A Naval Encounter - Rejects as Guinea Pigs

Having painted a French squadron for the Anglo-Dutch wars it doesn't look like the Rejects are getting anywhere close to playing with these toys...

So, I decided to ignore the rules we'd planned to use (Mad for War by Barry Hilton) and quickly scribbled an easy fast play set to try out with the Rejects remotely during our usual online paint and chat evening.

The rules avoid a lot of detail for simplicity of play via Zoom.  I expected them to be rubbish and openly shared with the players, Dan and Steve, that they were guinea pigs for the night.  I sent them a copy of the rules as they currently stood... untidy and barely legible.

The rules as originally written. The work of c.20 to 30 minutes... and it shows!  Once they have been tested and refined I may type them and share them.

Each player started by taking command of one ship apiece, both classed as 2nd Rate ships of the line.

Their starting positions.

They were quickly at each other.  However Steve, commanding Le Saint Philippe, got into a position at close range and able to deliver raking fire.  It was devastating.

Dan, captaining La Therese, desperately tried to keep distance to try and make some repairs.

However, Le Saint Philippe was never far away and continued to harass Captain Dan.

Until eventually, Steve manoeuvred onto the rear of La Therese (!) and delivered the coup de grace with another raking shot.

That was the game over in just under an hour with poor Dan never able to recover from the first raking broadside.  We had a little chat about the rules and set about a second game.

This time, some islands were placed as terrain with the opponents placed behind each.

Perhaps having learnt the rules, the two commanders were slightly cagier in the manoeuvres.

Regardless, Steve managed to get into a position for another raking shot. However, his devastating dice from game one were now starting to obey the laws of probability.  La Therese got off lightly.

The cat and mouse sailing of both continue as each sought position.  Both having to contend with the wind and islands.  Steve was a little abler in handling running repairs compared to Dan.

Each sought to gain wind advantage.

Eventually closing...

...to deliver broadsides at close range.

The battle had to end there.  Steve and Le Saint Philippe were able to claim a victory by virtue of having inflicted more damage on La Therese.

After Thoughts
The aim of the rules was to abstract a lot and keep things really simple.  Each rate of ship starts with a number of dice with which everything has to be done.  So the principle is that commanders have to make decisions about their priorities for the turn.  With hits, these dice are reduced.  The reducing dice makes the decision making both challenging and critical.  Pleasingly, this seemed to be how things played out.

With the players' help, some, but not many, rules were tweaked.  The general opinion being that the rules played very well and were "fast and fun" (Dan's words).  This was exactly what I was aiming for.  We all agreed that the next test would be try them out with multiple ships per side.

My other aim for the evening was to test the remote gaming set up.  With no dedicated space anymore, I have to use the dining room table.  My concern was principally lighting the gaming area.  Happily, Dan and Steve said that my arrangement (two cameras and a special lamp borrowed from my son) worked well.  Whilst I won't be able to keep games set up over a number of evenings, it does look like single evening games are a possibility again.

It was a fun evening with turns that whizzed by.  Thanks to my guinea pigs Dan and Steve and their feedback.  I'm looking forward to the next encounter.