Bitwa na Morzu Wiatrów Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Starting the Game
• Actions
• Movement
• Salvos
• Types of Damage
• Boarding
• Winds
• Ending the Game

Components

• A game board (map).
• 2 × 10 hexagonal ship counters (sailing vessels).
• 28 damage counters (half-hexagons) marked with damage symbols.
• A wind direction indicator (double hexagon).
• 25 cards of the COMBAT group (WALKA). Each card gives three pieces of information:
  • the salvo strength (the white number);
  • the type of damage caused by a hit from a salvo;
  • the boarding result (a number on a red or green background, coloured triangles, or crossed swords).
• 25 cards of the WIND group (WIATRY). Each card (except the T-FLAUTA card) gives two pieces of information:
  • the change of wind direction (a black, rounded arrow);
  • the wind direction for the FLAUTA (a white hexagon with a black arrow on an orange background).

Cut the counters, cards and wind indicator carefully from the sheets on which they are printed.

Setup

The players decide which fleet colour each of them will command. Each fleet consists of 10 ships. Nine of them are armed with cannons (marked with white dots on the ship's sides) and carry infantry (marked with red or green shields). The tenth ship, distinguished by slightly thicker stripes on its sails and no cannons on its sides, is the transport ship.

The players place their ships on the fields of the board marked with the sea-monster drawing, in the area marked in the colour of the ships. Each fleet has twelve starting fields, so two remain free for each fleet.

Place the COMBAT and WIND cards face down on the fields with the matching names. Place the damage counters face up beside the board.

Starting the Game

One of the players, chosen by lot, selects the wind direction from two possibilities: downward to the right, or downward to the left (as in the diagram). The opponent makes the first action.

Actions

The players take turns performing ACTIONS. In each ACTION a player may use all of his ships on the board. Each ship may either perform a MOVEMENT or fire a SALVO (SALWA).

Movement

During one MOVEMENT a ship may make a maximum of three STEPS. One STEP is either a MOVE of one field or a TURN of one position (60 degrees) in any direction. The length of a MOVE depends on the wind direction: sailing with the wind, a ship may move three fields; diagonally with the wind, two fields; diagonally into the wind, one field. Sailing directly into the wind is not allowed. A MOVEMENT may consist of a TURN and a MOVE, but a TURN after a MOVE is forbidden.

Each ship therefore has four ways of performing a MOVEMENT:

• only a MOVE (one, two or three fields);
• only a TURN (60, 120 or 180 degrees);
• a TURN of 60 degrees and a MOVE of one or two fields;
• a TURN of 120 degrees and a MOVE of one field.

The maximum MOVEMENT lengths of ships, depending on their position relative to the wind, are shown in the diagram on the sheet.

[Diagram: hex board with the wind-direction arrow ("KIERUNEK WIATRU") and red-marked ships showing maximum movement lengths relative to the wind; see the official sheet.]

NOTE. All ships shown in the diagram belong to the fleet marked in green and have their bows on the left side. Ships of the fleet marked in red have their bows on the right side; take this into account when determining position relative to the wind.

Ships may not move onto the shore, islands, or other ships. They may not fly over them either. Units of the same player may not touch each other. Contact between ships of opposing sides is possible and is called BOARDING (ABORDAŻ).

Salvos

A ship that has an enemy sailing ship within the range of its guns may fire an ARMED SALVO (SALWA). The range of a SALVO is three fields. A ship may fire two SALVOS in one ACTION, one in each of two directions marked by the orange edges of the counter. A SALVO cannot be fired over an island or another ship. The shaded fields on the diagram show the fields within the gun range of the ship shown.

The player firing a SALVO draws a COMBAT card. If more than one enemy ship is within the range of the SALVO, the player must, before firing, state which sailing ship is being fired at. If the ship fires in both directions, the player turns over two COMBAT cards in turn.

If the number of working guns of the firing ship is greater than the white number in the top part of the COMBAT card, the SALVO hits. The hit sailing ship is damaged or sunk, according to the picture placed in the middle field of the COMBAT card. If the number of working guns is less than or equal to the white number, the SALVO misses. A card with a black letter T marks a SALVO that misses regardless of the number of working guns.

