Captain's Sea

Captain's Sea from Legion Wargames tries to fit an Age of Sail battle into a more abstract framework than Wooden Ships & Iron Men, placing more weight on seamanship than on memorising rules. Its historical research seems carefully handled, at least judging by the designer's many references, and the rules have clearly received a fair amount of work. It is a bit of an acquired taste, but it produces the gunpowder-smoked, salty atmosphere I want from the subject. In my own clash, Captain Oldgeorge's USS Constitution began overflowing with American confidence against Admiral Jean de la Rep's La Vengeance; then we discovered that the French had roughly a 1.5:1 firepower advantage and, naturally, the devil's own die. The quick victory became a two-and-a-half-hour battle, with epic feats of American naval heroism and the first American submarine. BLTG: baguette, lettuce, tomato, garlic.

At its core, it is a duel in which position and approach matter: you pass across from your opponent, exchange broadsides, and try to arrange your ship for the next contact. If you approach it with an admiral's mindset and want to set up every pass, the game can run very long, as the ships need turns to come about again and reach a suitable position. That is part of the game's feel rather than mere delay: the duel wants to resemble manoeuvring before the next cannon shot.

The design is comparatively forgiving of rakes compared with other naval games, chiefly because the American ships of the period are presented as more fragile, and it permits plenty of repair between exchanges of fire. I would have liked a little more movement and wind with more bite and commotion, because that is where I would see the difference between choices even more clearly. Even so, I think it has one click more depth than Serpents of the Seas—that is, the duelling rules for Flying Colors—without turning into a full naval simulation.

My conclusion is fairly specific: I would not recommend it as a first stop for someone who simply wants a naval game. I would look at it if I were already an Age of Sail fan, had played plenty of Flying Colors, and had started wanting a different, slightly deeper duel. For that audience, Captain's Sea is a worthwhile, salty piece.