Orders? We don’t need no stinking orders! #Wargame madness with Wooden Ships & Iron Men (Avalon Hill, 1975)

So…the RockyMountainNavy Boys challenged me to a game of Wooden Ships & Iron Men (Avalon Hill, 1975). Making this a 3-player game is challenging since it usually means the RMN Boys each take a ship while I have to play two hulls. Our battle was set in the American Revolution time period and pitted a French 74 gun Ship of the Line (SOL) and the notional USS America (74 gun SOL) against two British “Common” 74 gun SOLs. All the crews were Crack. Looking at the map, I declared the French & Americans were trying to break thru a channel and needed to pass through a narrow break to reach the open sea with at least half their rigging and hull intact.

The RMN Boys had a different idea.

In the best wargame fashion, the game devolved into a brutal brawl. At one point I boarded and seized America but in turn was sunk. Making up a few rules on the fly, I allowed the French to scramble crew sections across sinking hulks to reinforce America and get it back into the fight. The game ended with both British SOL lost and America grounded to prevent her total sinking.

Ok, so we didn’t play strictly by the book. But we did play with lots of laughter and trash talk and good times being had by all around the table. It was a great game because we were having fun as a family.

What more can I ask for?

 Feature image BoardGameGeek.com