I am happy to announce that Naval Tactics: Captains of the Spanish Main has passed Apple review and will be available to download from the App Store on May 14. Prime your muskets and buckle on your cutlass and join us to test your tactical skills on the high seas! Purchase it during the introductory sale for $4.99; after the introductory sale the price will return to its normal $7.99.

This is a nice replay this game had quite a few tactical twists and turns in it. I believe we had 2200+ configuration points to work with this game. I opted for three 3rd Rates, a few “Rebellious” sleek frigates and a single “Bounty” naval cutter for scouting. VL chose six “Endeavor” heavy frigates and the “Rover” armed merchantman. In the beginning of the battle, we both opt to send our main fleets north of the islands. I also send a small flanking force of two skirmishers through the middle, to approach VL’s fleet from the south. While these flankers would have been a great surprise, VL had chosen Military Intelligence as one of his Captain Cards, allowing him to reveal the fog of war for a single turn and spot my flankers.

At first contact VL’s battle line has the advantage. With more ships and more firepower able to hit one of my ships, it won’t take too many turns before that ship will go down. Anticipating this, I peel my lead ship off to the left and bring up the rest of my line ships, providing cover for my wounded ship. It will take several turns, but this ship will rejoin the fight when it has turns complete around and can face its undamaged side to VL’s line. While this is happening, my skirmish ships have flanked VL’s main line.

My skirmishers accomplish two major tasks for my fleet. The first task is that they forced VL to divert some of his line ships to face the skirmishers, reducing the overall power of his battle line (less cannon available to focus on my line ships). Secondly, my skirmishers are behind his battle line; when he tries to pull out his wounded ship and seek cover, my skirmisher’s were there to finish the job. With the wind against him and no quick means to close on my line to turn it into a melee, VL doesn’t have many options left. Eventually, Roc pulls out the victory!

Note: this video was captured using the “quick replay” feature which speeds up the playback performing ship actions simultaneously. During normal game play, each ship moves and fires in a specific order, called “movement order”. This ordering is the number on the left of each ship on the game board

This is a short video showing how to perform ship boarding and capture in Naval Tactics. To board a ship you first need to immobilize the ship by reducing its sails to less than 20%. Once a ship is immobilized, any enemy ship in an adjacent hex and has more than the minimum crew can perform a boarding action. When you perform a boarding action, it is the only action that ship may take that turn (you may not move, reload, or fire your cannon while boarding). Boarding is a chaotic melee that can go either way; if you board a ship and reduce the enemy crew to 0, then you can capture the ship. However if you board and your own crew is reduced to 0, the ship you boarded can capture your ship.

Note: this video was captured using the “quick replay” feature which speeds up the playback performing ship actions simultaneously. During normal game play, each ship moves and fires in a specific order, called “movement order”. This ordering is the number on the left of each ship on the game board

Naval battles come in all shapes and sizes; this particular mission had only 500 fleet configuration points. Both myself and Diebo opted for a single Vanguard, a 3rd Rate Ship of the Line. These are massive ships that pack a ton of firepower! Pay special attention to the replay, for during the entire approach neither Diebo or myself could see each other has we were cloaking in the fog of war due to the island in the middle. When we did stumble into each other, we were broadside-to-broadside at close range!

At this point I had two options. I could load double-shot and duke it out in a close-range slugfest; for this I didn’t have damage bonus Captain Cards to help my chances there. Instead, I opted to load up chain shot and spike down his sails while maneuvering my ship onto his stern. If I get his sails below 20%, he would become immobilized the following turn, and since he was dead in the wind I knew he wouldn’t be able to go far. Diebo surprised me, however, when he played the Devastating Broadsides card! This card only works when you are this close and broadside-to-broadside, and it cancelled all of my movement orders for that turn. Instead of being safely behind him, I was forced to spend another turn broadside-to-broadside. Sadly my ship could not withstand two broadsides of close range double shot, so Diebo claims victory!

 

Chimera Software Announces
Naval Tactics: Captains of the Spanish Main
Tactical Board Wargame for iOS 7
Available Spring 2014

 

(Atlanta, GA) February 3, 2014 –  Chimera Software is thrilled to announce Naval Tactics: Captains of the Spanish Main, a fresh way to experience the tactical board wargame genre on iPhone, iPod, and iPad.  A modern take inspired by old classics, this brand new adventure into turn-based naval combat will leave your tactical mind reeling.

“After spending three years on our hit 4X space strategy game Starbase Orion, I wanted to bring things back down to Earth for a while” said Rocco Bowling, founder of Chimera Software.  “Naval Tactics is focused on tactical naval combat in the 1700′s. Ship battles in the Age of Sail are unique in their tactical complexity, where the use of wind for positioning and fleet formations are critical components to dominating your enemy. Combine this with savvy turn-based mechanics on a hex map, mix in some traditional board game mechanics and the final combination is a savory bite any strategy/tactical gamer will savor.”

• Built for iOS 7: Asynchronous Games with GameCenter, Universal Binary, Retina Display
• Infamous Naval Battles: Position your ships and fire your cannons in glorious Age of Sail combat
• Board Game Mechanics: Hexagonal maps and turn-based gameplay keeps this game easy to learn, but hard to master
• Customizable Fleets: Customize your fleet before each mission by selecting from a variety of ships
• Captain Cards: Acts of valor and surprise await you by utilizing these unique cards
• Premiere PvP Experience: Simultaneous turns, asynchronous play, multiple matches, real-time chat, and more
  • Balanced Engagements: Let your tactical genius shine in a variety of balanced game modes
  • Built using the premier multiplayer experience that drives Starbase Orion, one of the best asynchronous turn-based systems available on iOS
• Practice vs AI: Play offline against the computer to sharpen up your skills
• Pass and Play: Play locally with your friends and family using a single device

To learn more about Naval Tactics, please visit:

http://www.chimerasw.com/navaltactics

ABOUT CHIMERA SOFTWARE
Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, Chimera Software is the independent publishing entity for Rocco Bowling (owner and founder).  During the day Rocco is CTO for Small Planet Digital; at night he exercises his creativity by creating award winning games.