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Ships are classed as Small, Medium or Large. These determine many of the ship's capabilities, such as movement and ability to withstand damage. The rules are aimed primarily at small actions involving only a few, small ships. Therefore little attention is given to 100-gun ships-of-the-line. Small ships are typically models of up to 35cm length, Medium of up to 60cm and Large anything over this! There are a few models available commercially, but this is really a scratch-builders' area...there was an article in "Wargames Illustrated" #138 on building 25mm pirate ships, which may be of help. 1. Movement: Ships have a basic "move rating" of 48cm (Small), 36cm (Medium) and 24cm (Large). This is multiplied by a factor depending on wind facing as: The ship can make a 45 degree turn to either side after each 36cm of movement, and the total allowable move for that turn becomes that of the new facing (therefore the ship stops if the total move so far equals or exceeds that allowed by the new facing, i.e. if turning into the wind where the movement is zero). The ship may turn "on the anchor" (i.e. if stationary) by spending 3 turns at this - the turn is 45 degrees as usual. Ship's boats move at 5cm per figure rowing, regardless of wind-direction. 2. Damage Resistance: Ships are treated as structures in Grapeshotte - they have 5 sections for damage: Bow, Stern, Port, Starboard and Rigging. Bow and Stern may only be fired at by an enemy ship or shore-battery "raking" the target - i.e. firing in a direst line down the length of the ship. All other fire on the hull is at Port or Starboard. Firers may target either hull or rigging. Rigging hits slow movement, while a breach of any section of the hull will sink the ship. Typical statistics for ships are: Small: Port and Starboard 50 points, Bow and Stern 35 points, Rigging 40 points. Medium: Port and Starboard 65 points, Bow and Stern 45 points, Rigging 55 points. Large: Port and Starboard 75 points, Bow and Stern 55 points, Rigging 70 points If any hull section is brought to zero points or less, then the ship will sink in 1D3 turns. Crew will have to either board a ship's boat, float on a piece of wreckage, or swim! Rigging damage reduces ship speed - for every 25% of rigging points taken in damage, reduce the basic move rating by 25%. 3. Firing: Many of the weapons used in Naval Warfare are covered in "Grapeshotte", and the statistics can be found there. I will add some of the more specific weapons here as time permits (i.e. 18lb and 24lb guns, carronades, true grapeshotte, chainshotte, double-shot, etc.). Some of the more particularly naval small-arms (Dark Elf Musketoon, Grenade Launching Carbine, Volley Gun) are also covered in "Grapeshotte". Ships' guns (i.e. the artillery) can only be fired in a straight line perpendicular to the direction in which the ship is pointing (for broadside guns) or directly ahead or aft (bow- or stern-chasers). Small-arms (including Volley Guns, which are usually attached to the gunwales) may fire as per usual FLQ rules. Case shotte uses the template as per "Grapeshotte", and effects all figures covered as in land games. As noted above, the firer may target either the rigging or hull of the target ship. Damage is inflicted as normal FLQ/Grapeshotte, but additional "collateral damage" rolls need to be made. For every 10 points of damage to any section, roll 1d6 and consult the relevant table: Firing Against the Hull 1
| Hit random crew-member | 2
| Hit random crew-member | 3
| Hit random gun | 4
| Cause 1d6 points of hull damage | 5
| No effect | 6
| No effect |
Firing Against Rigging
1
| Hit random crew-member | 2
| Hit random crew-member | 3
| Hit random crew-member | 4
| Cause 1d6 points of rigging damage | 5
| No effect | 6
| No effect |
Gun Characteristics for Rowloque
The following is largely from "Grapeshotte", which is currently out of print and likely to remain so. As some people do not have access to this (excellent) rulebook, these might be of use: 6-Pounder Cannon
| Ammo | 0 to 10 | 11 to 25
| 26 to 40
| 41 to 55
| 56 to 70
| 71 to 85
| Case
| 90/22
| 65/20
| 40/16
| 15/12
| -
| -
| Shotte
| 90/22
| 70/18
| 55/16
| 35/12
| 20/8
| 5/4
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Note from the Author: Most of the above is un-playtested! Please let me have any feedback and we can develop a decent set of Flintloque Naval Rules.
Webmaster's Note This was originally published on Danny's excellent website and is reproduced here with permission from the author. |
