Download (1.5 meg, Acrobat Reader pdf)
These rules were designed along the lines of the others in the Hex Command series of free rules: a straight-forward set of rules for miniatures with as few bells and whistles as possible, but with enough flair that just about anyone interested can play the game in a brief period of time.
This basic system uses a hex grid of 4" hexes on a blue or aqua-colored surface (numbering the hexagons is essential for intra-club play via the internet), and where the hexes are NOT "pointed up" on a surface- that is- when players are facing each other on opposite sides of the surface, points of the hexes are on the left and right. Game Mapper is recommended to assist scenario creation and game tracking.These rules assume that weather conditions are appropriate for combat, otherwise one side or the other would not engage in the first place. It is also assumes that battles take place between weather changes and as such, wind and weather changing during an engagement is unlikely; at the very least the weather and wind will change only near the end of the battle, causing either the winner or loser to retreat and thus end the game.
During development, we asked ourselves the question that, in the early gunpowder era, what were " ships of battle?" The answer is they are essentially floating tanks with a single purpose: destroy the other guy's stuff without losing too much in return. In order to prevent losing too much stuff in return, the key to winning is knowing when to turn to attack and turn to run. In Hex Command Oceans, facings have different quantities of guns and these guns have "classes" either A, B or C just like Hex Command Gunpowder, and all are smoothbore; in later versions Rifled guns will make their entry but these are essentially just longer range artillery anyway: armor-piercing shot didn't make it's debut until after the American Civil War era. |
These rules do not force players to get their sea legs in order to enjoy the strategy and tactics of maneuver and combat of naval ships.
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Also, we are hoping to make available 3D ships that players can use; these are essentially thick forms cut by hand (or CNC if we can afford that), that an appliqué artwork will be attached to... the artwork below for instance.. here's an example Caravel:
The idea is to create a Port and Starboard (right and left respectfully) artwork, and then using simple lollipop sticks (small diameter cardboard and or wood dowel rods), sails can be added to the form as shown in the following image:
The way we will probably do this is cut the shapes from 1/2 thick pine or other inexpensive material; players can either glue two pieces together to create a thicker looking ship or just use the single 1/2 form. We'd imagine selling these for about $3 to $5 U.S. each so it should be really affordable. In the meantime however, thanks to Usborne Publishing, here's a Caravel from the Usborne book, "Medieval Port" you can print and fold up into a cardstock representation on the game table:
Use the fold up base (the block on the bottom) to write a ships name or other roster data if you like.
If you right-mouse click, save target-as to your hard drive and make many copies of this on your inkjet printer, you'll be able to play the game immediately when you finish tracing hexagons onto your blue fabric gaming surface. As no terrain is needed, that's all you have to do. If you want bigger ships, just increase the size of the image before printing. We'll be creating a variety of ships in the future so stay tuned. In the meantime, have fun sailing around and bombarding your opponent!