Naval Battle in the Lapari Islands - 255 BC

The Roman squadron emerging from the port of Lapari

 The following is an account of a hypothetical naval battle that could have happened between the Roman and Carthaginian fleets during the First Punic War.  It is typical of one of the many small scale battles that probably happened during this war.  

This was my first game using the Avalon Hill "Trireme" boardgame rules modified for miniatures.  There is a "Fleet" set of rules, which are fairly short and involves little paperwork, and a "Ship" set of rules that are more comprehensive.  I used the Fleet rules for this battle.

All Roman ships are 1/600 scale models printed out from files from Wargames Vault by Voxhouse. The mat is from Monday Night Productions. Carthaginian ships are Valiant Miniatures.

Legate Otacilius has been given a small squadron to defend the Roman merchant traffic moving through the Lapari Islands (just north of Messina, Sicily).  The supplies coming through there are vital to the Roman army's campaign to oust the Carthaginians from Sicily.  Lookouts posted on the hills overlooking the harbor have reported strange ships in battle formation coming from the west...they have to be the enemy.

Otacilius sailed in the Cataphract Hepteres (7 men per row of oarers) Beta, the other three ships being Cataphract Quinquiremes (5 men per row).  Cataphract means the men at the oars were protected by a wooden wall to the side and ceiling above.  Crew quality is rated from Expert - Average - Green - Slave.  Slave crews didn't actually exist in this time period, which the rules make clear, but is a useful rating for a truly awful crew, or for a captured ship (who's crew naturally didn't have the highest morale).

Otacilius sailed with all average crews except for the Pi, which had a green crew.  All except except Pi were equipped with special equipment to help them grapple another vessel.  In order to capture an enemy vessel, first you have to grapple with it before you can board it and fight its marines with your marines.

The Cataphract Quinquireme was the standard battleship for the 1st and 2nd Punic Wars, and the ship ratings were the same for both sides: 4 hexes for full speed, 2 hexes for cruising speed.  The Beta, being a larger ship has a 3 for full speed.  Every time you use full speed you have to roll to see if your crew tires. Once a crew tires it can only use cruising speed for the rest of the game. There is no recovery. The better the crew, the less chance it will tire when using full speed.  

The other ratings the ship have are size (8 for all Quinquiremes, 9 for the Hepteres), and a boarding rating (8 for all Quinquiremes, 16 for the Hepteres).

The Carthaginian admiral Hasdrubal has been given a small well-manned squadron with the objective of disrupting the Roman merchant traffic supporting their armies in Sicily.  Although merchant ships are his top priority, he will not pass up the opportunity to embarrass an inferior Roman squadron.

 All the Carthaginian ships had "Expert" crews.

The Carthaginian squadron closes with the Roman squadron, which can be seen at top right.

 There are three ways to attack an enemy ship in the game:

• Ramming, which can result in either crippling or sinking the enemy ship.
• Oar Rakes, which can only result in crippling the enemy ship.
• Boarding, which requires you to grapple an adjacent ship and fight a boarding battle.  This can result in capturing the enemy ship.
  

 

As he approached the the Roman Squadron, Hasdrubal has his two columns diverge in order to come at the Romans from two directions.

Commanders in this time period typically either wanted to fight a "Ram/rake" battle, or a "boarding" battle.  The Ram/rake battle was typically favored by the side with better crews, while the boarding battle was favored by the side with larger marine contingents and less well trained crews.

Hasdrubal continues with his envelopment while Otacilius waits for inspiration.

Otacilius decides to take a chance on using full speed to close with part of the Carthiginian force when they seem to be too separated to support each other.  However in doing so both Pi with it's green crew, and Xi with it's average crew become tired. No more full speed movement for them.

The Carthaginians at the top use full speed to distance themselves from the Roman attack, while the other two use full speed to close in with the Roman rear.  It looks like Hasdrubal's strategy is working so far...

Roman ships Beta and Kappa both use full speed to get away from the Carthaginians closing on their rear, but in the process Beta tires its crew.

Carthaginian ship Iota and Alpha use full speed to try to catch up to the fleeing Romans, and manage not to tire their crews.  The only real advantage the Carthaginians had in this battle (and the war in general) was their superior crews.

