All at Sea - Salamis ad Actium background

The next rule set that I want to examine is 'Salamis ad Actium' and once again I found an old battle report from my solo campaign.

1st Illyrian War – second year

Encouraged by the success of the previous year’s reconnaissance in strength, Gaius Quilpius Aquaticus planned a second invasion of Illyria. Having experienced, at first hand, not only the strengths of the Illyrian pirates but also the weaknesses of the Roman fleet, Quilpius planned well. The Socii Navales were pressed to provide more ships to replace those lost the previous year and an intensive training schedule implemented. The fleet was also equipped with ballistae and towers for all the quinqueremes. Thus strengthened Quilpius felt confidant enough to face the Illyrian fleet once again.

After an uneventful crossing Quilpius took care to land the fleet’s sails and other unnecessary equipment before offering battle. Fearing the Illyrians superiority in numbers, Quilpius took shelter amongst a number of small islands, deploying in 2 squadrons in line ahead. The approaching Illyrians stood out to sea, where they hoped to use their greater numbers to outmanoeuvre the Roman fleet They deployed in 3 squadrons, each in line abreast, with a central squadron of quadriremes and triremes flanked by 2 lighter squadrons of mixed biremes and liburnians.

Roman Deployment

Illyrian Deployment

Quilpius planned to offer battle close to the islands and draw the Illyrians into the restricted waters, where he hoped the heavier Roman ships would be at an advantage. However, the inexperienced crews had some difficulty negotiating the shallow waters and the Illyrian Admiral chose this moment to strike. Hoping to catch the Romans as they debouched from the straits the Illyrians struck fast.

The Roman Fleet Struggles Through the Straits

The Illyrians advanced at full speed on the wings, whilst holding the centre squadron back, in an attempt to envelop the Roman fleet. The Roman right flank failed to clear the straits before the Illyrians were among them with many of the quinqueremes being rammed by the more manoeuvrable Illyrian vessels.

The Illyrian Attack

The Roman left fared better and fought off the Illyrians on 2 fronts. Half the squadron faced off the Illyrian centre whilst the remaining vessels attempted to form a flank guard. The battle in the centre went well with the Illyrians suffering badly from the massed ballistae fire of the Roman ships, although they did inflict some casualties in return as their quadriremes were similarly equipped. The Illyrian centre, realising they could not make any headway against the massed ballistae shot, decided to back water and draw the Romans into the open. Meanwhile, on the flank the Romans were struggling to prevent the Illyrian periplous. Initial attempts to stop the outflanking move were successful but Quilpius soon discovered the shallow draught of the Illyrian vessels allowed them to outflank his own ships by passing through the shallows.

General Action

The Illyrians Pass Through the Shallows

Whilst the Roman left was struggling to fend off the Illyrian attack the Romans began to gain the upper hand on the right flank. Although the right flank squadron initially suffered, as the smaller enemy ships infiltrated their line, the battle began to turn in favour of the heavier ships. The stoutly built quinquremes were able to absorb more damage than the lighter enemy ships. Once the enemy vessels had rammed the Roman ships the Roman marines were often able to board their attacker’s vessel before the ram could be extricated. Many Illyrian vessels were captured in this manner. Eventually the Illyrian’s morale broke and their right flank squadron fled. Shortly after the Roman centre once again attacked, clearing the Illyrian decks with their ballistae fire. This was too much for the beleaguered Illyrians and they broke off the action and fled.

The Illyrian Right Flank Breaks

So it does look like I managed a relatively large solo battle using these rules, but how easy was this to play and how was the experience? Luckily,it seems that, at the time, I did make some notes.

This game was fought using Salamis ad Actium and was generally more successful than the previous attempt using Naumachiae. The fleets were identical, in terms of both number and type, to the fleets used in the previous battle. This time, however, the heavier ships (quadriremes and quinqueremes) were all armed with ballistae. No ships carried a mainsail and consequently none were overburdened. The Romans defended their vessels with heavy marines whilst I chose to use one third archers and two thirds normal marines for the Illyrians.


The fleets were designed as equal points forces, without taking into account crew quality etc. The rules have a table for randomly generating these attributes which works quite well. Hence, the fleets may differ slightly in points value due to the affect of the crew and command qualities. Generating the crew and command qualities in this way can give rise to some interesting combinations. In this battle the best crew (veteran) were in the Illyrian centre squadron but were led by the fleet Admiral who was inept!

The rules use a card activation system, which is excellent for solo games. There are 7 cards in the deck – 6 action phase cards (3 per side) and 1 intermediate phase card. Ships move, carry out ram attacks and rakes and archers shoot during the action phase. Ships also attempt to separate after rams during the action phases. Ballistae fire and boarding actions are carried out, for both sides, during the intermediate phase.

This can lead to some exciting action as for instance a ship ramming in its side’s first action phase then has 2 possible action phases left to attempt to extricate its ram and separate the vessels. However, the intermediate phase may occur first in which case the enemy can attempt to board. Similarly, ballistae fire is potentially quite powerful and a draw giving 2 consecutive intermediate phases can make ballistae fire truly devastating.

There is some bookkeeping involved, as record is kept of the ship’s current damage levels (light, medium, heavy, severe, sinking). Damage / casualties can also occur in a variety of ways and record must be kept of the ships maximum speed, oar factors, marines, archers and equipment. Nevertheless, a ship’s data can be kept to a single line and I was able to keep record of 47 ships using only 2 A4 sheets of paper.

All in all these are an excellent set of rules and work well for solo play.

A very favourable result I would say. However, there is a curious postscript to this. Not too long ago (we're talking years not decades!) I recall putting on a multi-player game at the club and coming away quite dissatisfied. Maybe these work better solo? Hopefully, the next play test may shed some light on this nautical conundrum.