Boarding for YtY Part 2- Cutting Out Actions
As promised, if there seemed to be enough interest in my article “Boarding for Yardarm to Yardarm,” I would do a more detailed follow-up. When I began to write it, I noted that the length would require at least one more part, so part 3 will follow soon after.
In 1811, Lieutenant Phillips, first lieutenant of H.M.S. Dotterel, a Cruizer class brig-sloop, has volunteered to lead a cutting-out expedition, at night, against a French privateer schooner sheltering in narrow waters off of a small Caribbean island. He commands a force which includes the launch (21 men), 1st cutter (15 men), 2nd cutter (14 men) and the jolly boat (8 men.) All four boats are in line abreast, just at Musket-Shot range. To differentiate between the boats, the British player would assign a number to each boat. The corresponding die roll, in this case on a d4*, would determine which boat was affected by a hit by the enemy. (Note- the greatest extent of Musket-Shot range is 23cm.)
* Players can use appropriate dice to assign to boats. (Example- If you had five boats attacking, one could use decimal dice and assign 1-20 for the first boat, 21-40 to the second, etc.)
The French privateer Le Puma, thanks to a sharp-eyed lookout, has beat to quarters and is facing the attackers with its full broadside. Puma’s 101 crew members are wide awake and eagerly awaiting their foe. (Prior to the engagement, the French player has rolled to see if his vessel is able to beat to quarters. A roll of 62 or better, on decimal dice, was required. Without that roll, the French would be unaware of the British approach until they were under the guns of the privateer.)
Le Puma is armed with a broadside of eight 6# guns. This gives a gunnery factor of .9, rounded down. To fire, Puma’s controller rolls one d20 and one d10. From Musket-Shot range, the d20 must have a score of 18, 19, or 20 to hit. If a hit is scored, the d10 should read 1-9. Rolling a 10 is a miss. (Note- at Musket-Shot range, French privateers miss ships’ boats rolling anything between 1 and 17.) At 23cm., Puma’s controller rolls 17, a miss. (Note- due to many factors, Puma cannot single out which boat to fire at. Most cutting-out took place at night, so zeroing in on one boat would not work. If a hit were to be scored, a d4 would be rolled to find the corresponding boat number.)
Once Puma has fired at 23cm. range, the four boats may advance towards the enemy. Speed is 4cm. per game turn. Because vessels fire every other game turn, the boats may advance another 4cm. At 15cm., Puma rolls a 7, missing again. Once Puma is ready to fire again, the boats are now at 7cm., which is Hailing Distance range. Puma can now hit on a 16 to 20. A roll of 1 sees her final shot, before the boats are under her guns, miss. (Note- vessels may never fire closer than 2.1cm., due to the guns not being able to be depressed enough to hit very close targets.) From this range, the British boats may now advance to the side of Puma and begin to climb aboard.
A schooner has just two areas to be contested for, the bulwarks and the top deck, the British now roll a pair of decimal dice. Looking at the YtY Boarding Chart, in the first article I did on boarding, the Brits see that a roll of 75 gives them a devisor of 4. 58 divided by 4 rounds to 15. The French now roll for their original 104 man crew. The French score 72, so 104 divided by 7 rounds to 15 as well. Because of a tie, no one goes anywhere. The next round will see the opponents fighting for the bulwarks again.
For round two, the British must deduct 15 casualties from their 58 man crew. This leaves 43 to oppose the 89 privateers still in the fight. A roll of 64, for the British, gives a devisor of 4. This causes 11 French casualties. The French roll a measly 1! This gives a divisor of 13. 89 divided by 13 rounds to 7, so the British take the bulwarks.
On round three, the two forces are fighting for the top deck. The British, with 36 crewmen still able to fight, roll 87, which gives a divisor of 2, or 18 French casualties. The French, with 78 men in the fight, roll 40 for a divisor of 12. This rounds to another 7 British casualties. This gives the British the top deck and mastery of the vessel. The butcher’s bill was 29 British casualties to 44 French. It was a bloody fight, but Lieutenant Phillips will probably get his step up to master and commander, to say nothing of the prize money due the British.
(Note- None of the rolls in the above battle were contrived. All were the original rolls. It’s more fun not knowing what the outcome will be.)
