The Inspiration
As I've been going through boxes looking for stuff to purge, I came across these scratch-built ships.
I have 12 of them, split into 2 sides - 6 red and 6 blue. I built these in the early 1990s. They managed to survive multiple purges because I am quite pleased with how they came out.
The Rabbit Hole
Finding these ships suddenly piqued my interest in some Age of Sail gaming. However, my current gaming space is limited to 22 by 16 inches. Can I find a set of naval rules that will fit into this space?
For air wargaming, I solved the space problem by using relative motion. Based on maneuver rolls, aircraft move relative to each other. For example, rolling double puts you on your opponent's tail. This mechanism allows me to play out dogfights with multiple planes on an 8.5 by 11 inch board.
I wonder if I can do something for ships. It doesn't really seem possible because ships should not be as maneuverable as planes.
Still, the idea beckons.
The ships look quite nice. But, if you have no rules to use them with, will they ever see action on the tabletop? If not then they probably need to “go”. That would be a shame…
ReplyDeleteI’m not much of a naval gamers - certainly no “big battles”, more just small actions near coastal forts or on rivers (primarily ACW or WW1 on the Danube), so no experience of the age of sail.
Cheers,
Geoff
I may keep a couple for nostalgia, but the rest may go. Currently I have some tokens that I use.
DeleteI have used rules for medieval cogs on a 12"x12" board. The cogs were 1/600 scale and I reduced ranges from inches to centimetres. The ranges are quite short for firing. I started to rewrite them for grids and simplifying movement but that is just another project on hold for now :-)
ReplyDeleteI am sure there are Age of Sail rules out their somewhere that will work on a small scale. Whether they suit your style of play is another matter though!
I've already been sidetracked but I will get back to naval games. Then we'll see what I can find.
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