Bomb vessels may fire mortars at anchored or grounded ships, or shore batteries and other specific shore targets.
Maximum range of a mortar is TWICE the length of the gunnery ruler.
Minimum range is equal to the length of the gunnery ruler.
Bomb vessels may only fire their mortar when they are at anchor (NOT when grounded)
To place a spring on a Bomb see my post 4 here. Rob.
To determine the fall of shot:
Create two decks of cards. the first deck comprises 9 cards and determines the direction of shot:
- North
- South
- East
- West
- North West
- North East
- South West
- South East
- On Target
This works fine, but for quick games we only used four cards.
Over, under, Left, and right.
The second set of nine cards determines the deviation:
- Zero (on target) x1
- Very Short (C/D) x3
- Short (B) x5
Draw one card of each type to determine where the shot lands.
For second and subsequent shots at the same target, once a very short card has been drawn, subsequent shots other than "on target" will be at very short range. Once a shot is "on target" (from either deck) the mortar is zeroed in and subsequent shots hit the point of aim.
if the shot falls on a static ship's base or a battery the target draws four B damage tokens. If a shot lands on a moving ship it draws four A damage tokens (but remember moving ships cannot be specifically targeted)
For a very short miss in front of the target we allowed one crew damage card to simulate shrapnel from the explosion as if the fuse were cut too short and premature ignition had taken place.
You may also like to add the option of the chance of a ship catching fire or exploding if a direct hit is registered. An extra card can be placed in the deck or the Ares chits can be drawn which is what Captain Kiwi and I have done in the past.
Bomb Vessel
Manoeuvre deck A
Burden 3 (stout construction)
Veer 7
Seven damage boxes on hull and crew rows
1/1/1 - 4 - 1 - M
1/1/1 - 4 - 1 - M
1/1/1 - 4 - 1 - M
1/1/1 - 3 - 1 - M
1/1/1 - 3 - 1 - M
1/1/1 - 2 - 1 - -
1/1/1 - 1 - 0 - -
(bow gunnery / beam gunnery / stern gunnery - crew actions - musketry - Mortar)
Reloading the mortar takes one action, as for a normal broadside.
If firing over an intervening land mass, you would need a spotter ship which was in view of both the Bomb and the target to range in for you by signal flags. In this case the Bomb may only fire every four cards.
This is as usual simply an option and you may use whatever you fancy from it. As far as I can tell Dave's rules are very well informed and useable for the purpose. Rob.
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