All at Sea - Far Distant Ships, Rule Additions and Changes for 1:700 Scale Games.

 

Following requests for access to the rule additions and changes I made to David Manley's Fleet Action rules for the age of sail, Far Distant Ships (FDS) that were used to run our 1:700 scale games of the Battle of Camperdown, Battle of Trafalgar, and Battle of Cape Ferrol (Calder's Action), I have finally gotten around to pulling the materials together for those folks who would like to do something similar.

Far Distant Ships - Long Face Games | Wargame Vault

Please note, I'm in the habit of supporting the creative talents we have in the hobby and so my compilation of rule changes and additions are designed to compliment David's original work and so you will need a copy of Far Distant Ships to use my materials, link above for the rules.

The Battle of Camperdown in the opening stages, and fought at the NWS Yeovilton Meeting in 2024 using Far Distant Ships for 1:700.

The sixteen page compilation includes the necessary scale changes of movement, spacing and gunnery ranges to facilitate the battles featured here on JJ's, together with additional sections to the markers we used, changes to turning the models, additional Senior Command Modifier, and additional reminders added to the Turn Sequence and Command Phase.

Samples of the counters we used for our games of FDS, relieving the game of tedious book keeping and allowing the play to keep on flowing.

As regular readers of the blog will know I am an inveterate rule changer and adapter, and with my many years of reading various rule ideas I am a bit of a magpie collector, but all this fed into my changes, and so I have incorporated some signalling ideas from Rod Langton's rules, Fleet Morale from Albert Parker, and Tactical Cohesion from David's other rule set, 'Form Line of Battle'

An example of the Squadron Command Cards we used and included in the update.

So with the Fleet Morale rules I have included copies of the Squadron Command Cards that helped simply record Command Points available each turn and the Fleet Preservation Points for a particular squadron, marked on the card with dice, with the dice turned as the command points were used or the preservation level reduced by ships being lost or captured.

The opening moves of Trafalgar, run at last year's NWS gathering at Yeovilton, again using FDS 1:700

One aspect I was keen to model cleanly in our games was the signalling arrangements for the various Fleet and Squadron Commanders so that orders could be changed as battle circumstances dictated, and so I came up with my own set of flags that could be used as numbers or a specific phrase or word depending on how the flags were presented by the commander.

A section of the 'Others' signal book, using different flag combinations than the British equivalent. The flag counters are included in the pack for printing out with a # symbol on one side to indicate the flag is a number and blank with just the flag symbol that would indicate it is representing the phrase listed in the signal book. 

The signals worked particularly well in the latter stages of the Trafalgar game as the Combined Fleet tried to organise a rearguard as their morale started to collapse threatening a rout amid ever more arriving British ships amid their lines, which saw much hasty signalling to Rear Admiral Dumanoir to turn the van and come to the assistance of the centre.

My 'Fleet Log' included in the update with examples of how signals might be constructed as a guide to my commanders.

The change I borrowed from Rod Langton for my signalling rules was the use of a specific group of signals known as 'General Orders'.

General Orders include the following:

General Chase
Engage to Leeward
Engage to Windward
Engage Enemy More Closely
Engage Opposite Numbers
Engage Enemy Squadron
Engage the Enemy Van
Engage the Enemy Centre
Engage the Enemy Rear
Pass Through Enemy Line
Delay Signals

These signals are a requirement for a commander to fly if he wants his captains to do things they ordinarily wouldn't do unless so ordered.

A Spanish commander signals to close the line up as the British emerge out of the fog in our El Ferrol game run at Yeovilton last year. This illustrates how we use our signal flags in our games of FDS. Note also the damage markers illustrated above used here on the bases of two of the models

For example ships captains used to fighting in line of battle would not normally engage closer than medium range, turning their ships away accordingly to open fire, thus any requirement for them to close with the enemy would necessitate the appropriate signal to make that happen, and obviously a British admiral seeking to get his captains to pass through an enemy line, would require a close engagement order as well as to pass through the enemy line, with a likely test to see if the captains would comply as ordered.

The British attack on the Batavian-Dutch line in our Camperdown game with some captains refusing to pass through the enemy line, whilst others happily complied with orders, dishing out raking fire as they closed with the enemy.

