The Light at the End of the Tunnel

A selection of ships from along the river - no introductions necessary!

Work on the ironclad rules is fast approaching the climax. I am currently scribing what I hope will be the final draft that will shortly be pinged over to my trusty testing team to be picked apart. Their help has been invaluable and they have certainly earned my grateful appreciation for sure!

It may seem like a late ‘U-turn’ at this stage but I have reverted to my original firing system - whereby the firing ship rolls first to hit and then rolls for damage - as opposed to the various methods I have been trialling. The cost of some additional complexity in the process is minimal and of course it still has the all important ‘dice rolling fun factor’. The most important thing though, is that the relationship between the number of d6 being rolled and the specification of the actual ship being represented is much closer. In my experience this is an important consideration as naval wargamers are at their happiest when they can get a feel for the ships they are commanding - and I am no exception!

The firing arcs have been simplified from the original version which has had an impact on the ship specifications in terms of what guns can fire from what arc. My early efforts were too complex to be easily transposed onto a ship placed in single square grid area so they needed some work. The end result is abstract but not uncomfortably so.

Pretty much everything else is good to go - there may be the odd tweak here and there but nothing major (at least I don’t think so!). I am sure there will be gaming related adjustments over time and of course there are bound to be numerous situations I have not allowed for but it would be impossible to cover every eventuality in a simple set of rules. It has been a long road to get to this point but I have been delighted to travel along it!

However, there is the rather pressing matter of what fate will befall Captain Archibald Bellend of H.M.S. Superb so….

….Meanwhile, somewhere in the Sea of Marmara….

To be continued….