These are a set of rules that I photocopied out of an old Wargames Illustrated or Miniature Wargames magazine simply ages ago, I can't find the original magazine article but I do know that Andy Callan is the author of this little gem. I take no claim or credit for these, all I can say is that they are a jolly fun set of rules that we have enjoyed for decades. Of course as the years passed I have made some modifications to the rules. If these are improvements we will set that down to happy circumstance, if they have failed the fault is mine alone. At the end of the rules I have included some worked-out ship data cards and a set of blanks templates that can be used to make new ones.
Really Simple ACW Naval Rules
Order of Play;
Write Orders
Make ½ move
Make Turns (if any)
Any vessel not turning may fire
Make second ½ move
Make Turns (if any)
Any vessel that hasn't fired yet, and
not turning, may now fire
Shooting; roll 1d6 per gun, add
fire factor and relevant modifiers needing to score higher than the
targets armor to get a hit.
There are three sizes of gun;
Small +1 fire factor (up to
18lbr)
Medium +2 fire factor (over 18lb
and up to 8”)
Large +3 fire factor (guns over
100lb or in excess of 8”)
There are three ranges
Point blank 3”
Effective 18”
Long 36”
There are a few modifiers to your die
roll;
+1 Rifled Gun -1 target end-on
+1 Target stationary -1 shooter on
fire/steam filled
+1 Firer stationary -1 Long range
+1 Point Blank Range -1 avoided a
collision this turn
Effect of hits; Roll 1d6
1 = lose ½ knot of speed
2-3 = lose one gun
4-5 = lose one knot of speed
6 = Special Effects!
Special Effects; roll 2d6
2 Freak shot hits magazine, ship
blows and sinks immediately
3 Helmsman killed, ship must continue
on present course for one full turn
4 Holed and listing to port,
starboard guns cannot depress enough to shoot
5 Holed and listing to starboard,
port guns cannot depress enough to shoot
6 One gun shutter nearest to shooter
jammed for 1d6 moves
7 Steam pipes damaged, can only
increase/decease speed by 1 knot
8 Stack damaged, lose 2 knots off top
speed
9 Screw/paddle jammed 1d6 turns,
drift to halt
10 Steering damaged must stay on
present course for 1d6 turns
11 FIRE! Roll 1d6 each turn to put
out, after 4 turns crew abandons ship
12 Boiler holed, ship drifts to halt,
1d6 on a 1-2 crew abandons ship
Movement
All movement is simultaneous and done
in conformance with written orders. These orders shall take
the following form; number of inches moved (up to ½ total
available), any turns, remaining movement followed by any turns. An
example of such would be; 5” ahead, right 45 degrees, 5
inches ahead, left 45 degrees. The maximum speed in reverse
is ½ speed forward, except for Double-Ender sidewheels who may go
as fast backwards as they do forwards.
Additional information will be
included after the movement order such as “Increase Speed” or
“Ram”. Remember that you can only increase/decrease speed by 2
knots per turn.
Any vague or illegible orders will be
allowed to be interpreted by the opposing player in the worst light
possible.
Running aground.
Any vessel entering shoal waters must
check for grounding; in deep shoals roll 4d6 to score higher than
draft to avoid grounding, in shallow shoals roll 3d6 to avoid
grounding. Once grounded a vessel rolls 1d6 each turn, needing a 6 to
free itself, once freed it must move straight backward until clear of
the shoal that it grounded upon.
Drifting
Any vessel whose speed has dropped to
zero will drift 1” per turn in the direction of the current/tide.
Each turn roll 1d6 to see if it keeps its current facing; on a one it
turns 45 degrees clockwise, on a six it turns 45 degrees
counter-clockwise.
Collisions and Ramming
Due to the short ranges at which these
actions will take place accidental collisions and deliberate
ramming are both likely to occur. Any contact between ships that does
not include “Ram” as an order by the striking vessel are deemed
to be accidental collisions. These will be avoided by the striking
player rolling 1d6 and scoring a four or higher. If the collision is
avoided the ships are moved to reflect the last-minute course change
and no damage occurs, this does not count as a turn but does inflict
a -1 to any shooting. If the collision is not avoided treat it like a
ram (yes this can happen between friendly vessels).
Ramming occurs when the striking
vessel has “Ram” written in its orders for the current turn.
Ramming is defined as an event wherein the bow area of the striking
vessels base enters the side area of the target ships base. End-on
ramming is not possible. The vessels just grind past each other, both
suffer 1 knot of speed lost and may not fire. It may be necessary to
step off the movement of the ships in quarter-moves to see if a ram
occurs. Thus it is incumbent on the ramming player to advise his
opponent of his intention to ram before movement begins. If the
conditions for an effective ramming occur consult the following
chart.
Throw 1d6 modify the result as
follows;
+1 Target stationary
+1 Rammer, every two knots over 6
-1 Rammer without reinforced bow
-1 Rammer, each knot under 4
Results;
6+ Target ship is crippled drifts, Rammer loses one knot of speed
6+ Target ship is crippled drifts, Rammer loses one knot of speed
4-5 Target loses 1d6 knots of
speed, Rammer loses 1one knot
2-3 No effect on either vessel
1- Rammer loses 1d6 knots. No
effect on target.
Sinking
If a ships speed drops below zero it
will sink in 1d6+2 turns. The crew will (of course) heroically
continue to serve the guns until the water closes over their vessel.
Union Vessels
Confederate Vessels
Blank Templates open these with MS Paint (or any similar software) you can cut and paste the guns onto the hull template and fill in the blank spaces.
A similar article originally appeared in Miniature Wargames, No. 14, 1984. It doesn't show the ship data cards like you have but the rules are the same.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.wfgamers.org.uk/andy-callans-articles/acw-riverine-rules
Excellent.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anton