By the time of Trafalgar in 1805 British captains were very familiar with the idea and advantages of breaking an enemy line, however at the time of Camperdown in 1797 the idea was not so readily accepted, and so in our recreation of Camperdown the test to pass through the Dutch line was more problematic than it was in our Trafalgar game.

So the idea behind the slight rule change is that signals such as “Engage Enemy more More Closely’ and ‘Pass Through Enemy Line’ must be given to enable captains to move to short range, but a test will still be required to see if a captain is prepared to manoeuvre between enemy ships, or simply turn away broadside to broadside.

Fighting up close and personal in the fog off El Ferrol using Far Distant Ships at the Devon Wargames Group Meeting at Yeovilton last year.

All this is easily modelled with Far Distant Ships and from the games I have played with them makes them my turn-to set of rules for playing large or multiple squadron big-battle games.

JJ's Wargames: All at Sea - Far Distant Ships, Chance Cards

These rule additions and changes have all been play tested over the last four years in some very big-battle games so I know they work and offer them up for others to use should they want to, alongside the FDS Chance Cards I published back in March and available in my downloads section alongside this update.

The FDS 700 Rule Additions are available as a download request through me in My Resources and Downloads when this post is published. Please don't repost this FDS update on other forums file sections as they are made to be freely available here for all to use with the caveat that you already own a copy of Far Distant Ships.

If you request the file from my Resources link I will give you access to a zip file containing the sixteen page update, the game markers, flag signal markers, command record cards and QRS.

I hope you have as much fun playing FDS as I have had and as always more anon

JJ

The Battle of Portland (a.k.a. The Three Days' Battle), 18th - 20th February 1653 - General at Sea.

Blake and Tromp - William Lionel Wyllie.

This post follows on from Capt. Steve's narrative of the events leading up to the Battle of Portland in 1653 and his plans to recreate this 'clash of titans' as three of the greatest admirals of the Anglo-Dutch Wars and indeed naval history, Tromp, de Ruyter and Blake at the head of 75 to 80 ships on each side, met off Portland in the English Channel on the 18th of February 1653, to contest mastery of this most vital of waterways to both nations mercantile and commercial interests, see the link below for the post covering the preparation for this game.

JJ's Wargames: The Battle of Portland (a.k.a. The Three Days' Battle), 18th - 20th February 1653, Game Plan and Preparation - General at Sea

For the refight of this very large battle Steve was using General at Sea ruleset by Ian Stanford, which enables the large fleets that characterised the Anglo-Dutch Wars to be modelled on the table by having models represent three to four actual warships to keep the fleets manageable on the table.

The fleet summaries above and below illustrate the arrangements of the models into their various divisions and squadrons with twenty models in the English fleet and nineteen in the Dutch with their combat statistics shown as CV (combat value), SF (shooting factor), BF (boarding factor), and DF (defence factor), with the Fleet total at the top showing two evenly matched opponents, slightly favouring the English with a CV of 304 versus 250 for the Dutch, that reflects the larger more powerful English ships of this period.

For a more detailed order of battle showing which actual ships are represented by the models, you can see them illustrated in the planning post linked above.

The scenario setup plan below captures the situation with the Dutch having the wind as they close on a dispersed English fleet trying to close up having just found their quarry but having had to recall their squadrons from the wide search arrangements they had set up to make sure the Dutch would not slip past them in this the wider part of the Channel. 

Game Setup and Start Positions

So with the game plan arranged Steve made a slight alteration to the setup to better align things to the table that sees the compass adjusted to allow the Dutch to enter the table from the long edge now repositioned as the north west.

The table is arranged for battle and as all wargamers know, the plan changes on first contact with the enemy, so to allow the large fleets to make best use of Steve's table the Dutch can be seen entering from the right table edge now identified as north west rather than the corner as illustrated in the plan.

Blake is hove to in the centre, separated from the rest of the English fleet, with four Dutch squadrons now bearing down on him. Monck is off table and will not appear on table until Turn 7.

Turn 2

As the Dutch bear down on Blake, the English commander opens fire at long range, to no effect, as Penn and Lawson manoeuvre their respective forces to try and join the battle from upwind.

