Wargame SITREP 231124 N3 Ops – Setting sail with Rule the Waves, Britannia! (Catastrophe Games, 2023)

The new wargame arrival this week was Rule the Waves, Britannia! by designer Matt Haywood from Catastrophe Games (2023) funded via a Kickstarter campaign in late August. Rule the Waves is a light wargame played solitaire (though cooperative and versus options are included) with cards where you sail different Royal Navy ships of the 17th or 18th century across five “journeys” around the world. Every position on a Journey draws a card which is either a ship to be fought—or evaded—or open water which usually gives a bonus to the Royal Navy player (though not always). As the Royal Navy player you must complete all five Journey cards; points are scored for enemy ships sunk.

The rules for Rule the Waves, Britannia! are a short four pages and basically can be read as the first journey position is played. Here is how my first campaign of Rule the Waves played out.

HMS Burford, Third Rate Ship, Journey Jamaica

I randomly draw HMS Burford and seeing it is a Third Rate Ship choose a shorter journey. In a short voyage near Jamaica (five positions), Burford sinks a single Dutch ship and the Pirate ship The William. SCORE = +6.

HMS Britannia, First Rate Ship, Journey America

This time I randomly draw HMS Britannia, a First Rate Ship. With such a powerful ship, I sail off the coast of the upstart colonies (Journey America) which is one of the longest voyages possible (nine journey positions). I end my voyage having sunk seven Spanish ships, three Dutch ships, and a single French ship. SCORE = 6+11=17.

HMS Buckingham, Third Rate Ship, Journey Europe

Drawing another Third Rate Ship, I chose a shorter journey with only five positions (Journey Europe). After successfully sinking a Dutch and two Spanish ships, Buckingham encounters the French Flagship Soleil-Royal. Although Buckingham eventually evades it is not without some (too much?) damage. After sinking another single French ship, Buckingham meets the Pirate ship Whydah Gally commanded by Black Sam. Given Buckingham mounts 90 guns against Whydah Gally’s 28, Buckingham engages…only to shoot poorly while Black Sam proves the better gunner. As Buckingham tries to sail away (Evade) the winds don’t cooperate (poor Evade die rolls) which gives Black Sam the chance to eventually sink her. SCORE = 17+3=20 (No rank).

Rule the Waves rules

In Rule the Waves, Britannia! the rules as written direct you to place all Open Water and Enemy Ship cards in the draw deck. This is how you end up with Pirate encounters in European waters or Dutch ships off Jamaica. Next time I am going to use the Historical Mode which assigns only certain enemy ships to each Journey Card. It’s a bit of chrome polished brass in an otherwise light, abstract wargame but it is just enough to bring a bit of some flavor into the draw deck to make each different journey that much more interesting. For a 30 minute solo game that is more than enough to keep bringing Rule the Waves, Britannia! back to the gaming table again and again.

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