"Fighting Sail - omitted fleet lists and ships costs" Topic

Introduced to these rules last week, and found that they gave a very enjoyable game, to the extent that I have now ordered my own copy of the rules plus a number of ships.

Having borrowed my friends copy to read though, the first thing that surprised me was the fleets that were listed, compared to those that were not. It seems strange that we have Russians, but neither of their two big enemies – Sweden or the Ottomans, and we do not have the Danish. Is there any chance that lists for these fleets will be published in the near future.

The second thing that surprised was the comparison "costs" of the different fleets. The lists seem to make the faster ships more costly than those with better gunnery/hulls. However, based upon the single game I have played so far, the shooting and defence seem to infulence the game more than speed. How have others found the game balance to play out?

It would be interesting to see how the different costs of ships was worked out.

You seem to have described the mess that these rules are.

Its an interesting set of rules but I must admit not one that I would use myself. I have seen a very interesting WW2 adaptation by Gary Mitchell, he's running a game using the rules at the Naval Wargames Weekend in Gosport in July

Speed can be useful. Because of the move first shoot first mechanic, having a good number of move points can mean you can put your ship where it can't be fired at when you move second.

Cheers,
JohnG

David: Interesting you mention WWII. One of our group thought Fighting Sail may have derived from a set of Star Ship rules. Again, if they can be adapted for WWII, what kind of 'feel' do they give for the Age of Sail?

Apologies: this is hijacking the OP.

To my mind they play too quickly (n that ships go from intact to ragged wrecks very quickly, there seems to be very little "graceful degradation") so they don't give me all that much of an AoS feel. That said they are a fun, popular set of rules and if that gets people interested then thats fine :)

Aarvaark.
I too missed the fleets you named.Ryan helped out by writing a piece in "Wargames illustrated" Oct 2015 #336. It is a fleet builder. I have built and played a Swedish fleet using them. It worked and was still played O.K. All the stats are based from the British fleet. By adding or removing points at a cost. You can make different fleets or ships. It also showed how he made his stats. I love the paper-less game and how the template works. O.K. short range is a killer! But for a fast set-up and play, they work. Also for very big games/battles they make a good idea. I think they are still work in progress, but coming from a new way of playing. No ships logs, it has legs.
Be safe
Rory

Thanks for the comments all. I do not have the WI issues, but know someone that does and he is fishing them out for me!

A.