitaire siege series of games.  However, this is no Rorke's Drift.  Ultimately, it was a battle of survival by holding out long enough until allowed to attempt to breakout and head towards what historically was an evacuation by sea of those who did survive. 

When given the opportunity to review this treatment of the battle, I was delighted.  From the old days of GDW's Yalu to its glossy remake by Compass Games, then via the Inchon landings first seen in a Simulations Canada design and a later magazine game issue,  the Korean War has held an interest for me, though I never ventured into the larger productions that encompassed the whole war.  Added to that was the recent appearance last year in Strategy & Tactics of Korean Battles designed by BrianTrain, which featured three battles, including the battle of Chosin.   That was my first reason to seize the chance to review The Chosin Few, the second my great enjoyment of Victory Point Games, particularly the Napoleonic 20 series.

I had no knowledge of how VPG had handled this conflict, but, from the size of the box, my guess had been at much the same level as the Napoleonic series I favoured.  On seeing, however, that it was part of the Siege Series, I immediately knew that I was likely to be in for something rather different.  I wasn't wrong.

The series ranges from very specific geographical battles [A Blood Red Banner takes us to the Alamo, while Zulus On The Ramparts is VPG's classic presentation of Rorke's Drift ] to very broad-brush treatments of strategic situations [Soviet Dawn gives us The Russian Revolution].  The Chosin Few is certainly geographically nearer their game on the Alamo or Rorke's Drift and, though the scale has moved from the micro-tactical to the operational, the overall picture still has a strong physical element. 

In brief, the game contents are a four piece jig-map that fits together very well, 25 cards, 25 small wooden cubes, 11 laser-cut counters and two standees and a 12 page rule book.  Being part of the gold series these all come in a sturdy "pizza" box with a  very attractive slip-cover.   So, let's cast a closer look over these items.

The folio size map  [11" x 17"] is a very striking relief map of the area in which the conflict took place.  Its steely grey colour and many rugged mountain reliefs well convey the bleak, inhospitable landscape in the depths of a brutal winter.  On very close inspection, you can also see a wealth of place names.

Superimposed on the map is a highly abstract system of location boxes to govern movement and combat, linked by a series of white or coloured arrows.  The beige ones are potential areas where the initial enemy forces will appear and the white ones are the confines within which the American units  can move, once set up.  Ah... the units!  The Chinese are represented by the 20 cubes and the American X Corps and the 1st Marine Division are the two oblong standees.  As you can see, a very high degree of simplification, which is certainly one aspect that may draw criticism.

Also on the map are three boxes: the top one holds the three Order cards, while of the two below, the left one contains the face down Activity Deck and the right one is the discard pile for the Activity Deck.  Above the Discard Pile are two columns to track the current strength of the Marines and the Army.  

So, how does this game play out.  First of all the three Order cards are stacked on top of each other.  These provide the basic sequential narrative.  Each is like a mini-scenario that has to be completed successfully in order to win the game.

The three titles are Almond's Instructions, Advance In Another Direction and Breakout.  Not surprisingly, these originally meant nothing to me, except that I knew that eventually the UN troops did manage to breakout.  Doing my research into the history did add to the feel of the game and I wish that more of that history could have been incorporated into the brief notes in the rule book.  It hides the feud between generals Almond and Smith,  the orders of the one that would lead to the disastrous situation and the actions of the other that would mean that some element of those soldiers did extricate themselves and survive.  On a totally different scale, how it reminded me of The Charge of The Light Brigade!

Almond's Instructions refers to General Almond who gave the orders for the troops [elements of X Corps and the 1st Marine Division] to move north to the area of the Chosin Reservoir - in game map terms to move from Location C to Locations A1 and B1, Advance In Another Direction  begins the attempt to extricate themselves from the potentially murderous encirclement - your two units have to move back to Location C!!  Finally, Breakout means to move both units from Location C to Location D4.

So, here is the first Order card with which the game begins.

 Like all three Order cards it contains a title, a starting date, the objective to be achieved, where to place the six Lines of Departure discs [to be discussed later], a pre-scenario action and the consequences of failing the scenario.

