This document describes changes, additions and rules clarifications for 'Form Line of Battle II'. It has been written in order to provide a consistent framework for games played by the Staines Wargamers, but may be of interest to other players as well.

The items in this document are listed under the section of the rules for which they apply. They are a combination of changes lifted directly from the website of the author of the second edition rules, David Manley, changes designed by members of the Staines club, and changes developed through discussion with the author.

The changes and additions are laid out under the Chapter headings in the original rules to which they belong.

Not all of these changes have been fully playtested, so feedback and criticism is always welcome.

Ships will have a separate firepower and hull rating.

In the first edition a non-phasing ship (i.e. a ship not eligible to move in a particular phase) could fire at a phasing (moving) ship under certain circumstances (if fired at or if the phasing ship moved into its broadside arc). This was omitted in the second edition in error.

Ships of the non-phasing side are allowed to shoot at eligible targets after all movement has been completed, and after all gunfire from the phasing side has been completed. Any damage to the non-phasing ships is inflicted before they fire, so a non-phasing ship may suffer rating reductions or even be sunk or forced to strike before it may return fire.

If opposing vessels are fouled or grappled together, then they roll for drifting in both player's movement phases, but only move half of the distance rolled on the D6. Ships of the same side which are fouled together drift as per the normal rules, 1D6 in their movement phases.

In addition to their ability to sail closer to the wind than square-rigged ships, fore-and-aft rigged vessels have different speeds for each wind attitude. This reflects the fact that the sail plan offers greater or lesser sail area to a wind coming from a particular direction than the equivalent square rig.

Determine the attitude to the wind of the vessel. The number of movement dice is as follows:

In general fore-and-aft rigged ships will be sailing class 2. Some merchant vessels, or bombs, may be class 1 however.

Fore-and-aft rigged ships do not have to roll to go into irons when they tack. However, they are at a disadvantage when turning their stern across the wind (gybing). If a turn by a fore-and-aft rigged vessel will cause its stern to move through, or from, the Running attitude into one of the Quarter Reaching attitudes, then roll twice as if the vessel were tacking. If both of the rolls indicate that the vessel goes into irons, then the vessel stops, or remains, in the Running attitude. The +2 modifier for lost masts applies to this roll.

Apart from not having to roll to go into irons when tacking, fore-and-aft rigged ships follow the same procedure as for square-rigged vessels.

A ship wishing to tack must start Phase 1 beating. If it does not go into irons in Phase 2 it will end up beating on the opposite tack.

Section 4.6 states that speed is halved for each fallen mast suffered by a ship. This is perhaps a little harsh. Delete that line and replace with the following:

Each fallen mast reduces the number of dice thrown for movement by 1 for vessels with three or more masts, or by 2 for ships with two masts. Where this would reduce the number of dice rolled to zero or less, a single die is rolled and the deficit made up by reducing the score of the die by the deficit. Note that the score is never reduced below zero (i.e. ships will never move backwards as a result of mast loss). Refer to the table below for a quick reference.

Ranges should be measured from the mainmast of the firing ship to the nearest mast of the target ship. If firing at shore batteries or non-masted structures use the centre of the vessel or structure for all measurement purposes.

In order to fire at a ship, at least one of its masts (not the bowsprit) must be in the firing arc. Line of sight and firing arcs are blocked if the line used for range measurement between the two objects concerned passes through the HULL of an intervening ship or across a structure or land.

Additional modifiers to the red-white dice roll:

A 'rr' result is applied directly to the target's firepower rating. One less than the result is applies to the target's hull factor and crew factor. Thus a 'rr' result will destroy one firepower factor, a '2rr' will destroy 2 firepower, 1 hull and one crew, and a '3rr' will destroy 3 firepower, 2 hull and 2 crew.

A vessel will a firepower of 0 cannot fire, and will strike if it receives any further rating damage.

The "S" result on the Broadside Firing Table represents the ship striking, but being severely damaged. Ships that strike to an "S" result are too badly damaged to be repaired and "bought in" as prizes. If they encounter bad weather they are almost certain to founder.

Fires will not cause rating damage unless the repair roll is '1', in which case one firepower is lost. If a ship accumulates more than 4F then the fire is out of control. Roll a die in each command and repair phase, on a '6' the vessel blows up. The roll for extinguishing a fire is not modified by the ship having no crew parties, but a ship with no crew parties applies the number of fires on board as a negative modifier when firing (see above).

For various reasons initiating a boarding action does not seem to have been as easy as some fiction suggests. This is especially true of ships of the line, with few historical examples of them being carried by boarding - Nelson at St. Vincent seems to be a major exception, rather than the rule. Boarding does seem to be a lot more common the smaller the ships get. To this end, use the following rule:

A ship may only initiate a boarding action if it is grappled or fouled to an enemy, and it succeeds in rolling equal to or less than the original rate of the largest ship (in terms of initial rate) in the boarding action.

Example: A 4th Rate grappled to a 3rd rate would need to roll a 3 or less to initiate the action. A 1st Rate grappled to a 5th Rate would need to roll a 1 or less.

Boarding is resolved as D6 + firepower rating + crew rating + crew parties

The crew rating is:

Elite +2, Veteran +1, Green -1

A vessel starts with a number of boats equal to one-third of its hull factor (rounded up). Each boat can carry two crew or 1 firepower factor, and is assumed to have a built in crew to row it (in other words they can move even after disembarking their passengers).

If using the advanced ratings, ignore the rules about small vessels being unable to damage 1^st-4^th rate vessels unless raking. The greater difference in hull and firepower, as well as the ability of larger ships to fire at longer ranges, should take this into account.

This chart given in this Appendix is wrong, in that it does not tie up with the wind attitude marker. The correct chart is given below:

(BT) is only allowed to fore-and-aft rigged vessels. Square rigged vessels must tack to pass through this attitude.

Oared vessels move 2D6 if the table indicates '-', otherwise they move 3D6.

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