Stripped Down for Parts: Under the Southern Cross (Flying Colors, Volume 4)

   

 

I’m fascinated by the Age of Sail; I’ve read a lot about the period, read Forester and O’Brien, watched the entire Hornblower series at east twice, and a couple of versions of Mutiny on the Bounty (Brando is still my favourite Fletcher Christian), and of course, Master and Commander. And I’ve played quite a bit of Trafalgar (Warhammer Historical Wargames, 2009), both with proper metal miniatures and with my own cheap-ass (but still quite workable) Pirates of the Spanish Main (Wizkids, 2004) plastic models. Several times I’ve come very close to buying Flying Colors: Fleet Actions in the Age of Sail (GMT Games, 2003), now in its Third Edition, but that is an awful lot of game. I know if it get’s pulled out, everyone is going to want to play a huge, sprawling campaign and lose interest half way through. Big games mean long set-up times and long breaking down times and looooog gaps between one turn and the next, and that’s just not what we’re about at A Fast Game. But nonetheless, I was still intrigued by the way Flying Colors simulates ship-to-ship combat. I’d downloaded the series rules from the GMT website and given them a cursory read. Friends had spoken of their experience, and how the game tended toward the bookkeeping end of ship management. But I couldn’t help but think that it wouldn’t be too onerous if it was kept to just a few ships a side, or even one-on-one or two-on-one frigate duels.

The original release of Flying Colors was followed up fairly quickly (in game publishing years) by the second volume in the series, Serpents of the Seas (GMT Games, 2010). This sold out quickly and requests for a second printing seemed to fall on deaf ears*. Serpents of the Seas covered the War of 1812, A period when the nascent United States was still finding its way on the world stage, fielding a navy of just six frigates and a few dozen schooners and other small craft, but in frigate duels the Americans bested the British ships as often as not and created a shockwave that ran through the fleets all the way to the Admiralty. One of the innovations in Serpents was a frigate-duel map. A giant hexagonal hex-map where a small number of ships could duke it out in a relatively fast-playing game.

Fast forward to 2023, when GMT released volume four of the series, Under the Southern Cross: South American Battles in the Age of Sail, 1811-1841 (GMT Games, 2023). Or more accurately, near the end of 2023, when I was able to pick up a copy of Under the Southern Cross for a very reasonable price in the GMT Summer Sale. Not only does UtSC offer an impressive twenty-five scenarios for fleets of varying sizes (several getting up to around twenty vessels a side) but is also comes with the ship-duel map that hasn’t been seen since Serpents of the Seas, and eighteen historical ship-to-ship encounters form the conflicts covered. What better way to learn the system.

Under the Southern Cross comes in a sturdy 2” box of a quality that has become standard to GMT in recent years. The cover art is evocative of the game’s subject, with a line of ships at fighting sail, guns run out, some having just fired. It also informs us that the volume was designed (and the historical research involved undertaken) by Steve Paul. Mike Nagel is acknowledged as the series designer, and I always appreciate it when a publisher acknowledges the games developer as well, in this case, Chris Valk. Developers are the John Maxwell to the designer’s Thomas Wolfe or F. Scott Fitzgerald; they take the raw material and they polish it (and encourage or cajole the designer to be better), often improving the final product in a dozen little ways. A good developer is above rubies.

The box back reveals a little historical context, reassures us that it is indeed a stand-alone product, not at all dependent on owning any other games in the series (phew!), and teases us with some sample counters. The play details are as follows: 1-4 players (I don’t know if there are dedicated rules or systems for solo play, but I’m not expecting there to be – probably just some advice on double-handling); the game will take on average 3-8 hours to resolve, and it’s recommended for plyers 14 and up. The complexity is rated at 6 out of 9, and the solitaire suitability is also rated at a six.

FC series Rule Book and UtSC Play Book.

The series rule book is twenty-four pages in length. That in itself isn’t a daunting prospect, but it gets better. The first two pages are the cover/table of contents, and a glossary or terms used in the rules (always handy). The essential rules for the game run from page 3 to page 17, fifteen pages of core rules peppered with helpful diagrams. I’m sure that over the several volumes and multiple printings, these rules have been honed to an effective edge. The next five or so pages cover the optional rules, with one page devoted to ship duels, and the back cover offering a reasonably thorough subject index. Not at all scary.

Play Book: sample page.

The weight of text comes in the Play book. As I mentioned, this includes twenty-five fleet scenarios (all well described, and each with its own set-u map), and notes, where appropriate, for the eighteen ship duels featured. The first five pages cover some module-specific rules, including grounding and towing-off, something that hasn’t come up in previous iterations of the game. So far it still looks manageable.

PAC-1 bi-fold (external pages).

Okay, this is where it gets a little daunting. The game comes with two Player’s Aid cards (only one of each, so you’ll have to learn to share). The front and back of the bi-fold PAC-1 are filled with useful rolling tables for movement, tacking, wind adjustment, and various hazards like grounding (a danger in river battles) and fire (a danger when you mix wooden ships and gunpowder). The scary part is in the open fold.

PAC-1 (internal spread; Hit Result Tables).

Okay, maybe it’s not as bad as all that. It just looks overwhelming at first blush. Or at least it did to me, but the Hit Results Tables are just that; tables on which you cross-reference your die-roll result against your modified firepower rating. Yes, it involves some maths, but it’s all just simple arithmetic. No trigonometry required. The firepower modifiers are also helpfully reprinted at the bottom of the Small Vessels Chart.

PAC-2 (the more useful side).

