All at Sea - Salamis ad Actium play test

The next rule set up in our play test is 'Salamis ad Actium' by David Manley, published in 2003 by A & A Game Engineering. An inspection of the A & A website reveals that there is a version 1.1 (2015) but this just appears to tidy up a few things, presentation wise, and doesn't make any significant changes to the rules.
Before the play test, it is worth mentioning that the rules are rather dense, in both style and formatting, with many tables which are often repeated in different places. Also there is no play sheet. Despite this, the rules are actually fairly straight forward and worth persevering with.
Once again, the rules are designed with 1/1200th ship models in mind but suggests using inches instead of centimetres as the measurement units if using 1/600th or similar models.
The scale of the game seems a bit confused with one model representing one ship. However, the rules do go on to say that because of the ground scale this is more like 5 ships and for larger battles may need to be bigger still.
The expected game size is a bit vague and no table size is given. However, fleets are divided into squadrons of up to 10 vessels.

For consistency, I used the same scenario as the previous Naumachiae test. I attempted to classify the ships as close as possible to those of the original scenario but in this version it works out that the Carthaginians have a points advantage.
The deployment area uses the same 15cm deep area as the Naumachiae rules and squadron formations are similar; line abreast, astern or echelon. Off table forces are also catered for.
This time around I used a smaller 30 inch square playing area (the kitchen table) so the fleets started a bit closer together. Also, unlike the Naumachiae game, which took 5 turns for the fleets to come close, Salamis ad Actium uses a faster movement rate to speed up the initial stages of the game. Hence the opposing fleets closed within the first two turns.
Both squadrons approached in line abreast but the Carthaginians switched to echelon in an attempt to outflank the Romans. However, a good run of initiative cards meant the Romans were able to gain several consecutive moves, striking the Carthaginians in the flank.

Carthaginians begin flanking manoeuvre

Romans surge forward

Romans execute ram attack

In the following moves the Romans deployed the corvus and attempted to board. As boarding actions are carried out in the intermediate phase (one of the seven cards), the Carthaginians were able to use their archers to fend of the Roman marines before the boarding action was adjudicated. In the end the Roman boarders were repulsed and  the Carthaginian ships managed to break free.

Carthage breaks free

I stopped the game at this point as I had tested most of the aspects I needed.

So how do they fit my criteria?


1) Small scale actions involving a handful of ships.
Although, not as mechanistic and slightly more abstract than Naumachiae I think these may be a good set for solo games of just a couple of ships per side. The level of detail is similar to Naumachiae but handled more abstractly. I think these would give a quicker game but the former have more character. In terms of solo play the card system of Salamis ad Actium is definitely a winner.

2) Small fleets of several squadrons, each of a handful of ships (multi-player club gaming)
These are certainly a possibility but I'm not sure why I was dissatisfied the last time around. I seem to recall that there was too much shooting for my taste but that may be down to the personalities of the players. Appropriate scenario design should fix that so I think this is definitely worth another go.

3) Large fleet actions of hundreds of ships (solo gaming)
Large fleets are certainly possible, as seen by my campaign reports, but is this representative of the hundreds of vessels seen in historic encounters? I don't think so. The problem here is that a base of models, representing 10 or so vessels, shouldn't act the same as a single ship. I have trouble imagining that all ships of a squadron are rammed or raked a the same time etc.