Rules for pirate ship miniatures Alpha Playtest Rules, V 2.2 Updated 2/22/17 Designers: James Ernest, Max Clendenning, Rick Fish, Toivo Rovainen

Transcription

1 Cagway Bay Rules for pirate ship miniatures Alpha Playtest Rules, V 2.2 Updated 2/22/17 Designers: James Ernest, Max Clendenning, Rick Fish, Toivo Rovainen Summary: Cagway Bay is a set of basic rules for tabletop pirate ship combat. Players can choose specific scenarios or play open warfare using miniature ships and point-based fleet construction. For ships, you can use any models at any scale, including Lego models, paper cutouts, or miniatures. Measurements in this rulebook are based on ships approximately 6 cm long. Materials: Six ship models; info cards for each ship; four Islands; a marker for the Wind; a tape for measuring wind angle; six d6 for tracking action points (action points can also be tracked with poker chips); movement templates; one more d6 for combat rolls. This is an Alpha Version. Cagway Bay is in the early stages of development, which means that this rulebook is rough and nothing is final. We re looking for feedback on the basic rules, as well as help in designing scenarios, ships, and additional rules. Background: We developed this game because we liked Pirates of the Spanish Main, another tabletop naval game by James Ernest. But we felt that it could be better. Rather than tweaking that game, we wound up scrapping it and starting over. The two games have little in common, but you can use any ship models, including the ships from Spanish Main, to play this game. About the Name: Cagway Bay is one of the many early names for Port Royal, which is now part of Kingston, Jamaica. We like it because CAG is also short for Cheapass Games Quick Rules: Scenario: This is the blockade run scenario. One player is the Blocker and the other is the Runner. Both players have three frigates. To win, the Runners have to move an important object, which is hidden on one of the ships, past the blockade and to the far island. (See the diagram on the next page.) For simplicity, all six ships have the same stats. Setup: For miniature ships, approximately 6 cm long, the play area should be at least 80 cm across (about 30 inches). Arrange four small islands and six ships, as follows. Each player has three ships. The Blockade player begins with his ships anywhere along the midline of the playing field. The Runner starts his three ships at one edge. The destination island is at the opposite edge. Three other islands can be arranged wherever they are interesting, but at least two boat lengths apart. The Runner decides, in secret, which of his three ships contains the special item that must be delivered.

2 Scenario 1: The Blockade Run Action Points: Ships have a number of action points dictated by their ship card. For the frigates in this scenario, this is 6 points to start, but can decrease as the ship takes damage. Place a d6, or 6 chips, next to each ship showing the current number of action points assigned to that vessel. Wind: For the Blockade scenario, the Runners direction of travel is north, and the wind origin is a point in the southwest. Place a wind indicator somewhere at the edge of the playfield. Wind is treated as a point source, not as parallel lines. You can use a tape or long stick to check a ship s orientation to the wind. Measurements: The smallest unit of measurement is a rod, which is roughly 16.5 feet. An average ship is about 100 ft long, or 6 rods. All measurements in the game are based on the rod, so by changing that unit, you can scale your game up or down to accommodate your models and your play area. If a ship is 6 cm long (as in this scenario), then a rod is 1 cm. Movement: Ships have a speed based on their attitude to the wind. There are five colored measuring sticks, each marked in segments, with different lengths in multiples of the basic unit. These sticks are referred to as their colors, Brown through Blue, and represent different top speeds. Red, Yellow, and Green are the most common slow, medium, and fast speeds. Brown is uncommonly slow, and Blue is uncommonly fast. Brown: Very Slow, 3 rods per segment Red: Slow, 4 rods per segment Yellow: Standard, 4.8 rods per segment Green: Fast, 6 rods per segment Blue: Very Fast, 8 rods per segment

3 One of these sticks is also used as the shooting distance. By default, this is the Yellow stick, but on a smaller table the Red stick can be used, and on a larger table, the Green stick. Note that firing ranges may seem small in proportion to the ships, but this is a compromise to make the game playable in a small space. Imagine that the actual ships are smaller than the minis that represent them. If you have more space, you can scale up your measurements. More about the Wind: Wind direction determines priority in both the Move and Shoot phases. Throughout the game, it is advantageous to be upwind of your enemies, both in combat and in movement. In the move phase, ships farthest downwind act first. In the combat phase, ships farthest upwind act first. Each Round: Rounds are divided into two segments: the Move and Combat phases. All player choices are either move or combat actions. A few automatic things happen at the beginning of the turn, depending on the scenario. Note that Fire at Will sounds like combat, but is technically a move action, because it happens in the move segment. Dead Ships: Ships can be dead in the water, which means they have no action points and therefore can t move. Beginning of Turn: Place a d6 beside each ship showing its action points for this round. A ship s starting action points are determined by its health, as given in its health chart. Move Phase: In the move phase, each ship takes a move action based on its priority with relation to the wind, from highest (downwind) to lowest (upwind), as described below. The Movement Wheel: Every ship has a movement wheel similar to the one shown here. Based on the ship s attitude to the wind, it might have a fast move, a slow move, or no move at all. Orient the wheel so that it runs parallel to the wind, and the heading of the ship will tell you the color and speed of the move. Moving forward costs one action point per space. The length of the spaces is determined by the speed of the vessel. For example, Green means using the green measuring stick, with a maximum movement of one segment per point. Changing a ship s heading is part of the move, and it is free to turn if the ship is moving. A ship can only turn before a move of at least one full segment, and can only change by one angle (45 degrees) for each segment moved.

