Drake

A game from the Ahoy Series by Edmund Vale. This is a game of Privateers vs. Spanish Galleons. The Galleons, one carrying the Treasure, are attempting to deliver it to their home port while the Privateers are attempting to capture the gold. All ships have equal speed, strength and vulnerability.

The game is based around the map, which shows wind direction in each diamond as well as ports, forts (gray areas with letters and gold triangles), calm areas (diamonds containing blue sea serpents), sandbars(yellow diamonds), dry land (gray diamonds), ice flows (icebergs in the diamond) and coral reefs (orange diamonds). The ships move around the map based on the wind direction and are really only limited to changes in wind direction and decisions to change ship direction. Chance only comes into play when you move on to a calm area, the teetotum is then used to determine whether the wind comes up.

A ship is given 6 wooden beads at the beginning of the game to represent its strength. Loss of beads due to difficult maneuvers, combat or running aground can lead to "disablement" which takes away some of the ability to change directions during your turn. A second disablement (loss of 4 beads) means the ship can only move 1 square a turn.

In Combat Privateers shoot on the N/S/E/W lines (diagonals) and the Galleons shoot NE/NW/SE/SW down the rows. Each ship can fire up to 2 space away and Combat includes the concept of Leeway, drifting on the tide as combat occurs, leading to some chance as a players ship may run aground or collide with another. Ships can be boarded and even attacked by the forts shown on the map.

This is a game of maneuver where advanced planning is key and the effects of tide and wind drive the game.

An outstanding example of Naval Miniatures play from the 1930s.