A typical mini-scenario then follows along these lines.  The End of Orders card is shuffled into the bottom six cards of the Activity deck.  Each Activity card is then turned up one at a time and executed until the End of Orders card is reached.  If at that point you've met the goal of the current Order card, move on to the next Order Card.

Using the details from the first Order card, below is the initial set up at the very beginning of the game.  The six circular discs are the Lines of Departure, numbered 1 to 6 where the Chinese forces will randomly  arrive and there in the centre are the two American armies.

Next you turn over the top Activity card on the Draw pile.

The New Activity line indicates that you randomly draw and place one cube in each of Line of Departure locations 2,3 and 6.  The Enemy Movement means that all red cubes move one location and then all purple cubes move one location.  This movement follows very simple A.I. - normally a cube moves from their existing location to an adjacent  location linked by a white arrow, unless there is a coloured arrow link that takes you nearer to a location outlined in the same colour as the arrow where one of the two American armies are.  If a cube attempts to move into a location where there is an Army, you immediately fire on it by rolling a d6.  Whatever the result, the cube always returns to the location it came from, but the effect on your Army is one of the oddest ways I have come across in a war game that a unit's strength can work. 

The Marines have one column on the board running from 3 - 6 and the Army has the other column from 4 - 6, with a neat little marker to show current strength.  If you roll equal to or higher than the current strength you are successful and your unit suffers no penalty, but if you roll less than the current strength then you take a hit and the marker moves up to the next highest number.  If your strength marker is on 6, any roll other than 6 is obviously a hit and you move your marker into the last box of all which contains the word Lose and that is exactly what it means.  For you the battle is over - you've just lost the game ! 

Finally, the Player Actions tells you how many points you can spend in your own section of the turn. 1 point allows you to attempt to eliminate a cube in an adjacent location, 2 points allows you to move one army into an adjacent location and 3 points allows you regain one point of strength for an army.  Perhaps, the single most important detail follows: for each Action point that you do not use, you can take an Aircraft marker that you can use in the next turn.  You only ever have the use of three aircraft markers and the ability to gain and use one or more will probably be the key to success or failure.  Of the three possible uses of an aircraft marker, Interdiction is by far the most important and probably the one you will choose to use most, as it stops all cubes moving from or into a location where it is placed.

When you look at the simplicity of what you are actually doing, how easy it all sounds.  What a small distance it is in game turns between those locations.  Yet how well nigh impossible it is to achieve those goals.  Victory conditions demand that neither of your two units is totally wiped out and that you achieve the goals of all three Order Cards.

You can continue on to complete the game if you fail either of the goals on the first two Order Cards.  You don't lose [haha], but neither do you win.  A draw?   In historical terms, failing Breakout, the third and final Order Card undoubtedly means that all your troops are either dead or prisoners.  I'm not quite sure what failing the earlier Order cards means, but achieving the final Order card means - I guess - some survived, but very, very few.  In game terms, as far as my experience goes, it means blimey, I can't believe I've been so successful! 

Why?  Because normally I die and die and die and .... [how did you know?] DIE.  This is one tough solitaire game to win.  BUT!  Is it enjoyable?  Is it a good game?  Is it a good simulation of the battle of Chosin?

To take the last first. No, I don't think it is a simulation, except in the very broadest terms.  Those 20 cubes really don't feel like anything resembling soldiers, but they do keep coming and coming and you desperately want to hold them back and eliminate some of them.  Two stand-up markers don't look much like your troops, but you really come to care for them and every hit they take and can you get them out of this trap becomes a life and death matter.  But, in simulation terms that's it.  Nearly, everything I learned came from reading outside the game.

Is it a good game?  That depends on how much control you like to have.  Nearly everything is randomly generated and so luck plays a huge part.  Which colour of cubes you draw combined with what colour of cubes move is probably the crucial factor in whether you win or lose.  Added to that is the luck of the dice when rolling in combat during enemy movement and finally the luck of how many action points you get to work with in your part of the turn.