4 To make a move, place the measuring stick at the bow of the ship, pointed in the direction of travel, as shown here. This can be up to 45 degrees different from the ship s current heading. The color of the stick is based on the angle, as given in the move chart. Move the ship s bow along the stick, and turn the ship to align with the stick. A ship can turn several times in the same move, as shown. Ships cannot normally turn in place, except by using the drift action, described below. In order to change direction without drifting, the ship must move at least one segment along its new heading. Paying for the Move: After movement is complete, subtract the number of action points used (one per segment traveled), and reflect that change on the d6 beside the ship. If the ship s actions have been reduced to 0, remove the die. All ships take their move actions, in priority order, and then the Move phase ends. Other Move Phase Actions: Fire at Will, Repair, and Drift Fire at Will: A ship can shoot preemptively if it foregoes all other movement actions. It may aim and fire one gun (i.e., one direction). Doing so costs all of its action points. Normal combat does not require the roll of a die, but Fire at Will does. This roll represents being hasty rather than taking careful aim. Rather than taking the full bonus for aiming, as you would in the Combat phase, you must roll a d6 to see how much benefit you get. Roll the die and subtract the result from your actual distance (this is an aiming bonus, described under combat), but only if the result is equal to or less than the number of action points that you have remaining. Remember that shooting costs one action point, so if you started with 5 points, you now have 4. A roll higher than your remaining action points means you receive no aiming bonus, and do standard damage for the distance of the shot. Repair: A ship can repair by spending 1 action point for every 2 points of damage repaired. Note that the repaired ship does not gain additional action points until start of the following turn. Dead ships can t repair themselves, but they can be repaired by friendly crews. This is essentially a boarding action and takes place during the Combat phase. Drift: A ship can drift to re-orient itself. It must move one red space downwind, unless it is blocked by an obstacle, in which case it doesn t move. After doing so, it may turn, on its center point, to face in any direction. The ship can take no other Move actions before this, and drifting costs all of its action points. Note that dead ships can still perform this action, spending all of their 0 action points.

5 Combat Phase: Again, based on the direction of the wind, each ship takes a single combat action based on its priority, from highest (upwind) to lowest (downwind). Firing Weapons: Ships have guns as described on their card, usually one gun in each of four directions. You may fire only one of these guns, and this costs a single action point. The rest of your remaining action points can only be poured into aiming. Broadside cannons are typically stronger than fore- and aft-guns, though not always. You can fire in only one direction on a given turn. Firing Arcs: Typically, fore- and aft-guns have a 180 degree firing arc from the center point of the end of the vessel. Broadside cannons have no angle of fire, but can fire at anything in a horizontal band the size of the ship. (These firing arcs will eventually be part of the ship card) If any part of an enemy ship is within a gun s line of fire, that ship is a valid target. Ranges are measured on the normal (Yellow) stick, unless you agree on a different stick before the game. The damage done by a shot is given in a chart such as the one below. The damage is determined by measuring the range of the shot, which is the distance between the closest point in the gun arc, and the closest part of the target ship. However, make note of the aiming rules below. Range Side Fore-Aft CV CV

6 Tracking Damage: You can use a d30 beside each ship to show its current Health, or you can use a pencil on the ship s tracking card. Combat Value: When two ships are touching, their guns are no longer effective. The crew are battling each other, which means they use their combat value from the chart below. This value will vary based on the number of crew (HP) on the attacking ship. Aiming: A ship can spend extra action points to take aim and increase the accuracy of a cannon shot. This is accomplished by decreasing the effective range of the shot by 1 per action point spent. So for example, if you have 4 action points, and are firing your side cannons at range 7 on the chart above, you can spend the extra 3 points to decrease the effective range to 4, and do 4 points of damage. (Effective range can t decrease below 1, since range 0 requires that the ships are actually touching.) Dead Ships: When a ship s HP has been reduced to zero, it is dead in the water. Subsequent attacks do not deal more damage. To scuttle the dead ship, you must be in contact with it. Close Combat: When ships are touching, their close combat value depends on their hit points. Damage done by of the boarding attack is given in the third column of the ship s health chart, such as the one below. Health Actions Combat Val Capturing: If a vessel is dead, an enemy ship can capture and repair it. This is done by removing any number of HP from the capturing ship, and adding them to the captured ship. (This represents a transfer of crew). This costs one action point by the capturing ship.

7 Scuttle: A ship can scuttle, a dead ship next to it, spending 1 action point to immediately sink that ship removed it play. This action is available only to a ship with action points left; a dead ship can t scuttle itself. Friendly Ship Repair: Two or more friendly ships that are touching can share hit points in the same was as described above. This costs one action point from just one of the connected ships. Next Steps As you can see, this game is bare-bones right now. We have just enough to start testing, and there is plenty left up to the imagination. Play the game and send us your thoughts! We are still working on rules for capturing, scuttling, special crew, and a hundred other things that aren t in these rules at all. But first let s get a core system that works, so we can hang all those details on a solid frame. Credits: Cagway Bay was designed by James Ernest, Max Clendenning, Rick Fish, and Toivo Rovainen. We hope to add many names to this list as friends and playtesters help us create ships and scenarios, and develop the core rules.