Naumachiae Hellenistic Naval Campaign rules
Naval Campaign Rules for Naumachiae
Trierarch’s log: between 700 and 146 BC.
These are the voyages of the quadrireme Aytmoorepyes. Our fifth century mission: to boldly blow our noses where no sheep has ever done it before; to seek out new barbarians and insult them wherever possible….
Meanwhile, in a galley far, far away, the leaders of the Pebble Alliance were discussing the best way of destroying the evil (Early Roman) Empire’s devastating new secret weapon, the Death Spar (or corvus, for short). Even now, an enormous fleet armed with the new weapon, and commanded by the Emperor’s best general, Dung Wader, was bearing down on the little rebel flotilla. Suddenly, a strangely dressed man appeared; obviously terrified, he screamed “Atilla, teleport NOW!”
It is very difficult to determine the exact details of building and running an ancient fleet. This makes it hard to simulate actual Greek or Roman practice for inclusion of naval strategy in a campaign. The Naumachiae rules have so much detail, they are ideal for campaign use. I hope the following will help anybody using the Naumachiae rules to run a naval campaign. Some details (such as the Boarding Factor) are also included for those who want to use the Tony Bath/Richard Nelson/Phil Barker combination instead.
A simple Naval –only campaign
This might involve a war between island states (eg in the Aegean), each player could be given 10,000 Naumachiae points to spend at the start of the campaign (roughly 30 ships), and receive as income 200 points per city per month. The ungarrisoned cities on the islands would change hands as soon as a battle had been fought and a victor’s ship had arrived there. Cities garrisoned by 200 points of troops and a trireme or larger would hold out for a siege of 2 months if besieged by at least 400 points of troops and at least three ships.
Construction
Construction times and costs are given in the chart below. Construction can only take place in ports.
Ship building and Harbour Capacity:
The naval base at Piraeus had capacity for 200-300 triremes, while that at Carthage had slipways for 220 quinqerimes. The largest harbour in antiquity was Claudius’ harbour of Ostia, which had a surface of more than 80 hectares. In AD 62 about 200 grain-ships sank there. Players could be encouraged to build a naval base by restricting shipbuilding and repair activity to 10 ships per city at any one time. The cost of the naval base (which would increase this capacity) would be 2 talents per ship shed.
Hull Quality
Ships that have been in the water for more than a month suffer penalties for movement in battle. A ship is classed as Fast for its first month after launching, Normal for the next two months, and Slow thereafter. Hull quality can be improved by refitting and drying out for two weeks plus one level per week of drying thereafter, ie a Slow ship takes three weeks to become Fast, while a Normal ship takes two weeks. A Slow ship must also pay for repairs to become a Fast ship. Ships that have been out of the water all winter start the new sailing season as Fast ships, so all ships start the game as Fast ships.
Notes on Types of Merchant Ships
There were three types of merchant ships equipped with oars (Merchant Galleys). The phaselus was used for passenger transport, the akatos for cargo, and the keles for extra-fast transport. Most ships were, however, pure sailing ships, as this allowed more cargo and a wider beam. Large ships were more than 40 metres long and may have had a capacity of 400 tons. The smaller types carried a mainsail; the larger ones also a topsail and/or a foresail. The larger types had two or three masts. The super-ships of the ancient world were the Roman grain ships, which had a capacity of 1,000 tons – ships of similar size (54 metres long) were not seen again until the eighteenth century. They could anchor only in the large ports of Ostia, Alexandria, Antioch, Massilia, Carthage, and Piraeus. They were considered the safest and most comfortable way to travel, and could also be used for carrying building materials. Lucian said that just one of these ships carried enough grain to feed Athens for a year.
Large – ships more than 5,000 talents (130 tons)
Average – ships 3,000 (78 tons)– 5000 talents
Small – ships smaller than 3,000 talents (60 tons) were used by farmers tor the transport of goods to the market.