Is it enjoyable?  Yes, yes, yes.  Every turn of the card is waited with bated breath - especially which coloured cubes will move this turn - blue, great I'm safe there are no blue cubes near me or they're under one of my Interdiction markers - purple, oh no [I could say something stronger], I've got 3 purple all able to move into my location.   Hurray I've fought them all off with very low dice rolls or I'm dying far too quickly, because I'm rolling high.

I'm going to make it - argh, the next card is the End of Orders card and one of my armies is one location from where it needs to be - I've lost again.

But it plays quickly.  An hour tops for the whole game easily covers it and often 30-40 minutes is more likely.  That's fortunate, because it is one of those games where you lose and immediately want to have just one more go.  I just hope you like losing a lot.

Sailing to Victory on the Seas of Glory

First from Ares, there was Wings of War which later became Wings of Glory.  If you know either previous incarnation of this game, you will have some idea of what to expect in Sails of Glory.  Moving from aerial dogfights in WWI, this game's subtitle spells out the shift back in time to the Napoleonic Wars and that time of British naval supremacy typified by the phrase "the Nelson touch".

So, it's lashings of rum and lashings with the cat o' nine tails,

hard 'a starboard, avast ye lubbers and "Every man expects!"

- sorry, got carried away there!

With Sails of Glory, Glory's the key word for me, as this is truly a glorious production from first catching sight of the evocative box artwork of a naval engagement at its climax: ships with billowing sails, wreathed in the smoke of thundering close-range broadsides.  Unlike its WWI counterpart, which began purely with cards representing the planes and only later did exquisitely painted models follow, Sails of Glory lures us immediately with four detailed and superbly painted warships.  These are on display through the clear protective cover, as they nestle in their moulded hollows that form part of the large plastic insert that holds all the game contents.

The box in all its Glory

Delving further into the box, you encounter a host of other quality components.  First of all, each ship comes with its own ship card with a full colour picture of the ship and its stats and an oblong plastic base into which fits a deep blue base card with bow, stern and full broadside firing arcs marked in grey, over which fits a plastic overlay that both protects the card and contains a hole into which the ship's locating peg fits.  It is simple, elegant, practical details like this that give the game its finished look of polished quality.

Having said that, there have been a few complaints that, though the ships' hulls, decks and masts [the latter a curious yellow] are beautifully painted, the spars [like the sails themselves] are left a plain white.  For me this was a minor detail, but if you're a miniatures aficionado it may irritate more and you may wish to paint those details.  Not being a dab hand with any sort of brush, I have been happy to let mine remain as received.

 Each ship also comes with its own individual deck of manoeuvre cards, a Ship Mat and its own Ships Log, both in very sturdy cardboard and attractively designed and coloured - more about these later.  Rounding out the package are a Wind Gauge, two separate Wind Indicators, one for each player, some terrain in the form of four full-colour islands and six reefs, two cardstock measuring sticks and shed-loads of damage markers and action markers.

The final essential item to mention is the rule book.  At approximately 27 cm x 15 cm, it is a curious size, with just over 60 pages that at first sight might seem surprisingly long.  However, DO NOT BE PUT OFF - these rules cater for both the absolute beginner to the player wanting a fairly detailed and accurate depiction of naval warfare in the Age of Sail with miniatures. Consequently they are divided into 4 sections:- Basic, Standard, Advanced and Optional.  Basic really couldn't get more ... er, well basic!  Despite taking up 16 pages of the rules, they are very simple, introducing four Phases : Planning, Movement, Combat, Damage and Reloading. 

So, why such length? Mainly because of the wealth of illustrative photographs to make each simple point abundantly clear. 

BASIC RULES

Planning

Though the terminology is suitably nautical, with words like Running, Reaching, Beating and Taken Aback introduced, understanding and determining which applies to your ship at that particular moment couldn't be easier. As mentioned earlier, each ship sits on a base card that indicates firing arcs, but the card is also edged in three different colours: red, orange and green.  Just line up the Attitude indicator with the central mast of your ship and look at which colour the indicator crosses.  In the Basic rules, you then choose a Manoeuvre card from the ship's individual deck of cards depending on what colour the Attitude Indicator passed through on the edge of the card.

