Master & Commander: Frigates

“Frigates!" cried Nelson,"Were I to die this moment, want of frigates, would be found engraved on my heart" (Nelson said these words when he was chasing round the Mediterranean in search of the French expedition to Egypt)

Attached to a fleet, the frigates were the eyes and ears, ranging in line abreast over a immense expanse of sea while battleships kept steadily on line ahead, repeating signals and carrying dispatches.

Detached either singly or in small squadrons the frigates might be sent anywhere in the world to attack enemy commerce and protect their own, to hunt down privateers or pirates, or to take part in the conquest of yet another colony.

In the British Admiralty the Frigates were rated 5th rate, and small frigates 6th rate, the other small vessels used to support the operations of the frigates were classified as unrated, and they include a variety of ships from the larger corvettes and sloops of war to the small cutters and schooners. We include too, some 4th rates two deckers vessels, that, in some cases were used to execute and support frigate duties despite they were slow and cumbersome an many of them out-dated.

All this operations and engagements are covered by our rules Master & Commander Frigates. We have included 48 British, 48 Spanish, 48 French, 48 US, 40 Dutch & 24 Danish ships, including Two deckers, Frigates, Rasées, Sloops of War, Brigs of War, Schooners, & Cutters. The years covered with the ships are from the American War of Independence, French Revolutionary Wars, Napoleonic Wars, & 1812 War.

To play Frigates you need the Master & Commander Rules, Turning Templates, and Sailing Tables from Capitan Games. Along with these you will need the optional rule for Beating. All of these can be downloaded in pdf format (A4 paper size) from the Capitan Games website.