'I do not think there is any more futile observation,' he said aloud, 'than talking about what should be done in a battle at sea until you know the direction and force of the wind, the numbers on both sides, their relative positions, the state of the sea, and whether it will take place by day or by... By God, Stephen, I could swear I smelt toasted cheese.'
Patrick O'Brian, The Commodore
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| "Hurry up, Kickstarter!", urged Jack. |
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| My PO'B bona fides |
SGN is from Ares Games, and transfers their successful
Wings of War WW1 fighter game mechanisms to the Napoleonic naval genre. Each player controls a ship or two and plans actions in advance. Movement is then simultaneous. A card with a manoeuvre arrow is placed in front of the ship, and the ship sails along the arrow. Different ships have different speeds and turning abilities, and the wind will appropriately affect manoeuvres. Combat is also simultaneous, with the number and type of damage chits being allocated depending on the range, aspect, and type of ammunition used.
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| Pre-production mock-up showing ship base card and movement |
What's in the box?
You get two French and two British ships; a frigate and a ship-of-the-line for each side. Each has two different names available, depending on which inlay card you choose. These are plastic pre-paints in 1:1000 scale. The sculpting and painting are adequate, but the painting is not quite up to X-Wing standards. There's a solid in-fill between the mast and sails, which has disappointed some, but I can live with it. There's no rigging or pennants, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The sails and masts might benefit from a touch-up and a thin brown wash to pick out the detail.
They come on very thick plastic bases, with clear plastic covering an inlay card showing firing arcs and how the vessel responds to the wind direction. It's not the most aesthetically pleasing, but once the game's underway you need to have all the info there and I quickly overlooked it as the action heated up. I think it could have been thinner, though. Also, the ships don't fit securely in the bases- you can't hold them upside down or move them vigorously without risking them coming off.
There are two range rulers, two 'attitude indicators' (to see how you are sailing compared to the wind direction), and a wind direction/ strength gauge. The wind has three strength states, and eight directions.
And, of course, all the order cards, action counters, ammunition markers, and weather and damage chits.
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| Wind gauge, range ruler, attitude indicator, and some of the scenery. |
The rules have Basic, Standard, and Advanced rules depending on how hard you want your Captain's job to be. The more complex rules add all the factors like wind strength and changing weather, changing sails, ammunition types, pre-planned orders, crew actions, raking shots, double-shotting, aiming high, and shore fortifications, to mention only a few. There are six scenarios with variants and solo rules suggestions.
For the rules overview official videos, see
here.
So, putting it all together...
Captaining a ship is hard work. You have to plan your sailing a turn in advance, and if the wind changes you could literally be taken aback. You've got to plan your firing as it takes a turn to reload, and you'll want to have your opponent in optimum position rather than wasting a shot. And you'll have had to make sure that you've preloaded the best type of ammunition- ball, chain or grape- because you can't change your mind! After the firing starts and you're taking damage, you've got to allocate your crew to firing, reloading, changing sails, and fighting fires and plugging leaks. That's before the enemy sweeps your deck with grape and musketry and sends the boarders! I think I'll struggle to manage more than two ships at once!
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| And what's the first thing muggins does with his new toy? |
For my first battle report and some subsequent thoughts, see
here!
