Quote Originally Posted by csadn View Post
I thought the problem with IF was its inaccuracy, not its damage potential. (It's a bit outside SoG's normal period, but I'm reminded of Farragut's demonstration to Porter at Ft.s St. Philip and Jackson of the ineffectiveness of mortars -- Farragut sent a signalman into the rigging with a red flag to be waved when hits were scored, and a white flag for misses; the white flag received a workout, while the red was only briefly used.)

To that end, a "scatter" rule would be more useful than anything else: Draw a number of counters equal to gunnery, and toss them onto the playing surface; the number on the counter shows how many counts on the ruler it moves, and the top of the number shows the direction it moves. Wherever the target point ends up, apply damage there.
See my mortar and bomb vessel house rules for an Ares style approach to this