Carthage vs Syracuse Again

I played another ancient galley action using 'Galleys & Galleons' last night. Once again each side had ten triremes, but I did add a few tweaks to add interest. I gave both sides a flagship, which would boost their command and control and prevent the forces breaking up so much. In addition I added traits to half of the ships on each side - the Carthaginian red ships had Veteran NCOs, which gave them an edge in boarding actions, whilst the Syracusan white and yellow ships had Expert Oarsmen, which reduces the chance the ship will take oar damage during a ram.

I randomised the terrain and ended up with the two sides approaching each other along the shores of two islands (I also include a land edge in every game, to reflect that ancient battles were generally fought close to shore).

I made a die roll decision for both sides as to how many ships they'd deploy between the islands and the shore to make a flanking move. The Carthaginians committed two, whilst the Syracusans went with three. The distance from the flagship would put these ships at an activation disadvantage.

The main Carthaginian force (red and green) advanced in a single formation, but an activation failure saw the Syracusans break up early on.

The Carthaginians swung around to engage the outnumbered Syracusans before them.

But the Syracusans struck first, swiftly bringing up their stragglers as their leading ships rammed the advancing Carthaginians. One Carthaginian ship surrendered after taking two rams and a hail of arrows.

The Carthaginians responded, ramming their opponents, and grappling them in an attempt to bring their slight superiority to bear.

On the flank both sides fought an inconclusive skirmish.

In the main battle both sides tried to slip reserve vessels through the main fight, to either strike at the flanks or maybe engage the enemy flagship. Both flagships sat back during the early stages, since their command bonus was more important than their presence in the thick of the action.

A number of boarding actions raged along the line, and the Carthaginians used their trait to stave off defeat a couple of times. But the Carthaginians were suffering more oar damage relative to their foes, as the Syracusans' trait helped them out.

Ships started to strike as the damage from the boarding actions took effect. And the Carthaginians broke through and rammed the Syracusan flag.

The Syracusan flagship backed off in order to avoid being grappled, as their surviving ships fought back. 

A command blunder saw a Carthaginian ship ram the stern of one of its fellows, sinking it!

But the Syracusans had nothing left to fight with, and their flagship was rammed once more, sinking it. This took the Syracusans to greater than 50% casualties, so they lost the fight.

Final positions.

The casualties - Carthage lost two ships sunk and one struck, whilst Syracuse had three ships surrender and three sunk.

Once again a number of losses were caused by ships surrendering when they rolled a one on damage dice; ramming a ship and then grappling them, in order to make rolling damage dice risky is certainly a good way to go in this game.

The traits had some effect; the Syracusans did avoid some oar damage on their ships, and the Carthaginians fought their opponents to a bloody draw a couple of times in boarding actions. So they were worth adding.

I have another batch of ships waiting to be painted, so the next game should hopefully include some new options.