"Origins 2016" Topic

I ran 2 games of Form on the Admiral's Wake at Origins this year. A hypothetical scenario where the English fleet (with 4, count 'em 4, 3-deckers!) had to force the passage through two island forts. And do it in the face of the French and Spanish fleets.

Lots of pics…
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Was a lot of fun.

Jeff @Waterloo Minis

There was some big ones in this scrap: Royal Sovereign, Brittania, Victory, Prince, Santissima Trinidad, L'Orient, Principe Asturias…and a lot of 74s!

Ooooh! That looks like a nice game. Love the ships
Be safe
Rory

Thanks Rory. I'm no Julian with my ships, but I love building/painting/rigging them!

i'm going too say this, and duck! You paint to play. Julian paints for pay. I would say yours are from the heart.
I like Julian and his work, but I see him as touting for business and not just showing his work to friends, like you.
Be safe
Rory

no you didn't…

<ducks>

Seriously though, thanks for the comments.

Wow that's a great looking collection, and must have been a lot of fun. How long do games of that size typically run with Form on the Admiral's Wake?

Thanks whitejamest!

I set up games of 3 hours. Mostly because that's the time we have allotted for the club game night. I design each scenario to get right into the action – no maneuvering for an hour before the shooting starts!

FotAW supports that kind of game. It's fast paced, and there are no orders written! It's card driven – I know, I thought I'd hate it too when I tried it at Fall-In back in 2013. If anyone is interested, I can give a synopsis of how it works. It really works well, and I've had many a beginner and old salt have a lot of fun playing.

SgtPrylo,
Would you post your "how it works" I'm very interested. Thanks.
Be safe
Rory

I'll give it a go, Rory. The mechanics are very easy to learn. 2 or 3 moves in, and you've got it, so it's very beginner friendly. BUT, it does pay as a sailing veteran to know how wind works with sailing ships – the game captures that.

The cards are drawn one at time, and all activities are finished before the next draw. The deck of cards is divided into National- and Generic- based cards. National cards apply only to ships of that nation. Generic cards apply to any ship that meets the condition. For example: I pull "All reaching MUST move." This means what it says, all ships in the reaching attitude must move. A move is one hex. If I pull "All French MAY move or turn", then French ships have the option of moving or turning. A turn is 60 degrees or one hexside.

At the end of all movement, if a ship has a target within its firing arc and in range, it may fire. Range is out to 10 hexes, with decreasing chances to hit as the range increases. Once a ship fires a broadside, that side is marked with 2 reload markers. These are the white puffballs you can see on the pictures. Reload markers are removed at each "Reload" card that comes up, such as: "Reload all Spanish", or "Reload crack and elite crews". With any reload card, you remove one marker, so it takes two cards to reload a broadside. A ship can fire in the same turn it removes its second marker.

A ship has a 'Broadside Rating' (BR). It rolls a number of 6-sided dice equal to its BR. Additional dice are added based on circumstance: +1d for each carronade at range 2 or less, +2 for the initial broadside of the game, +2 for a stern rake, +1 for a bow rake, and so on. The target marks off one damage box for each hit taken. Each ship has a certain number of boxes and 3 damage categories: Undamaged, Damaged, and Crippled. These categories also apply to the some cards in the deck. For example, if your French 74 is 'Crippled', you can't use the "Reload all uncrippled" card when it comes up.

The beauty of the deck is in the card mix. The national cards are all the same. The French card mix is the same as the Spanish card mix. The generics, however, make the difference. For example, the "All reaching must move" card has the highest number of movement type cards (followed by 'Running')in the deck. This simulates the fact that reaching is the fastest sailing attitude and you have to move when in that attitude. Similarly, there are several "Reload crack and elite crews" cards, simulating that highly trained crews fire faster. Other generics cover Running, Tacking, fast ships, well-handled ships, and so on.

A turn ends when the "Turn End" card is drawn. There are end-of-turn activities, the deck is shuffled, and a new turn starts with a new draw.

That's a long post. I can answer specific questions if you have any.

Thanks! Very interesting. I'm not a fan of hexes mat games, but love the card idea. How many Nations are there?
Be safe
Rory

I have English, French, Spanish, and American; but you could create any nation because the nation-specific cards are all the same.

You could easily take the hexes out of it with movement templates. And I'm partial to them only because of a Wooden Ships / Iron Men nostalgia.

Thanks for the description SgtPrylo, it does sound like an interesting system. Clearly I'm going to have to try out yet another set of rules!

How would you rate them for general plausibility? For example no 1st rate ships sinking after a broadside or two, or fleet actions deteriorating in to one big web of boarding actions, that sort of thing.

I find players like to sink stuff. The rules do have a roll when all of the damage boxes are marked off: on a 1-5, the ship strikes, on a 6, it sinks. I usually gauge my group's tastes before using this. For my club, I just sink 'em – they're a bloodthirsty lot. That said, a series of drifting ships does present some tactical sailing problems for the players, so it can be useful. I will say this: it takes quite a beating to reduce a first rate (or other SOL) to zero damage remaining. I've had an English 1st rate surrounded by 3 French 74s, blazing away and giving as good as she got, with all 4 ships nearing the end point at about the same time.

There is a 'Critical Hit' system. For every hit you roll, the player rolls a d12 and tries to get equal or less than the number of hits rolled. Rolled 4 hits? Need a 4 or less on the d12. That gives you another d12 roll on the Crit Table. Results range from a battle-inspired enemy crew (a '1') to an explosion (a '12' followed by another roll of 9-12) I keep waiting for the time when a 38-gun frigate fires on a 1st rate and gets unbelievably lucky and blows it up. 100+ games in, and it hasn't happened yet.

There is actually only one card – a generic one – that allows for grappling and boarding. The two ships need to be in the same or adjacent hexes to attempt it. There is a roll which is based on how much damage you have taken and your target has taken. It's a simple table that matches your damage vs the opponent. For example: it's easier for Undamaged ship to board a Crippled one. The following combat is a bloody affair for both sides, and I always forewarn the players of that fact. Essentially each side rolls a number of dice with the to-hit number modified by crew skill. Every hit is a damage box marked off. If you ever beat your opponent by 3 or better hits, he automatically strikes. I average less than 1 boarding action per game I run, maybe closer to .5/game.

One note about the ship cards and damage boxes. There are no separations between Rigging, Hull, Crew, etc. for damage. It's all included in the damage boxes. The ship's status: Undamaged, Damaged, Crippled, cover the deterioration of the ship as it takes damage. Less movement cards apply, less reload cards apply, harder to board/repel boarders, etc. It's pretty slick.

One other thing: The rules? Two pages…

If you are ever in the Midwest US, I'm always at Origins, and try to hit some of the other Cons in the region. Rob E, the original Waterloo Minis guy (who taught me these rules), is usually at Historicon and he can be convinced to roll out his ships as well.

That said, I am planning on being there (Historicon) next year and putting on several sessions.

Wow, if the rules are only two pages I can definitely invest the time to learn.

I'll keep an eye out for your games next year at Historicon. I made it there for the first time last month – so Rob if you were there, I regret having missed you, would have been good to meet you in person.