When Maurice went to sea (18th century colonial campaign) Part 2

The expedition

Following upon the last post regarding the Maurice and Sails of glory campaign below is an explanation of how the expedition could be raised.  The set-up is design to create approximately three Sails of Glory forces and three Maurice armies to give the players some redundancy in the event they have a bad game.

Getting started:

The Warchest:

Each player starts with a budget of 8d6x100 ducats. This represent the expedition finances and can be used to buy naval and land units to make up the expedition. At least a fifth of the budget must be spent at the Admiralty, at least another fifth of the budget must be spent at Horse Guards and at least another fifth must of the budget must go into the purse to cover potential expenses that may occur later in the campaign. 

(Note;  8D6 should give the players 2800 ducats to spend. Split evenly between the Admiralty, Horse Guards and the Bank it should a little more 900 ducats per group. Within a group this can be subdivided into three group of around 300 ducats each which would represent a fair sized force for a game of Sails of Glory or Maurice.  If players wants more forces they can decrease the cost of the units ie half the cost of the units will double the available number of force for the campaign)

Command Rivalry

The Admiralty and Horse Guards are bitter rivals and easily offended. At the start of the campaign a player may not have greater than 200 ducats in spending between the two.  Eg if a player spends 900 ducats at the Admiralty he must spend 900 Ducats +/- 100 ducats at Horse Guards

At the Admiralty: 

The Admiralty is responsible for the naval forces of the power. It will charge for the use of its ships. The Ducats spent represent the player spending influence to get the ships they want included in their expedition. The ships have to two cost values. The first is the initial cost at the start of the campaign. The second cost in brackets is the during campaign cost of a new ship. 

Cost in ducats;

• 1st rate; 200(250)
• 2nd rate; 160(200)
• 3rd rate; 135(160)
• 4th rate; 95(135)
• Frigate; 70(95)
• Sloop; 35(70)
• Transport; 50(75)

Fleet composition:

In addition some ship types are more common than others.  The fleet must consist of the following.

• Ship of the line (3rd & 4th rates); 2+
• Frigates (5th or 6th rate ships of the line) ; 2+
• Capital ship (1st or 2nd rate ship); maximum one for every three 3rd/4th rate ships of the line
• Sloop (unrated); maximum one for every three Frigates 
• Transport; maximum one for every ship of the line (3rd & 4th rates)

Therefore the fleet must consist of at least two Ships of the line (which can be either 3rd or 4th rates) and two Frigates (which can be either 5th or 6th rates). The more ships of the line and frigates the fleet has the more it can get access to other ships eg if the fleet has six 3rd or 4th rates it can get up to two capital ships.

At Horse Guards: 

The Horse Guards is responsible for the army of the power. It will charge for the use of its troops. The Ducats spent represent the player spending influence to get the troops they want included in their expedition. The troops have to two cost values. The first is the initial cost at the start of the campaign. The second cost in brackets is the during campaign cost of a new ship. 

Cost in ducats;

• Regular Trained infantry battalion: 20(24) 
• Regular Conscript infantry battalion: 16(20) 
• Irregular infantry battalion: 16(20)
• Artillery: 16(20)

Army composition;

A Battalion and its traits represent a corresponding four base (companies) unit in Maurice.  In addition Some units types are more common than others.  The land force must consist of the following.

• Regular Trained infantry battalions: 5+
• Regular Conscript infantry battalions: 5+
• Artillery gun; 1 per 5 regular trained battalion
• Irregular infantry battalion; maximum 1 per 5 regular conscript battalion

Infantry battalions can be exchanged for cavalry battalions in the following ratios

• 1 in 5 Regular infantry battalions can be converted to cavalry
• 1 in 3 Irregular infantry battalions can be converted to cavalry
• 1 Regular Trained battalion can be upgraded to elite for every 5 battalions of conscript infantry. 

Therefore the land force must consist of at least five battalions of regular trained battalions and at least five battalions of regular conscript battalions. The more trained and conscript battalions are added the more irregulars and artillery becomes available.

Squadrons and Brigades

To minimise paperwork (and preserve player sanity) individual ships can be organised into squadrons and individual battalions can be grouped into brigades. There is no limit to size of a ship squadron or brigade but typically a naval squadron would consist of two to four ships while and infantry brigade would be three to five battalions  

The graphic at the head of the article gives a sample expedition for the campaign. Note the army ratios are incorrect in the sample but it gives a rough overview of the expedition. The fleet consists of ten ships in five groups at a value of approximately nine hundred ducats. The army consist of thirty five battalions at a value of six hundred and forty ducats. The expedition needs to spend at least a hundred and sixty ducats to be for the army not to be jealous of the navy and needs to get at least four the current artillery gun twenty regular battalions.

(Note:  The expedition (ships and army) outlined above is based off Sir John Grey West Indies campaign of 1974.  Ideally each players expedition should look a little plausible for the era.)

Transporting the army.

Transport ships are huge bulk carriers each can carry twenty five battalions.

Alternative the naval can, grudging, give up crew and cannons to make space for the army on a navy ship.  A rated ship can give up half its crew boxes to transport Army units. A frigate transport a single battalion. A 3rd or 4th rate ship can transport two battalions. A 1st or 2nd rate ship  can transport three battalions. Sloops are too small to transport anything significant.

Artillery is relatively small and can be transport in a frigate,or rated ship in addition to its normal complement..

If a ship is engaged while transport Army units it fights the battle with its crew reduced.