Boarding for Yardarm to Yardarm

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sgtfox
Warrant Officer
Posts: 35
Joined: Wed May 24, 2017 1:05 am
Location: Idyllwild, California

Boarding for Yardarm to Yardarm

Post by sgtfox »

Yardarm to Yardarm Boarding Chart

(3.5)
U.S. Navy
76-100= 2
51- 75= 3
26- 50= 4
1- 25= 5

(4.5)
U.S. Privateers
76-100= 2
51- 75= 4
26- 50= 5
1- 25= 7

(5)
British R.N./Colonial Americans
76-100= 2
51- 75= 4
26- 50= 6
1- 25= 8




(7)
United Provinces
Of the Netherlands
76-100= 3
51- 75= 5
26- 50= 8
1- 25= 12

(8.5)
Russia
76-100= 4
51- 75= 7
26- 50= 10
1- 25= 13

(9)
Batavian Republic/France- Royal Navy/France- Republican Privateers
76-100= 4
51- 75= 7
26- 50= 12
1- 25= 13






(11.25)
Sweden
76-100= 7
51- 75= 9
26- 50= 14
1- 25= 15

(11.5)
Republic of Venice
76-100= 7
51- 75= 10
26- 50= 14
1- 25= 15

(13)
France- Republican Navy
76-100= 8
51- 75= 12
26- 50= 15
1- 25= 17

(14)
Denmark
76-100= 9
51- 75= 12
26- 50= 17
1- 25= 18



(15)
W. Indian Pirates
76-100= 10
51- 75= 13
26- 50= 18
1- 25= 19


(19)
Kingdom of Sardinia
Kingdom of 2 Sicilies
76-100= 11
51- 75= 19
26- 50= 22
1- 25= 24

(21)
Spain- Navy
76-100= 12
51- 75= 21
26- 50= 23
1- 25= 28





(21.5)
Portugal
76-100= 12
51- 75= 23
26- 50= 24
1- 25= 29

(22)
Ottoman Empire
76-100= 14
51- 75= 22
26- 50= 24
1- 25= 28

(23)
Spain- Privateers
76-100= 15
51- 75= 23
26- 50= 25
1- 25= 29







(25)
Kingdom of Naples
Kingdom of Italy
76-100= 15
51- 75= 23
26- 50= 27
1- 25= 35

How to Conduct Boarding
Boarding is very easy in Yardarm to Yardarm. Basically, the complete crews of each vessel fight each other in rounds. The numbers on the chart represent a single throw of decimal dice for each player. The number rolled is divided into the number of crew members present to show the number of enemy casualties caused that round. The side which causes the largest amount is the winner of the round. The first round is to determine who conquers the enemy’s bulwarks. The second round is determined by the size of the vessel boarded. Small vessels, from ships’ boats to brigs, have their bulwarks and one deck. Sloops (corvettes) to small frigates have their bulwarks, and the first and second halves of their deck. The largest frigates to ships of the line have the bulwarks, two halves of the top deck, and a lower deck. Failure to win every round, except in the case of ties, forces a side back one.
(EXAMPLE) A British boarding crew, in 1797, consisting of 15 men in one boat, attempt to board the Spanish privateer schooner “Perdida,” with a crew of 62. Each side rolls a pair of decimal dice. The British side rolls 13, while the Spanish roll 27. Looking at the British chart, the player sees that 13 will give him a divisor of 8. 15/8= 1.875. Rounded off, that’s 2 casualties for the Spanish. The Spanish chart shows that a throw of 27 gives him a divisor of 25. Use the following formula: 62/25= 2.48, which rounds off to 2. Because they tied in casualties, the British are still fighting for the bulwarks in the coming round. They deduct 2 from 15 before the next round. The Spanish, with 2 casualties, now have 60. In round two, the British roll 88. (13/2). This rounds up to 7 more Spanish casualties. In round two, the Spanish roll 82. 60/15 rounds out to 4 casualties. The British have caused more casualties, so take the bulwarks. The British now have 9 crewmen and roll 83. 9/2= 5 casualties (rounded off.) The Spanish, with 53 crewmen, roll 37. 53/25= 2.12 casualties, which rounds to 2. Because the British have caused more casualties, this round, they take control of the Spanish deck. The schooner, having just bulwarks and top deck to defend, is taken by the British. The final tally, for three rounds of boarding, is- Brits- 8 casualties. Spanish- 14 casualties.


In the above example, if the British didn’t tie or take the bulwarks that round, they would have been forced back to their boat. They could, however, attempt to board again by fighting another round for the bulwarks. If that was victorious, they would still have to fight a victorious next round for the deck. Being forced back to the boats a second time would cause them to roll on the surrender chart (see Average Surrenders- British Royal Navy in 1797= +33) under the appropriate era. Rolling 33 or better would allow them to fight another round to attempt to take the bulwarks. Failing to roll more than 32, they would not surrender, but would row back to their parent vessel. This would count as a tactical defeat. (Note- The surrender chart is NEVER used like it is in gunnery for a boarding action. In other words, the British don’t roll for surrender when they reach 23.43% as in a gunnery dual. The sides are considered to be impervious to surrender until one side either forces the enemy off of their vessel for good, or the attackers take the vessel. Rolling for the saving number (33 or better) has nothing to do with crew casualties in a boarding action. It merely counts when attempting to reboard an enemy vessel when pushed back to the boats a second time.)

