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Jack Tar
07-03-2014, 23:59
Would anyone care to enlighten me / post any rules that are available for the smoke haze I see in some of the battle photos. Those are something that I could very easily make myself and it could be fun to add another layer to the game as I am still working on nailing down the advanced rules.

Thanks!

7eat51
07-04-2014, 08:44
Marc, we use the smoke markers the following way. When a ship fires, we place the white side up to mark that the ship has fired the given broadside(s). At the end of combat, we flip over the smoke markers to the brown side and place it on the ship base. This provides a visual that the ship is loading guns the following round and cannot fire. We then remove any brown smoke markers from the previous round, providing the visual that these ships are now cleared to fire. Plus, the smoke markers are cool and add to the game's aesthetic experience.

Jack Tar
07-04-2014, 09:25
Great! Thanks Eric, I'll have to draw ups some files for a laser cutter I have access to. The added visual indicator will be a welcome addition.

7eat51
07-04-2014, 09:37
Everyone we have played with while using the smoke markers this way liked the idea. Our eyes are mostly on the table, so the smoke markers make a natural indicator of firing status. They help when planning moves because a player can see the status of the ships while figuring out where they want their ships to go.

If you ever run a game at a convention, pay attention to what the players are doing. They often come up with great ideas as they solve "problems" regarding mechanics, logistics, record keeping, etc. I picked up a few things at Origins that impacted subsequent games, and will impact our next design of laminated logs.

fredmiracle
07-04-2014, 10:28
I do wonder if there should be rules for smoke obscuring vision during a battle. Cannon smoke seems to come up in battle narratives as something worthy of mention, but perhaps more in that it hinders you from seeing the state of the enemy, than actually interfering with your ability to attack effectively...