Looking for a simple Chase Campaign System

[Vagabond]

Hi - as the title suggests I'm trying to put together a small and simple campaign set in the Mediterranean that I can run with two willing/pressed men over the internet.

I envisage some kind of commerce raiding using a chart of the Med, a small number of ships, maybe even just one per commander, I'm looking for a simple movement system to get the ships from a to b, some way of deciding if and when they meet other ships and what ships they are. Based on that they will either chase or run away. I have some chase rules that Dobbs wrote to cover that aspect and then if they catch or are caught I will fight the game solo and advise the 2 players of the result.

I have looked here and on the internet but without sucess, althougn that could just be my weak google fu.

Does anyone know of any rules that might cover the commerce raiding side of the campaign, I don't want anything too complex as I have a lot on at the moment and I'm afraid it would have to be free. Any thoughts?

Cheers and thanks in advance for any ideas.

[Dobbs]

Give me some time and I will share some bits and baubs with you that might be along your line of thinking

[Dobbs]

Lookout Cards.pdf

Here are some cards that I made up with the idea of making a stack equal to the length of a voyage plus a one or two extra blanks per week. Before assembling the stack the person overseeing it decides how many potential encounters there might be and what type they might be. Then that number of "Sail Ho!" cards are put in the deck.

The cards are randomly shuffled then one drawn for each day that passes. My intention was to capture the feeling of days of the empty sea followed by the frantic action of an encounter. Upon an encounter, the overseeing player randomly selects one of the listed ship encounters. To further increase the storytelling aspect, this is where my Chase Rules would come in, or you could move directly to the regular playing mat.

[Bligh]

Like it Dobbs !

Rob.

[Vagabond]

Thanks Dobbs, that's an elegant way of determining sightings, I could maybe do it in real time, to give the right feel for it.

You refer to a list of encounters, do you have one drawn up already? I know I could work one out fairly easily I'm just being lazy, that and putting all my spare mental energy into making some cliff scenery and I don't seem to have much mental energy at all.

Thanks for the cards, they are much appreciated.

[Dobbs]

Weather Cards 1.pdf

Weather Cards 2.pdf

Weather Cards 3.pdf

Weather Cards 4.pdf

Weather Cards 5.pdf

Here are some cards I made up to go with the Lookout Cards. When voyaging, each day starts with drawing a Weather Card and a Lookout Card.

Encounter, DM Checklist.pdf

Here's my Checklist for Encounters. Just insert the ships and information that you'd like as encounters for a potential voyage, and off you go (of course, the list is kept secret from the player on the voyage). You can either plan the encounters, building to a dramatic conclusion, or if you favor increased randomness, roll to see which ship or squadron is encountered each time a Sail Ho! card is drawn. Beware if going for drama, even you don't know if all of your potential encounters will happen if playing with more Lookout Cards than the voyage is long...unless you rig the deck!

[Bligh]

Very innovative as usual Dobbs.
I like the cut of your jib sir.

Bligh.

[Vagabond]

Thanks for this Dobbs, the weather cards will come in useful. I had wondered if I was to do this in real time, I could look up the weather forecast in the sea area it was happening on a daily basis. I could capture the Grib files and send them to the Captains and judge the weather effect from that. April should give some variable weather.

Fot the encounters I was thinking things like, fishing boats, they might impart information or provide misleading info. Small, Medium or large Merchant ships, they might be armed, neutral, enemy, escorted or decoys, and provide prize money or maybe if neutral and you capture/harm them, you face a court martial. Obviously there's the Frech man of war trying to capture or sink you, but maybe a friendly man of war that is flying a French flag as a ruse and maybe you believe it is French and attack it.

I don't have the experience or knowledge to provide a good match between the British and French man of war. I would aim to have the French (defending ship) slightly stronger than the British (commerce raider) The idea being that the British ship will attack all enemy shipping but will need to run away from the French man of war, so there's always a risk when you sight a ship, is it a prize or will it kill you.

Not really got my head arround this yet, but thanks for the impetus.
Cheers

[Bligh]

I do like the way this is going Dobbs, and Vagabond has brought up some very interesting possibilities here.
Just a couple of points regarding British ships:-

Maybe if neutral and you capture/harm them, you face a court martial.

If a British Captain, you would have to pay compensation to the owners for losses inccurred, and this would include business lost to trading whilst the ship was impounded. This could bancrupt a Captain so Neutral looking ships were treated very cautiously, until the ships manifest had been checked. Contrabanders were then legitimate prizes. Deserters could of course also be removed from the said ships regardless of nationality, which obviously caused friction between us and the United States especially, when we impressed "British?" citizens from their ships.

