Black Seas Reviewed

By Troy A. Hill

Brad at the Cast Dice podcast is fond of saying that we are in a gaming renaissance right now. Our choices for where to spend our hobby dollars and hobby time in the table-top gaming world have never been greater.

I’m crediting Warlord Games with a large selection of where I’m spending my hobby dollars and time now. They just won’t stop churning out the great games. Their latest, is no exception.

When I first began playing games from Warlord, I had no idea that within a two-year span I’d move from a single WWII game into:

Bolt Action, Konflict 47, Warlords of Erehwon, Hail Ceasar, SPQR, Black Powder, Cruel Seas and now their latest release, Black Seas, in such a short time. I’m so far behind on my painting, I’m not sure where to go next with all of these games.

This is probably Warlord’s biggest release of the year, according to a manager in one of my local game stores. I was in at today, picking up prize support from Warlord for events I’m running at a Southern California HMGS gaming convention. The store’s Black Seas shipment had just been delivered. I looked at the stack of boxes and wondered if it would be enough to keep up. This game has quite a buzz going.

Fortunately, I was able to get my hands on the rules this past week, along with some of the Brigs and a Frigate. Unfortunately, work interfered and I’m just now getting everything painted and read.

The second half of my Black Seas order arrived from Warlord. The shipment with Master and Commander arrived the next day while I was running events at the MiniWars convention.

First, let’s address the obvious comparison. Black Seas is based on John Stallard’s game-engine for Warlord learned from the misunderstood rules communication in that game (when does a boat turn during its move?) and has streamlined how such rules are presented. When I explained the movement and turning rules at my first demo games, players picked them up easily.

For example, a ship may now make up to three moves in a turn (depending on Sails level of Light, Battle or Full Sails). The ship may make a turn at the end of any move. So three chances to angle your ship in a single game turn (large cumbersome ships can only turn twice and at smaller angles). Just like Cruel Seas, but worded to avoid the misunderstanding players had with the Cruel Seas rules.

Even the Quick Reference Sheet in the back of the book is a single page. Although that page could use a backside with the Critical Hit tables. Players will need to add those, or tab that page in their rule books.

The extras that come in the Master and Commander set and ship boxes give a player what they need to finish their models and dive into the game.

The major change is the random activation dice draw has been replaced with an innovative system of using the wind direction to dictate which ship activates first in a turn. I see this as adding another layer of strategy on the table. The wind will either shift one notch on the compass rose, stay the same (most often), or die off/increase at the beginning of each turn. Players will need to adjust their strategic thinking to be aware of how that can play out.

The wind compass-rose determines ship activation order. Warlord provides a wind compass in the starter set.

Unlike Cruel Seas, where the player was in (mostly) total control of how fast each boat went, in Black Seas, the wind is the predominant factor. When the wind is coming from behind, the (most) ships can use full sails and make three movements. Of course, the captains can choose a lesser movement rate.

Wind from the sides can only give a Battle Sails rate of two moves per turn. Wind from the front gets interesting. These big lumbering hulks don’t stop on a dime. When they (or the wind) changes direction to catch them in the front, the ship makes one normal move (if it was moving in the previous turn), and slows to a stop. There are methods to tack out of a frontal wind, using your crew’s skill check.

This set-up is the basic wind rules. There is also a more advanced set that divides out the side arc into a back/side that still gives Battle Sails movement of 2 moves, and a front/side that gives Light Sails. 

The turn gauge that comes in the Master and Commander set is used to determine not only the turn angle maximum for each ship (still based on yellow or red arcs) but is also used to determine front and rear arcs for wind direction and firing angles.

Shooting

This is where Black Seas and Cruel Seas dramatically part ways. With the MTBs of Cruel Seas, guns had a turning radius, that was limited by the mounts, and the desire to not shoot your own shipmates.

The Ship cards show which guns are included in each of the ship’s batteries. The frigate has three types of guns on each port and starboard, plus a single light cannon upfront. While the brig has only a single battery of heavy cannons on both port and starboard.

Ships in Black Seas use a variety of black power cannons (and their cousins, such as mortars). The cannons are directional out the side, or off the bow or stern (front and rear-firing arcs). Players will need to keep track of which weapons batteries fire (which arc) since all have the potential to be used in a turn. Just because a ship isn’t in range for the port side cannons when you move, doesn’t mean another ship won’t move into range for that battery (Fire as She Bears) later on.

In addition, rules have been designed for Crossing the T, and Broadsides. Firing still uses the d10 method from Cruel Seas, with modifiers. But the modifiers for speed of the target vessel are no more, though a halted ship is easier to hit. However, If a target vessel has moved more than 10 inches in its most recent activation, it can be tougher to hit. In addition, penalties are had if a ship fires a third or fourth gun position in a single turn.

