A sample game of Yardarm to Yardarm

The reason threedecks exists in the first place.
Post Reply
sgtfox
Warrant Officer
Posts: 35
Joined: Wed May 24, 2017 1:05 am
Location: Idyllwild, California

A sample game of Yardarm to Yardarm

Post by sgtfox »

A Sample Battle with Yardarm to Yardarm
I came up with a well-balanced scenario to explain how my house rules actually work. For years I’ve referred to them as “Yardarm to Yardarm,” so that’s how I’ll refer to them now. Again, this is showing the road I went down, while others will have their own ideas of how to construct realistic rules.

In “YtY,” each vessel has a point value. This is based on a formula which takes tonnage, morale, nationality, and gunnery into account. When players wish a balanced scenario, they simply compare the point values of ships to try to get a ratio of less than 1.1 to 1. Once that is accomplished, there is a game device available to make the scenario perfectly balanced. But, no math right now, let’s get on with the battle.

It’s sometime during the Russo-Swedish War of 1788-1790. Somewhere off the coast of Finland, the Swedish frigate Jaroslawitz (36) encounters the Russian frigate Pavel (32). Because of a couple of game devices I incorporate, the two are content to come broadside to broadside at Close Hailing Distance range. For the sake of the scenario, I’ve kept maneuvering at a minimum.

Jarosawitz is approximately 750 tons (builder’s measure.) Her broadside guns are 13-12# and 5-4#. Once reduced to game turns, she has a Hull Factor of 32.64 and a broadside of 5.87. Her lower mast has a strength of 13, while her top mast is 8, and her topgallant mast is 4. Her overall point value is 20.65. (Note- when this ship has had 33 low points scored against her, she will immediately roll for surrender. If she can roll +51, she may go another turn until she is hit and must roll again.)

Pavel is approximately 586 tons (builder’s measure.) Her broadside guns are 10-16# (sic), and 6-6#. Reduced to game turns, she has a Hull Factor of 28.67, but the special adjustment of the game equaling device gives her 29.63 and a broadside of 6.26. Her lower mast has a strength of 10, while her top mast is 7, and her topgallant mast is 3. Her adjusted overall point value is 20.31. (Note- when this ship has 30 low damage points, she will immediately roll for surrender. Only rolling +51 will allow her to hang on another turn until she is hit and must roll for surrender again.

Because Pavel’s broadside factor has already been adjusted to reflect the better gunnery of her opponent, both ships will always proceed to the Main Gunnery Chart to fire.

(Turn One) Both ships fire simultaneously. The Swedish player throws five blue d20s and one red d20. The red stands for the .87 in his broadside. If the red die scores a hit on the Main Gunnery Chart, he rerolls a pair of decimal dice. If 1-87 is rolled, he counts the score of the red die with his other hits. Jaroslawitz inflicts 2 low hits and 1 high hit on Pavel. Pavel’s captain rolls six green d20s and one purple d20. If the purple die scores a hit on the MGC, he rolls a pair of decimal dice. Rolling 1-26 will make the purple die count towards damage. Obviously, if the Swedes roll 88-100 or the Russians roll 27-100, their odd colored die misses. Pavel scores 1 low hit and 1 high hit this game turn. The Swedish captain makes one tick mark on his hull sheet, while marking one tick mark on the mast section of the battle log. Likewise, the Russian captain keeps a record of his damage as well. Because each ship took low hits, each captain must now roll one d12. A score of 1 means that the captain on the opposing ship has been wounded or killed. In each case, no such roll has occurred this game turn. Had a 1 been scored by either party, that ship would not be allowed to fire a broadside in the next turn! This “Special Damage” roll only applies to vessels at Close Hailing Distance, not at any other range. As long as the ships would remain at that range, a Special Damage roll would be made after every broadside which caused at least one point of low damage.
(Turn Two) Jaroslawitz scores 2 low hits. Pavel really shines by scoring 4 low. Again, neither side rolls a 1, on a d12, to cause Special Damage.

(Turn Three) The Swedes score 4 low hits and one high hit, while the Russians inflict 5 low points and 1 high point.

