"Captains Bold Frigate Rules" Topic

Captains Bold is a free print-and-play game for the age of sail. It focuses on duels between frigates.

warartisan.com/rules

Hope you enjoy!.

Amicalement
Armand

I like the look of these rules. While they are clearly intended for sloop and frigate actions, I wonder whether something could be done to include 50-, 64- and 74-gun ships?

The gunnery issue seems relatively simple. For example, four or five heavy guns, plus one carronade, could be used to represent the gun/hull points of these heavier ships.

But what of sailing? What could be done to amend the sailing capabilities of the base ships in the game, to represent the slower, less manoeuvrable 50-, 64- and 74-gun ships?

Any suggestions gratefully received – many thanks in advance, folks!

I wonder whether something could be done to include 50-, 64- and 74-gun ships?

For what it's worth, my suggestion would be to use one of the many sets of rules that are designed to do this already.

If you need to drive a nail and all you have handy is a screwdriver, it doesn't make much sense to ask the internet how to use a screwdriver to drive a nail. It makes sense to get a hammer.

Point taken, War Artisan!

But these ingenious rules tick so many of my special 'boxes' (I am esp. keen on hex-based movement, and dislike too much complexity) that I am reluctant to simply walk away without seeing whether I can easily accommodate fourth- and even perhaps third-rate ships.

For example, the rules could surely easily be made to fit *two* ships per side, by simply *requiring* ships to activate in the order that they are positioned according to the wind – i.e., the ship most to windward must activate first, followed by the next most to windward, and so on.

In terms of movement, I note that frigates are allowed to make two turns on a single 'spot'. Perhaps anything heavier than a frigate would simply not be allowed to do this? And as for speed, perhaps the 'base' speed for anything heavier than a frigate would be *two* points, rather than the frigate's *three*?

I will experiment and see what can be done.

Let us know how it works out.