The Dutch bear down on Blake, as the English commander opens fire at long range.

Turn 3

Tromp closes with Blake and receives a bow rake from the powerful English ships that cause a Level 2 disruption, requiring the Dutch commander to take a risk with the Command Stand check.

Tromp closes with Blake and receives a bow rake.

Disaster for the Dutch fleet as Tromp rolls a 12 on his Command Stand check that sees Tromp killed and leaving his stand impaired for three turns until another officer can take charge.

The likely scene aboard Tromp's quarterdeck as he takes a battering from Blake, leaving the Dutch commander dead.

His squadron fails its reaction test and all its stands are disrupted, however Evertsen and Floriszoon manage to pass their respective tests.

Disaster for the Dutch in Turn 3 as Blake's squadron delivers a punishing bow rake on Tromp's command stand that leaves the Dutch commander dead and his squadron disrupted.

In the process of all this drama Admiral William Penn has managed to tack his way into a position that will allow him to attack de Ruyter.

Turn 4

The misery continues for Tromp's stand as it receives further damage and is dispersed, but manages to pass its Squadron test and stays on the table.

Tromp's stand as it receives further damage and is dispersed.

Meanwhile Penn beats upwind towards de Ruyter who turns to meet the threat.

Penn beats upwind towards de Ruyter.

Turn 5

Tromp's scattered stand attempts to disengage, whilst Evertsen passes the rear of Blake and begins to engage Howett and is disrupted for his trouble.

In the background Evertsen's squadron has passed the rear of Blake and Tromp in the centre, whilst on the extreme right Howett's squadron have engaged Evertesen

Three of de Ruyter's squadron concentrate their fire at long range on the foremost stand of Penn's squadron, causing it to be disrupted.

de Ruyter's squadron concentrate their fire at long range on the foremost stand of Penn's squadron.

Turn 6

The battle intensifies as the following stand in Tromp's squadron receives a battering from Blake and is scattered, whilst Floriszoon bow rakes Lawson but causes no damage, and Evertesen is disrupted by Howett's squadron.

Blake continues to batter Tromp's squadron, centre-rear. Evertsen is disrupted by Howett, top-right, and  Floriszoon bow rakes Lawson to no effect, bottom-right.

Penn exchanges fire with de Ruyter at long range, to no effect, whilst the rest of his squadron charges into the attack.

English gunners pouring on the hurt!

The stage is now set for the arrival of General at Sea Monck, next turn.

Penn exchanges fire with de Ruyter at long range, to no effect.

Turn 7

Tromp's scattered squadron turns away and starts to limp back in the direction of the Dutch convoy, whilst Blake sustains a level 1 damage due to the accumulation of disruptions it has received in the fight with Tromp's squadron.

Tromp's stand can be seen limping away from the fight with Blake, top, centre-left, whilst the lead stands of Penn and Lawson have passed through their Dutch opponents extreme left and right, whilst in the background, top right Evertsen has turned to starboard in pursuit of Howett, whilst the first two stands of Monck's squadron can be seen approaching, top-right.

Some of Penn and Lawson's stands break through their Dutch opponents, stern raking as they pass and causing level 1 damage and disruptions. 

Battle is well and truly joined as Tromp's lead stand limps away with a dead admiral aboard, whilst battle rages around Blake's squadron in the background.

Evertesen swings around in pursuit of Howett, only to spot the leading stands of Monck arriving from the south.

Turn 8

Tromp's squadron continues to break off, whilst some of Penn's squadron are moving in to take prizes. 

The Dutch are beat and both Floriszoon and Evertsen take the opportunity to escape off table. 

The Dutch are starting to break off leaving damaged and scattered stands in their wake as the English pursue in an attempt to take prizes.

However de Ruyter gamely takes the battle to Penn's English Blue Squadron as he circles around them and damages their rearmost stand in a parting salute.

The Dutch are beat but de Ruyter gamely takes the battle to Penn's English Blue Squadron as he circles around them and damages their rearmost stand in a parting salute.

So Blake comes out on top again and I attach Steve's comments on the fight, which might take some interpreting from the pictures so I have included Steve's sketch of the game action;

'. . . these battles do turn into pell-mell actions, which is why contemporary accounts are so hard to follow what happened. This one is slightly clearer as the squadrons were quite far apart, but I have attached a sketch of what happened during this game to help . . .'

