Rules for Bert's Trireme Game...

Simply put, here are the rules for my Trireme game. Please post your comments here too... Looking forward to hearing your ideas...


Fast Play Salamis Rules…
Each ship has a certain number of stats.
1. Movement: Each ship has a movement allowance in inches. The Persian fleet is generally faster than the Greek fleet.
2. Maneuverability: Each ship has a maneuverability number expressed in degrees. As a whole, Greek ships are more maneuverable than Persian ships.
3. Ram Attack: Each ship has a ram attack number. This is the number of dice that ship rolls in a ram attack.
4. Bow Attack: Each ship has a bow attack number. This is the number of dice that a ship rolls in a bow attack.
5. Hand to Hand Attack: Each ship has a hand to hand attack number. This is the number of dice that a ship rolls in hand to hand combat.
6. Bow Range: This is the number of inches that a bow can shoot.
7. Ramming Speed Probability: This is the roll needed to get the ramming speed attack bonus.
8. Ship Viability: The number of “hits” your ship can take. Hits may come from bow, hand to hand, ramming, etc. All damage is abstracted into this one area.
9. Marine Boarding Skill: This is the roll needed to get your troops into hand to hand combat when rammed.
10. Fleet Panic Number: This is the number of ships that need to be destroyed or captured for this particular fleet to “panic” and flee the area.
Turn Sequence…
Player 1 moves while… Player 2 conducts bow attacks…
Player 1 resolves ram attacks while… Player 2 attempts to board…
Players 1 and 2 resolve any resulting hand to hand combat.
Player 2 moves while… Player 1 conducts bow attacks…
Player 2 resolves ram attacks while… Player 1 attempts to board…
Players 1 and 2 resolve any resulting hand to hand combat.
Turn Sequence Explained…

Movement Phase:
A player moves all of his ships at the same time. The two stats that are important here are the movement number and the maneuverability number. The movement number is the number of inches that the ship can move. The maneuverability number is the number of degrees the ship can turn in one direction only that turn. Therefore, a movement 6 maneuverability 45 ship can move 6 inches and turn 45 degrees somewhere in that movement turn, if so desired. Even if you have extra movement, in the movement phase do not move your ship into contact with enemy ships. That is for the ram attack phase. Any ship that is in contact with an enemy ship may attempt a “breakaway” during the movement phase. Simply roll the Ramming Speed Probability number or less and, if succeeded, place your ship an inch away from the enemy ship in question and exactly parallel to the enemy ship. This is that ship’s entire movement phase. As with any other movement done outside of the ram attack phase, ships that attempt “breakaway” may be fired upon from bows.

Bow Attack Phase:
While the moving player is moving his ships, the non-moving player must be watching out for situations where he can shoot his bows at the enemy. At any time, he may tell the other player to “stop” his movement (simply by saying “Stop!”) and then he can shoot his bows at the enemy ship. He accomplishes this by rolling the number of dice that each ship that is in range can shoot. All 6’s are hits. Damage is applied immediately. If the damage matches the ships viability number, the ship is not removed due to bow fire. Ships may be brought to the edge of defeat by bows, but bows didn’t play a decisive roll in this ancient naval battle.

Ram Attack Phase:
The Ram Attack Phase only happens when the moving players bow moved to within an inch of an enemy hull. At this time, the moving player rolls to see if his ship achieves ramming speed. If this is the case, his ship receives a +2 d6 dice bonus when making that particular ram attack. Ram attacks are resolved like this: Roll the number of dice in the Ram Attack Number, plus any bonus due to ramming speed. 5’s and 6’s count as hits. This time, if the number of hits exceeds or matches the ship viability number, the ship is removed.

Boarding Attempt Phase:
After ramming, any surviving ships (including the ship that just rammed) may, if so desired, attempt to board the other ship. The first player to get the chance to board is the player that owns the ship that was just rammed. He rolls his marine boarding skill, and if he makes the roll, the fight will take place on the vessel that just rammed the enemy ship. Proceed to the Hand to Hand combat phase. If he does not make his marine boarding skill roll, for some reason his men didn’t think to board, or they failed their attempt. Then the ramming player gets a chance to board in the same turn. He rolls his marine boarding skill. If he succeeds, the hand to hand combat results on the ship that was just rammed.

Hand to Hand Combat Phase:
The Hand to Hand combat phase is rather simple. Each side rolls the number of dice in his hand to hand combat skill. Success for the attacker is a 4 - 6, for the defender is 5 - 6. The defender cannot cause damage to the other man’s ship viability, because he’s not on the other man’s ship. However, each defender success takes away an attacker hit. If as a result of hand to hand combat the ship viability number is matched or exceeded, that ship is captured. Place a “captured” token on that ship and, if possible, move it the next turn away from the battle. It is assumed that your marines have re-boarded their own ship and continue to fight as normal.

Some ships and Stats...

Mv. Man. RamA RSP BowA Rng HHA MBS SV
Athenian Fleet 5in 45 5d6 9 1 6in 4d6 7 4
Spartan Fleet 6in 45 5d6 8 1 6in 5d6 8 4
Corinthian Fleet 6in 45 5d6 8 1 6in 3d6 6 4
Phonecian Fleet 8in 30 4d6 6 2 6in 3d6 7 3
Cyprian/Egyptian 7in 30 4d6 5 2 6in 3d6 6 4
Greek Traitors 6in 45 5d6 7 1 6in 3d6 6 4