The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

Oft get derailed by cats.

As I mentioned last time, I was planning to add a naval battle to my Tweenwater campaign. Saturday I decided to set it up.

A Redgravian warship is escorting a troop transport to Blancport. A squadron of Imperial ships intercepts the reinforcements.

But what is that line of dark clouds on the horizon?

It's Hurricane Onyx, who scatters the fleets!

Per our house rules, the game ends when the cat sits on the board. Oh well.

I did get a couple of turns in. I think I need to reduce the movement rates (I was using a rate of 3" if sailing with the wind). I also think that a gridded board will work better.

But my biggest issue was with the combat rules. Most Age of Sail rules use a dice pool mechanism. I was trying to avoid a dice pool so that I don't have to scrounge around for a bunch of dice. I tried a variant of my space dogfight rules - roll 2D6 and consult a chart to determine if the target is destroyed, damaged, or merely disrupted. This mechanism works well for dogfights where hitting the target in the first place is a big part of the challenge. It just did not feel right for Age of Sail. Hits should not be that difficult, however ships can take a lot of damage. I think I'll investigate other options.

In other news, my 2mm armies are progressing rapidly. Here is the Red army.

Top row (L to R) - Heavy cav, elite infantry, militia infantry, elite infantry, cavalry
Middle row (L to R) - cavalry, 2 x regular infantry, general, 2 x regular infantry, cavalry
Bottom row (L to R) - skirmishers, artillery, skirmishers, artillery

Blue is also finished.

I went for very simple paint jobs - I only painted ground, uniforms, and hats. The idea is to create a recognizable splash of color that can be seen while looking down on the board.