Steve's sketch of the game action

The real battle (and the next two) showed that the traditional Dutch tactics of “board and burn” – which had worked so well against the Spanish and Portuguese – simply could not cope with English firepower, especially when employed in line.

This game had the same historic outcome, except that the Dutch had the misfortune to lose Tromp at the beginning of the action, causing confusion and dismay amongst his fleet. Tromp’s intention had been to come to close range of Blake and then launch a fireship. Even though Blake was undamaged, his stand was heaved to and vulnerable. This plan was thwarted when Blake fired first, inflicting level 2 damage, disruption and in the process killing Tromp. 

Tromp might have lessened the effect of Blake’s broadside by turning to starboard at the end of the move, thus avoiding a bow rake, however with Blake’s SF of 33 against Tromp’s DF of 14, Tromp was always going to come off much worse in close action; and Tromp’s stand is the most powerful in the Dutch fleet.

Blake's line arranged, hove to awaiting Tromp, with weaker stands placed behind the heavier warships to prevent the Dutch breaking through.

If Tromp had altered course to pass ahead of Blake and rake him, all Blake had to do was set sail and move off to block him. Even with lucky dice throws, Tromp could not break through Blake because of the weak stand positioned behind him and his second.

Due to the inferiority of the Dutch ships compared to their heavier English opponents in the First Anglo Dutch War, it is very difficult for the Dutch to win. At their victory at Livorno, they had a more than 2-1 advantage in numbers, and half the defeated English squadron were hired merchants. 

Capt. Steve's refight of the Battle of Livorno, his first battle report using General at Sea, back in June last year.
JJ's Wargames: The Battle of Livorno (Leghorn), 4th March 1653, using General at Sea and the Fireships in action.

For the Dutch to have a fighting chance, we will have to move to the Second Anglo Dutch War, when their emergency shipbuilding programme resulted in larger, more powerful warships more capable of fighting toe-to toe with the English.

I have attached my plan of Day 2 of the battle. The Dutch formed a crescent, shielding their convoy – over 150 vessels – from the pursuing English. Rather like the Armada in 1588, except that the Dutch horns pointed inwards, whereas the Spanish pointed outwards. Ships in this period had much heavier and more numerous stern chasers than in the Napoleonic wars, and when aimed by expert gunners could hold off attackers. 

The high transom of the Vasa, which I photographed last October during a visit to Stockholm, illustrates Steve's point about the numerous ports for stern chasers on ships of this period, compared to the design of later 18th and 19th century warships, a factor that underpins the Dutch tactics for Day 2 of The Battle of Portland.

The English tried to send frigates around the flanks to pick off merchantmen. Dutch discipline held throughout most of the day until they began to run out of powder and shot and this caused some the escorts to run for home. At this point some of the convoy decided to break away and take their chances. It was a major triumph for Tromp to get the convoy safely back to Holland by a feat of seamanship, sailing past Cape Cris Nez at night.

I hope, like me, you enjoyed this further exploration of the First Anglo-Dutch Wars and the Battle of Portland, and thank you to Captain Steve for yet another engaging after action report and battle plan.

More to come on JJ's with another theme to explore as I have some 28mm Seven Years War French Infantry to showcase that I have painted for my pal, Steve M, in readiness for a Quebec Campaign game themed around the Battle of Sainte-Foy fought in April 1760 and the subject of a planned game later this year; in addition I intend to showcase the 15th Virginia Continental Regiment, and I have an overall update and review of my 'The World Turned Upside Down' AWI project showing all the units produced too date and my next steps.

As always, more anon.

JJ

The Battle of Portland (a.k.a. The Three Days' Battle), 18th - 20th February 1653, Game Plan and Preparation - General at Sea

 

In the previous post in this series by Captain Steve, he recounted the situation that led up to the Battle of Dungeness in November 1652, and a refight of the battle using the rules General at Sea by Ian Stanford, link below.

JJ's Wargames: The Battle of Dungeness, 30th November 1652 - General at Sea.