Movement

Generally, you will place the Manoeuvre card in front of the ship and advance your ship until its stern touches the tip of the movement line on the card.  Sometimes [when your ship is Taken Aback], you will have to align the card with the stern of the ship and then follow the same procedure.  The only other thing to consider is whether two ships might collide.  If there is that potential, then a simple rule determines which ship moves first and then the other ship is moved until its base is in contact with the first ship.  Surprisingly neither ship takes any damage for colliding!  That really is it for Movement and Combat is even easier. 

Combat

Each side of the ship has a Loaded marker face down in its Broadside box and can fire once after Movement, if there is an enemy ship in range.  Use the measuring stick, which for this simplest level of the game refers purely to short or long range. Make sure there's nothing in the way - sorry you can't fire through your own ships or islands [what a surprise!].  Choose randomly from the appropriate lettered pile of damage markers [either A or B in the Basic game - they are also distinguished by colour, so it's really easy when setting up the game and the current strength of the ship firing tells you how many markers to draw. Allocate the damage to the enemy and, if the ships are close enough, there will be a round of Musketry fire following exactly the same process, but drawing from the pile of E markers.                     And REMEMBER  - all firing is simultaneous. 

Finally, turn the Loaded marker face up to show that you have fired this turn.

RELOADING

The last action of each turn is first to take any facedown Loaded marker from the Reloading box and move it back into its Broadside box.

Then move any face-up Loaded marker from the Broadside box, turn it face down and move it into the Reloading box.

You now know all that is necessary for playing the game at its simplest level and frankly the next stage Standard Rules add so little more that I would be tempted to say that most players will add these in immediately.

But, before moving on to this next stage, there is probably one question those of you reading this review are asking.  Where are these different markers for each ship placed?  Well that's where each ship's combined Ship Mat and Ship Log come in.

Below is a photo of such a combined display set up for the first turn of a Standard level game to begin.

The Ship Log seen here is for HMS Terpsichore and is made up of the three interlocking sections which sit inside the Ship Mat frame.  The top row is where you place damage markers allocated to the hull of your ship and the bottom row is for damage markers allocated to crew of your ship.  When either of those rows is full of damage markers, a ship surrenders and is removed from game play.  When one side has lost all its ships, the other side has won.  To quote that ubiquitous meerkat :

"SIMPLES!"

STANDARD  RULES

So, what does this next level add.  Instead of planning one Manoeuvre card each turn, you start the game by planning Turn 1 and Turn 2's Manoeuvre cards putting them into the slots on the Ship Mat.  On Turn 1, turn up the first planned  Manoeuvre card, carry it out. move the 2nd card into its slot still face down and plan your next  Manoeuvre card to go into the second slot.

Which Manoeuvre card can be chosen will depend on the ship's Veer capacity [the number in the photo next to the wheel symbol].

Remember collisions , well now two friendly ships colliding do damage to each other.  Strangely an enemy ship and a friendly ship colliding don't do any damage.  Weird, that's one minor point I don't understand.  For me, it's House Rule time - an enemy ship and a friendly ship colliding do damage each other.

In Combat, ship's can now choose between three different types of ammunition: Ball, Chain and Grape.  If you know your Hornblower novels [or more youthful players may know the TV series], one type's for the hull, one's for the sails and one's for the crew.  Each time you reload you can choose whichever of the three you like.  The final addition is that if your cannons fire directly through the bow or the stern of the enemy ship, then additional damage tokens are drawn.

Again, that's it!  I think you can see why my advice is just jump straight in with the Standard rules.

And so we come to the real meat of the rules...

