"Form Line of Battle (FLOB) for skirmishy naval games" Topic

I know FLOB is good for one person commanding multiple ships, but is it any fun with only one?

I'm looking for rules to quickly play linked scenarios in a short mini-campaign. I want each player to push only his own ship; occasionally players will have multiple ships when they capture prizes, escort non-combatants, or also command an auxiliary (somebody has to push the frigates, sloops, brigs, etc), but the "core command" will be one ship and one only.

On the flip side, I want the GM (me) to be able to run a full enemy fleet as non-player bad guys, quickly and easily and with minimal record keeping. I also want each game to last only 2-4 hours.

The idea is to play the scenarios that are boring or frustrating because one side is so outnumbered or outclassed it's no fun. I figure by pitting all the players against a non-player enemy, it becomes more of a "staff exercise" kind of game where the players must collaborate to achieve victory, and compete only for glory and accolades.

FLOB fits all my requirements except maybe the one-ship-per-player bit. Opinions?

Can't comment on how well they play, but there is a more detailed optional system in FLoB: "Advanced Rules for Small actions", intended to allow frigate actions and similar to be played with more texture (given that mos were single ship actions).

Spot on. The original version was aimed squarely at squadron and fleet actions involving mainly ships of the line, but I was playing mostly frigate and small ship actions in the campaigns thta we were running in Trowbridge back in the 1990s. The standard rules work OK for these kind of battles but he fidelity isn't great (they are fast and fun though) so I developed the optional system to give a more satisfying game when playing small ship actions involving only a few vessels.

I have played a scenario like this using KMH rules that everyone enjoyed where I was the GM running all of the Brits, while the other four ran 2 Dutch (Batavian) and 2 French squadrons. The GM got wupped! It lasted about 6 hours though. Never a dull moment even so.

I have recently purchased FLOB, but haven't had opportunity to play it.

I've done these dogpile-on-the-GM games in several periods. I like the format for several reasons:
- Hidden things like shoals, ambushes, special weather events, minefields, etc. are in just one head
(mine) so they're easy to keep secret.
- It's a nice way to play totally lopsided scenarios without forcing anybody to be on the losing side.
Everybody wins!
- It makes boring scenarios (landings, shore bombardments) into interesting scenarios because of the
intelligence and coordination issues.
- I can adjust the scenario balance on the fly as needed to keep the game interesting.
- I get to play with my own miniatures, instead of always watching from the GM chair.

I've looked at several rules sets for doing this in the Age of Sail, but so far FLOB is at the top of the list. Langton's ability chart system has some advantages, but I don't already have to be an expert in the rules to run a FLOB game. It's easy to read, easy to figure out, easy to teach.

I'm late to the party on this, but I have run straight FLOB with just a single ship on each side (or one ship against two). As David says, you lose fidelity, but it is quick, and gives and enjoyable game. Tried it both with and without single broadside factors. But I'm a simple soul; I actually find the optional small ship rules to fiddly and complicated ;)