This is a great idea for a forum topic.
I'm wrestling with mechanics, too, as I design my Lake Ontario summer of 1813 campaign.
I already have the high-level strategy layer in a set of existing rules, called Lord of the Lake. At that level, players assign every ship to a lake zone (1 of 6 zones) and a mission (intercept, patrol, land attack, convoy, in-port repair, or in-port refit).
And of course we have the tactical layer in SGN, or whatever miniatures system one wants to use, once opposing ships are in close maneuvering and combat range.
What I'm trying to add is that middle layer, a grand-tactical one that sets up the prebattle maneuvering at between 20 km and 2 km. In many ways, I find this the most interesting part of AoS warfare -- because so much of the way a battle plays out (or whether it happens at all) depends on what the ships do once they first spot the enemy and maneuver, before they're in combat.