Origin of the System
The system is designed to represent crew casualties during a five minute period of boarding. The concept of having boarding parties wondering around the boarded ship, then having to respond to them, was too confusing. Around 1978, I came up with a system which would be based on both historical fact and chance. It’s one of the few things, along with the Wind Wheel and Mariners’ Compass I liked about “Beat to Quarters.” It required a lot of research, but over the years, I found enough data for nearly every country with a navy. In each case, I based their performance against the British Royal Navy to see what their ratings should be. Some countries never fought Great Britain, but I mixed and matched their neighbors’ ratings to create fairly accurate boarding charts.

Boarding when vessels come together, rather than cutting-out by boats
If two vessels come together, intentionally or by accident, the normal boarding chart is used for the nationalities involved. The amount of crew on each vessel will determine the forces to be used. (EXAMPLE: After the crew casualties caused by gunnery are deducted, a French Republican brig, with 130 crewmen, which came into contact with a British sloop of 200 crewmen, would fight with the forces they had.)
When players wish to recreate a cutting-out operation, there needs to be a ratio applied to make it an even contest. Boarding from warships does not take ratios into account, seeing the scenario was meant as a gunnery contest.
Boarding from vessel to vessel was actually pretty rare. If one side knew they couldn’t win a gunnery duel, they might attempt to board. In most cases, the opposing vessel stayed clear with careful maneuver. If, however, two sides do agree to bring their vessels together, or can’t help it because they can’t maneuver, crew losses, due to gunnery casualties must be taken into account before a boarding action. It’s pretty easy to figure this. A ship’s hull factor is based upon how much damage, on average, a nationality would need to take before rolling for surrender. If the ship’s REAL tonnage is multiplied by two, then divided by ten, this shows the complete defense factor, for the sake of casualties. Finding the amount of crew casualties, can easily be done by the following: Divide the whole ship’s factor into the amount of low damage points scored against the vessel. The result will be the percentage of crew casualties. Simply deduct that amount of casualties from the original crew number, and that will show how many crewmen are eligible for a boarding action. (EXAMPLE) H.M.S. Amazon, in 1780, is 678 tons (B.M.). Multiplying it by two, then dividing by ten gives a figure of 135.6. The original crew of the ship was 220. If the ship was preparing to board her French opponent, she would divide her low damage points (let’s say she took 15 during her gunfight with the French) by 135.6. So, 15 divided by 135.6 equals 11.06%. Rounded off, that’s 11% to be subtracted from 220. The result is 24 (rounded off), which yields a total of 196 crewmen available to board her French opponent, when the two are alongside.
Another overrated aspect was that of boarding nets. It might seem logical that they would keep another force from boarding, but history seems to discount that theory. There are many accounts of British cutting out parties taking vessels in record time which were “protected” by boarding nets. But, these rules work best with cutting out actions.
It was also pretty rare for vessels to be cut out to be able to fire their cannons in time to affect the outcome. I have some rules for that, but will only share them if requested. In the long run, it was much more common for boat crews to simply come along side and start their ascent for boarding.
Boarding by Cutting-Out
Vessels having been in a gunnery duel, which come together for a boarding action, are not going to be evenly matched, that’s why it’s a gamble to board. If, however, players want to construct a cutting-out operation, they can use a system for a balanced scenario. The numbers in parenthesis at the top of each nationality’s chart are the averages for the roll. They are there to make it easy to create a fairly balanced action. There are a few steps to take before the scenario starts. Once figured, the actual boarding action is very easy to fight. First, decide how large a crew of the nationality with the best boarding capability (from the numbers in parenthesis) that you want in the scenario. Second, divide that nation’s number in parenthesis into the enemy nation’s parenthesis number. Multiply the result by .9. Now, multiply the result of this times the amount of crewmen in the best nation’s crew. Round off to highest whole number. The figure will be the size of the crew opposing the best nationality’s crew. This should give a balanced scenario for any two nationalities fighting each other.
(EXAMPLE) In the original scenario, the British had a crew of 15. To get a balanced scenario, the Spanish privateers would divide their boarding average of 23 by the British boarding average of 5. The result would be 4.6. Multiplying this by .9 would yield 4.14. Multiplying that by 15 would give 62.1, which rounds to 62 crewmen for the Spanish privateers.
(Exception to this rule- American privateers are the only exception. For them, divide their number in parenthesis (4.5) into the enemy’s number in parenthesis. Now, DON’T multiply by .9. Simply take the ratio and multiply it times the amount of crewmen on the American privateer. This will give the correct enemy crew for the scenario. (Example) The privateer/letter of marque schooner “Pilot,” with a crew of 28, is about to have a cutting out party, from the Royal Navy, approach her. The British player would simply take the American privateer number in parenthesis, 4.5, and divide it into 5. The result would be 1.11. Next, he would multiply 1.11 times 28. This would give his cutting out party a total of 31 crewmen to board the American. Again, this is a one-time operation. Once it’s done, you can get on with the game.

Other Aspects of Boarding
What I’ve presented is a pretty basic way of boarding. For cutting out, it assumes that the attacking boats are already touching the enemy to be boarded. I’ve left out my rules for things like having the target vessel roll to see if they can beat to quarters in time to fire on the approaching boats. I’ve also left out the types of boats which could be used to attack, as well as how many crewmen could fit into each boat. If there is enough interest, I will include those rules at a later time. It’s a fascinating subject, but can be kept simple by allowing the total crews on both sides to fight as a unit. My boarding tables were based on nationality data from several sources, but most are British sources. That may tend to make some nationalities look poorer than they may have been, but it’s as historically accurate as I could make it, given the sources.
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