Naval Wargames Rules for Pre-Dreadnought Actions 1880 to 1905
by David Manley
Description
Fire When Ready covers actions with pre-dreadnought ships. They come with a set of rules for creating game statistics for your vessels using published sources such as "Jane’s" or "Conway’s".
The rules feature an choice of game systems. The "Duel" Game is intended for use with a small number of ships and each ship has a captain and crew generated individually. The "Battle" system is for large battles such as Tsushima and ships operate in formations, each of which has a Commander and ships' crew ratings are generated for a formation.
There are alternative gunnery systems offering simultaneous effects (which can be used with the "Duel" Game) or sequential effects based on initiative, in which shooting follows in order of initiative (highest scores shoot first) and where damage is applied immediately (this can be used in either game system).
The gunnery rules include the effects of "crossing the T" and other features. It is now possible to achieve significant amounts of damage and multiple special hits.
There are 10 scenarios and ready calculated ship data is provided so you can sit down and play any of them.
For ready-calculated game data for these rules, try Fighting Fleets. You can also purchase Fire When Ready and Fighting Fleets as a Bundle from WargameVault. Bundles offer a reduced price for both titles, and an indicative price is shown in the Product Summary box on the left. A link to the product page on WargameVault is shown in the box on the right.
Link to the Fighting Fleets page on this site.
Product Support
When accessing the files laid out below, the following rules apply:
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Quick Reference Sheets
There are currently no Quick Reference Sheets for this title.
Rules Support
Firing Arc Indicators and blank Ship Record Sheets for use with these rules are available in the following PDF:
Fire When Ready Rules Support Package
Clarifications
There are some Clarifications and Corrections for Edition 2.0 of the rules:
Fire When Ready Clarifications and Corrections (v2.2 - 2008)
Errata
See above.
Rules Updates
Expanded rules that can be used to add an extra dimension to your games can be downloaded here:
The first item incorporates detailed rules for signalling, rescuing survivors of sinking ships, and use of captive balloons.
Campaign Rules for Fire When Ready (2005)
Sailing Rules for Fire When Ready (2005)
New Data
There is currently no new game data.