Stato da Màr

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Historic Background ...... 4 Campaign Map ...... 5 The Game ...... 6 Campaign Starting Positions...... 6 Campaign Turns ...... 6 Initiative ...... 6 Building...... 6 Movement ...... 8 Cruising & ...... 8 Battles ...... 8 Ports ...... 9 Lifting Sieges ...... 9 End of Turn Actions ...... 10 Resolve Sieges ...... 10 Storms ...... 10 Collect Taxes, Pay Running Costs, Re-Direct Income due to Piracy ...... 10 Ship Repairs and Transfers ...... 11 Victory Conditions ...... 11 Fleet Battle Tactical Rules ...... 12 Game Sequence ...... 12 Initiative ...... 12 Movement ...... Sample...... file...... 12 Firing ...... 13 Boarding Combat ...... 14 Morale ...... 15 & ...... 16 ...... 18 Knights of St John ...... 20 Barbary States ...... 22 Mamluk Sultanate ...... 24 ...... 26 Index of Ports ...... 28

Page 3 of 44 Stato da Màr HISTORIC BACKGROUND

Constantinople was conquered by the Ottomans on 29 May 1453. With the fall of the Byzantine Empire, three major naval powers established a dominance over different parts of the Mediterranean using galleys as their primary weapons at sea: the Ottomans in the east, Venice in the centre and Habsburg in the west. The core of their fleets were concentrated in the three major, wholly dependable naval bases in the Mediterranean: Istanbul/Constantinople, Venice and Barcelona. naval warfare in the Mediterranean was fought mostly on a smaller scale, with raiding and minor actions dominating. Only three truly major fleet engagements were actually fought in the 16th century: the battles of in 1538, Djerba in 1560 and Lepanto in 1571. Lepanto was to be the last large all-galley battle, and was also one of the largest battles, in terms of participants, anywhere in early modern Europe before the Napoleonic Wars. Strategically 16th century naval warfare in the Mediterranean was centred on amphibious landings, sieges of key ports or islands and disruption of maritime trade. The galley was ideally suited to this style of warfare. Its’ shallow draft enabled it to beach and land troops directly on the shore. Its’ speed and manoeuvrability allowed it to easily out pace and capture merchant vessels.

There were significant drawbacks to the use of CONTEMPORARY PAINTING DEPICTING THE galleys however. Their low freeboard meant that they ran a high risk of foundering in a storm so limited operations to a defined campaigning season. Their reliance upon manpower at the oars both ensured that they could not venture far from land due to the need to take on large quantities of water for the oarsmen and also meant that it eventually became ruinously expensive in the long term to maintain large fleets of galleys. Sample file Consequently it was in the early 16th century that the modern idea of the galley slave became commonplace. The creation of large Galley fleets as well as individual vessel’s increase in size requiring more and more rowers. Slaves though were cheaper than professional oarsmen. The number of benches could not be increased without lengthening hulls beyond their structural limits, and more than three oars per bench was not practicable. The demand for more rowers also meant that the relatively limited number of skilled oarsmen could not keep up with the demand of large galley fleets. It became increasingly common to man galleys with convicts or slaves and this required a simpler method of rowing. The older method of employing professional rowers using the alla sensile method (one oar per man, with two to three sharing the same bench) was gradually phased out in favour of rowing a scaloccio, a single large oar used for each bench, with several rowers working it together, which required less skill. The number of oarsmen per oar eventually rose from three to five. The other revolution was in naval ordnance. The cast bronze gun was standard in the 16th century. In galleys they were fixed on timbers in the bow, aiming directly forwards. The introduction of heavy guns and small arms did not considerably change galley tactics however. The bow of the galley being both a staging area for boarders and the given position for small arms and cannons. The naval conflict in the eastern Mediterranean continued off and on throughout most of the century. It saw the Ottoman conquest of Egypt, Cyprus and much of the Aegean and the extension of direct influence to the Eastern Barbary States. meanwhile extended its’ influence westward funded by gold and treasure from the new world. The Venetian naval empire however continued to shrink as its’ wealth was based on trade so the dual pressures of war in the waters it was trading in and the opening of direct open ocean trading routes with the Eastern markets by the Portuguese served to hasten its’ demise.

Page 4 of 44 Stato da Màr CAMPAIGN MAP

Sample file

Page 5 of 44 Stato da Màr THE GAME

Players choose one of the 6 nationalities, Kingdom of Naples & Republic of Genoa, Republic of Venice, Knights of St John, Barbary States, Mamluk Sultanate, Ottoman Empire. Profiles for each nation can be found in this campaign book. If there are more than 6 players then allocate teams of players to control the larger nations. If there are less than 6 players then the Knights of St John can be controlled by the umpire and smaller nations can be grouped together and controlled by a single player.

