Ship to ship combat in REIGN basically works like this. Every turn of combat each ship involved has 4 main options: Manoeuvre, Attack, Dodge, Flee/Pursue. The Captain is in charge of Manoeuvring, Dodging, and Pursuing, while the crew and other characters on board can do the Attacks and other things. Note that naval combat rounds tend to be around the length of five minutes as opposed to normal combat rounds (the distances are a lot bigger). The Ship Rules explain a few of the terms used in these rules. And there's a slowly growing list of Ship Types.
Manoeuvre
Knowledge+Sailing vs the ship's Difficulty
This is the meat and potatoes of ship combat. Before you can board or attack another ship you need to get yours into position. Some ships are easy to control. Others are beasts. This is represented by the ship's difficulty. Nimble ships have a lower difficulty, lumbering warships/river barges have higher. For normal activities (docking, casting off, smooth sailing) if the Captain's Knowledge+Sailing is equal to or greater than the Difficulty of the ship you don't have to roll. If it's a vicious horrible storm, you need to roll. If there are other difficulties being imposed for some reason (treacherous waters, your ship is on fire) they get added to the ship's Difficulty. Combat, of course always requires rolls.
To successfully manoeuvre into position for an attack against another ship you roll the Captain's Knowledge+Sailing vs. the Ship's difficulty. The captain declares which manoeuvre she's making in the Declare phase. There are two basic manoeuvres corresponding to the abstract distances involved: Boarding, and Shooting. The Captain with the lowest Sense declares first. If tied, the GMC ship declares first.
Manoeuvre sets are not disrupted by normal attacks that hit the ship.
If the captain succeeds (beating the difficulty of the ship she's sailing) the ship is in position to do what she wants after the Sailing roll is resolved. This means that if your crew is making attacks, they have to wait until the Manoeuvre resolves to resolve them.
Example: The Silvarr Comet and the Mitos ship are squaring off. The Captain of the Comet rolls a 2x4 success for his Shooting Manoeuvre. If his crew rolled a 3x10 for their Shooting Attack they'd have to wait until 2x4 to fire. Damage would still be resolved like a 3x10.
Usually the opposing captain will be rolling to manoeuvre his ship as well. These two manoeuvres interact for different effects. What each ship can do is determined by the success and the ranges listed below. These positions are maintained (no roll is necessary) until one side successfully executes a manoeuvre (goes for a better position), or either ship makes a Dodge or Flee/Pursuit action.
Example: In the first round of combat The Comet successfully manoeuvred into position to shoot, but the Mitos ship did not. In the second round, the Comet doesn't have to manoeuvre to take more shooting actions, but the Mitos ship tries manoeuvring and succeeds with a 3x4. Because the Mitos succeeded at a manoeuvre, in the third round the Comet will have to manoeuvre into position before being able to fire.
Manoeuvre Interactions
These indicate successful manoeuvres except when it specifically says failure.
Shoot vs Shoot - The ships are within optimal weapons range. Both ships can shoot each other.
Shoot vs Board - The ships are within grappling hook/swinging from yardarms range. Both ships can attack in their chosen ways (boarders attack crew and shots attack the ship but boarding attacks knock dice out of shooting and vice versa)
Shoot vs Pursuit/failed roll - The target ship is out of position to fight back. The Shooting ship can fire at the target ship with impunity.
Shoot vs Dodge - The target ship gobbles dice out of the Shooting attack.
Board vs Board - The ships are close enough to launch hand to hand fighting. Both ships can send PCs/followers to fight hand to hand
Board vs Shoot - The ships are within grappling hook/swinging from yardarms range. Both ships can attack in their chosen ways (boarders attack crew and shots attack the ship but boarding attacks knock dice out of shooting and vice versa)
Boarding vs Pursuit/Dodge - The target ship has put some distance between the two. It gobbles dice from the attack. If the highest/widest attack is gobbled the Boarding ship cannot board this turn.
Boarding vs failed roll - The Boarding ship can send followers on attack next turn, defenders can only use their sets to dodge/parry attacks in the first round.
Attack
There are three kinds of attacks a ship can make.
Shooting
Weapon Pool
Naval shooting isn't the same kind of hand eye coordination that most weapons are, thus the skill of the user isn't as important, what counts is the Attack pool. Determine the number and type of weapons the ship has and consult the table below.
| Weapon | Rating per weapon |
|---|---|
| Archers | 1d |
| Ballista | 1d |
| Catapult | 2d (Ignores 1 point of Armour) |
| Flaming/Magical Catapult | 3d+Area 2 (Ignores 2 points of Armour) |
Catapults and Ballistas can only fire from one side of the ship so you have to manoeuvre into position before you can attack. Then you count up the number of each weapon you have in position to fire. Maybe your standard Ob-Lob ship has three catapults per side. After a successful manoeuvre into position it could roll 6d to attack.
Catapults and Ballistas do Width in Superficial and Structural damage. Area attacks do 2 superficial and 2 structural damage per die thrown. Attacks do not disrupt the other ship's sets unless you hit specific locations.
