A couple of naval-themed Metagaming titles, tho' both are outside the time period of _SoG_.
_Ram Speed_ (Ancient galley combat).
_Fire When Ready_ (pre-_Dreadnought_ battleships).
Acquired At Enfilade This Year:
A couple of naval-themed Metagaming titles, tho' both are outside the time period of _SoG_.
_Ram Speed_ (Ancient galley combat).
_Fire When Ready_ (pre-_Dreadnought_ battleships).
I should think that the Sails of Glory rules could be adapted to fit both eras.
I think sails of glory would be a good fit for civil war era naval engagements. The difference between Napoleonic ships and civil war ships was that the civil war ships had both steam and sail, and a lot fewer, more powerful guns and explosive shells as well as cannonballs. Other than that, they were three masted wooden ships with iron ribs. You would have to get rid of the "in irons" rule during combat and make a longer combat ruler (or not, scale being what it is), but everything else pretty much stays the same. Civil war steam sloops and frigates cruised using sail, and when engaging the enemy, furled their sails and used steam. They couldn't hold enough coal for more than about 3 days steaming and they crossed oceans on year long cruises. They saved their coal for battle. Even then, the steam engines were a liability in combat. They didn't work all that well, could explode or break for no reason (animal fat to grease bearings?), and were vulnerable to enemy fire. One well placed shell amidship and it was all over. Sailing tactics were pretty much the same, too, with ships trying to rake each other. The big Dahlgren guns carried by these ships took time to reload, too. Each gun (and there were only 2 or 3 per ship) took 5 to 7 minutes to reload, and the guns were swivel mounted and had to do double duty for both sides of the ship. SOG rules fit very nicely with the civil war era. You could call it "Steam Of Glory". It would add another dimension to the game, too. Imagine going into combat under steam, and the engine breaks. Then, you have to sail it against your opponent who is steaming upwind towards you.
Were they to do an ACW game, it would suffer the same problem they face now: All the "interesting" fights were small-ship actions -- the Rebels never had enough big ships to do much more than slow down the Federals (hence the interest in Ironclads; "Quality has a Quantity all its own" >:) ). Heck, the only close-to-equal fight I can think of are the battles of Memphis and Plum Point Bend, and those were decided by ramming....
It would be interesting to see HMS Warrior's stats and movement in SoG terms. She truly changed the face of worldwide naval power.
Small ship actions is what SOG is all about. Look at the amount of effort and cost it takes to actually put on a "Glorious 6th of June". How is blockading Cadiz different from blockading New Orleans? SOG is not about fleet actions. It's about one on one ship actions, as advertised. What red blooded American, southern or northern, wouldn't want to re-fight the battle of Cherbourg? Imagine the CSS Alabama sinking the USS Kearsarge with a lucky shot. The entire naval battle between north and south hinged on that moment because France, as well as England would have opened their ports to refit all confederate ships at that point. After the fact conventional wisdom is cemented into history books, but at the time, Everything was on the line between Kearsarge and Alabama. Why did Simmes leave a french port to engage the Kearsarge? Because he had no choice. His choices would have been much narrower than if he simply stayed blockaded in port.Originally Posted by csadn
After you mentioned HMS Warrior I had to look it up to get some historical background. Very interesting ship and I was surprised to see there's a live webcam in operation as well. One of the views includes the masts of HMS Victory. Thanks for the tip.
http://www.hmswarrior.org/webcam
I'll sound a note of dissent. I've got nothing against anyone enjoying 1-1 duels in SGN, or adapting it to ACW. But of my most memorable and enjoyable games in SGN, none have been really small actions.
70 ships is insane, of course. But 3v3 or 4v4 games (which I mostly play with SOLs) have been much more rewarding for me than 1v1. They take a little more time, but still easily doable and well worth it...
HMS Warrior was the first "cold war" ship. Built simply to keep pace with the Russians, it never saw combat like many cold war aircraft "defending" the US from Russia.
You, sir, are absolutely right.
Exactly!! If you have a Fleet you might as well take it out to play with once in awhile!! Otherwise you might just as well play WS&IM!!!
"War is the greatest game Man can play!" BG George B. McClellan
No problems Jim, Warrior is the bridge between SoG and WW1 dreadnoughts.After you mentioned HMS Warrior I had to look it up to get some historical background. Very interesting ship and I was surprised to see there's a live webcam in operation as well. One of the views includes the masts of HMS Victory. Thanks for the tip.
http://www.hmswarrior.org/webcam
A beautiful ship.
Not "small" in numbers -- "small" in size. The number of actions where ships on each side displaced more than 1,000 tons are few and far between; the two I mentioned, none of the units involved weighed in at more than four figures. _SoG_ is geared towards frigates and up, not sloops and brigs.
Has anyone tried a game using multiple sloops versus a SoL? I'd be interested to see an AAR of such an engagement. My collection isnt able to do so yet.
Closest I've done was sloops vs. frigate. My two boys took Thorn and Atalanta and I had Le Sucess. I wasn't playing cutthroat, but not pulling my punches too bad. They demolished me pretty solidly
According to the Ares point system, 4 sloops should equal HMS Impetueux
Six sloops to a 1st rate? That could be fun.
I remember playing _Pirates!_, and taking out a 122-gun Galleon with s 2-gun Pinnace -- stayed behind him in light winds, and slowly pecked him to death.
Took six hours, but I finally got the *&^%$#!.... >;)
Pirates! what a game. I still own my xbox just because i have that game and love it.
If only Sid had left out the dancing?!
That and the fact that Sid obviously had been jilted by a British lady at some point, did you spot the reason this was obvious?If only Sid had left out the dancing?!
I probably never got far enough to notice?That and the fact that Sid obviously had been jilted by a British lady at some point, did you spot the reason this was obvious?
I take it that there was no provision to move cannons to fire out of the stern windows.
Broadsides only.
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