Obviously there's the Frech man of war trying to capture or sink you, but maybe a friendly man of war that is flying a French flag as a ruse and maybe you believe it is French and attack it.

Again as far as men of war were concerned they would make their private number and the daily code to any other ship to identify if it were friendly or nay. this was to avoid any incidents of friendly fire of this nature. Of course accidents could still happen. Ships sailing for long periods in foreign parts may not be in possession of up to date codes, or not be aware of the state of war or peace between nations. This in itself could lead to an interesting game scenario which I intend to explore in one of my Solo games which I write this year.

Rob.

[Vagabond]

Rob thanks for that information on neutrals, very thought provoking.

My difficulty is that I'm coming from a very low knowledge base when it comes to naval ships and history of this time and I'm easily distracted. This morning I've been trying to find out how high the lookout would be so that I can work out how far his horizon would be and ended up on the Flat Earth Society site reading some convoluted rubbish about density of air at a low level is the reason you can't see as far from the ground as you can from a crows nest

Do you know where the lookout was located, was it at the top of the mast or the top of the topmast or even higher? Would there just be one lookout in 1 mast and which one, or would there be one in each mast?

I'm just going to measure the model to find the height.

Anyway it's back to cliff building today.
Cheers

[Bligh]

Apparently the lookout on a Frigate could spot another's topmast at about 12 miles in clear weather, and a larger vessels such as a First Rate at about 14. That dependent to a certain extent on the angle of the viewed ship to the viewer, and the amount of swell. I interpolate from this that a First Rate lookout could spot another First Rate at a little over 14 miles, as both ships had higher masts. Obviously the lookout on a Sloop would be able to see a shorter distance.

Depending on circumstances, and the paranoia of the Deck Officer, would determine the number of lookouts in action at any time. It would seem usual to have two up. One at the Fore, and one at the Main.

Rob.

[Dobbs]

It sounds like you're heading in the right direction, John. My aim was to make a voyage feel like a D&D adventure, with the encountered ships being like wandering monsters.

[Vagabond]

It sounds like you're heading in the right direction, John. My aim was to make a voyage feel like a D&D adventure, with the encountered ships being like wandering monsters.

I think that's how I envisage it as well, but the more I think about it the more I add complexity which is not what I'm after :(

[Dobbs]

Here's the official way captains do it these days:

Beware puzzling out the top table. I just realized that there's a tabbing error on the Feet/nm line. Just use your imagination to tab Feetnm into Feet nm so the columns underneath line up.

[Bligh]

Guess that answers the question then Dobbs.
Thanks.
Rob.

[Dobbs]

My Chase Rules:

My main objective is to provide a template for a developing engagement or a way to escape one. There is no maneuvering since it is a linear chase. This is meant to play quickly and not be a stand alone game. Sequence of play is firing and then movement. A ship escapes if it gets beyond hull down.

A Demonstration:

1798 August – At Sea – east of Brazil – weather, fair

Last month, the Quasi War with France erupted. The 32 gun frigate Saratoga has been brought out of retirement to defend the interests of Baltimore’s merchants once again. Today, as the predawn lights the east at the start of the morning watch, the lookout calls, “Sail Ho!”







The lookout’s sharp eyes have spied two vessels, both ship-rigged, hull down on the horizon. One is of Burden 1, and the other is a Burden of 4. Even at this range, it is obvious that the smaller ship’s crew handles her better that her companion’s crew does theirs. Saratoga’s captain decides the lookout’s discovery warrants further investigation.



The range closes swiiftly, but even though they are now hull up, 5- 8 nautical miles away, nothing more is known about the strangers.



At long tactical range, or about a mile, it’s still not clear who they are, until tricolors blossom at their taffrails and they both turn to flee. As Saratoga’s flag is run up, the stern guns of both Frenchmen speak. Saratoga replies in kind. Over the course of the next half watch, the gunnery of the French is a little more effective, and Saratoga gets her nose bloodied.











By the beginning of the second half of the morning watch it is obvious that Saratoga is faster than the larger French ship. The range decreases to extreme short tactical. The smaller Frenchman is obviously holding back to maintain an escort. The running gun battle continues, making a lot of noise, but little damage. Saratoga focuses on trying disable her smaller opponent.









In the first half of the forenoon watch, Saratoga scores some lucky hits. The sloop staggers, but its speed is unimpaired.







In the second half of the forenoon watch, Saratoga takes a sail hit, but it isn’t enough to discourage her from the chase.





The first half of the afternoon watch passes with no real developments; a futile cannonade and the French hold their position.





Saratoga catches the sloop betwixt the wind and the waves.





