Gunboat & Dhow! (New Gunboat Rules)

Gunboat & Dhow! 

(1^st Edition)

Fast Play Rules for conducting River Combat (A TSATF Variant)

By Dan Gurule and Jeff Baumal

It has been a few years since we started modifying some rules that worked a little more smoothly with our favorite set of Colonial rules The Sword and The Flame by Larry Brom.  The main purpose of these rules was to keep them fast moving and play as close as possible to TSATF so that players picked them up quickly.  Another big influence was to retain the flavor of the period as much as we could keeping those basic principles in mind.  

This 1^st Edition of Gunboat & Dhow! (G&D!) will be followed by a booklet which will include scenarios with some new and advanced rules.  When we say advanced rules, we don’t mean more complex because we never want to bog down your games with too much detail.  There are  some very good rule sets out there that can give you a little more complexity to satisfy your own gaming styles.

The 1^st Edition has 22 pages which include rules, game play examples and a Quick Reference Sheet.  You will also see some familiar pictures from various battles. They are meant to cover river actions which would include units of Gunboats, Dhows and shore batteries or amphibious operations which include actions with both river and troop units. 

As an example of game play mechanics, as in normal TSATF when you fire you use d20’s to hit, then draw cards for casualties.  In G&D! it works the same way.  Depending on the gun you are firing you still use d20’s.  For damage, you still draw cards but in this case damage values are dealt out and face cards do various critical damage to your boat(s) or shore battery.  Gunfire on ground units is worked out using the normal TSATF charts and rules.

Boat Data Sheets are available digitally.  They provide everything you need to maneuver and fight your boat.  There are so many types of boats that including them in a hardcopy of the rules uses way too much paper.  Once purchased, you simply send an email to the Authors Dan or Jeff, and we will send them right out to you.  These boat sheets are pre-filled using boat data from the line of boats available from the Last Stand Boatyard.  These of course are provided in a format that you can modify to fit your own flotillas.  Plenty of Boat Data tables again based on these boats will provide you a baseline for your own boats. 

 They are available in hard copy or PDF.  Please take a look at LastStandDan.com for a copy.  

If you have any questions or comments please send them to Sgt. Guinness or myself.  If there is enough interest we will start a group to further enhance or explain any rules, a place to provide your After Acton Reports, Scenario ideas, etc. 

We hope you enjoy the rules and that they possibly help fill a gap in your current battles.  Thanks and Remember to “Always Send a Gunboat!”

Daniel Gurule (Last Stand Dan) Last Stand Boatyard dagurule@me.com Rules and Boat website: laststanddan.com Blog: http://laststanddan.blogspot.com/

Jeff Baumal (Sgt. Guinness) Last Stand Boatyard sgtguninness@yahoo.com Rules and Boat website: laststanddan.com Blog:  http://sgtguinness.blogspot.com/