"POSEIDON'S WARRIORS RULES" Topic

I have put a review up here of this recent Osprey title.
ramsravensandwrecks.blogspot.dk

Thanks. I have a copy of the rules but as a novice to Galley warfare, I'm still waiting for a chance to try them out.

I found many of the same things odd that you did.

I also wonder what the authors intended a "standard" size game to be, as they never give a points value. Given the few references to "a standard force will have X squadrons" and the points costs, I'm guessing 750pts or so, but it doesn't seem to be stated anywhere.

Nor is there a statement of what size table is expected.

I'm guessing "750pts, 6x4 foot table" is the intent, but that's just a guess.

The author somewhere suggests 6 units as an average force but no mention is made of playing area. No absolutevalues for forces but a points system is given.

Units = squadron…roughly. You could have something like 15-30 ships per side on the board. Larger ships=larger playing surface. I kind of like the look of the rules myself but like Lugal Hdan, I have not played yet.

Ew.

Thanks for the review. I was tempted to pick the rules up on release, if only for reading, but was afraid I would be tempted into another period.

Beast..you know you want to, really! Try it!

I think the rules will be fine for really big battles. You need fast and bloody rules for those.
For smaller battles, I'll probably stick with Corvus, which works well and is also easy to understand.

Plasticviking3, in your review you say "The rules are basically. I-Go-You-Go, unit by unit. ….. The blurb's 'integrated turn system' with special powers is not apparent after a few trial games."

So is it IGOUGO, where one side does its complete turn, then the other, or is it alternate activation, where one side activates a unit, then the other, until all units have been activated ? From the rest of your review it sounds like the latter, but then that would be an integrated turn sequence, so I don't see why you say this is not apparent.

Yes Mark, I-go-you-go unit by unit. My point is that the blurb implies some kind of super-powered turn sequence but it is nothing new. One modification I have found easy to use is to allow units to go into coordinated action a la DBA? If units lie side-by -side or in line-astern and within command range they could be allowed to move together. Then in the turn they attack they could act individually under the same action phase,OR a card-based turn sequence to shake up the predicted sequence.

I have immediately replaced the alternated squadron by squadron initiative system with a card based activation system, one card per squadron, plus one per commander plus any random events / scenario specials, etc.

No idea what size game we're supposed to play on what size table but based on what I had I turned out 1200 points per side for our first game, and it seemed to play nicely.

It's definitely streamlined for big actions – we cleared up 1200 points in a 2-3 hour evening game without any problems.

As it's not a period/genre any of us have an historical axe to grind in, we're not bothered by the simplifications.

We did have fun though :)

Can I ask a question?
I realise these are "fast play" but unless i missed something ramming is automatic. The rammed ship has to roll a save or take a hull point hit.

Sounds reasonable BUT nearly all ships have a save of 6+ only some don't have a save at all. Most average size ships have 1 ram and 1 hull. i.e. in 85% of cases if you ram your opponent you will instantly sink it.

Whilst not impossible, 85% certainty of sinking a ship on contact seems a bit excessive.

It means i can't see any opint in oar raking or even boarding?

Have i missed something obvious?

Thanks Guys

I don't think you missed anything CptKremmen.
My friend and I played our first game a few weeks ago, and that's what it appears to say in the rules.
I'm posting a game and rules review about our session as soon as I finish typing this.

Ted

Can you "skirmish" with only a few ships, and 28mm crew figures on deck for boarding action, if you want? Or is this strictly for "big battles" with lots of smaller scale ships; say around 1:1200, or something like that?

These rules are for 1/1200 or so. No rules for deck troops.
Using a few ships would give a very simple short fight.
Navarchus rules have more possibilities for deck fighting while using small number of ships.
link

I don't know, being brand spanking new to this period (got into it 3 days ago…)
they seem like just the thing for a massive convention game with the 6mm roman seas ships i am building up. about 100 or more ships per side in full 6mm scale should be easily doable i would think. I may tweak the stats though…

Best thing since Ram Speed from Metagaming. :-)