Age of Sail

The "Wednesday Gamers" have been playing an Age of Sail game in my absence. (I have had work and family events that prevented me from playing.) And so, I have been an armchair admiral for the last few weeks. I am currently reading N. A. M. Rodger's The command of the ocean : a naval history of Britain, 1649-1815 to get better acquainted with the period. I also read the article, review, and reply to Douglas Allen's fascinating analysis of the economic incentives that made the Royal Navy and so Britain a great power: The British Navy Rules: Monitoring and Incompatible Incentives in the Age of Fighting Sail. (Also for free.)

While looking online for Age of Sail game rules I came across Jeffrey Knudsen's http://www.warartisan.com/ and his wonderful paper-craft models. I have not yet built any (armchair restrictions), but I have to say that the instructions are top notch. Even if you have no intention of making a 1:900 scale square-rigger do read the instructions for the 64-gun ship of the line and rigging tutorial. They are models of instructional clarity.

Admirals115

While I did not find the rules the Wednesday Gamers are using I did find the board game Fighting Sail which I want to try. The game was published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) many years ago and long out of print, but thanks to pack-rats and their pimp I was able to buy an unpunched copy.