PAC-2 is the one you’ll be reaching for less often, or at least not at the beginning of the game. It offers tables for collisions, grappling and evading, the striking of colours, breaking off and disengaging (different things; who knew?). The flip-side has some scenario -specific tables for the capture of shore batteries and the removal of harbour chains. I don’t think I’ll be getting to these any time soon.

Turn Track (fleet action side).

The game also comes with a two-sided Turn Track. This is actually very useful and well designed. The turn track runs up to 32 turns, but circles back onto itself in case you can’t quite reek complete devastation on your enemies in the allotted time. Inside the track is an abbreviated Sequence of Play, but each step helpfully includes the rule-reference number, and below that, handy holding boxes for the weather and wind reminder markers. The flip side of the card is identical, except it incorporates the Duel Sequence of Play.

Maps J & K.

Under the Southern Cross comes with two sea boards, representing the open ocean. These are identified as Maps J and K, there being nine maps spread across the previous three volumes of the series. The scale is 100 meters to a hex. I suspect the colour variation (presumably indicating water depths) will be significant in some scenarios and ignored in others, but I have nothing to base that on, and I hate it when people doing unboxings on YouTube confidently make all sorts of uninformed, speculative assumptions about game components, so I’ll just shut up now.

The Ship-Duel board, featuring practically every chart you'll need.

Which brings us to the Ship-Duel board. This is also an example of excellence in design. The play are takes up maybe four-sevenths of the mapsheet, but every square inch of available space has been utilised to good effect. The Hit Results Tables and just about every other table you’re likely to need from the two PACs has been reproduced on the otherwise unused space at the other end of the map, in clear enough print to be read from either side of the table. No pesky PACs to keep referring to; it’s all right there, along with an abbreviated sequence of play.

But that’s not all. On each side of the map there are two (yes, two), templates – one at each “corner” of the map – to keep track of your ship’s – or ships’ – status so you don’t need to clutter up the board with the status markers (this is a concept we’ll circle back to). It’s an elegant design solution and I wholeheartedly endorse this product.

Counter sheet 1 - mostly ships.

The playing pieces are nearly all half-inch counters, not my preferred size to work with, but that’s not a deal-breaker here. The ship counters are all quite clear and readable, and you’re not going to confuse the nationalities with the bold choice of background colours. Similarly, the personalities – captains. Commodores, and admirals – and their three attributes are quite legible, and each even features a tiny portrait, which is very cool. The ships are double-sided. They’ll drop in several factors once they take enough damage, and then they’re flipped to reflect their sorrier state. There are only three big ships in the game, a lot less than the other volumes, but that’s reflective of the nature of the economies fighting in these battles. The big ships look cool (especially when someone posts pictures of their annual Trafalgar or Cape Jervois game on Facebook), but I think battling with the smaller ships will be just as satisfying.

Counter sheet 2 - all markers.

Flying Colors is a game of conditions, and it uses markers to reflect those conditions. Lots of markers. This can be a headache to manage, but there’s a solution. I read somewhere that series designer Mike Nagel has begun making ship cards available in sets for the four series volumes called Beat to Quarters through WargameVault, the wargame storefront for print-on-demand outfit OneBookShelf. The idea is you use the cards to keep track of each ship’s status (via the counters) and keep the ship counter on the board clear in the same fashion as the templates on the duel board.

Inside the box (cards and a die).

Speaking of cards, Under the Southern Cross comes with two 27-card decks of Initiative Cards cards, which are confusingly labelled “Maneuver Cards” on their reverse side. (the deck also comes with Serpents of the Seas). The initiative cards can be used as an option for determining initiative order in larger battles – each card has an Initiative Effects table adding modifiers to Command, Speed, Tacking, Wear and Firing for that turn. The decks are identical with one red-bordered and one blue.

Sample Activation Cards.

There is also an addition, brown-bordered card, unnumbered, with the title of Out of Command Option. I’m sure its purpose will be revealed in a thorough reading of the rulebook, but at this point I wouldn’t like to speculate. I will note that use of the Initiative/Maneuvre Cards is mandatory in the ship-duel mode of the game, so I suspect I’ll be getting to know the cards sooner rather than later.

The game comes with a single 10-sided die. As mentioned regarding the PACs, you’ll just have to learn to share. At least nobody at the table will be accused of having lucky dice. Although the die may seem to lend favour to one or the other player from time to time. I’m always astonished how superstitious otherwise rational people can become when it comes to dice (and I count myself among these – I’m not above swapping out dice that aren’t performing well for “fresh” ones).

Finally, a box insert is included in the package. It was explained to me that these exist only as a temporary fix to keep the flat components (maps, counter-sheets, etc.) from being damaged in shipping, and to offer a small recess for dice and cards and anything else that might otherwise jam into the other components. It’s not meant to be retained, but, like a lot of folks, I always feel loave to ditch it (unless I’m going to be using counter trays). In this instance, I’m going to use a trick somebody mentioned on one of the Facebook wargaming groups, and invert the insert. This involves refolding all the creases in the insert counter to their current direction, and replacing it in the box. The result will be two larger recesses with a raised centre partition. This should offer enough room for all the counter sets and their respective baggies (in theory). I'll let you know how that goes.

So that’s Under the Southern Cross. Not nearly so frightening as the original game, but it looks like it will offer a lot of replayability, both with the fleet actions and duelling frigates. It might be a while before I get this one to the table – I’ve scheduled myself into a corner somewhat for the next few months – but It will be played and I will report on how it goes. Watch this space.

 

* Gene Billingsley announced in the monthly GMT newsletter for January this year that Serpents of the Seas had (after a very long wait for many) made its way onto the company’s P500 list. At time of posting it had reached 213 pre-orders (which is just as well, as a pristine condition 1^st edition Serpents of the Seas will set you back around US$390.00 on the secondary market).