Archers and other normal scale weapons do Width in Superficial damage and the Armour values are doubled against such weapons. Archers can move from one side of the ship to the other, or even fire from the stern or bow, so they can fire on an enemy ship without needing to be manoeuvred into position. They're best for firing at enemy crew.
If a PC makes an Expert: Warmachines or Student: Artillery (or something similar) roll before the fighting begins you can add +1 to the attack pool for as long as the PC is helping. (If the PC has an ED or MD in the skill that can be added instead.)
Boarding
Loyal Followers vs Unworthy Opponents
If the ship succeeds in a Boarding manoeuvre, use the Unworthy Opponents rules for the fierce fighting on deck. And if PCs are involved, well, there you go, glorious combat. This stuff goes a bit faster than normal ship combat, so ship manoeuvres and the like would only resolve every 5 rounds or so.
Ramming
We don't have good ramming rules yet.
Dodge
Captain's Knowledge+Sailing (vs Ship's difficulty) to gobble attack/manoeuvre dice.
This can be used against boarding and shooting attacks or manoeuvres. A success (even if it is not of sufficient height to gobble the attack) means the opponent must manoeuvre into position before attacking on following rounds. (Of course if they've already gotten their bloodthirsty pirates on board your ship, that might not be so incredibly useful.) Next round you can manoeuvre or flee.
Flee/Pursuit
Captain's Sailing skill + Ship's Speed vs opposing Captain and ship's Attack/Manoeuvre/Pursuit. (Note that the Captain's stat is not added to this pool, only the skill.)
Pursuit successes become Gobble dice. If the fleeing ship manages to foil all the opposing Pursuit sets, he's gotten away - if the fleeing ship is faster than the pursuer. You need 2+the difference in speed (so 2+2 if the fleeing speed is 1 and the pursuer's speed is 3) successes to escape (with a minimum of 1 Success if the fleeing ship is faster). If the pursuing ship Gobbles the fleeing ship's sets that eliminates one success on the road to escape.
If you are fleeing/pursuing you are by definition not manoeuvring into position to attack. Sometimes a captain will make shooting manoeuvres instead of Pursuing a ship. This allows them to make shots without the possibility of being shot back at. They might not catch the ship but will give it a good bloody nose as it runs.
Other Crew Actions
The Captain's not the only one doing things on a ship. Here are other things players can roll for.
Damage Control
Knowledge+Student: Shipbuilding
Success repairs 1 point superficial damage/reduces 1 point of sinking damage to superficial in whatever location they're working on. You generally need a bunch of guys helping with this.
Inspire the crew
Command+Inspire
Success gives the crew a +1 Threat rating OR a +1 bonus on their next action.
Spotting targets
Sense+Sight
Normally in naval combat, called shots are for targeting the sails, bridge or weapons. Sometimes you have more specific targets. To hit these, you need a spotter to find them. This can be used for shooting at flying mages or other much smaller than ship-sized targets.
If the spotter declares what she's looking for and succeeds, in the next turn the ship can make a called shot on that location. This is more along the lines of "Shoot at the brazier they're lighting those flaming arrows with" than "Shoot the masts" (which anyone can do). Success does normal damage to the location and has extra fun effects as determined by the GM.
Tacking
Knowledge+Sailing OR Unworthy Attack
Tacking means the sailors are trying to push the ship to get a bit more speed out of her. On a success the ship gets +1 Speed for Width number of rounds. If the captain orders sailors to do it, total up the number of sailors and roll that number of dice (as if it was an Unworthy attack). Doing it this way means there's a +1 Difficulty for the Width number of rounds as well. If a character is leading this action, use his skill and there is no Difficulty.
Adjust Ballast
Knowledge+Sailing OR Unworthy Attack
Adjusting the ballast means you're shifting cargo and stores in order to better cope with the condition of the sea (until those conditions change). On a success the ship gets to reduce difficulties inflicted by a rough sea by 1 until those conditions change. If the captain orders sailors to do it, total up the number of sailors and roll that number of dice (as if it was an Unworthy attack). Doing it this way means the ship's weapon crews are being pulled from their normal duty and there's a -1 penalty to the ship's Weapons Pool for the Width number of rounds as well. If a character is leading this action, use his skill and there is no penalty to the Weapons.
Pushing the Limits
Knowledge+Sailing OR Command+Inspire OR Command+Intimidate
Also known as the "Ach! She cannae do it Captain!" option. Someone who isn't the Captain can try to wring every last bit of speed, power, weaponry out of the crew and ship. To attempt this the character needs a skill of at least 2 in whichever she's using. The player must beat the Ship's Difficulty+4. On a success, the ship gains +1 Width to all successful rolls for Width number of rounds. On a failure, the ship takes 10 Superficial damage to the masts plus 5 Structural and 10 Superficial damage to the Hull, and the ship gets +1 Difficulty.
Planning routes
Knowledge+Navigation
Normally this is done long before combat, but sometimes you need to figure out the best route out of a battle. A successful roll reduces the difficulty of navigational hazards by the roll's Width.
Spotting trouble
Sense+Sight
Spotters can also give benefits to Sailing rolls for treacherous waters. Success gives the Captain a +1 bonus for such navigation.