Types of Damage

A hit on a ship may lead to the following damage, in order from the lightest to the heaviest, as determined by the middle field of the COMBAT card.

• Sail on a yellow-orange background: the ship has seriously damaged masts and sails. It may move only in the direction of the wind and only one field per ACTION. It may still make TURNS and fire SALVOS normally.
• Empty yellow-orange background: all masts have been destroyed. The ship may not perform MOVES. It may perform TURNS and fire SALVOS.
• Figure 1 or 2 on a white oval: all masts have been destroyed and one or two guns have been destroyed too. The restriction on MOVEMENT is as in the previous case. When firing a SALVO or boarding, subtract one or two guns from the count (so the number of working guns may be smaller than the number of white dots on the ship's side).
• Flames: a fire on the ship. It may not take part in ACTIONS; it may only hinder the opponent's MOVEMENTS.
• Cross: the ship has sunk. It is removed from the board.

The type of damage to a sailing ship (except sinking) is shown by placing the matching damage counter on it. If the ship is hit again and the new damage is greater, the counter is replaced with the correct one; if the new damage is less than or equal to the existing damage, the counter stays.

A player may scuttle (remove from the board) his own damaged ship if it hinders him in the game.

Boarding

BOARDING (ABORDAŻ) is the joining of ships of the warring sides, so that they can win the enemy ship in close combat.

Any ship may touch an enemy ship on any of its sides in order to perform BOARDING. The combat value of a ship taking part in BOARDING equals the sum of its infantry shields and its working guns.

The player whose sailing ship performs BOARDING (ending its MOVE by touching an enemy ship) draws a COMBAT card. Its bottom field may show:

• a black number on a green or red background: the combat value of the ship increases by the given number, provided the sailing ship's sail colour matches the colour of the field;
• red and green triangles: the combat values of the ships taking part in BOARDING depend only on the number of infantry shields and working guns;
• crossed swords: the fight is undecided.

The ship whose combat value (the sum of its infantry shields, its working guns and, if applicable, the black number from the COMBAT card) is greater than the combat value of the enemy ship wins. The defeated ship is removed from the board. If the combat values of both ships are equal, the fight is undecided. In that case (as when a COMBAT card with crossed swords is turned over), BOARDING continues in the next ACTION. BOARDING cannot be broken off; the ships may not move away from each other.

If a third ship arrives at a pair of sailing ships in an undecided BOARDING, the total combat value of the two ships of one player is compared with the combat value of the opponent's ship, taking into account the information given on the COMBAT card.

A ship taking part in BOARDING may not fire, but it may itself be the target of a SALVO. If, as a result, a fire breaks out, the ship joined to it also catches fire.

Winds

At the end of an ACTION the player draws a WIND card. If the card has a black, rounded arrow, the wind direction is changed by one position (60 degrees) in the direction of the arrow. If there is no arrow, the wind stays unchanged.

The T-FLAUTA card means that the wind has stopped blowing. When it is drawn:

• remove from the board all burning ships;
• complete all BOARDINGS that are undecided at the moment the T-FLAUTA card is drawn;
• carry out TURNS and SALVOS until all the individual duels are decided.

When all possible engagements have ended (no ship has an enemy sailing ship within the range of its guns), the player who drew the T-FLAUTA card shuffles all the WIND cards, places them again at the bottom of the board and draws the top one, using it to determine the new wind direction. The white hexagon with a small black arrow on an orange background at the bottom of the WIND card serves this purpose. Its position determines the wind direction during the opponent's next ACTION.

Ending the Game

The player who is the first to bring his transport ship to the Wind Rose on the opponent's side wins.

The player who loses his transport ship has the right to keep fighting for ten more ACTIONS. If in that time he manages to sink, or at least immobilise, the opponent's transport ship, the game ends in a draw. Otherwise the player who lost his transport ship loses the game.

Closing line of the sheet: "Przyjemnej zabawy życzą — Wydawnictwo ALFA" (wishing you pleasant play, the publisher), and the printer's note, are omitted as publisher boilerplate.