How To: Ship-to-Ship Combat, Round Four

Entering This Round
As you'll recall, Captain A continues to prove to be the better tactician, holding the advantage for the bulk of the battle thus far. But do not underestimate Captain B, the better sailor with the larger crew and cannon count. After three rounds, the two ships find themselves holding position and trading cannon shots.

The Advantage
There is no Advantage Check this round. There was no action or special maneuver last round that would cause a new check to be made this round.

Non-Advantaged Ship Declares Heading and Speed
Captain B decides to use his superior numbers to win the day. To do so, the ships must be closer.

Heading Declaration: Closing
Speed Declaration: Increase to 7 Knots

Advantaged Ship Declares Heading and Speed
Captain A knows that, unless Captain B attempts a Come About special maneuver, his ship will not be fired upon this round.

Heading Declaration: Hold Position
Speed Declaration: Decrease to 10 Knots

Movement
Check the Movement (Narrative) rules and cross reference the ship's heading declarations. The result is "Minus 1/2 Opp. Speed". The Opponent (Non-Advantaged Ship) is moving at 7 knots. Half of this is 3.5 knots or 35'.

Movement Result: Ship B closes on Ship A and is now 485' away.

Non-Advantaged Ship Performs Special Maneuvers, if any
Captain B has no foreward weapons. He decides against a Come About, since Closing the distance is the priority. Captain B is currently sailing under Fighting Sails...

Special Maneuver: Raise to Plain Sails. This will eliminate the maximum speed penalty of 20%, but more importantly, it will force an Advantage Check next round. (And recall, that Plain Sail does not have a penalty to the maneuverability, unlike Full and Extra Sails)

Advantaged Ship Performs Special Maneuvers, if any
Captain A sees Ship B raising sails and closing. In order to win, he knows that he must maintain the advantage. A new check is scheduled for next round, and with his Full Sails he is suffering a -2 to those checks.

Special Maneuver: Lower sails to Plain, Starboard Cannons Attack (Targeting the Crew)

Advantaged Ship Attacks
Ship A intends on sending over shots on the decks, in an attempt to thin out the opponent before a possible boarding attack. Per the Targeting rules, when specifying a section to hit, the AC of the opponent is raised by +2. If and when a Critical Hit occurs, then it automatically will hit the targeted section. Otherwise, roll attacks as usual with the higher AC needed for a successful attack.

Note that the range is less then previously. There is only one full range increment (250'), so there is only a -2 penalty.

• Ship A will roll 1d20 +4 (+4 ranged attack, +2 volley fire, -2 range penalty)
• Ship A needs a 12 to hit the AC of Ship B
• Ship A rolls a 10, for a 14 total.

Advantaged Attack: Hits! It is not a critical, so the damage is applied normally. Crew B will still take the 1d6 collateral damage, assuming that the Hardness of Ship B does not completely absorb the damage.

• Ship A will roll 3d6 x 3 for the cannon damage
• Ship A rolls a 9, for 36 points of damage.
• Ship B reduces the damage by the Hardness of 5 and records 31 points of damage.

Now for the crew damage on Ship B

• Ship A will roll1d6 for the Collateral Damage to the Crew of Ship B
• Ship A rolls a 2 for a 2 total
• Ship B adds 2 points of damage to the Crew's Wounds

The Crew of Ship B is not at 80% HP yet, so despite the injuries, the crew is operating full!

End of Round Four
Captain B has managed to force another Advantage Check, by raising to Plain Sails. Captain A counters this by reducing sails to Plain in order to gain maneuverability. As B closes, increasing speed slowly (only 10' at a time, under steading sails), Ship A begins to unload cannon fire, targeting the larger Crew B.

The Current Stats
Ship A (Advantage)
740 HP, Holding at 485', moving under Plain Sail at 10 knots (the maximum that the wind will support under Plain Sail or lower), Crew A 191 HP. Targeting: Crew

Ship B
738 HP, Closing at 485', moving under Plain Sail at 7 knots, Crew B 279 HP

GM Thoughts
By now, we should be getting the hang of how combat works. So far, the only tweak I am going to add in (and that will begin next round) is I am going to allow a ship to fire all broadside cannons at once; regardless of facing. The reason is, after two volleys from each side, neither ship seems worse for wear. If I were to approximately double the damage dealt thus far (simulating in my mind the results if all cannons fired), I see a more dramatic turn of events.

Coming up, I plan on moving toward boarding actions. I also hope to get a critical hit in, but that cannot be guaranteed. Perhaps I will flub a critical for each side, so we can see how that works.