How to get started
Cutting-out operations usually centered around small vessels. Something between a gunboat and a brig would be a good target. Merchant vessels were especially prized, since they tended to have small crews, less firepower, and could make for rich pickings. Cutting out anything larger than a brig was risky, but not unknown. Players should start with the target vessel. National differences should be considered. Some vessels have a better chance of beating to quarters, or being fully prepared for a cutting-out attack. Some may have better gunnery against small boats. Thumbing through the works of William James should give some good ideas for which vessels to use. You can also make up a target vessel. Guns should not be more than 6# long guns or 12#-18# carronades, since the vessels should be no more than 250 tons. Merchant ships had such small crews, they couldn’t man too many guns at once, while privateers and warships had plenty of men. Weight and the scantling of small vessels restricted them to smaller armaments. As for who should attack, generally it’s going to be the regular navies and or privateers of either Great Britain or the United States. Vessels of any size can send boats in to attack. It’s just that larger vessels can send more men. Using the Yardarm to Yardarm Boarding Chart makes it easy to have a balanced fight. After choosing a target vessel, players simply see how many men will be involved in the fight. The best way to do this is by deciding on the attacking force. Once the number of boats is chosen, based on what kind of a vessel sent them out, then the crew numbers for the target vessel can be determined. Part 3 will discuss specifics on boats. For now, use the force of H.M.S. Surprise as a guide:
Launch- 26 men
Pinnace- 18 men
1st cutter- 18 men
2nd cutter-17 men
Gig- 17 men
Jolly boat- 10 men
You won’t need the 106 men accounted for here to subdue small enemy vessels, but it gives you an idea of the carrying capacity of a ship-sloop’s boats.
Once you are happy with your attacking force, the number and nationality of that force will determine the amount of crew members on the target vessel. The YtY Boarding Chart has a number above the nationality. It represents the average overall divider. Divide that number into the number of the nationality of the target vessel. An example would be in the case of Le Puma being attacked by the crew of H.M.S. Dotterel. I based the scenario on what type of boats would have been carried by a Cruizer class brig-sloop. Once I determined the boat sizes, it came out to 58 men. Because I wanted to use a French privateer as the target vessel, I simply divided 5 (the British number on the boarding chart) into 9 (the French privateer number.) The result was 1.8. I then multiplied that number times 58 (the total British boarding party.) The number rounded out to 104.
Chance to Beat to Quarters for Various Nationalities
A= (Automatically beat to quarters to receive an attack) British, American, and United Provinces of the Netherlands (1792-95) vessels.
+51 French Navy and Spanish privateers
+57 Spanish Navy
+62 French privateers and all other nations not covered
(Explanation- Prior to the start of the game, a player controlling a vessel to be boarded must check the nationality his vessel represents. (Example- a player with a French Navy vessel rolls two decimal dice. If he rolls at least 51, that vessel is considered to be beat to quarters and may fire at approaching enemy boats every other game turn, starting at 23cm. range. Rolling any number less will mean that the vessel is not prepared for attack and will not be able to fire its cannons or carronades during the entire game. This is a one-time only roll, so make it a good one!)
Firing at Ships’ Boats
Instead of using the Main Gunnery Chart, ships’ boats are very difficult to hit. If a gun point scores a hit, the boat hit is destroyed, as are all of the crewmen. The only exception to this rule is in the case of Spanish privateers. They were surprisingly good at hitting boats, but never seemed to actually sink many. In all cases, except Spanish privateers, any boat hit by one fire point, will be sunk, with the crew lost. When a boat is lost, the controlling player should check to see how many men were casualties. If at least 25% of the men are killed or wounded, regardless of the amount of boats involved, that player must immediately roll for morale. He will use the same chart used for ship-to-ship battles. Regardless of what nationality he rolls for, he is simply trying to roll higher than the amount listed on the chart as a saving throw. (Example- A British crew with four boats has its launch sunk. The total crews of his four boats numbered 58. The launch contained 21 men. That’s 36.2 % of the total crew. The crew is British, for years 1803-15, on the Surrender Table. He disregards the fact that British crews in a ship-to-ship action must roll at 28.79%. (Boarding actions don’t follow the same rules) He’s only concerned that his crew has reached more than 25% casualties. He rolls two decimal dice, needing 54 or better to save. He rolls a 76. That means he can disregard the 25+% loss and press on with the attack. Had he rolled less than 54, his boats would be forced to abort their attack, ending in a tactical defeat for the British. Passing the morale test would mean that he would not have to roll for morale again unless he took more losses from his surviving boats as they moved towards the target ship. Also, should his force not secure the bulwarks, his crew would retire to the boats. If this was the first retreat to the boats, the player would not have to roll for morale to allow his men to board again the next game turn; however, if the boarders are forced to retreat to the boats again, he must roll 54 or better. Failing to do so sees the boats immediately retreating to the mother vessel. If forced to the boats again, another morale roll would be required.