Costs
Currency (Attic talents of silver)
6 obols = 1 drachma
100 drachmae = 1 mina (1 pound weight of silver) =600 obols
60 minae = 1 talent = 6,000 drachmae = 36,000 obols
A talent weighed 26.2 kg
A stade was 180m
Troops are expected to feed themselves from their pay, buying food from sutlers within the army. Their pay is split into two parts, ration allowance and salary. Ration allowance is due at the start of each month and will automatically be paid on your behalf by the umpire so long as you have any cash left. Failure to pay it means instant mutiny, desertion, and probably the general's murder. Salary is in theory due at the end of each month and will be paid only when you order this. Troops will normally stand being in arrears of salary, so long as they are paid up to date by the end of the campaigning season. Troops are normally paid only ten months of the year, taking the first and last months as unpaid leave.
Average Wage Costs
Per man per day;per 1,000 men/month;1,000 men/year
(obols)(talents)(talents)
RationsSalaryRationsSalaryRations+Salary
Rowers, Light or irregular
infantry,212130
Marines, Hoplites, pikemen 232350
1000 shipwrights or 1 Admiral4280
Vice-admiral2140
The cost of captains is included in the crew costs.
Actual costs in the fifth century : It cost a talent a month to keep a trireme at sea. To keep the Athenian fleet at sea for six months of the year would therefore cost 1800 talents, while the empire’s annual income was only about 1000 talents. The seige of Potidea cost 2000 talents over two years.
Carrying Capacity (note Overburdened rules p 70)
large cargo ship250750 tons
average cargo ship150 tons
small decked ship40 tons
Transport Capacity For One Cargo Ship:
600 men, 6 Chariots, 5 elephants, 300 cavalry, 10 camels, or 6 siege engines
Port Lift Capacity: 3,000 men/month unless special provision is made.
Artillery Carrying Capacity
Ship Category Artillery capacity
1-3None
41 Light Artillery Piece
5-62 Light or 1 Heavy Artillery piece
7-83 Light or 1 Heavy & 1 Light Artillery piece
9-104 Light or 2 Heavy Artillery pieces
Engines may not be removed from ships for use on land.
Ships in Categories 4 to 6 may carry one tower, and those in categories 7 to 10 may carry two towers. Each improvement or repair takes one week to install if not built during original construction. Merchant vessels may only fire weapons if they are carrying marines. A Medium Merchant can carry 1 piece of light artillery, while a Large Merchant can carry 1 piece of heavy or two light.
Movement (miles per day)
Ships under sail / 60Galleys under oar / 20
Ships under sail may have their movement increased or decreased by the direction of the wind (see page 65 for a guide). Individual galleys with Good crews may increase their speed by 50% for three days, but receive 10 fatigue points if they do not spend the next four days resting. Towing reduces a vessel’s movement by 50%, while being Overburdened reduces movement by 20%.
Some actual sailing times:
Rome - Alexandria 10-21 days (fast trip) by sea, 2 months by land
Return trip by sea Alexandria-Rome could take 2 months, due to unfavourable winds.
Cadiz-Ostia by sea 4 days.
Athens- Ephesus by warship 2 weeks (3-4 days in merchant vessel)
Rome - Corinth 1-2 weeks
Gibralter - Rome 7 days+
Rome - Rhodes 7 days
Byzantium - Rhodes 5 days+
Byzantium - Alexandria 9 days (double in opposite direction)
The captain of a ship was called a kybernetes or a trierarch.
Movement restrictions (time of year etc)
Galleys must end each day in port or on a beach if possible. They may never be more than three day’s sail from such a point. Merchant ships without oars are not subject to these movement restrictions. Winter conditions will slow down by a half, and bad weather reduces movement by one seventh. The main sailing months were May to October. Movement at other times in the Mediterranean was thought to be suicidal and was actually banned by the emperor Gratian in AD 380. The Roman grain fleet arrived in July.
MARINES
Each ship in your fleet starts with its own marine complement, listed below. These marines must be paid for separately to the cost of the ships. A boarding factor is equal to roughly 20 men. Ships with less than 20 marines still have a boarding factor of 1 as long as they have their full marine complement. This is because the crew of such ships also fought. Ships carrying their maximum marine complement (indicated by a number in brackets), if this is greater than "normal", will have an increased chance of suffering in a storm, as will ships equipped with a corvus. Ships exceeding normal complement that are Overburdened will be slower.
Quality of troops.
