Prize crews

Following the capture of a ship, the victors would put a small crew on board the captured ship to sail it into a friendly port. I have thought of a way this might be incorporated into the game.

Following a successful boarding action, the ships remain in contact for one more turn and a prize crew is transferred onto the captured ship at the end of the combat phase in the turn by transferring one or more crew loss chits from the captured ship to the victor ship. The control board of the captured ship is then passed to the operator of the capturing ship. From the following turn, the operator of the victor ship will control both ships. It will also be necessary to have some way of covering the national flag of the captured ship to indicate that it has changed sides.

Good idea, David--I'm working on a campaign scenario at the moment, and this kind of thing is one of the things I need to figure out how to address, ditto transferring crew and cannons off a crippled ship about to be scuttled.

Would the transfer of some victorious crew to sail the prize ship require a large enough of a detachment that it should affect the remaining crew strength of the victorious ship?

Almost certainly. And depending on how many crew were up in the fighting tops and working the sails in battle, losing a mast could conceivably take a Bunch O' Swabbies with it...

I assume that the victorious ship would take a crew hit to symbolize the loss of crew to the captured ship. Is this correct?

I like the idea for use either in a campaign or for victory conditions.

With some minor tweaking of the rules perhaps we could have a full crew transfer to the captured ship?

I can imagine in some situations where it might be desirable to use the captured ship in place of your own (e.g. Damage, better firepower, faster speed, etc).

Its a nice idea but whilst transferring crew to take charge, secure prisoners and conduct immediate damage control is OK in practice it was pretty rare for a prize crew to take command of a captured vessel and immediately bring her into action. If I allowed it at all it would only be for smaller ships or in "Hollywood" inspired scenarios.

It did happen after the battle between Bonhomme Richard and Serapis. Bonhomme Richard was so badly damaged, eventually sinking, John Paul Jones transferred his crew to Serapis.

Most prizes were towed because they were dismasted or worse, not enough crew left to provide even a skeleton crew.

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Originally Posted by Coog

It did happen after the battle between Bonhomme Richard and Serapis. Bonhomme Richard was so badly damaged, eventually sinking, John Paul Jones transferred his crew to Serapis.

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I can't imagine the Americans would have been ready to take Serapis into battle against any other British ships right away though...

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Originally Posted by 7eat51

I assume that the victorious ship would take a crew hit to symbolize the loss of crew to the captured ship. Is this correct?

I like the idea for use either in a campaign or for victory conditions.

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Yes, that was my thinking. The crew loss chit(s) are transferred from the captured ship's crew track to the capturing ship's crew track. So, the capturing ship would lose some of its effectiveness. I was thinking more in terms of a small crew transfer rather than a wholesale transfer but the victorious captain might wish to do this if his ship had several fires or leaks.

I believe that pirate ships sometimes carried supernumerary crew to take possession of prizes. So, if we ever get pirate ships, perhaps there could be some supernumerary crew counters, which could be added to the left hand end of the crew damage track.

If memory serves, both pirates and early USN shared a love of ridiculously both over-crewing and over-gunning.

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Originally Posted by Diamondback

If memory serves, both pirates and early USN shared a love of ridiculously both over-crewing and over-gunning.

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The jokes write themselves, don't they? :)

Why do you think I fly the Stars & Stripes AND the Skull & Bones? :p

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Originally Posted by Diamondback

Why do you think I fly the Stars & Stripes AND the Skull & Bones? :p

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Attachment 11624

LOL, I meant, the S&S over the S&B on the same yard, much like flown by USS Kidd. (She was dubbed "Pirate of the Pacific" for her tradition of rescuing aircrew in the drink, then ransoming them back to their carriers for ice-cream...)

WWI submariner Sir Max Horton did the same thing with the Union Jack as the upper colors...

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Originally Posted by Diamondback

Why do you think I fly the Stars & Stripes AND the Skull & Bones? :p

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Pity the fourth _PotC_ movie appears to have killed the series -- there was somewhere they could have gone with the "death of the pirate age" theme....

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Pity the fourth _PotC_ movie appears to have killed the series

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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790809/?ref_=nv_sr_2 !

Originally rumored to have Christoph Waltz too...