Date: Sun, 20 Feb 1994 19:07:57 +0100 From: Ralf Germar Subject: Man of War review Man of War from Simulations Canada is a simulation of tactical naval combat in the period from 1775 to 1815. The game components come in a transparent plastic bag and comprise a rule booklet, cardboard counters and a map printed on heavy paper. The map is a grid of numbered hexes on blue background. It is divided into eight sections which are used for deployment of the opposing forces in the provided scenarios. Each hex is 250 yards across and the whole map covers an area of 34 by 48 hexes. The edge of the map contains turn record tracks and an explanation of the information printed on the counters. Each counter represents one ship. The counters are made from cardboard and two sided, the backside being used for prizes. The ships given include cutters, brigs, schooners, merchant ships, troop transports, frigates from 20 guns upwards and ships of the line up to 120 guns. Nationalities included are British, French, Dutch, Spanish and US. A lot of markers for damage, boarding, fired broadsides and movement allowance reduce record keeping to a minimum but can become awkward on the board sometimes. One turn represents up to 4 minutes of real time and is divided into a number of phases. First comes the Movement Point Determination Phase during which each player determines the number of movement points for all his ships. This depends on the type of ship, the wind strength, attitude of the ship toward the wind and damage to the rigging. During the following Striking Phase each damaged ship that has an opponent within 3 hexes is rolled for to see whether it strikes. Higher quality crews have an advantage here. Next comes the Movement Point Resolution Phase which is subdivided into a series of segments. This series of segments is repeated until all ships have used up all their movement points. During each cycle one movement point is spent and only those ships which have movement points left may move. Thus faster ships have more movement points and can manoeuvre around stationary ships during the later cycles. The first segment in each cycle is for movement. Those ships which have movement points may move one hex or change facing by one hexside. Good crews get free turns to simulate their superior manoeuvering capabilities. Ships may also remain stationary though they still have movement points but in this case they must still use up one point. So it is not possible to save movement points for later use. There are special rules for leeway, drifting of immobilized ships, anchoring and grounding in shallow water and ships getting into irons i.e. lose all speed during a tack. A ship in irons is unable to move and may suffer damage to its rigging. Again crew skill is important. Ships may also be taken in tow by others. In the next segment artillery fire is resolved. Firing is broken down into three ranges, short, medium and long, i.e. 1, 2 or 3 hexes, with different factors for each range. High quality crews may fire more often per game turn and get favourable modifiers on their die rolls. If a ship manages to fire into the stern of another ship it also receives a bonus for raking fire reflecting the worse protection of hind quarters. Damage is recorded as hull and mast hits. Each mast hit reduces a ships speed and each hull hit reduces its combat power. After 3 mast hits a ship is dead in water and will not receive any more movement points. Ships which have suffered more than 6 hits of any type may sink or explode. Boarding is possible but strongly discouraged by the rules since a boarding attempt can easily result in a hard collision and heavy damage to both ships. Wind strength is divided into flat calm, light, brisk and strong wind and storm. Flat calm prevents all movement and thus action, while storm will immediately end a battle. The crews are too busy keeping their ships afloat to fight. Crew qualities are rated as green, poor, average, professional and excellent. The command rules reflect the poor communications of the period. Ships of the line must normally conform to the manoeuvres of their flag ships and may only move independently when in gun range of opponents. A rule for the general pursuit command is included giving freedom of movement to all ships, but this may only be used by American fleets and British fleets at specified occasions. The twelve scenarios include Ushant, The glorious First of June, The Saints, Cape Saint Vincent, Camperdown and Trafalgar, but not Abukir. The game is easy to learn, fast to play and quite realistic (judging from my limited knowledge :-) ). In the shop where I bought it they also had Wooden Ships and Iron Men of which I saw only the outside of the box. Judging from this WS&IM is more detailed and has prettier game components. The coarse damage record of Man of War with only three grades of hull and rigging damage might be viewed as a drawback. On the other hand the easy mechanism lends itself to bigger battles which was an explicit goal of the game's designers. In summary if you are looking for pretty playing pieces and highly detailed rules WS&IM may be a better choice (comments please! :-) ), but if you want to get an impression of sailing ship warfare with the essential features included in an easy to learn, fast playing game Man of War will serve you very well. Regarding also that it cost less than half the price of WS&IM it gives very good value for money. P.S.: What raised my interest in sailing ship combat was initially the Hornblower series by C.S.Forester. More recently I have come across the Drinkwater series by Richard Woodmann which I wholeheartedly recommend. The author has first hand experience with big square rigged ships and this shows in his books, and he is IMHO a very good writer as well. Looking forward to any comments! Yours, Ral