Pirates Of Earthsea

I've been reading through Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea books over the past couple of weeks. I'd started on the original trilogy* then, part-way through, found out that many years after she wrote those she did three more books. I found a lovely complete hardbound volume online and bought it, and have read the fourth to sixth books for the first time**. It's quite a journey.

There are better descriptions of Earthsea online than I could ever write, but basically it's set on an archipelago about the size of Europe. There are lots of islands with trade between them and, it is suggested, some conflict. This is not a fantasy series that dwells too much on warfare though (the only real battle, if it can be called such, is in the first chapter of the first book, and Le Guin has some things to say about how wargamers have usurped fantasy in her afterword to one of the other books). But there obviously is a degree of conflict. The world is very much one of ships and boats, and there are frequent mentions of pirates and raiders. To the north-east of the archipelago are four large islands that make up the Kargad Empire, the closest thing the series has to an antagonist nation.  They certainly engage in raiding behaviour.

A primary feature of the books is magic. This is a fantasy series where magic exist and is, to come extent, commonplace. Every village has a witch who knows a few charms and spells, there are sorcerers who have the gift of magic too, and some individuals with particular skill travel to the island of Roke where there is a school for wizards and become properly trained. They then go out into the world and many tows, or wealth individuals, have their own wizard. Of relevance to this post is the fact that wizards often seem to work on ships, mostly to mitigate against bad weather or provide favourable weather, or to repair the vessel even. However there is no magic in the Kargad Empire.

I thought that this would be a chance for me to explore the one area of Galleys & Galleons I hadn't really looked at to any great degree; the magic system. The way it works is oddly reminiscent of the books, so I thought that an Earthsea-based game would be a great chance to try it out.

There's not detailed descriptions of ships in the books. It's suggested that most are smallish single-masted affairs with square sails (although there's at least one reference to a fore-and-aft rig). There's several mentions of galleys, with twenty, forty or sixty oars, with the latter being something impressive. These seem to undertake longish journeys, and the book suggests that a lot of the time they are rowing. This didn't sound that practical and, after chatting with my wife (who is also reading them) we concluded that some ships are sail only whilst others (called galleys) have oars (and a full set of rowers) but also use sails because it's more practical. There's no gunpowder weaponry or mention of any arms on ships aside from what the crew has. So in Galleys & Galleons terms we're looking at low C value vessels that are unarmed and probably square-rigged. Some (indeed many) would have the Sweeps trait to represent their being 'galleys'

So I set up a simple game.

Off the east coast of the island of Torheven four raiders from the Kargish lands appear out of the mist.

The local pirate-lord has assembled a flotilla of four vessels to intercept them. Their crews are not as well armed as the fierce Karg warriors, but they do have a mage skilled in the manipulation of the wind on board one of their ships.

So the stage is set. Each side has four ships and is looking to eliminate or drive off the other side. The stats are as follows:

Karg Raiders
Q3 C2 - Square Rigged, Unarmed, Shallow Draft, Sweeps, Drilled Soldiers

Torheven Pirates
Q3 C2 - Square Rigged, Unarmed, Sweeps, Shallow Draft

Torheven 'Flagship'
Q3 C2 - Square Rigged, Unarmed, Shallow Draft, Sweeps, Yare, Magic User (Wind Whisperer)

The points are even. The basic ships are the same, whilst the Drilled Soldiers on the Karg ships offset the magic-user and Yare trait on the Torheven flag. In a battle that will be decided by boarding, having an edge will help the Kargs. But the magic-user allows the men of the archipelago a chance to dictate how the fight unfolds.

The wind was from the north-east (the right of this picture). The pirates held back waiting to see which way the Kargs would go around the island in the centre of the board. They o[ted to go to the north-east of it.

As the Kargs approached the magic-user used his ability to change the direction of the wind, leaving the Kargs between the two islands but in irons and reliant on their sweeps. This gave the men of Torheven the initiative.

The men of Torheven took the initiative and threw it away, blundering about like amateurs and coming close to a collision. 

The Kargs closed up their line as the pirates cut across their front, aiming for the end of the Karg line. A sudden rush would allow them to attack whilst the men of the archipelago were vulnerable.

A failed initiative roll meant that the Kargs were paralysed into immobility. Neither side was doing well so far.

The ships from Torheven swooped on the Kargish ship on the far right of their line and grappled it.

But the Kargs seized the initiative, despite being outnumbered. The next ship in like grappled on of the pirates. The Kargs' Drilled Soldiers trait helped offset the outnumbering and a blinding 6:1 die roll saw one of the Torheven ships boarded and swiftly overpowered.

The men of Torheven fought back and gave the Kargs a bloody-nose in return. The white pennant on the ship to the right indicates that it has the wizard on board.

The damaged Torheven ship surrendered ...

... swiftly followed by the Kargish vessel.

The other Karg vessels had been rowing into the fight and one attacked the fourth, isolated, Torheven ship, inflicting casualties.

The initial action was breaking up as ships detached from the two surrendered vessels. Archers on the Torheven flagship scored some casualties on a Karg ship.

But the Kargs scored a greater success when a second Torheven ship surrendered.

With the Torheven flagship isolated, the Kargs turned, grappled and boarded it. The fight was a close one though, with both sides taking heavy casualties.

The two other Kargish ships were having trouble turning back into the fight though. Their initiative rolls were terrible (although the ships of Torheven weren't exactly covering themselves in glory either).

With the boarding action getting dangerous the Torheven flag (top of picture) cut grappled and then used the magician to give the ship a boost of speed into the wind to get away from the Kargish ship. To the right a second Karg ship was coming up in support, whilst to the bottom-left the other Torheven vessel was returning to the fight.

The magician came into his own again, getting an excellent activation roll that allowed him to call lightning down on the pursuing Karg vessel. It was badly damaged and caught fire, putting it out of the action.

And things continued to go well for the men of Torheven. As the second Karg ship came up the Torheven flag turned and moved closer. This allowed their magician to cast a wind-gust ...

... that wrecked the Karg vessel on an island.

The Kargs had one ship remaining and it was well out of the fight. They wisely decided to flee.

The men of Torheven celebrate their victory, which was won thanks to their wizard. He actually did really well with his activations (given that magic-users activate with a Q of 4), which enabled him to turn the tide of battle. Things can go badly wrong for a magician that doesn't make his activations.

The Kargish soldiers showed that had they managed to take the initiative early on they could have defeated the men of Torheven. But magic prevented them from making an effective early attack and they were really unlucky in the last couple of turns.

I was really satisfied with this game. It had a nice Earthsea vibe and rattled along nicely with several exciting reversals of fortune.

Of course for the next game I should try a fight between two forces from the archipelago, where both sides have a magician.

*'A Wizard Of Earthsea', 'The Tombs Of Atuan' and 'The Farthest Shore'

** 'Tehanu', 'Tales From Earthsea' and 'The Other Wind'