In this post Steve picks up the narrative as the Tromp/Blake duel carried on into 1653 with another major clash around a Dutch convoy attempting to navigate the English Channel, and his plan to refight The Three Days' Battle of Portland.

The Dutch victory at the battle of Dungeness in November 1652 left the the Dutch navy in control of the Channel through the winter of 1652-3 and allowed a revival of trade and commerce, but by early February 1653, the English fleet had been refitted and reorganised; and around eighty ships put to sea on 11th February under the joint command of the generals-at-sea Robert Blake, George Monck and Richard Deane to intercept Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp, who was expected to escort a large merchant fleet homeward-bound from the Mediterranean.

Steve's order of battle for the Dutch Fleet at Portland.
This is the biggest of the battles staged so far and we can expect to see a lot of lovely models, thirty-nine precisely, out on the table for this one.

Following Dungeness, the English had reorganised their Navy. The fleet was now divided into three squadrons – Red (Centre), White (Van) and Blue (Rear). Generals at Sea Deane and Monck were sent to support Blake. 

General at Sea George Monck

Monck (in his very first action at sea) was given command of the White (Van) and amused his seamen with such land-lubber orders as “Wheel to the Right”. However, he was a very quick learner as events will prove. 

General at Sea Richard Deane

Deane was a gunnery expert, having commanded the New Model Army’s artillery and unusually held joint command with Blake, rather than command the Blue (Rear), which was given to Penn. 

Tromp's fleet of seventy-five warships rendezvoused with the 150 ships of the Mediterranean convoy at La Rochelle early in January 1653. Tromp hoped to sail home through the Channel before the English fleet was ready to put to sea, but stragglers and adverse weather conditions delayed him. The Dutch convoy finally reached the mouth of the Channel on 16th February. 

Steve's order of battle for the Dutch Fleet at Portland

The English generals planned to attack Tromp in the deeper waters of the western Channel, where the Dutch fleet was far from home and could not salvage damaged ships easily. However, the width of the Channel at its western end meant that the English fleet had to cover a wider area in order to ensure that the Dutch did not slip past.

Blake was determined not to let Tromp evade him, as de Ruyter did the previous year, and spread his fleet across the Channel in the hope of making contact. When they did, off Portland Bill, the English were widely dispersed: Blake and Dean had about 20 ships with them, the rest of the Red Squadron were some way astern and down wind. 

The battle setup for Portland on Day 1.
See the orders of battle above for details of the respective divisions.

The Blue squadron was some way ahead, whilst the White was several miles to the south and would have to tack in order to reach the rest of the fleet.

Seeing the English dispersed and Blake isolated, Tromp seized the opportunity to destroy him before the other English squadrons could come to his rescue and accordingly ordered all four of his squadrons to turn down wind and charge Blake. Blake turned into the wind, hove to in line, and awaited the onslaught in what one historian termed “the Balaclava of the sea.”

Steve's 'Collection Plate' with a wonderful depiction by Mark Myers of Blake meeting the charge of the Dutch fleet in line ahead. 

Penn reacted by turning into the wind and tacking in order to attack the nearest Dutch squadron, which was de Ruyter’s. Lawson decided not to attack up wind in Blake’s aid and be overwhelmed. Instead, he made the risky move of passing Blake to the south and then tacking, following Penn into action. Monck began to tack northwards, but it would take many hours before he could join in.

One of the maps from Three Decks illustrating the previously thought arrangement of the Dutch Fleet at the Battle of Portland
Battle of Portland, 18th February 1652/53 - 20th February 1652/53

There is some dispute over the Dutch squadrons. Traditionally, only three were shown with de Ruyter to port of Tromp and Evertsen to starboard (the two maps in the Three Decks page). Modern research now has de Ruyter and Floriszoon to starboard of Tromp and Evertsen to port, as shown below:

This is a most interesting fight. Like Dungeness, it involved three of the most celebrated admirals in history – Tromp, de Ruyter and Blake. Also, the defence of Blake’s small group of ships against the Dutch is considered by some historians as being the crucial event that convinced the English Generals at Sea to introduce the line of battle, which they used for the first time in the next battle, the Gabbard.

In the next post Steve refights The Three Days' Battle of Portland.

As always, more anon.

JJ