Greetings all, this was one of the final playtests of War by Sail – doing the Second Anglo-Dutch war. These rules are essentially done, should hopefully be releasing in the next week or so! War by Sail covers all of naval combat from 1550 – 1815, with over 1,700 different ships statted out! The game is aimed at small fleet actions, of 2 – 15 ships per side, and designed with simplicity, fun and historical accuracy as the key aspects.
Miniatures are 1/2400 from Tumbling Dice, mat from DEEP-CUT STUDIO, Coastal terrain home made from polystyrene and hot wire
Deployment – Dutch on the Left (in the blue bordered-bases), English on the right (in the red)
The English deployed a whole line of fire ships… on an intercept course with the Dutch fleet!
The English fleet – mostly 3rd rates and a 5th rate
The lead Dutch ship turns down-wind, hoping to out-run the Fire Ships
The Dutch formation is completely scattered by the Fire Ships, the Dutch fleet consisting of a massive First rate (de Seven Provincien), 2 3rd Rates and a heavily armed 4th rate. The lead Dutch ship opens up on the Lead English ship – a small 5th rate.
The English watch as their fire ships cause havoc on the Dutch line
The 2 leading English ships open up on the lead Dutch ship (heavy 4th rate iirc), the 4th rate could easily win a protracted gun battle with the English 5th rate, but outnumbered 2 -1 its a different story…
The Up wind section of the Dutch fleet makes it past the fire ships, and opens up on the rear part of the English fleet with bow chasers, they in turn give a broadside, setting a Dutch 3rd rate on fire!
Sailing moves, all ships move based on their direction to the wind, its mandatory!
The Fire ships drift by harmlessly, and the dutch attempt to pincer the English line… Both sides are taking some damage, especially as de Seven Provincien opens up a crushing broadside on an English 3rd rate (20 damage points even at random range!)
The Dutch flagship
The Dutch 4th rate in the lead is now isolated from the rest of the line, and being focused on by 2 English ships, although it was able to inflict heavy casualties on the English 5th rate
Sailing moves (1 at the start of each turn), the English 5th rate is dangerously close to running head on into an island, while the Dutch 3rd rate at the top of this image, still on fire, maintains course away from the battle attempting to fight the fires….
Fire from the Dutch flagship is telling, inflicting significant damage even from long range on whoever is a target – in this case the English flagship!
The isolated Dutch 4th rate (left hand side of the image) is set afire, and drifts towards the island as well, attempting to control the fires
The English fleet, taking some minor casualties and structural damage, but still very much in the fight
One of the English 3rd rates is set on fire! the Dutch crews cheer
more sailing moves – the Wind & Turn Aide shown to work out a ships direction in relation to the wind – very simple and fast mechanics.
The English 5th rate turns hard to avoid the island, while the English ships try to get away from the Dutch flagship…
The battle around turn 6 – the English flagship is starting to take a battering, and it knows it can't sustain a gunnery duel with the Dutch flagship…
… although the English at least give it a try…
Sail moves – the Dutch 3rd rate set afire is able to douse the flames, and makes a turn to get back into the fight. The English flagship makes a break for it, hoping to scarper. Meanwhile the burning Dutch 4th rate sacrifices itself, by turning in front of an English 3rd rate, while still on fire!
The English 5th rate also makes a break for it – ships that leave the table have their damage ignored at the end of the game…. so its a valid tactic.
The Dutch 4th rate on fire EXPLODES!, and then the English ship collides with it. The fire doesn't spread to the English 3rd rate, it being upwind.
The Dutch flagship is in position to get a stern raking shot on the English flagship – the dangers of showing your back to the enemy. Meanwhile the 2 Dutch 3rd rates are back in the fight, exchanging long range fire with the English 3rd rates
Condition of the Dutch fleet – still very much fightable
Seven Provincien STERN RAKES the English flagship, causing massive structural damage and casualties, even at longer range. The stricken English ship continues to sail forwards, albeit beginning to fill with water…
Meanwhile the English 3rd rate that collided with the burning and now sinking Dutch 4th rate attempts to warp to a better position, hoping to get away from the burning hulk.
one of the English 3rd rates, until now doing well at long range gunnery and inflicting damage, while focusing on firing she stays in irons too long, and LOSES CONTROL, being taken aback and running aground on a nearby sandbar. The remaining masts are snapped off by the force of the impact, and some severe structural damage also inflicted. The ship is still afloat, but its not going anywhere for a while…
The Dutch 4th rate finally sinks, and the English 3rd rate in contact with it is able to extract itself from the wreckage – its back in the fight!
The English ship run aground…
English fire eventually tells on one of the Dutch 3rd rates – the crew eventually being massacred – its a blood bath!
The remaining crew are now wavering, they're not liking it!
The English 5th rate at the top of this image is in a good position to scarper from the battle – while the English flagship, also hoping to do the same although stricken, realizes a fire has broken out aboard – its not good!
The remaining fightable ships continue to trade fire, even the English ship run aground…
The end of the game – the English flagship burns to the waterline and sinks, while the 5th rate escapes. Time to add up the victory points!
The Dutch sank the English flagship (even though it was only a smaller 3rd rate) – that's 12 victory points, another is dismasted on their coast (4 points), and another with heavy casualties (4 points) – a total of 20.
The English set one Dutch ship on fire which later sank – thats 12 points (it being around the same size as the English flagship that sank), and caused a bloodbath on another 3rd rate – which is 8 points.
Its a dead even tie – 20 vs 20 victory points, the battle being "Indecisive", although if the game had continued, it might very well have been a Dutch victory…
looks at some new terrain products, which use space age technology!
