When Lions Sailed

S&T issue 268, May-Jun 2011

When Lions Sailed (WLS), designed by Joseph Miranda, is an intermediate-complexity wargame of global naval conflict in the 17th century. That era saw the beginning of a naval technology revolution that set the pace for Western expansion over the next two centuries. The game can be played by two, three or four, each representing a different nation: Netherlands, England, Spain and France.

Each game turn represents one year. Each operations phase represents several weeks of campaigning, depending on the overall tempo of operations at any given time. Each ship unit represents six to 12 vessels. Each regiment represents about 1,000 men. The game system is an evolution of the one used in our earlier games: 1066, Hannibal’s War, andFrederick’s War.

Special rules cover such things as: initiative, revenue, negotiations, outfitting and reinforcements, fleet organization, fog of war, plunder, leaders, treasure fleets, founding colonies, pirates, ship ratings, gunnery, damage repair, forts, neutrality and belligerence, prize money, mercenaries, raking attack, line ahead tactics, marines, articles of war, company charters, honors of war, letters of marque, circumnavigation, the wind gauge, fire ships, admirals, and more. The turn sequence is as follows.

1) Initiative Determination Phase

2) Exchange Phase