Last Updated February 20, 2007
SEQUENCE OF PLAY   Plot your ships movement for the turn on gridded paper.   Phased Movement Move Ships Optional Firing When Player Chooses Resolve Rams As They Occur Including Grappling Attempts  Carry Out All Boarding Actions At The End Of The Turn  Ships Surrender  Attempt To Plug Holes   Ships Sink (remain as hazard)	FIRING (1D6) Bow 5,6 kill : range = 1 6 kill : range = 2-4 Catapult 5,6 kill : Range = 1-3 6 kill : range = 4-10 Stone Thrower 6 = 2 dam & 1 kill 5 = 1 damage Range = 1-3 6 = 1 damage : range = 4-10 Kill bow first, then artillery, then marines
MOVEMENT PHASES Speed / Phase 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . 4 . . . 5 . . . 6 .	PLUGGING HOLES   Roll 1D6 for each time you have been rammed   If boarding fight ongoing, need a 6 to plug   If No boarding fight then need a 5,6 to plug   Each hole not plugged causes 1 extra damage per turn (One ram only causes one hole)
SHIP CHARACTERISTIC TABLE Ship Type Ram mod Hull Factor Marines - Artillery Speed Turn Circle Max Acc Roman Hellenistic Bireme -1 4 n/a 1 medium / 1 bow 5/3 0 3 Trireme 0 6 n/a 2 medium / 1 bow 5/3 1 3 Quadrieme 0 7 5 Heavy / 1 bow 4 medium / 2 bow 4/3 1 3 Quinquerme +1 8 10 Heavy / 1 Bow / 1 Cat 8 Medium / 2 Bow / 2 Cat 3/2 2 2 Heptere +2 10 n/a 15 medium / 4 bow / 3 Cat / 2 Stone 3/2 3 2 Ram modifier = all ships use 1D6 + this modifier. Ships that travelled at max speed last turn and declared max speed this turn (whether attained it or not) get +1 to their ramming dice roll. Speed - first figure is max speed and second is cruising speed. All crews can move at maximum speed only 3 times per game. Elite crews get +1 to their maximum speed, average and poor crews do not. Cruising speed is not affected by the crew quality. Likewise all ships and crews can move backwards at a max speed of 1. Maximum acceleration is increased by 1 for elite crews and reduced by 1 for poor crews. Turning circles are reduced by 1 for elite crews, and increased by one for poor crews.

EXPLANATION OF RULES

Ship scale - It is proposed that you use 1:1200 scale ships, I recommend Langton miniatures, they are superb models. See some pics on my gallery page, or the new Roman Seas card models. Ship scale is variable, each model can represent one ship, it could also represent a small squadron of about 5 ships. Marines etc on the ships each represent about 10 men.

BOARD - It is assumed this game is played on a hexed board, if not then count 1 hex = 1", and each turn as 60 degrees.

SEQUENCE OF PLAY - On a ship record card or little sheet of paper plot each ships movement for the turn, use little arrows to represent forwards, left and right, planned speed for the turn must be indicated..

Each turn is divided into 6 movement phases, ships moving at speed 6 move in every phase, whilst those moving at speed 3 move in the 2nd, 4th and 6th phase (see table) after all ships that can move in a phase have moved, anyone has the option of firing. (All can fire once per TURN not PHASE). Resolve any rams that occurred this phase.

FIRING - Is very simple, each archer, catapult or stone thrower can fire once per turn. All roll 1D6. They can kill crew members (kill lightest first) and in the case of stone throwers can actually damage the ship

RAMMING - For side rams the rammer is obvious. For head to head both sides roll 1D6 higher quality crew adds +1 for every level of difference between crews. Highest is the rammer, if a draw both sides rammed.

Rammer rolls 1D6 and adds ship size modifier from table, if travelled at max speed last turn and intended to travel at max speed this turn then add +1 (May have plotted to move at max speed but hit the target part of the way through the turn, that's OK still get the bonus as long as moved at max speed last turn.

If the damage done to the rammed ship equals to or greater than it's hull value the ship sinks and the rammer is stopped for the rest of the turn. Although "Sunk" with the loss of all crew it remains an obstacle to shipping in it's current position, no ship may pass through that hex. (Ships of this period were naturally buoyant and did not "Sink". The rammer MUST back away 1 hex on it's next turn. On the turn following that it may make a 1 hexside turn (any ships any crews) and then may move forwards by up to it's maximum acceleration figure.

