Sea Trials

In an effort to make the distances covered by the ships in SOG more "realistic", I printed out a few movement cards in large, 8"x10" format and put the HMS Vanguard through it's paces. It looked like this:

Attachment 11645Attachment 11646

It gives more realistic tight turns, but the wider turns are exponentially wider. And you need an entire floor to play one scenario. At the end of the day, experimenting with large movement cards was fun, but really didn't add anything to an already enjoyable game, plus, When even two ships get near each other, the giant movement cards become useless and just get in the way of everything. Still, an interesting thing to try out.

Might be good for representing strategic movements of squadrons or flotillas, though... Interesting experiment.

How many color ink cartridges do you need to make two maneuver decks?:beer:

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Originally Posted by Diamondback

Might be good for representing strategic movements of squadrons or flotillas, though... Interesting experiment.

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Yes, especially if instead of one ship the "base" now might represent a block of three ships +/-?

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Originally Posted by Nightmoss

Yes, especially if instead of one ship the "base" now might represent a block of three ships +/-?

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Jim, I was thinking the one ship represents your entire formation on the "Strategic Movement" scale, then once within range to discover an enemy formation things proceed to "Tactical Battle Map" and proceed as a regular SGN game, reverting back to Strategic when one side is either eliminated or breaks contact.

The ship used to represent your formation would, of course, be either your flagship or the largest ship in your command. (Taking into account the 1780s French practice of having admirals move flags to frigates and be ready to "rabbit" if things started to look like imminent capture...)

Enlarging the movement cards keeps the exact same movement choices as SOG. A better solution than giant movement cards is a flexible ruler for movement. you can go so many inches up to a 90 degree bend depending on your wind direction and speed.Just bend the ruler and follow it for x amount of inches. That way, you can scale it to fit the area you are playing for more realistic movement. You can also fall off the wind instead of being required to face exactly the way the movement card wants you to.
Attachment 11653Attachment 11653

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Originally Posted by Diamondback

Jim, I was thinking the one ship represents your entire formation on the "Strategic Movement" scale, then once within range to discover an enemy formation things proceed to "Tactical Battle Map" and proceed as a regular SGN game, reverting back to Strategic when one side is either eliminated or breaks contact.

The ship used to represent your formation would, of course, be either your flagship or the largest ship in your command. (Taking into account the 1780s French practice of having admirals move flags to frigates and be ready to "rabbit" if things started to look like imminent capture...)

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In effect you maneuver at a strategic level first and then proceed to a tactical battle; or several tactical battles fought over a campaign season? Or tournament play over the course of several weeks?

Any or all--I just had the grain of an idea, how y'all pick up the ball and run with it's up to y'all. :)

That's really an interesting idea, Diamondback. Start out using the big cards until you get within cannon shot, then switch to the little cards or, "zoom in" to the battle area so to speak.

You're gonna laugh at this... my inspiration was the "map" transition in the Indiana Jones movies.

*whistles Raiders March*

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Originally Posted by Diamondback

You're gonna laugh at this... my inspiration was the "map" transition in the Indiana Jones movies.

*whistles Raiders March*

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<- overplays Shia Leboeuf's Tarzan call and swinging-on-vines scene

>:)

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Originally Posted by csadn

<- overplays Shia Leboeuf's Tarzan call and swinging-on-vines scene

>:)

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*beats French like bad monkey*
Thanks, arsehole, remind me of that POS childhood-memory-killer... :p

Also, Star Wars: Empire at War plays out much the same way, with both galactic "strategic" and planetary "tactical" maps.

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Originally Posted by Diamondback

remind me of that POS childhood-memory-killer

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqy_7RDEL7k

:smack:

In such a setting, one could also be forced to draw up fleet formation before the battle actually starts. In combination with secret fleet composition in a campaign map, this might make up some interesting campaign games.

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Originally Posted by Coog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqy_7RDEL7k

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Quit aping me. >;)