In Naumachiae, marines can be Good, Average, or Poor
Triakonter= 30 oared Ship (15 per side in one bank), 30 marines
Pentekonter= 50oared Ship (25 per side in one bank), 50 marines
Marine troop types and size of contingents:
Ship / Troop type (WRG 6th or 7th edn) / DBM troop typePentekonter, Lembi, Hemiolia: / IC LMI JLS,Sh / Irreg Ax (O)
Liburnian, Tremiolia: / RC LMI JLS,Sh / Reg Ax (O)
Trireme: Light / 10 RC MI LTS, Sh + 4 RC LI B / 10 Reg Sp (O) + 4 Ps (O)
Heavy / 32 RC MI LTS, Sh + 8 RC LI B / 32 Reg Sp (O) + 8 Ps (O)
Quadrireme or heavier: Roman / ½ LHI, ½ LMI JLS,Sh "RC" / ½ Reg Ax (S), ½ Reg Ax (O)
Greek / RC LMI LTS,JLS,Sh / Reg Ax (S)
Marine pay= hoplite pay
Training
It takes two months to train new ships to fighting condition, ie Average quality. Ship crews may improve their crew rating by one level through each extra month’s training. New ships may put to sea with one month’s training but crews will then be classed as Poor and will take six weeks’ training per class to upgrade crew quality. Entire crews may be transferred between ships of the same type without loss of crew quality. Crews and marines will decline one level per month in quality if they are not paid, or do not move. A captain’s quality may be improved by a maximum of one level only if his ship sinks an enemy ship or if he spends one month training under a Inspired or Good Admiral. Training may only be performed as part of movement if an Inspired Admiral is present. Poor Marines involved in a successful boarding action will be upgraded to Average. Average marines involved in two successful boarding actions within six months can upgrade to Good.
For other troops,
No training= Irregular "E", Hd (F)
1 month's training= Irregular "D", Hd (O), Ps (I), or Poor Marines
2 month's training = Regular "D", minimum for cavalry, Ax (I), Ps (O)
3 month's training = Irregular "C" or Regular "D", depending on trooptype
4 month's training = minimum for doublearmed troops, Irregular "A"
5 month's training = minimum for triplearmed troops, Ax (O), Ps (S)
6 month's training = Regular "C", "B", "A", or Irregular "B", Average Marines
minimum for quadruple-armed troops. Sp (O)
1 year's campaigning= Regular "B" veterantroops or Good Marines
New weapons or formations = 1 month's training, plus 10 minae per 1000 men training allowance. These may not be used unless allowed by army list, or used by a victorious opponent in battle, or could potentially be known to a player.
One month in the 6 month 's training for Marines must be marine training only , otherwise Marines train as other troops .
Fleets
Each fleet must be commanded by an admiral, plus one Vice-Admiral for every ten ships after the first ten. A Vice-Admiral is also needed to command a shore party or a flank sailing group. See page 6 Naumachiae.
Improvements, Maintenance & Repairs
Cost of Ship Repairs and Improvements:
Refit or reinforced bows5 minaeRepairs to damaged ship – ½ construction cost
Grappling hooks5 minaeChemical/Biological Weapons – 1 minae
Harpago or incendiary weapons10 minaeCorvus or Reinforced Bows15 minae
Towers: up to 10er20 minae 10er+ 30 minae
Artillery: Heavy Quinqereme 10 minae6er-9er15 minae10er+ 20 minae
A Refit will repair all damage requiring a Short or Medium task to fix (pages 49-51). A Repair will repair all damage to a ship. If the repair is conducted in a port, it will regain all lost performance, otherwise only up to a maximum of three lost classes can be regained, and one class less than it had originally (see page 52 Naumachiae). Maintenance costs are shown below. If maintenance costs are not paid, the vessel will suffer one class reduction per month.
Maps
You can get good detailed maps of any part of the world from Enter the values North 48, South 30, East –10, West 43 to get a map of the Mediterranean (you can zoom in on it). If nothing seems to happen, scroll down before clicking on it. Peter Levi's Atlas of The Greek World was also useful. 911 or thereabouts is the dewy number for ancient maps.
After a Battle
The victor:
The victorious side can recover any hulks, retain Prizes, and prevent lost crews from drowning. To do this, the victorious side must allocate 1 ship for every 4 ships lost in the battle to search the area for four days. Half the crews and marines from sunk ships will be recovered. Any enemy crew or marines picked up can be asked to work for the victor, killed, or sold as slaves. Crews and marines working for their former opponents will suffer a one step loss in efficiency unless they are paid more than their previous salary. If the victor captures the enemy flagship, or defeats troops on the shore, he will receive additional booty. If the victor visits the beach or port that was the enemy base for the battle, refits may be performed without cost, as all the enemy sails and other booty will be captured.