ADVANCED RULES

Even here the physical length of the rules is only 6 more pages!  The most significant area of change is in Planning.  To the simple plotting of two manoeuvre cards is added the planning of crew actions and this is where the other 210 markers start to make an appearance in the game..  On the Ship Mat there are 4 spaces for placing concealed action markers.  As your ship takes hits on the Crew that number of actions will decrease.  A list of some of those actions will give you a flavour of what is introduced.  Raise/Lower sails, Pump Water, Load Left/Right Broadside, Reload Left/Right Broadside, Musketry Fire, Repair Damaged Rudder, Extinguish Fire etc.

All of these introduce new elements.  First of all the icons on the Damage markers at last play a part and, as you can imagine from some of the actions mentioned in the previous paragraph, damage now can be very specific: the mast may be broken, the rudder shot away, fire breaks out or the ship begins to let in water.  As the situation becomes tense, can you afford to load the guns or must you concentrate on putting out the fire first.

Next sailing your ship becomes more complex, as the Raise or Lower Sail actions introduce the fact that on the Manoeuvre card you choose, there are three different possible lengths of movement for your ship depending on whether your sails are set at Full, Battle or Backing.  On your Ship Mat you will now have a Sail Status marker to move along to show just how your sails are set.

That brief description gives you the gist of the these Advanced rules, but how you put them into effect does take considerable careful reading of these very compact additional rules.  For some, they may be a step too far and, if so, just go back happily to the Standard level of rules.  For others they will be just the extra depth required and hugely enhance the feel of this game.

If, like me, they are what you want, then a worthwhile bit of pimping your game is worth the time and effort.  At this level of the game your Ship Mat and Log can get fairly crowded and I'd strongly recommend making individual plywood templates to glue each Ship mat onto.  That way you can easily pick them up and put them on one side when you've completed your planning or added current new damage markers and not risk disastrous dislocation of the layout.

As you can see in the picture below a simple oblong of plywood, sanded and varnished is all you need to glue your display onto.

The final section of the rules are the Optional ones.  What I like about these are that they aren't just a final level of complexity.  Some can be used in conjunction with all three levels of rules.  Indeed, the very first Optional rule is just such a one: Let The Men Drink, this uses the Grog counter.  All it does is let you cancel a damage marker once in the game.  I'm sure those of you so inclined can make up an addition to this rule that forces you to swig something appropriate! [Do I hear some of you wanting this to be allowed to happen more than once in the game?  Or is it just my wishful thinking!]

Similarly, an Entanglement rule can replace the collision rule at any level of the game, as do Continuous Fire and First Broadside, with virtually no cost in effort.  However, a few provide substantial and significant new additions;  among these are Boarding and the use of Terrain.  The latter will allow you to use the reefs and shoals that come with the game, but if you want the full benefit which is the introduction of Coastal Batteries, then for a little more money you'll need to buy the Coastal batteries and terrain expansion.

Last but not least are the four generic scenarios [plus one solitaire], perhaps the weakest element in the package, as they are very straightforward.  Nonetheless, they do give you the typical main naval encounters.  Their titles are self-explanatory: In Shallow Waters, Force The Blockade, Against The Outpost and Supplies Are Coming.

Just in case you are left in any doubt, this game totally gets my thumbs up.  It is real value for money whatever your chosen level of play.  Excellent as an introductory level game and engrossing if you do want depth.  I have only one proviso.  As the game comes, you can only play two ships on a side,  so, only small engagements and fairly generic ones.  In one way this is no problem, as there are many additional ships that you can buy, but a single player would still be hard pressed to manage more than three ships, particularly if you are using the Advanced rules. 

For larger battles, I think the cardboard world of say Flying Colours has to be turned to, but for accessibility, feel and atmosphere and detail too, if you want it, this is my choice. 



[Voices echo eerily:  Now where's that Grog counter?.......Can't find a cat o' nine tails anywhere.....Where's that little guy with an eye-patch?...........Mind the - SPLASH!]
 

