Rules for Royal Navy landing party skirmish game?

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Although not new to this forum, I am rather new to this board. I believe the last time I gamed Napoleonics was probably over 40 years ago!

I have recently been very inspired by two threads. In no particular order Captain Blood’s beautiful painting of his Royal Navy landing party and Matakishi’s ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’. Both have taken me back to my love of the Sharpe and Hornblower novels (and others of that ilk e.g. Patrick O’Brian and Julian Stockwin).

Matakishi’s semaphore tower in particular made me want to game some Royal Navy landings on the French and Spanish coasts. Missions such as rescue a spy or a beautiful kidnapped Duchess, abduct an enemy general or scientist and of course, destroy a semaphore tower or two.

The reasoning for these ramblings is that I am unsure which set of rules would work well for this. It would be mainly a land-based skirmish as I envisage the landing party would come ashore secretly just before dawn (don’t they always?). I would think no more than 30-40 figures per side but I would like to run games with less as well, say 10-20 figures per side.

So, basically, some questions:

Which ruleset do you think would suit this sort of game? I need it to be fun and quick-moving.

What sort of guards for the French and/or Spanish would suit this? Some sort of Militia or regular infantry (maybe some civilians)? I have the Royal Navy all planned but which figures would you recommend as I’m using Brigade and Foundry for the Royal Navy?

[Furt]

Which ruleset do you think would suit this sort of game? I need it to be fun and quick-moving.

Sharp Practice of course. 

I played a very similar scenario quite successfully with Sharp Practice 1 (but I believe Sharp Practice 2 would work just as well).

Although not set in the Napoleonic era it captured the feeling of a dawn beach landing quite well and included some Wargames Foundry Napoleonic jack tars to boot.

This full AAR is on my blog, entitled Keen & the Pyrates http://adventuresinlead.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/keen-pyrates.html

[Malamute]

Sharp Practice the original version was written exactly for this type of game and it includes RN landing parties, characters such as Hornblower and Sharp etc and was very much scenario and narative driven with interaction with civilians/ maidens/spys, rescue missions, blowing things up etc.

The updated rules I haven't played yet, so am not sure how much they follow the original style. From my looking at the various threads and battle reports they seem less about the characters and more about the battle.

It maybe worth sourcing version one and seeing how you get on.

Figures I am not the best person to advise you on Napoleonics but I would suggest the Perrys figures fit in with the Brigade ganes figures style and size wise.

EDIT. Furt beat me too it!
Still love your games Frank

[SteveBurt]

Sharp Practice is perfect for this sort of game; we've done cutting out actions with SP1.
There's a scenario in the Compleat Fondler featuring a naval raid on a pirate fort in North Africa., and we also played another game with a raid on a French port.
Having played v2, it would work equally well - just put the deployment point for the attacker beside their boats and use 'attack on objective' or 'rescue mission' as the scenario.

[theoldschool]

Sharp Practice the original version was written exactly for this type of game and it includes RN landing parties, characters such as Hornblower and Sharp etc and was very much scenario and narative driven with interaction with civilians/ maidens/spys, rescue missions, blowing things up etc.

The updated rules I haven't played yet, so am not sure how much they follow the original style. From my looking at the various threads and battle reports they seem less about the characters and more about the battle.

The new version still has all the adventure stuff, probably more in fact. It's just that the reports are tending to focus more on a battle style. I think the introduction of Army Lists, which a lot of people were asking for,  has opened up the rules to players who prefer a 'balanced' points based game. I just ignore the lists.

I've been trying to persuade Richard to do a narrative adventure game on the TooFatLardies blog to show that Sharp Practice has lost none of its derring-do.

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Thanks all for your suggestions so far, certainly looks like Sharp Practice is the one!

Sharp Practice the original version was written exactly for this type of game and it includes RN landing parties, characters such as Hornblower and Sharp etc and was very much scenario and narative driven with interaction with civilians/ maidens/spys, rescue missions, blowing things up etc.

It maybe worth sourcing version one and seeing how you get on.

Malamute, thanks for that suggestion, version one sourced, £8 new on eBay, I hope that's a good deal.

Furt, what a magnificent game report, exactly what I want to do except with Hornblower (or maybe now following your inspiration, Lieutenant Snapcase RN!). Thanks for that.

The new version still has all the adventure stuff, probably more in fact

Thanks for that, theoldschool. I've now got version 1 on the way but if all goes well with that I can happily move on to version 2 with your information, cheers.

[Malamute]

If you like SP, its worth picking the "complete Fondler". A set of scenarios for SP following the adventures of Richard Fondler RN the Too Fat Lardies character as he fights his way through the Napoleonic Wars.

Also you might want to have a look at Matakishis Napoleonic rules found here:

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=75952.0

[Lardy Rich]

Funnily enough, I have a Royal Naval landing party on my painting table as we speak.  1840s, ready to fight the dastardly Arab slavers on the Horn of Africa.

Rich

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

If you like SP, its worth picking the "complete Fondler". A set of scenarios for SP following the adventures of Richard Fondler RN the Too Fat Lardies character as he fights his way through the Napoleonic Wars.

Also you might want to have a look at Matakishis Napoleonic rules found here:

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=75952.0

Thanks, will be following up on these sources, cheers.

1840s, ready to fight the dastardly Arab slavers on the Horn of Africa.

Sounds great, looking forward to seeing some photos.

[doowopapocalypse]

::sets out lawn chair, waits patiently::

[sjwalker51]

While I'd also highly recommend SP for your game, if you've not played it before I'd jump right in with the new version - it still has all the derring-do of the original but there are many changes from the original mechanisms, making it clearer, more streamlined, intuitive and, above all user-friendly.

The availability of ready-made card decks and counters makes it easier to get started (though I've always enjoyed making my own character-specific cards).

There's talk of some supplementary rules being released to cover naval landing parties, cutting-out and other water-borne actions but you'll find the rules give a great game as they stand.

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

::sets out lawn chair, waits patiently::

 

While I'd also highly recommend SP for your game, if you've not played it before I'd jump right in with the new version - it still has all the derring-do of the original but there are many changes from the original mechanisms, making it clearer, more streamlined, intuitive and, above all user-friendly.

The availability of ready-made card decks and counters makes it easier to get started (though I've always enjoyed making my own character-specific cards).

There's talk of some supplementary rules being released to cover naval landing parties, cutting-out and other water-borne actions but you'll find the rules give a great game as they stand.

OK, many thanks, that's very useful to know. I like to make my own cards too, but it's nice to start with the ready-made stuff and get used to playing before you know what extras you want on custom-made cards. Still, quite a few figures to paint yet and most of them still in the post!

I have ordered some Perry dismounted French Dragoons as the start of the opposition. As most of my landing party will be in blue jackets (only a few Royal Marines), I am looking for the French opposition not to be in blue. Dragoons with green coats is a good start I feel, but what other French troops (not in blue) would be feasible? I envisage initially, they will mainly be on foot, maybe a mounted spy-master or something like that.

[carlos marighela]

Very much tempted by Sharpe Practice myself. The other candidate that may recommend itself for a game like that is Donnybrook. Nominally aimed for an earlier period but adaptable for the Napoleonic era.

[rumacara]

Also worth trying Song of Drums and Shackos from Ganesha.
A simple and fun set of squirmish rules for the napoleonic period.

[matakishi]

I hope to make my coastline terrain next week so there'll be a naval landing game report shortly after that using my Napoleonic rules.





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