The rules are essentially the same as in the first edition, and a player familiar with them should have no trouble in adjusting. I will try to cover each of the major areas of the original game and outline the differences.

The game still revolves around the concept of ship rate, but the rate is no longer used as an indictor of the ship's fighting ability. Instead, a ship has a Hull rating, ranging from 12 for a 1^st Rate to 7 for a 6^th Rate; this Hull rating also reflect the ship's firepower, but the rules allow for the possibility of a ship having reduced armament and having a lower firepower than hull. Ships also now have a crew rating, which reflects their ability to repair and fight boarding actions.

Unlike the first edition a ship's crew now has a quality ratings from Elite to Green. This affects firing and manoeuvre.

The game still uses the card draw system of the original for determining the sequence of movement. The only major changes here are that there is a more precise definition of what occurs when in the Command phase and that firing takes place at specific points in the move rather than whenever the player desires it. The change to the firing is justified by an example of the sort of abuse possible under the old system. One omission that surprised me is that the rules are silent as to whether a non-moving ship can fire at an enemy moving in to its arc or return fire if shot at. If this is no longer allowed it seems to open up the possibility of a ship being able to move alongside an enemy, fire at it, then move away without receiving a shot in reply.

The movement rules are essentially unchanged with ships rolling differing numbers of dice depending on their sailing class and attitude to the wind. There is a rather nice optional rule that allows for the possibility that Poor crews may not turn as well as more skilled ones.

The procedure for firing is similar in this edition to that in the first, but the method by which the firing table is calculated has been simplified a little. The firing table is still calculated by the difference between firer's firepower and target's rate, modified by a dice roll difference, range and rakes. The final result gives a row on the damage table and 2D6 are rolled to determine the effect. One major change is that the damage table roll is also modified for crew quality and rakes. There are some extra limitations on firing; smaller vessels cannot fire at longer ranges and rakes only have any effect at close ranges. In addition there is a check for critical hits.

The effects of damage are much the same as before with the ship's hull/firepower being reduced and the possibility that mast may fall, fires may break out or the ship may lose the ability to steer. The damage table can still cause a ship to sink or strike, but it will also strike if its hull reaches zero.

Boarding actions are fought in the same way as for the first edition although there are some additions to allow for crew size and loss of officers. One thing that seems to be missing is a modifier for crew quality.

The rules include a number of new sections for such things as landing parties, boats, mortars, fireships and galleys. There are various optional rules which allow smaller actions to be fought with more complexity; one of these is expanded firepower ratings to allow the differences between ships of the same nominal rate to be shown. As with everything else in this edition they are written in the same spirit of simple fast play as the first edition.

These are very minor criticisms. FLOB is an excellent set of rules that give fast, simple games with the right feel to them. They are highly recommended to anyone wishing to wargame this fascinating period.