Terrain

[Coog]

In viewing Skullduggery's post on his island terrain, I wondered how many players used terrain in their games. I've played in games that used shallows where ships can run aground (and did) and islands, both to maneuver around and to place shore batteries. If SOG does not include rules for these, I plan on adding them. It should be easy to do. What do the rest of you think about terrain in naval games and would you use it in SOG?

[David Manley]

I use "terrain" of some sort in most of my naval wargames. I play pretty much everything from ancients (a friend and I even worked up some skirmish rules for cavemen types in dugouts) through to modern actions and beyond (I've been working on a "wet navy" 40K version of "man o war", a set of SF submarine rules for Wessex games and a couple of other projects). many of my games involve terrain in the form of coastlines, islands, shallows and other features such as strong currents, salinity gradients (for submarine games) and mobile "terrain" such as icebergs and rain squalls. of course some of my deep ocean games are devoid of terrain other than weather effects.

[Berthier]

Woodenships and Iron Men and Yaquinto's Ironclad naval system both had maps with variable shading to be used for shallows land etc in different scenarios. Given how many small naval actions took place close to the coast it will be a necessity to include terrain. Try doing Battle of The Nile or any cutting out operation without it :)

[Skullduggery]

I have used islands and shallows for an ironclad game too. I've made up some icebergs for other people too.

[Coog]

I'm always looking for ideas on terrain. For naval games, I currently use a sheet of medium blue felt for the ocean. Lighter blue pieces of felt are used for shallows, and styrofoam covered with green, tan, and gray felt used for islands. The "islands" were originally used as hills in a system of felt terrain I put together for quick set up DBA games. However, I would like to find something more realistic.

[The Royal Hajj]

I've never actually played a naval game (not from want of playing though!), but I would think sometype of island or shoreline would be a must in most games. Having a lee shore to deal with would just add so much more to the game.

[Coog]

I've never actually played a naval game (not from want of playing though!), but I would think sometype of island or shoreline would be a must in most games. Having a lee shore to deal with would just add so much more to the game.

While I have played a variety of naval games set in different time periods, there is nothing like age of sail. Trying to maneuver using the wind is a true challenge and a lot of fun you don't experience in other games.

[Capt P]

I have hill from Flames of War. They are hills used for 15mm WWII armor. They are a good size so have to see how the will fit in with the ships when they come out. They make good islands for WWII minis.