IF the successful rammer is of higher crew quality than his opponent then he may choose to oar rake instead of ramming. (The decision must be made BEFORE the dice is rolled to see how much ramming damage is caused! The oar raked opponent automatically losses 1 off his cruising speed and can no longer move at max speed. He also adds 1 to his turning circle. An oar raked ship has no ability to board the ship that did it, even with a corvus. The attackers speed is not affected by the raking, if appropriate to avoid it passing through the same hex as the oar raked ship it may make a free move sideways move 1 hex to either port or starboard, this is a lateral slip, the direction of facing is unaffected.

If a ship rams another and neither ship is boarded, and the target does not sink then both ships are at liberty to move off the following turn. The rammer must go backwards 1 hex. The rammed ship may move off in any direction up to it's maximum acceleration rate from zero

BOARDING - Automatic if either ship is equipped with a corvus and wishes to use it.
4,5,6 on 1D6 otherwise. (Automatic if both sides want to board)
Marines take part in boarding actions. Bows do not but do continue to fire each turn at any target including boarders. Artillery cannot fire after the first boarding round. There is one round of hand to hand combat each turn.

A light marine kills an opponent on a 6
A medium marine kills an opponent on a 5,6
A heavy marine kills an opponent on a 4,5,6
Casualties are allocated against the lightest opponents first

If at the end of a turns boarding the attackers marines outnumbers the others by >2:1 the defender surrenders, (only count marines). If the defender outnumbers the attacker by >2:1 then the attacker is repulsed and the defender may either automatically cut the grapples or automatically counter board the attacker.

PLUGGING HOLES
Each turn that you have an unplugged hole in your ship you roll 1D6 for each ship that has rammed you. Each one represents a separate hole. If holes remain unplugged the ship will gradually fill up and sink. whilst engaged in a boarding action hole plugging attempts are only successful on a 6 on 1D6, otherwise on 5,6. Once plugged a hole stays plugged.

SHIP CHARACTERISTICS TABLE

Ship Type - This is generically representative of ships used around the 4th to 3rd century BC. If fighting a specific campaign feel free to modify statistics appropriately.

Ram Mod - All ships use 1D6 though some have a positive or negative modifier because of their size. The resultant roll is the number of hull points of damage done, remember an additional one point of hull damage per turn (not phase) will be done until the hole is plugged.

Hull Factor - The number of hull points of damage the ship can stand before it breaks up and sinks with all hands on board

Marines - This comprises Heavy marines which means Roman legionaries, medium marines which means Greek, Hellenistic Carthaginian or Egyptian marines (hoplites) or light marines which means asiatic troops. Bow troops who can fire. Catapults which can kill enemy troops at long range and stone throwers which can actually cause hull damage. Each of the marine points represents about 10 men.

Speed - first figure is max speed and second is cruising speed. All crews can move at maximum speed only 3 times per game. Elite crews get +1 to their maximum speed, average and poor crews do not.

Cruising speed is not affected by the crew quality. Likewise all ships and crews can move backwards at a max speed of 1

Turning Circle is the number of hexes the ship must go in a straight line in between each 60 degree turn. Turning circles are reduced by 1 for elite crews, and increased by one for poor crews.

Max Acceleration - Maximum acceleration is increased by 1 for elite crews and reduced by 1 for poor crews. It is the rate at which the ships speed may be changed per turn (except by ramming)

BACKWARDS - All ships and crews can travel backwards at the rate of 1 hex per turn. Note that on the turn after going backwards when calculating the maximum speed a ship can travel at, i.e. it's acceleration rate, remember to count it's starting speed that turn as -1.

SHIP QUALITY
Marines have already been dealt with, Romans had the best, then Greeks and Macedonians whilst asiatics had the worst. Crew quality which affects speed, turning circle etc is either poor, average or elite. Rhodians and Athenians are examples of elite ships crews. Carthaginians most hellenistics and most asiatics would be normal crews whilst Romans and other non seafaring nations would be either poor or ordinary crews. Only the best Roman ships (flagships) would count as average, most would be poor.