The loser:
The losing side loses all ships, marines, and crews that cannot get away under their own power. Prizes and severely damaged ships may also lost if the victor pursues with at least half as many ships as the loser. The loser may dismiss their Admiral and vice-admiral(s) when they reach port, and roll dice for new commanders (page 15). If the victor is able to visit the beach or port that the loser last visited the loser loses all sails, and must pay for a refit on all ships that have lost their sails.
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Naumachiae Hellenistic Naval Campaign rules
Ship Types, Construction, Marines, and Maintenance
Ship / Cost (talents) / Build Time (weeks) / Maintenance (per month) / Salary (per month) / Annual Cost (talents) / Size (Length, beam in feet) / Crew + Marines (maximum) / Speed(knots) / Boarding Factor
Small Cargo ship / 3 / 3 / 0.15 / 0.02 / 2
Medium Cargo ship / 4.5 / 4 / 0.25 / 0.03 / 2.24 / 100 / 10-15 / 3 / 0
Large Cargo ship / 6 / 5 / 0.35 / 0.04
Triakonter/Lembi (A) / 0.5 / 4 / 0.15 / 0.06 / 1.68 / 40-50 / 3- 5 / 1
Pentekonter (A) / 1 / 5 / 0.25 / 0.1 / 2.8 / 100 X 14 / 50 + 10 / 1
Hemiolia / 1 / 5 / 0.2 / 0.1 / 2.4 / 70 X 10 / 62 +10 / 1
Tremiolia / 2 / 6 / 0.3 / 0.2 / 4.0 / 200 + 40 / Normal / 2
Light Trireme (A) / 2 / 6 / 0.35 / 0.2 / 4.4 / 120 X 13 / 190+ 14 / cruise 2 -3 / 1
Heavy Trireme / 2.5 / 6 / 0.35 / 0.2 / 4.4 / 120 X 13 / 190+ 40 / Fast cruise / 2
Light Quadrireme / 3 / 6.5 / 0.5 / 0.4 / 7.2 / +40 (50) / (few hours / 2
Heavy Quadrireme / 4 / 7 / 0.5 / 0.4 / 7.2 / +80 / only) 4-5 / 4
Light Quinqereme / 4.5 / 7.5 / 0.65 / 0.5 / 9.2 / 120 X 14 / 320+ 60 (75) / Battle 8-9 / 3
Heavy Quinquereme / 5 / 8 / 0.65 / 0.5 / 9.2 / 120 X 14 / 320 +100 (120) / 5 (6)
Liburnian (Roman) / 108 X 12 / 159 + 20 (40) / 1 (2)
6er / 6 / 9 / 0.7 / 0.55 / 10 / +120 (170) / 6 (8)
7er (Septireme) / 7 / 10 / 0.75 / 0.6 / 10.8 / 140 X 23 / 370 + 140 (200) / 7 (10)
8er / 8 / 11 / 0.8 / 0.65 / 11.6 / +160 (210 / 8 (10)
9er / 9 / 12 / 0.85 / 0.7 / 12.4 / 180 (230) / 9 (11)
l0er (Decareme) / 10 / 13 / 0.9 / 0.75 / 13.2 / 145 X 20 / 602+ 200 (250) / 10 (12)
(A)= Aphract, all others are Cataphract
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Naumachiae Hellenistic Naval Campaign rules
Weather
Condition / April / May / June / July / Aug / Sept / Oct / NovAd= Adriatic; Ag= Agean / Ad / Ag / Ad / Ag / Ad / Ag / Ad / Ag / Ad / Ag / Ad / Ag / Ad / Ag / Ad / Ag
WIND STRENGTH
Calm / 10 / 20 / 20 / 30 / 20 / 30 / 20 / 20 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10
Light winds / 50 / 50 / 65 / 65 / 70 / 70 / 70 / 55 / 50 / 40 / 50 / 50 / 40 / 35 / 35 / 30
Moderate winds (fire risk) / 70 / 70 / 80 / 80 / 80 / 85 / 85 / 90 / 90 / 80 / 85 / 70 / 80 / 70 / 75 / 70
Strong winds/gale (dust fire) / 95 / 95 / 95 / 95 / 95 / 95 / 95 / 90 / 95 / 90 / 95 / 95 / 90 / 90 / 85 / 90
Storm (floods, blizzard) / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100
PRECIPITATION
No rain (thirst, drought, frost) / 30 / 35 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 60 / 6p / 65 / 55 / 60 / 50 / 55 / 45 / 50 / 25 / 35
