As the title indicates, we played Sail & Steam Navies, a naval battle system for 1840-1880 with Langton Miniatures (1:1200 scale). I am a pretty huge ironclads and pre-dreadnaught fan... so I was pretty excited to be playing.
To start off with, Sail & Steam Navies (by David A Brandon 2010) was a very nice miniatures game which, to me, heavily resembled a very streamlined version of Yaquinto's Ironclads, even down to the individual ship cards. It uses d10's for all action rolling and small d6 for reminders of how far you need to go to turn again (you have to move straight between turns and if you make turn at the end of your turn, you make how far you need to go straight before you can make another turn... I digress... the rules were fairly straight foreword having one main page for all charts and game information.... you have to love games like that especially if they turn out to be fun and realistic.... and this game certainly is! At 1:1200, the ground scale was basically 1:1... even better. All a player needed was a small handful of d10's, a quick reference sheet and their ship sheet and they were ready to roll. As for turn flow, I know our group did a little tweaking, but it was hard to determine where. The basic turn ran in initiative order with winner deciding who moved first. Gun fire was simultaneous and it had two movement phases, you could fire only once per turn but in either movement phase.
So... all in all a GREAT game to run at a convention.... I will have to consider it when I get some of my miniatures done!
The scenario was modified slightly because of the number of players who showed up... we had 3 per side USS & CSS and my brother-in-law was the game master. Historically, this would have been the battle of the CSS Arkansas breaking through to Vicksburg 15, July 1862. While en-route, she encountered three federal vessels, the Carondelet (ironclad), Tyler (wooden gunboat) and the Queen of the West (ram).... Historically, the Arkansas caught the Federals by surprise, exchanged some shots and was through before they could get their steam up. In the encounter, the Carondelet was damaged and ran aground, the Tyler exchanged some long range shots and the Queen of the West never got into the battle.
For us, the fleets were expanded, the Federals had 6 ships, the three listed above with the addition of one more gunboat and an additional ram... they also had one other ship that started so far out, it was really there for fluff and didn't see any action in either game.... the Confederates had 5 ships, the Arkansas and 4 small-ish gunboats/paddle wheelers... I am not sure I said that correctly, but still, it was great fun.
The initial set up had the Federals coming around a bend in the river with the CSS fleet at long range. In the first game, I played Federal and was in command of the Carondelet. Our mission objective.. to stop the Arkansas from getting off the board. being a bit unfamiliar with the rules and fire templates I thought to fight upstream and try to deliver a broadside, while the rams and smaller gunboats went in for the kill.
the Carondelet
turn 4, both fleets advancing to engage
Well, with me to the left bank (in the image above), the Federals got pretty lucky... the Confederate fleet went totally to the right bank to try to avoid the USS Carondelet... this actually set us up the win in the following couple of turns....
As the USS Carondelet turns to come across the river, the Confederates and Federal gunboats open up on each other... all the while driving closer to the right bank at high speeds to try and scoot past the Federal navy. This set up a prime opportunity for the two Federal rams in a target rich environment... so they picked up speed and did just that.... the results were devastating...
The rams chose their targets... the lead gunboat to try and create an obstacle for the CSS Arkansas to have to avoid... and at those speeds it would be very difficult indeed.... but that was never to happen as the second Federal ram squared up against her and made sure the Arkensas wasn't going to see another day.
The aftermath.... one Confederate gunboat down and the Arkansas heading to the river depths in short order.... it was declared a Federal victory.
Now, as far as the game goes... there was a lesson to be learned... as it turns out, the Carondelet wasn't as big of a threat to the Arkansas as the Confederates thought and by clumping up on the far bank from her, they put themselves into perfect position to be rammed as they engaged what they thought was the weaker side of the Federal navy... I saw very little action and did hardly any damage, but the tactic worked... and it set us up for the win. The second game would not go that way as the ex-Confederate players, now running the Federals knew the biggest threat and it was considered to be the USS rams.... I would find this out personally.
Because the game went so fast and played so smoothly, we found ourselves with a lot of time left before the brick and mortar closed.... no one wanted to really be finished, so we opted to play the scenario again, but we switched sides. The lessons learned in the first game would ensure that the second game played out differently.
Turn one and the CSS fleet was poised to make their run down the river to Vicksburg! Three ships were on the board with the following gunboats to enter on the second move phase of turn one. I had two gunboats this time... one with pivot guns fore and aft with smaller cannons at mid-ship and the other (the one to enter later in the turn had one lone pivot gun on the bow).
