Rules Amendments Part V; Vessels upon the Sea

 

a heavy vessel, with a steam engine, ram and armor

   

       Here we consider the sort of vessels, properly called boats, that one would expect to encounter in a Colonial campaign. No Armored Cruisers and such here, just simple honest ships doing a days work. These fall into two (very) broad categories; Steam-Powered and Other. We will make an admittedly very broad assumption that ships that sail or are powered by humans have a similar susceptibility to fire and treat them the same. Rowers are Tribal for Leadership Value, Sail is Irregular and Steam power give Regular status.



Small Vessels  
     cost  two points
     Free Order   Stand To
     Movement;  Rowers; 1/2" per rower each turn of 45 degrees cost one inch of movement
                         Sail; sailing: roll 1DAV x 2, the boat may sail across or downwind at full speed, but only half speed if heading up to 45 degrees into the wind, it may not  sail closer than 45 degrees into the wind, roll a scatter die to set wind direction before the first  turn and change it every third turn by rolling 1d6; 1-2 one point clockwise, 3-4 no change  5-6 one point counterclockwise
                           Steam; costs two additional points but guarantees movement up to three segments of  up to five inches each with a turn of up to 45 degrees at the end of each. Having a steam engine changes the Free Order to Move. A steam engine takes up six spaces.

     This is simply a light hull with minimal decking and low freeboard. It can carry up to 18 figures who can act as rowers, or twelve figures if rigged to sail (the loss given over to sailors to work the rig). It will survive 16 hits before breaking up and sinking.

Medium Vessels    
     cost six points 
      Free Order   Stand To
     Movement; 1/2" per three rowers each turn of 45 degrees cost one inch of movement
                         sailing: roll 1DAV x 2, the boat may sail across or downwind at full speed, but only half speed if heading up to 45 degrees into the wind, it may not  sail closer than 45 degrees into the wind, roll a scatter die to set wind direction before the first  turn and change it every third turn by rolling 1d6; 1-2 one point clockwise, 3-4 no change 5-6 one point counterclockwise
                            Steam; costs four additional points but guarantees movement up to three segments of up to five inches each with a turn of up to 45 degrees at the end of each. Having a steam engine changes the Free Order to Move. A steam engine takes up six spaces.


     This is more substantial  hull with significant decking and worthwhile freeboard. It can carry up to 24 figures who can act as rowers, or eighteen figures if rigged to sail (the loss given over to sailors to work the rig). It will survive 20 hits before breaking up and sinking. These are large enough to mount canon or MGs on, each such mount taking up five berths. These are paid for normally and remain with the vessel. Other guns may be carried but as stowage and cannot be fired from the vessel.

Heavy Vessels     
      cost ten points 
      Free Order   Stand To
     Movement; 1/4" per rowers each turn of 45 degrees cost one inch of movement
                         sailing: roll 1DAV x 2, the boat may sail across or downwind at full speed, but only half speed if heading up to 45 degrees into the wind, it may not  sail closer than 45 degrees into the wind, roll a scatter die to set wind direction before the first  turn and change it every third turn by rolling 1d6; 1-2 one point clockwise, 3-4 no change 5-6 one point counterclockwise
                            Steam; costs eight additional points but guarantees movement up to two segments of up to eight inches each with a turn of up to 45 degrees at the end of each. Having a steam engine changes the Free Order to Move. A steam engine takes up ten spaces.

     This represents a very large and sturdy vessel, almost a ship. They can carry up to forty figures, giving up ten for sailing rig or steam power. These are large enough to mount canon or MGs on, each such mount taking up five berths. These are paid for normally and remain with the vessel. Being a very solidly built vessel they can simply ignore up to 1d6 worth of hits per turn. It can sustain thirty-two hits before sinking.

Hit Allocation    
      Hits will be spread randomly across the hull and passengers (amy mounted weapons count as passengers). For every hull hit roll 2d6; on a result of two a critical hit has occerred against the steam engine/sailing rig and the ship loses a movement segment for the rest of the game. Crew will repair this damage between games by themselves.

Armor  
     You may choose to armor your vessel, for every four berths you give up you ship may ignore up to 1d6 worth of hits per turn. These dice are rolled after all fire is completed for the turn.They represent a combination of watertight compartments, iron armor and crew assigned to damage-control.

Rams (you know you want to)  
     You may equip your vessel with a ram by giving up six berths. Only rowed or steam-powered vessels may conduct ramming attacks. To execute a ramming attack  the player,at the beginning of his activation (and before any Leadership rolls or measurements) will declare in a loud voice "Ram! Ram! Ram!" Having done so he will gain a plus one to his Leadership roll and then will move his vessel in compliance with the movement rules to see if he can affect an impact.  
     If contact has been made the victim of the attack my declare "Mother of God (Allah, Shiva etc as appropriate) The Blighter (Swinehund, infidel, heathen....etc) means to ram us!" and attempt to evade the strike by rolling his Leadership at a minus two. If the victim makes his roll the ships are placed side by side in the most agreeable manner. If the victim fails his evade roll the attacker gathers 1d6 for each segment moving in a straight line and adds 5d6 for a Large Vessel,. 3d6 for a Medium Vessels, or 2d6 for a Small Vessel as is suited, he then adds three more d6 if his vessel has a ram. All of the damage is inflicted against the hull of the target vessel. The striking vessel suffers  1/2x 3d6 damage to its hull.