Light rain, snow, sleet / 60 / 65 / 65 / 70 / 80 / 85 / 85 / 90 / 90 / 85 / 80 / 85 / 75 / 80 / 60 / 65
Moderate rain, snow, hail / 75 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90 / 95 / 95 / 95 / 95 / 95 / 95 / 95 / 90 / 95 / 85 / 90
Heavy rain, snow, hail (floods, blizzard) / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100
VISIBILITY
Mist / 25 / 20 / 20 / 15 / 15 / 10 / 10 / 5 / 5 / 5 / 10 / 10 / 15 / 10 / 25 / 15
Fog / 35 / 25 / _ / 20 / 15 / 35 / 25
Intense cold, frost (snow) / 76- / 80 / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / 76- / 80 / 76- / 85
Intense heat (thirst, fire risk) / - / - / 76- / 80 / 76- / 87 / 76 / 92 / 76 / 97 / 76 / 90
WIND DIRECTION
North / 15 / 15 / 15 / 15 / 15 / 20 / 15 / 20 / 15 / 20 / 15 / 20 / 15 / 20 / 15 / 20
Northwest / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 45 / 40 / 45 / 40 / 45 / 40 / 45 / 40 / 45 / 40 / 45
Northeast / 50 / 50 / 50 / 50 / 50 / 55 / 50 / 60 / 50 / 60 / 50 / 60 / 50 / 60 / 50 / 60
West / 60 / 60 / 60 / 60 / 60 / 65 / 60 / 70 / 60 / 70 / 60 / 70 / 60 / 70 / 60 / 70
East / 70 / 70 / 70 / 70 / 70 / 75 / 70 / 80 / 70 / 80 / 70 / 80 / 70 / 80 / 70 / 80
Southwest / 80 / 80 / 80 / 80 / 80 / 85 / 80 / 90 / 80 / 90 / 80 / 90 / 80 / 90 / 80 / 90
Southeast / 90 / 90 / 90 / 90 / 90 / 95 / 90 / 95 / 90 / 95 / 90 / 95 / 90 / 95 / 90 / 95
South / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100
Hermes’ HandbookPage 1
Naumachiae Hellenistic Naval Campaign rules
Modifiers: Rain + 5% in mountains, Illyria, Thrace, or Macedonia, -5% in Peloponnese.
Mist + 40% Fog + 10% in coastal or mountainous areas
Cold + 20% in mountains; Heat + 20% in desert or steppe
Roll for each area’s weather once per week. Roll two percentage dice four times for wind strength, precipitation, temperature/visibility, and prevailing wind direction. The number given is the maximum required for that condition. Mists and fogs didn’t last long. Snow rarely fell in coastal areas. The dividing line for the two climatic areas is the Pindos mountains. Rain in summer usually falls as brief thunderstorms.
Any rain falling in mountains during November is snow or sleet. Rain falls in other areas as snow during periods of extreme cold. Strong winds or storm then cause a blizzard. Strong winds and heavy or moderate rain is a storm. Strong winds in desert causes a dust storm. Heavy rain or storm in April or November may cause flooding, as will 3 weeks' rain at any time. Drought begins after 4 weeks without rain.
If intense heat is combined with any wind, roll a normal die. 14= no effect; 56= fire started in forest or steppe. If there is a storm between May and September, a roll of 6 means lightning started a fire in a forest. See page 12 of the Tony Bath rules for full details.
STORMS AT SEA
Vessels caught in a storm can use the Ship Survival chart on page 57 of Naumachiae, or use the following:
If ships are caught at sea by a storm, roll a normal die:
1 swamped and sunk
2,3 drift downwind roll for beach type
4,6 maintains position, reaches shelter safely
This dieroll is modified as below:
+1 if a large merchant ship, or a 10er or larger, or if ship has a skilled crew.