The look down river at the Federal fleet....
As I said... this game moves fast... 2 turns went by with both fleets maneuvering and taking long and medium range shots.... The CSS plan was to run as fast as we could down the river and not stop to fight. We were going to use our speed to make this happen as the Federal navy was fighting their way up river against the current at slower speeds. By turn 3, we were heavily engaged and on our way past the entire Federal fleet. I also now I learned what it was like to be on the receiving end of a ram....
Shots are fired as the fleets race to engage and my lead gunboat is rammed!
The important thing in picture two above... my paddle-wheeler got rammed (and sunk) and in the background, you can see the Arkansas slipping by... I lost my best ship, but for some reason, the Federal captain chose me to ram... during the movement phase he was trying to maneuver to ram the Arkansas, but with our speed and winning initiative.. we chose to move first and he lost his opportunity to hit the Arkansas... instead of turning around and laying chase to the her, he opted to take out a wooded side wheeler... At this point, we knew we wanted to keep up steam and run past at all costs... my last gun boat was to play a blocking roll and take all of the heat I could from the Arkansas as she steamed down river.... one point I failed to mention so far was another little twist to the scenario I didn't know about until we played the CSS fleet... the Arkansas had poor engines... and each turn we had to roll to see if they quit.. thank God they didn't... the chance was small, but there was still a chance.. this could be a game changer if it happened.
The next turn would be the last due to time, but the game balance was critical.... the ram that had taken out my gunboat was facing upriver and starting from a move of zero because of the ram.... The CSS fleet had speed on their side and pretty much all of the Federal fleet was still headed upriver except the Carondelet... she was poised to lay chase to the Arkansas. I knew with my last gunboat being at top speed, if we got he initiative, we would choose to move first again and try to outrun any ram attempts and I would try to run interference for the Arkansas to get away....
Well, in picture one you can see the other Federal ram taking it to my last gunboat.... with dice like that and only 12 hull boxes, my gun boat was toast... 3 times over!!!! Another Federal ship would be starting at zero movement against the rive current. This would leave 3 Federal ships left to try and regroup and give chase... all the while being chased by the other two CSS gunboats. The important thing here though is that the Arkansas was free and clear of any Federal ships at this point.... The entire Federal starting fleet was behind her!
Stepping back, you can see... the other 2 CSS gunboats were still in fighting shape and the other Federal gunboats along with the Carondelet were a ways off. In the very back of the photo, by the point of blue, you can see the last Federal ship entering... it would be the only threat to victory... to me, if the Arkansas kept up her steam and her engines didn't fail her, it could have been a CSS victory as the other Federal ships were pretty much out of the fight and would only be able to turn, pursue and throw some parting shots at the Arkansas... the only threat was the 15" Dahlgren onboard the Federal vessel that had just entered the board.... Between that gun and the possibility of the Arkansas engines cutting out, allowing the other Federal ships to close, the game was deemed a draw....
So, in essence.. I had a great time, yet was very ineffective..... gunnery wise... In the first game, fear of engaging me/the Carondelet set us up for 2 rams which won the game for the Federals and in the second game, I was bait.... having lost both of my ships to rams, the CSS navy was poised to make the run to Vicksburg and victory.
I wanted to say though, the captain of the Carondelet in the second game got right into the thick of it... I think at one point he got to fire almost ALL of his guns in one turn! One thing I thought would have been more interesting was that she also had a bow ram.. but not a powerful one.... apparently though, the other two Federal ships... having no guns, had tough ass rams on the front! We saw this in both games.
As this was my first game using these rules, I found it to be very fun, easy to learn and historical. A great set of rules for a larger battle or a convention game.... but personally, nothing will or can ever replace Yaquinto's Ironclads board game, because you know... Nostalgia.... I have to still say though, Sail & Steam Navies from David A. Brandon is DEFINITELY worth the buy!!!
The only thing that left me wanting about the rule system though is that instead of talking "guns".... it was all "fire factors" and numbers... I missed the flavor of..."I fire my Brook Rifles!".. and instead it was a lot of "I fire at you with 5 fire factors.... " The language could still be used I guess, but in an effort to move the game along.... it became all about the numbers....
And speaking of numbers, here is a look at the quick reference chart for the game.... It is pretty straightforward and, better yet... all on one sheet....
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