"Flying Colors Naval Game" Topic

Saturday the local HMGS-South group played a Revolutionary War naval game using the Flying Colors rules. The scenario was a simplified version of the battle of Cape Henry, 16 March 1781. Old Glory miniatures were used instead of the games ship counters.

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How did you like the rules? How long was the game? What was simplified?

Do tell.

The rules were fun. They seemed well-suited for a game with 10+ ships on a side, with easy to learn and execute mechanisms that were not too fiddly. The game lasted 3 hours. We stopped at a lull in the action because our usual session was drawing to a close. If we had been more familiar with the rules, we would have played faster and completed more turns.

Although the advantage lay with the British fleet when we quit, because the one French ship had struck (to my stern rake, as the photo shows), the continuing advantage probably lay with the French. Thanks to a sudden wind shift, and some brilliant maneuvering by the admiral in command of the French rear squadron, they held a strong position directly upwind of the British ships. This put them in a position to pound the more damaged ships from the upwind position.

The simplification was in the scenario; each fleet consisted of nine 74s.

Rick

We played for about 3 hours, which included a lot of time reading and debating the rules.

The rules worked well overall. Our main objection was that, unlike every other such rules we have used, both broadsides could be loaded and fired at the same rate as one broadside.

We did not use any optional rules and all the ships were assumed to be identical 74s.