 

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HELP WANTED

 

 

One thing I'd do if I won the lottery is set up a new game development company specialising in boardgame conversions. I currently know of three superb board wargame designers wanting to convert their games to digital format and at present having no luck finding the people to help see through their plan to the end. I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg. From my point of view there are countless games both board and mini's I'd love to see converted to the PC with fully working AI etc. One major advantage is that finally those 2 or more player games will be able to be played by those less fortunate than wargamers who have a circle of friends to play face to face. Yes we have VASSAL but I want to have all the rules being done by the CPU esp. for those monster games out there. Also make sure the game can be played online as well so we cater for everybody. I honestly don't think this will impact greatly on the boardgame sales as I believe those who enjoy the social face to face aspect will buy both. You'll be increasing sales all-round as finally you'll be selling to all those who never bought the boardgame due to lack of people to play against.

This page will have a list of current game designers and the name of their game that they want to see converted and are actively looking for coders etc. to get it done. So if you can code or have relevant skills that will help and are committed to getting the game converted then please contact  the designer of the game you'd love to work on. I'd see this as an excellent opportunity for students currently at University and studying game design, coding, graphics etc. or someone who is self-taught and really wants to get into game development. However only get in touch if you are going to be fully committed and don't expect payment until said game is released. If I had the skills I'd certainly get  involved.

The list is in no particular order.

• Nuts! and modules by Two Hour Wargames
• Bloody April Air War over Arras France 1917 and Elusive Victory by Terry Simo
• Warbirds: Canvas Falcons by Steve Pancrazio
• Wings of Glory WWI and WWII and Sails of Glory by Ares Games

        Why wargaming? Part One

                Okay, so I have just killed my thousandth human in Witcher 3. Why does the internet applaud
             this act, but not if I managed to destroy Meade's army at Gettysburg. In that scenario, I am a
             warmongering nut case.

 

           Most of the poor bastards I killed in the Witcher 3 were really only to test out some new sword
         or a different type of weapon for the hell of it. The limbs flying off at odd angles and the tortured
         scream of the computer animated victim were just icing on the cake. How many times have you
         reloaded that save " just once more" to kill everyone in the room just that much quicker? These
         acts are considered fine for healthy humans, but set out a map and counters and you have gone
         over the line.

            If you really think about it, our culture sees more blood and gore in one Freddy/Jason film than
         any Roman would have seen in the cheap seats of the Coliseum. Before binoculars and
         eyeglasses, it would play out like a Monty Python sketch "Sit down big nose, you can't see anything   
         anyway”.
           I used to love George Carlin; until he ranted and raved about wargaming, that is. To him, the
         idea of us "running up the casualties” higher than they had been originally was disgusting.
         Did he rant and rave about Arma or Halflife? No, just our hobby.
          Is there anything really different in trying to throw, catch or kick a ball like (insert your favorite
        sports figure). Why can’t this be compared to trying to do better, or as well as, Hannibal or
        Moltke?

           Where, if anywhere, should we draw the line? To many of us a Dresden is acceptable, but we
        draw the line at committing a Hiroshima on our computer or cardboard enemies.
          Wargaming to me is about trying to put myself as close to the situation as each game, or as I
        prefer to call it ‘simulation’, can.. Am I as smart as I think I am? Could I have taken Leningrad or
       defended Plevna better than what actually occurred in the actual battles?
         I remember Battlecry. I also remember Tactics II, but the day I first saw PanzerBlitz in all its
       glory is etched into my mind: the store, the counter, and the look, feel and heft of the box. To this
       day, a board wargame does not pass inspection if it does not feel weighty enough.

           The actual games have helped me immensely with the dry tomes we all know and love. Is
          putting a map in a book a crime in some countries? I can only draw stick figures, but it isn't that
         difficult to draw a map. I cannot understand why some authors avoid them like the plague.
          So, is our hobby just another vicarious escape hatch from reality like all others, or is it the     
         seriously demented vision that others have of us?

       I'll leave it up to you to decide. Meanwhile I will put on my Pickelhaube and fire up Fallout 4 and
      teach some supermutants manners with my minigun.
      This diatribe was brought to you by the US pharmacology bloc and was edited by the only
     person in the house that has command of the King's English.


Robert