With some amendments and clarifications now applied to my 17th century naval rules, the Rejects took to the "online" seas again to try them out and provide much wanted feedback.
The players commanded the ships as follows:
Lee - La Therese 3rd rate, 8 dice
Jonathan - Le Lion Rouge 4th rate, 7+1 dice (extra for master gunner)
Plus, a yacht the St Ann: unrated, 2 dice
Steve - L'Hercule 4th rate, 7 dice
Dan - L'Etoile de Diane 5th rate, 6 dice
Ray - L'Elbeuf 6th rate, 5 dice
My particular focus was on the changes I'd made to shooting and a slight amendment to the movement sequence.
On with the game.
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| The two sides had to negotiate the islands to get at each other. For the purpose of orientation, the dice are always placed at the stern of the ships. So, direction of travel should be clear... I hope. |
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| L'Etoile de Diane and L'Elbeuf. |
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| The opposing squadron. |
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| Dan, Ray and Steve benefitted from the wind and moved quickly. Having to sail into the wind meant a slower start for Jonathan and Lee. |
One change to the turn sequence was that instead of moving a squadron at a time, I wanted to trial the squadron most windward moving one ship first, then alternate ship movement thereafter. Of course, the option to attempt an interruption and steal a move was still available.
My reasoning was that in games with one squadron a side this stopped complete control by one side. Plus, in multi-squadron games the side with the weather gauge moves a squadron first then alternate squadrons thereafter.
Another slight amendment was to make it just a little trickier to acquire a raking shot. To achieve this a ship cannot rake if they conduct a turn in the hex from which they are going to shoot. In other words, the raking ship must sail straight into position. My reasoning being that it requires skill and timing to deliver the shot. Thus, hasty last minute turns are not in keeping.
Jonathan and Lee were victorious as the opposing squadron reached its breakpoint and scattered in the hope of an escape.
Afterthoughts
With all players being a little more familiar with the rules, the game lasted c.80 minutes. I thought it was fun and played smoothly.
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| L'Hercule decided to take a lone route towards the enemy and found himself subject to a thumping broadside from Le Lion Rouge. |
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| With Ray and Dan rounding the island to the north, Steve found himself isolated against a whole squadron. Especially as Lee, commanding La Therese, was about to unleash something nasty. |
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| Despite having taken some earlier damage from L'Elbeuf, La Therese sailed neatly into position to bow rake L'Hercule. |
Another slight amendment was to make it just a little trickier to acquire a raking shot. To achieve this a ship cannot rake if they conduct a turn in the hex from which they are going to shoot. In other words, the raking ship must sail straight into position. My reasoning being that it requires skill and timing to deliver the shot. Thus, hasty last minute turns are not in keeping.
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| I missed taking a few photos I'm afraid. L'Hercule, being severely damage is limping away. St Ann's rudder is shot and is unable to steer. Dan, commanding L'Etoile de Diane, chased after St Ann but found himself the victim of some clever manoeuvring by Le Lion Rouge. Captain Jon then delivered a game winning stern rake. |
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| The stern rake delivered by Le Lion Rouge. |
Jonathan and Lee were victorious as the opposing squadron reached its breakpoint and scattered in the hope of an escape.
Afterthoughts
With all players being a little more familiar with the rules, the game lasted c.80 minutes. I thought it was fun and played smoothly.
I was pleased that the raking fire amendment to both position and differentiating between bow and stern rakes played out so well.
The order of ship movement worked fine and the players seemed pleased. However, there was a discussion about this and how it might be tweaked further. Some interesting ideas were mooted and taken note of.
There was also a good discussion about what happens to a ship once it reaches zero dice. The current situation demands that the afflicted ship either tries to make an escape or, if carrying a critical damage, sinks. It didn't really have the right feel in a period when capturing ships was such a n important feature. So, there were plenty of excellent ideas and solutions. I now have plenty to ponder. The key thing is to make the changes as small as possible and keep the principle of the game design - fast, fun, and not burdened with small detail and things to keep track of.
On the whole, I am pleased that we have rules which give a fun and, I believe, challenging game.
My thanks to the Rejects. Jonathan must be included as a Reject, being a founding member of the Spokane Chapter. Your feedback and good ideas have been invaluable.
Some interesting tweaks there Richard which appear to have worked well. I suppose one thought is that you could make a ship strike its colours and surrender if it is within a certain radius of an enemy, and the enemy could lose a point for then having to crew it?
ReplyDeleteDo you dice for movement in wind direction each turn? As I recall Black Sails has a similar movement mechanism with those upwind moving first, which seemed to work well.
Thanks Lawrence. Your suggestion is almost exactly like one that has been made.
DeleteI don't dice for movement each turn. I think that makes the wind a little too capicious. I dice every four turns. It can stay the same or move one point left or right. Hence the countdown die on the wind arrow.
"capricious"!
DeleteAnother thoroughly enjoyable game Rich. The rules work very well indeed. Like I said, we just need a 2 Squadron a side game now, to see if you and the rules can take a lashing!!!
ReplyDeleteThis was another entertaining game, Richard. As Ray says, the rules worked well, and play was uncomplicated and smooth. Great job and thank you! Can I represent a Rejects' Foreign Chapter of one?
ReplyDeleteGood to hear your reworked rules were even better than before.
ReplyDelete