A naval game report to start of the Ancient campaign

The Ancients campaign has begun with a naval tabletop battle. Each campaign turn begins with a naval game with the losing player having to make their campaign map moves first. It is always an advantage to move second after your opponent. For a quick recap of the campaign rules they can be found here.

On Sunday night I was able to clear the tabletop and set up and play a game. The following photographs show the game, but it is difficult to determine which ships are from either side once they engage.

The game set up - Roman fleet on the left in one group and on the right two Carthaginian groups. The game uses a hex grid with the points of each hex marked with a white dab trying to look like a wave. 

Opening moves viewed from the Carthaginian fleet's position.

The Romans split their fleet to meet the two advancing Carthaginian groups as they both come together. The photo is from the Carthaginian side.

On the Roman left they have a small advantage, but are struggling badly on their right.  The photo is from the Roman side

The battle breakdowns into a series of individual battles. The advantage is definitely with the Carthaginians at this point of the sea battle.

Once the Roman fleet had lost 50 percent of their fleet their isolated ships quickly disappeared and victory was soon with the Carthaginians.

The rules were quick to play and the game took about 40 minutes to complete. The rules used are posted here. I found the hexes certainly helped to speed up the game with no measuring or worrying about angles when ramming or performing oar strikes.