(Turn Four) Jaroslawitz rolls 4 low hits. Pavel scores 4 low hits and 2 high hits.

(Turn Five) Jaroslawitz inflicts 3 low hits and 1 high hit. Pavel scores 5 low hits and 2 high hits.

(Turn Six) The Swedes had a great broadside and score 6 low points, while the Russians score 4 low points.

(Turn Seven) Again, the Swedes outdo themselves and score 6 low hits, while the Russians score 3 low hits.

(Turn Eight) Luck abandons Jaroslawitz, as her broadside completely misses Pavel. The Russians now have their best broadside of the game, scoring 6 low hits and seriously wounding the Swedish captain.

(Turn Nine) Thrown into confusion by their captain being hit, Jarosawitz cannot fire this game turn. Pavel scores 2 low hits and 3 high hits. At this point, Pavel has 27 low hits, but doesn’t need to roll for surrender, since he (the Russians refer to their ships with the masculine pronoun) wouldn’t roll until receiving 30 points. Jaraslawitz has 32 points, but likewise is short of damage points to require rolling.

(Turn Ten) Jaroslawitz scores a paltry 1 low point and 2 high. Pavel rolls 2 low hits, which are enough to put the Swedes over the limit. Jaroslawitz must immediately roll for surrender. If she rolls 51 or better, she still must roll again, seeing she has 34 points. Her controlling player rolls 31 on the decimal dice. She strikes her flag. Pavel ends the battle with 28 low points damage. Neither side had enough high damage to take down a mast. So, Jaroslawitz, which started life before capture as the Russian Iaroslav, is back in the Czarina’s navy!


Better Gunnery for a Quicker Game
The Nationality Gunnery Chart lists the percentages of how a nation would fare against another country who enjoys Automatic Gunnery. Automatic means going to the Main Gunnery Chart without having to first roll on the NGC. When two countries who don’t enjoy the Automatic Gunnery benefit fight each other, there is a game device to speed up play. I would hate to play a game where two nations have such bad gunnery that it makes the game last two or three times as long. To get around this, I compare the gunnery percentages of the two sides. I divide the larger percentage into the lower. The ship with the higher percentage gets the Automatic Gunnery benefit from the start. Its opponent gets a percentage of that. That’s how the Swedes and Russians were able to fight their battle in just ten turns. In doing this, the lower side simply deducts a certain amount of their broadside value before the battle starts. By doing this, both sides may use the Main Gunnery Chart. For example, in this game, Sweden used the Automatic Gunnery benefit. The Russians multiplied their original broadside value by the percentage difference between the gunnery efficiency of Russia and Sweden. Once that was done, they continued to use 6.26 as their broadside factor on the Main Gunnery Chart, thus skipping the need for the Nationality Gunnery Chart.

Explanations
This battle was fought entirely at Close Hailing Distance, even though there were no carronades or short guns involved. I’m including the appropriate category of the Main Gunnery Chart to show that the percentages square pretty closely with history. If one checks out the article I wrote on seven War of 1812 battles, they should be able to see the relationship between the game and reality. Naturally, being able to out maneuver your enemy is key to victory, but that usually entail changes ranges. I wanted to keep this battle simple. Had these ships been principally armed with carronades, they would have had no real choice but to stay within Close Hailing Distance.

Close Hailing Distance (aiming low) Use d20 dice
Range (1/1200 scale) 4 cm. measured from base edge to base edge
1-7 Miss 8-10 Hits High 11-20 Hits Low

In this battle, the Russians ended up firing 54.37%, as opposed to the average 50%. Shots going high came to 14.06%, as compared to the 15% average. The Swedes were severely hindered by one broadside failing to get any hits, as well as losing their firing capability, for one broadside, when their captain was wounded. This gave them an average of 47.7%, for ten turns, with only 8.52% of their shots going high.

Note: If there is enough interest, I will finally post the Nationality Gunnery Chart. That, with a few other items, will allow gamers to try out the rules using their own 1/1200 scale movement rules.
Post Reply