Napoleonic era Naval wargames

[viper1]

Hi all,

I'm thinking about getting into naval wargaming and im paticularly interested in the napoleonic era (i'm heavily influenced by the tv series of Hornblower)
Is there a napoleonic era version of VAS or any other naval wargames out there that cover this period in history?

Cheers

Simon

 

[Spectrar Ghost]

I've heard good things about Trafalger by Warhammer Historicals. I'm sure others will be able to add others or refute my opinion based on hearsay.

 

[thomaso827]

There are several sets of rules out there for Age of Sail. My favorite, and at just about the same level of complexity as VaS/AoD is Fire as She Bears. They also have a Yahoo group, where you can download ship generation routine for Excel helping you to quickly make up your ship information sheets for each game. They also produce a Trafalgar scenario pack and a Signals module. The Trafalgar pack includes additional rules for playing on a hex grid, but the main rules system is meant to work on an octagonal base, allowing a quick method of measuring distance, turning arcs, and gunnery field of fire. The Signals module allows fleet and squadron commands to use a color signal system and code books to give to the players in multi-player games, since table talk between captains passes on way too much information. Players on the same side share the code books and can quikly look up the admiral's orders and comply or explain why they cannot comply. All modules are available as downloads from Wargame Vault. Lastly, the Victory By Any Means folks make a great campaign system to go with Fire As She Bears and a campaign scenario packet for the Caribean actions during the Napoleonic period. I've been playing FASB for several years, even running the Trafalgar scenario on it's anniversary in 2005.

Additionally, I understand a free set of rules is available from the VaS author's website.

Tom Oxley

 

[DM]

I've played Trafalgar - looks great, but its not a particularly wonderful set of rules, IMHO.

There are indeed some rules on my website.

http://www.btinternet.com/~david.manley/naval/VAS/VAS_General_Chase.pdf

I won't comment on them, I'll let readers be the judge. But at least the price is pretty fair

 

[viper1]

Thank's for the help folks. I picked up a copy of fire as she bears which seems to tick all the boxs for me. I'm thinking of picking up some of the 1/1200 scale miniatures from Navwar does anybody have experience with them who can tell me what the quality is like?

DM, do i need a copy of the core VAS rule book to use your age of sail rules or are they stand alone?

 

[thomaso827]

Size matters to me, but probably smaller is better for my storage needs, so I have a bunch of 1/2000 Valiant minis. They cost about the same for a pack of 3 or 4 that a single ship does in other scales, and are just about as robust as any of them. I have a GHQ 1/1200 model, but never went anywhere with it. There are some who dont like the generic ship classes, but at that scale, I dont count the little nubs of gun tubes in the ports. They work well and they look good. Even took a pack of "Ships Boats" and used them to make the Men in Boats markers a bit more authentic looking. One way or another, dont forget to check out the FASB Yahoo group for other things for the system.

Tom Oxley

 

[DM]

@Viper - it is standalone.

 

[rcbecker1]

Hi all,

I'm thinking about getting into naval wargaming and im paticularly interested in the napoleonic era (i'm heavily influenced by the tv series of Hornblower)
Is there a napoleonic era version of VAS or any other naval wargames out there that cover this period in history?

Cheers

Simon

A Great Series

 

[Rolls Dice]

I enjoy the rules 'Grand Fleet Actions in the Age of Sail'. They are similar in complexity to VaS though with little similarity in mechanisms. They are aimed as the name suggests at larger actions where other rules get bogged down.

'Trafalgar' is aimed at a handful of ships on each side and does little more than tip it's hat at realism. It needs house rules to be made up before it is even playable, (e.g. to allow ships in line astern to sail into the wind... :roll: ) It's a nice book though, with interesting fluff and useful ship assembly and painting guides.

I recommend Hallmark 1/2400 ships from Magister Militum. Here's some of mine...

They're quite expensive. Last time I checked the larger Navwar 1/1200 were priced similarly.

The Navwar ships are quite simple in design and look odd next to more expensive GHQ or Langton miniatures (where every ship is a project!)
.