During the first dog watch, Saratoga hits the sloop hard again, and using her superior speed throws a broadside as well. The French sloop captain realizes that there is really only one way out of this. The stern guns fire and the sloop and Indiaman turn to fight…

[Vagabond]

Dobbs you can't leave it here, did the Saratoga take the French ships or not.

Thanks to you and Rob for the information on sighting distances. What I couldn't find out was where the lookouts were stationed. I know that the fore top and main top are located at the top of their respective masts but the next mast up also has a top and I wondered if the lookout would be in this one as it gives greater visability.

Using your table and Robs information it would seem that sightings of 12nm for a frigate to frigate, the lookout would be roughly 50' above sea level, ie half the 100' on the table.

Cheers to both of you.

[Dobbs]

Well, it has yet to be sorted out, so it's a bit of a cliffhanger. Rest assured, Saratoga will face the Frenchmen and the exciting conclusion will be posted here.

There's kind of a hiccup in the timeline, so also in the works and 20 years before, is Saratoga leaving Newport, this time with a half moon and less of a tide running. Suzanne says Lexington will not be attempting a breakout until the tide is much more reasonable. More adventures await as two Yankee frigates cruise the high seas (if they get out of the Providence River).

[Bligh]

It is all very exciting and a thousand questions spring to mind Dobbs.
I will, therefore, confine mine to one. This is the construction of your wonderful equipment.
How did you perfect the lipped board and what is the indicator dial made from. It seems to be intigral with the backboard from the photo.

Rob.

[Vagabond]

atoga[/I] Suzanne says Lexington will not be attempting a breakout until the tide is much more reasonable. More adventures await as two Yankee frigates cruise the high seas (if they get out of the Providence River).

Suzanne is my kind of Captain, the only spanner in the works is that the blockading force will be expecting you to go after slack water, with the ebb in your favour as that's the sensible thing to do.

Good luck with this.

Bye the way you made a very neat job of your board, I was just going to use a bit of paper and some tiddly winks to mark the relative positions. I'm almost ashamed to mention it now.

[Bligh]

Bye the way you made a very neat job of your board, I was just going to use a bit of paper and some tiddly winks to mark the relative positions. I'm almost ashamed to mention it now.

That's why I asked John. With all this time on my hands I was thinking of trying to emulate Dobb's superb board, with bells on.

Rob.

[Dobbs]

The playing mat is a piece of vinyl that is the length of the width of a roll. That's why I fudged on the Hull Up and Hull Down ranges and split them with a dotted line, the board would have had to be nine inches longer and I didn't want to have to buy two yards of vinyl.

The markings are done with an orange waterproof Sharpy pen. I used a metal ruler with a cork backing to avoid the inevitable weeping of the marker under a ruler laying flat on vinyl.

Here's a plan of the Playing Mat:

Chase Board.pdf

[Bligh]

Thanks for the explaination Dobbs. I just happen to have a spare Wind Gauge thanks to Raffer J Larwood, and we used to laminate our excercise books with the sticky backed plastic, so the rest is just a formality as they say.

Rob.

[Dobbs]

The pointer on the Watch Table is a Wind Gauge pointer from my spare damage chit collection. The Watch Table was printed on cardstock on an inkjet printer. I then covered it with a self-adhesive laminating sheet (picture a sheet of clear tape). After that I applied a backing of an adhesive foam sheet from a craft store (Walmart). Lastly, I used a 1/4" punch to knock out a hole for the pointer (actually I did this in two steps, after laminating the paper, and then again after applying the foam).

I used to buy packs of cheap legal tablets and rip the cardboard off the back, then use a spray adhesive to make chits and tables, but the foam is easy and colorful. It also saves a lot of paper. If anyone could use a cardboard-less legal pad, see me.

[Vagabond]

That's going to be a tense game, I like the way it's been thought through and it would make a great solo game because of the uncertainly built into it.

Presumably the cutting out ship is a frigate? And is somewhere outside the harbour, out of canon range of the fortifications?

Is the intention to capture the sloop and leave the enemy frigate behind? If so will it give chase once the crew are back on board?

Looking forward to seeing how this pans out, and your scenery looks as lovely as always.

[Bligh]

You can see Wentworth's take on it here in post 30 John.

https://sailsofglory.org/showthread.php?4987-AARs-2018



Hopefully also Captain Kiwi's later today.

Rob.

[Vagabond]

You can see Wentworth's take on it here in post 30 John.

https://sailsofglory.org/showthread.php?4987-AARs-2018



Hopefully also Captain Kiwi's later today.

Rob.

Cheers Rob, I've just read it and as I thought - it was a tense game.
Excellent.