CAMPAIGN STARTING POSITIONS

The campaign starts in the year 1503 and runs through to 1573. Due to their limited endurance at sea, strategy for Galley warfare is all about control of ports. The major ports in the eastern Med are marked on the map, and those possessed by the respective protagonists at the start of the campaign are listed for each nation (those underlined are ports with shipyards). The galley squadrons available at the start of the campaign must be based at one of these ports. Costs and income are expressed in thousands of ducats (tip – use real coins to keep track of player finances with an exchange rate of 1p=100,000 ducats. Round up when paying out but round down total income for the turn to reflect effects of corrupt officials and middle men etc)

CAMPAIGN TURNS

A campaign turn represents one year, so the campaign runs for a maximum of 70 turns.

INITIATIVE

At the start of the turn players roll 1D20 to determine which player has initiative, the lowest goes first. Players can adjust their score by the command bonus of their highest ranking command personality.

SHIP BUILDING

The first thing that a player does in his turn is to pay for any shipbuilding that he wants to commission. The types of ship that can be built, the number of squadrons that can be built and their cost are determined by the ship building capability of the ports that the player controls. These are detailed in the PortsSample section. Below are file a general description of the different types of ship.

Fusta - was a narrow, light and fast ship with shallow draft, powered by both oars and sail. It typically had 12 to 18 two-man rowing benches on each side, a single mast with a sail, and usually carried two or three guns. The was the favourite ship of the North African corsairs, its’ speed, mobility, capability to move without wind, and its ability to operate in shallow water made it ideal for piracy. In a fleet action the fusta’s main role was in feeding reinforcements into the main engagement as it was too small, had insufficient firepower and carried too few soldiers (scapoli) to take on larger opponents.

Galiot - was a small galley with oars, also known as a half-galley. It had two masts and about 16 pairs of oars and typically carried between two and ten cannons of small calibre, and between 50 and 150 men. Fast and agile vessels they were typically used for piracy and in fleet actions in the reserve or on the flanks where their manoeuvrability allowed them to get round to the rear of the enemy galleys, particularly once their formation was broken.

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Galia Sottil – was the standard war galley in most fleets and by far the most numerous type used by all nations, making up the bulk the main war fleets of every major naval power in the Mediterranean. It was based on the form of the galea, the smaller Byzantine galleys, and known mostly by the Italian term gallia sottila (literally "slender galley"). These galleys had a main mast and a second smaller mast. There were typically three rowers per bench. The length to breadth-ratio was a minimum of 8:1. A rectangular telaro, an outrigger, was added to support the oars and the rowers' benches were laid out in a diagonal herringbone pattern angled aft on either side of a central gangway. Armament usually consisted of a single heavy bombard mounted at the front of the galley, flanked by 2 or later 4 lighter pieces also fixed in a forward firing position. They carried about 150 scapoli.

Galia Grosse – were converted merchant galleys. Larger and slower than a war galley they nevertheless were useful as they could carry a much larger compliment of soldiers.

Bastarda – large command galleys also known as “Captains” or “Lanterna”. In most galley fleets, squadron and fleet commanders often used galleys which were larger than usual. These often had a much enhanced compliment of bombards and fighting crew than the usual war galley. These were often the largest vessels in a fleet, with around 28 banks of oars and as many as seven men to an oar. These were extremely cumbersome vessels and their poor performance under oars meant that they were augmented by two or sometimes three main masts all with lateen sails.

Galleass - were developed from large merchant galleys. Converted for military use they were higher, larger and slower than regular galleys. They had up to 32 oars, each worked by up to 5 men. They usually had three masts and a forecastle and aft castle. Much effort was made in Venice to make these as fast as possible to compete with regular galleys. The gun-deck usually ran over the rowers' heads. Galleasses carried more sails than true galleys, and were far deadlier; a galley caught broadside lay all but helpless, since coming broadside to a , as with a , exposed an attacker to her gunfire. RelativelySample few galleasses file were built. One disadvantage was that, being more reliant on sails, their position at the front of the galley line at the start of a battle could not be guaranteed, but they were used at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, their firepower helping to win victory for the fleet.

Carrack – (or round ship) was a carvel-built ocean-going ship: large enough to be stable in heavy seas, and for a large cargo and the provisions needed for very long voyages. They were square-rigged on the foremast and mainmast and lateen-rigged on the mizzenmast. They had a high rounded stern with large aft castle, forecastle and bowsprit at the stem. carried a much heavier compliment of bombards than did any of the Galleys and consequently were difficult opponents for Galley’s to tackle with their high sides also making boarding very difficult. This was demonstrated at the battle of Preveza in 1538 where the Venetian Galeone di Venezia was becalmed but held off the many ottoman war galleys that surrounded her all afternoon and eventually escaped in the evening when a light wind arose.

The player adds to his lists the required squadrons, up to his current ship building capacity, and places the counter for each squadron in his red ship building box on the map. There is a nominal upper limit of 40 squadrons per nation that is intended to represent an upper limit in the number of experienced mariners available, but you may choose to ignore this if you wish. All squadrons are 8 ships strong and are not available to deploy till the next campaign turn. The player may also elect to lay up one or more squadrons currently at a port with a shipyard and these too go into the ship building box. Squadrons in the ship building box do not incur any running costs. Note that squadrons cannot be deployed from the ship building box to a port that is already under siege or vice versa.

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