Ships have a rating for the number of to-hit dice to roll based on the number of each type of cannon in that firing position. Damage changes from a d6 roll under the Cruel Seas method, to a static number based on the size of the cannon. Heavy Canons do two points of damage for each die hit. Light Cannons one point, Carronades three points, and the mortar actually uses a d6 damage roll.

Since critical hits cannot be determined by the result on the damage roll, they move to the natural one result of the d10 to-hit roll. The results I expected, limited for wooden sailing ships, are potential: Quarter Deck (command), Gun Deck, Rudder/Steering, Crew hits or Extra Damage or a Fire on Board.

Ammunition tokens for the advance rules.

One can also Aim High to target the masts and sails of the ship. This changes the critical potential. There are still only six potential outcomes for the natural ones. Sails hit, and Masts hit are added, replacing Gun Deck and Rudder/Steering. Aiming High criticals also have the potential to do more damage to the “upper decks.”

In the advanced rules, players will find all sorts of new options, including rules for grappling and boarding another ship. Ammunition types may be upgraded to types such as Red Hot (don’t drop it on your own decks – on a natural 10 it does so), Grape Shot, Chain Shot, and Double Shot. These ammunition types make a strong difference in aiming high.

Rules for firing muskets in close quarters, weather effects, land fortifications are all covered in the advanced rules.

Extras

I will be the first to admit that my exposure to historical wargaming is limited. Especially to sea and air wargaming. Black Seas is only the second naval wargame I’ve played since graduating from the old boardgames of Battleship! and Broadsides. The Black Seas rulebook gave me a pleasant surprise by including sections on Battles of the Carronade Era, along with a guide to the tall ships of the era, including the sails and masts, the ratings (it makes sense that a First Rate was bigger and more heavily armed than a Sixth Rate, but what constituted each class?)

 

If you’re not in the mood to hand-tie your rat-line webs, Warlords provides a set printed on acetate in each box.

Fleet Lists, a very short painting guide section, and upgrades for the ships are detailed in the back matter of the book.

In addition, National Rules for Great Britain, France, Spain, and the USA are listed in the back (we’ll cover these as our writers look at the different nations).

Over a dozen scenarios are included in the book, along with the grand-daddy of all battles of this era, Trafalgar.

Demo Games

At MiniWars this weekend, I was able to run a few demo games, and discuss the rules of the game with even more players.

In the first demo game, Mark and I had a long and hard slog in a Cat and Mouse scenario. I fielded the French frigate, while he darted in with a couple of British rigs. Mark’s tactics were strong, but his dice stayed cold. It went down to the wire, as my Frigate was able to launch quite a few broadsides. He was only a few points away from losing a ship, and the other brig was damaged enough it would have waved off (striking its colors), when he finally got a broadside to hit and set fire to the Frigate’s decks. My crew extinguished the fires, but another broadside took the frigate low enough in damage that the Frigate’s crew failed a check and were captured.

The next day, another game pitted Mike against his friend Ann Marie (and her fiance Matt helping with tactics).  Ann Marie kept her Brigs pounding Mike’s frigate. Mike’s dice went very cold, while Ann Marie scored a few criticals. Mike’s crew worked hard, but took two additional activations to douse the flames. His ship took another crit (Quarter Deck Hit) that forced the ship to exit the board due to not receiving the command to turn in time. This allowed Ann Marie to position her Brigs to take full advantage of the Frigate’s return.

Mike’s crew decided, with only two hull points left to strike the colours and let Admiral Ann Marie return to port with his highly damaged ship as a war trophy.

My Assessment

As a newbie naval wargamer, I find both Black Seas, and its predecessor Cruel Seas, as welcome additions to my gaming repertoire. Both games play fast and don’t require much if any bookkeeping. Black Seas still uses the sliders on the ship cards to track hull damage (I use paper clips of different colors instead of the paper tabs Warlord provides).

Rules may seem overly simplistic to very experienced Naval Wargamers. Warlord, however, isn’t in the habit of creating highly complex games. Their niche is fast and fun play. Black Seas hits all the right notes to make this one of their most appealing releases.

 

As well as editor of this blog, Troy is a long-time gamer, and a new addition to the US Demo Team (Russel’s Raiders). He serves on the board of HMGS-PSW, and supports his local game stores with too many dollars and weekends of time. When he’s not catching typos, trying to bribe NoDiceNoGlory.com writers to finish their stories on time, or running games at tourneys, he’s usually writing Medieval Urban Fantasy books.