A Wargamer in Cyprus: Carracks, Cogs and Nefs: The Five Ports

One of those wargames magazines articles that sticks with me from back in the day was Pillage, Plunder and Seasickness, by Keith Benson in Miniature Wargames 72 and 73, in 1989 when the world first became glossy. The article detailed a game focused on Medieval naval and raiding warfare. Knights and Merchants raided and traded across the Channel in a medieval version of Monopoly with swords. A follow up article showed how to scratch build a Kogge.

Over here in Paphos I'm recycling my elderly Irregular Miniatures 6mm Feudals, having added a few packs of Baccus Medievals. These were bought some time ago, and I wasn't too sure just what to use them for until I remembered the Miniwargs articles. Having finally managed to find the magazines on eBay I'm even more enthusiastic.

Building 6mm ships using crew parties has been a long held ambition. To be honest my ship building skills have improved to the point where mine rival the ones in the glossy article, well in my head anyway!

The Kogge fleet takes shape, and yes the one at the rear is still a work in progress and needs some paint, sails and crew.

Key Ideas

I cant use all of the rules from the article. They are written for a club or group of gamers, whilst I am primarily a solo gamer. The overarching idea however is a great one.

Pillage Plunder and Seasickness is almost a role playing game in its scope. An economic game involving trading merchants runs alongside the Military campaign.

My game will use 6mm figures crewing scratch built ships.
Battles on board ships can use the same mechanisms as land battles, crew vs crew. I intend to borrow a few mechanisms from Keith's article, Longships and Dan Mersey's rules.

In practical terms I have some issues. Battles can often occur near ports so I need to build a town, and that means sea walls, church, houses. Balsa and stolen coffee stirrers. I am a figure that inspires dread in the coffee shops of Paphos.

The tabletop is a 6 by 10 grid of 100mm squares. For land games such as a raid one long side will be the River or estuary line with ten blue squares. 60 cm by 100 cm (or 2 ft by 3 ft to the Imperialists among us) is a small tabletop.

I'll be using a green felt tabletop, with a purpose drawn grid for land games on a blue backing, that becomes the sea when you turn the board over. Jumbos in the Paphos Mall sells a poker set that comes with a green blaze that is twice the size I need so I cut a section out with a wavey line along one long edge for the river/coast. This was glued down onto a simple blue card base, also gridded 6 by 10.

Keith Benson recommends using modern Admiralty charts, but I`m a little sceptical. The coastline has changed over the years but the nearest I can get is a mid 18th Century French Naval chart as the basis for a campaign map. It looks the part, and I will make it available on this blog as a cyberboard download. I intend to use some of Keith's rules, but given that Miniwargs has the copyright I'll only put the rules I amend for my own use for download.

The Genoese Greatship of the Grand Constable of France gets its oars out. It needs its crew parties.

The Rules (from the the article)

1. Deal, face up, one knight master card to each player.
2. Give appropriate palyesr all the catrds, face down that relate to their knight.
3. Give the appropriate player all the record cards face down, that fall under his ownership.
4. Give each player, face down one industry card, the player should fold it to opnly expose the type of indsutery.
5. Deal face up, one merchant card to each player.
6. Give each playetr a copy of the Campaign Introduction
7. Set a time limit for the reciept of each players initial orders, preferably to be written. Communication should only be allowed between players who are physically in the same location.

Ship type table
1 Fishing smack
2 Cog
3 Nef
4 Cog
5 Nef
6 Great Ship

My own add ons

Each port along the coast will supply one group of ships. In addition a Kings Ship/Carrack will be available to carry the Crown's representative, either the Earl, Constable or Marshal.

These ships intent is to attack a target on the coast. If a town is caught by surprise raid rules are used. If the fleet is unlucky the enemy have a larger force in that town and a battle occurs

Six characters compete for initiative. A D6 indicates which character may move this turn. If one of the Kings Officers is activated he may move to collect other characters of his nationality, and they then act together.

Each character gathers a force of 1-6 ships by a roll in port of d6 on the "type of ship table" in the article. A character also gets seven D6 movement dice. Movement is by sectors. Each area has a number of rolls that must be passed, with sectors that contain more shoals having a higher requirement to pass, a "Longships" mechanism.

Activated characters may move their ships using seven dice. Passing a stage requires a roll equalling or greater than four. A dice is discarded for each passing roll required. Failing to roll the scores of four needed means that the chatacter's ships cannot enter that area and remain where they are.

So, for instance, Eustace the Monk (1) wins initiative. He rolls even dice to exit his ships from Boulogne. He must discard two dice that this stage requires. He then moves out into the channel where he now rolls five dice to attempt to pass the area. Two of these must also be discarded.

If two forces meet at sea a naval encounter occurs, similar to a land engagement, using ship models. Sea fights use a grid identical to the land battle, with shoals as terrain, and each ship's crew using its land values as factors. If enemy ships enter a location with port a raid game occurs. On a roll of 5 or 6 the port has been warned and gathered forces for defence a land battle occurs outside the town.

The map so far

The detail on the original eighteenth century chart works well as part of the game board.

Characters

During the final years of King John's reign piracy across the channel became rife. Pirate raids attacked and pillaged entire towns. A French Prince lead the fight against John holding London and employing the pirate fleet of Eustace the Monk, a defrocked priest and Mercenary.

1. Eustace the Monk, French Pirate
2. William of Rye, Merchant and Pirate
3. Sir Hugo FitzHenry, of Dover
4. Alain de Ostende, Flanders pirate.

Both sides have leader figures, representing the two crowns at war, who command the defence contingents for each realm.

5. William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, the Kings half brother.

6. Dreux de Mello Grand Constable of France, 72 year old Crusader.