Gunnery Table for Target Ship firing at Boats
British, American, United Provinces of the Netherlands (1792-95 only) and Spanish privateer* vessels to be boarded- (long guns) hit at Musket-Shot range on +15. At Hailing Distance- +11 (Note- Hailing Distance is .1-10cm. Musket-Shot Distance is 10.1-23cm. Carronade hit probability for said nations- Carronade Musket Shot (15.1-23cm.) +18. At One Cable’s Length Range (10.1-15cm.) +15. Hailing Distance (.1-10cm.) +11.
French Navy vessels to be boarded- Long guns hit at Musket-Shot range on a +16. At Hailing Distance- +13. Carronade Musket Shot (15.1-23cm.) +19. One Cable’s Length Distance- +16. Hailing Distance- +13.
French privateers, Spanish Navy, and other nations not mentioned- hit at Musket-Shot range on+18. At Hailing Distance- +16. Carronade Musket Shot (15.1-23cm.) +20. One Cable’s Length Distance- +18. Hailing Distance- +16.
*Spanish privateers- As a special rule, the Spanish, privateers only, must roll a d10 after obtaining a hit. Each digit counts as a percentage of the crew killed or wounded. A roll of 1-4 (meaning 10%-40%) would see that percentage deducted from the boat’s crew. The boat may then continue, but only the number of crewmen not hit may actually board the enemy vessel. A roll of 5-10 sees the boat too damaged to continue. This boat sinks, taking with it the entire crew.
Assigning Fire Points to Target Vessels
Assigning fire points is done exactly as figuring fire points for ship-to-ship actions in Yardarm to Yardarm. Simply decide what broadside guns a vessel to be boarded has, then figure as normal. Example- Le Puma has 8-6# guns in her broadside. 8x6 equals 48. Divide 48 by 3 to get 16. Now, multiply 16 times the Nationality Gunnery Chart percentage for the period and nationality to be used. In 1811, French privateers have a percentage of .5852. 16 x .5852 gives 9.36. Round off and divide by ten. Rounded off, this gives a gunnery factor of .9. As stated before, throw one d20, when firing, for the .9. At the same time throw a d10. At M/S range, a French privateer needs a +18 to hit. At H/D, a +16 to hit. That means if you roll 18 or better on the d20, you must also roll from 1-9 on the d10. Less than 18 on the d20 and more than 9 on the d10 will be a miss. (Special Rule- To match actual historical performances, American warships, privateers, and letters of marque will multiply their original broadside by 2.5, before dividing by 3. This is to simulate the use of grape shot and general accuracy of small American vessels. An example of this would be the letter of marque “Pilot.” She had a broadside of just two 6# guns. Under normal rules, she would multiply 2 times 6 to get 12. Dividing 12 by three, then dividing by 10 would yield .4. Under this special rule, Pilot would multiply 12 times 2.5 first, then divide by three, then by 10. This would give a broadside fire point of 1.0.) As with the Spanish privateers, any hit will require rolling a d10. 1-4 represents killing or wounding 10-40% of the boat crew, but the unharmed remainder may continue to row towards the target vessel. A roll of 5-10 represents 50-100% casualties, with the boat sinking with everyone aboard.
Rate of fire- Unlike the normal rules for ship-to-ship combat in YtY, game turns of movement for boarding are based on one minute. All nationalities may fire their broadside guns every OTHER game turn. The average approach rate of ships’ boats will allow guns to fire in the following pattern: At 23cm. (maximum Musket-Shot range.) At 15cm. (still M/S range.) At 7cm. (Hailing Distance.) After firing at 7cm., the ships’ boats would move adjacent to the target vessel, since they would be under its guns before the vessel could fire again. (Note- Once boarders are aboard the enemy vessel, five-minute game turns apply again. No firing at ships’ boats can be done during an actual boarding action. All boats should gather under the target vessel’s guns before boarding. Allowing “Johnny-come-lately” boats to deliver their crews after boarding would greatly confuse the action. Thus, all of the crews should board at once. Boats would have a different movement capability, due to number of oars and shape of the boat, but that detail will have to be for a later time.