Those of you who are old curmudgeonly gamers, like me, may remember - a classic wargame of the age of sail. Hasbro has made the 1981 edition available as a free download.

The Auld Grump, many fond memories are tied up in this game.

That was a great game!



I lost my copy in one of many moves years ago

I remember the game board being rather nice and heavy

Alas, no. *EDIT* This is a lie - I found them.

Some companies make vinyl battle mats that would work, and there are still minis that can be used with it. I will have to look and see if there are any PDF sailing counters out there. (Dig, dig, dig... my Google-fu finds all... dig, dig, dig....) Counters and map boards (and the missing rules) for WS&IM.

Incidentally, has anyone here played Fire as She Bears? It looks interesting, but I have not yet picked up the PDF.

The Auld Grump

You know you could allways use the water from either the Maiden or Mayhem Marina and kitbash a hex grid on to it.

I will check this out.

I wonder if ships from the constructable games could be adapted?

The Pirates games are largely resolved by the player fielding the largest ship... So strategically, they are limited. I'm actually suprised they haven't released 'advanced rules'. They are popular for random pack tournaments. (The player who draws the largest ship wins.)

You know, given what I spend on Warmachine, Why couldn't I buy decent ships and paint them?

One of life's great mysteries I guess.

I bet someone here could easily make really small Maidens to fit on those hexes.

Fire as she bears is pretty simple and lots of fun. I recommend it. It is my only play test credit though, so I may be biased.

I've played Fire As She Bears for several years, at the local game store and at a couple of conventions. The 2d edition did away with a grid on the play surface, but a 2.5 edition (part of the Trafalgar Scenario Pack) introduces play with a hex grid. I ran the Trafalgar scenario at the local game store for the 200th Anniversary of the battle in 2005. Not a good game for a crowd that wants a lot of action unless the wind shifts in favor of the French/Spanish fleet. Our game never saw a wind change, and large parts of the French/Spanish fleet never saw action. I use Valiant 1/2000 minis, but you can find ships in lots of scales, with the biggest preference being 1/1200. The regular 2d edition uses an octagonal base that allows you to move in 8 directions. 1st edition did that on a square grid allowing movement on the nort-south/east-west axis as well as diagonally. I liked the 2d edition more because I didnt have to mess with making up a special mat for it. If you buy the Trafalgar pack, you get the rules, as well as pages of print, cut and fold minis, enough to play any of the scenarios in the pack, as well as a hex-grid set of sheets you can print out to play on. Victory By Any Means also created a FASB campaign module, and there is a Carribean Campaign scenario available to go with that.

There was an article done in the HMGS Great Lakes newsletter (The Herald) some time back when somebody used the WOTC ship stuff for their FASB game. If you have access to Magweb, you might find that article. It worked just fine for the game.

I also have the minis rules that came out just before Wooden Ships, written by the same author and requiring a hex grid, just like the board game. It has a few little options not found in the board game, like captains dueling during boarding actions. Valiant minis actually had a few scenario packs available for that set of rules that contained all the ships needed for certain scenarios. Shame they no longer offer that.

Tom