The Roman Pi manages to ram the quarter beam of the Xi, but does no damage to the Carthaginian. It does manage to cripple itself however.  Crippled ships can move only 1 hex, and their boarding value is halved. Crippling can be repaired, at the risk of sinking yourself. 

Roman Xi does manage to grapple Carthaginian Xi (notice the "grapple" marker between them in the picture).

After an inconclusive boarding battle between the Xi's, Carthaginian Xi manages to break the grapple and use Full speed to get away.  Meanwhile Carthaginian Alpha makes a ram attack on Kappa, while Iota does the same to Beta.  It looks like the Carthaginian strategy is working, but battle is an iffy thing...

Iota's ram attack does no damage to Beta, but it does give Beta the opportunity to grapple with Iota, which it does successfully. With Beta's larger boarding value (16 to Iota's 8), Iota is in trouble.

Meanwhile Alpha's ram attack on Kappa also yields no positive results, but does allow Kappa to successfully grapple Alpha.

Beta successfully boards and captures Iota (note the red marker).  The crews of captured ships revert to "slave" rating, are tired, and crippled.  The cripple can be removed. but the other ratings are permanent, even if re-captured by the original owners.

Kappa and Alpha's boarding battle was inconclusive this turn, and if still grappled next turn have to fight again.  Meanwhile Omicron has rammed Kappa on the opposite beam hoping to force a decision.  Xi has also taken the opportunity to ram Pi.

 

Meanwhile Roman Xi has taken the opportunity to move around Pi to get adjacent to the immobile Xi. 

The disadvantage of ramming is that it stops you in your tracks, and the only move you can make next turn is to backwater (reverse) 1 hex.  It leaves the ramming ship very vulnerable for 2 turns.  An oar rake on the other hand, allows a ship to potentially cripple another ship, and keep moving.  It doesn't have the potential to sink an enemy vessel, but at least you're not locked in place and made an inviting target. 

The green "BW" counters on sterns of Xi and Omicron are a reminder the next move they have to make has to be a backwater move.

Roman Pi and Kappa are both crippled by the Carthaginian ram attacks.

 

Roman Pi and Kappa have both managed to repair this cripple status (very lucky). Kappa has managed to grapple with Alpha again.

Carthaginian Xi backwaters one hex (the only thing it can do), but even the tired Roman rowers are able to catch up to it, and now it has Roman ships on three sides all wanting to grapple and board...

 

Beta manages to grapple with Carthaginian Xi, and the inevitable happens.  Xi may now be a cripple, with a slave, tired crew, but at least it no longer belongs to the enemy!

 

Kappa has manged to keep grappled with Alpha, and not get captured, allowing its compatriots to come to its aid.  Omicron has managed its backwater move, but is now in a dangerous position.

Alpha is also captured, and Hasdrubal in the Omicron uses full speed to make a break from the (mostly) tired Roman crews.  However, Kappa's crew had not been tired out yet, and uses full speed to catch up and grapple with Omicron.  The crews tire in the process, but the result is worth it as a successful grapple is made.

Another Roman ship manages to grapple with Omicron, and the tired Roman crews get their just reward in another, and final capture.  Hasdrubal is escorted in chains to the Beta, and four new ships are added to the Roman fleet.

Summary:

The outcome of this battle was 180 degrees from what I expected when I set it up.  I expected the Carthaginians with their expert crew to run rough-shod over the lesser Roman crews, and it looked at one point that it might happen.  I think the Carthaginian made a mistake in not doing oar-rakes instead of rams, because of the already mentioned unfortunate results of ramming (stops you dead in the water a turn). I also forgot about the necessity of making a backwater move for the first two rams that happened.

I had a lot of fun fighting this battle.  The rules for the Fleet game are only 6 pages long if you add the optional rules, but still have some very clever nuances. It looks relatively easy to incorporate some of the more complex rules from the Ship game into the Fleet game bit by bit to add more realism (the rules even encourage it). 

I have created several charts to support this game which can be downloaded from the Board Game Geek site.  Just look for the Trireme game from AH and you will find them in the Files section. Let me know what you think!  Thanks, and good gaming.