My efforts to run a proper naval campaign have been very instructional, but they have yet to bear truly satisfying fruit. In my last post, I laid out my efforts to improve by offering up five (or seven depending on how you count them) principles of good campaign design. That post was written as abstractly as possible, the advice it contains is broadly applicable to any sort of campaign you might run. They, I want to offer some thoughts on naval campaigns.
A purely waterborne campaign can be lots of fun, and very instructive. It certainly simplifies matters greatly not to have to worry about such a lubberly concerns as armies and politics. You want to get there the fastest with the mostest. You want the freedom of movement while modeling up your opponents in their ports. You want one, grueling juices through trackless and unending stretches of water, punctuated by brief thrilling moments of trading weights of iron, and howling and swirling boarding actions.
I get it.
But ignoring the non-blue parts of the map means losing a quarter of the Earth’s surface if you ignore land-based operations. Contra the Admiralty, no nation has a Navy for its own sake. The Navy is in service to to the people, and they almost all live on land. That’s also where the biggest guns are. Guns that make a harbor impregnable to an invading flotilla. Guns that are mostly pointed outward, and are there for vulnerable to an attack from land. If you ignore shore side operations, you hamstring the commanders of both sides.
Luckily for we tabletop players of the game, to get from seaborne operations to land-based operations you have to cross that chaotic and unpredictable zone of surf, which halts your precious boats and leaves them vulnerable for a time. It also puts your ground pounders at considerable risk, as their path of retreat, or path of outright route as the case may be, is considerably constrained with respect to their land-based counterparts. No wonder many of the greatest tales of daring do occur when rating parties attack. They are in a do or die situation in a way their Continental brethren or not. No matter how clever you are, you’re not walking home from an island.
Incorporating land operations into your naval campaign offers up a considerable degree of leeway. You can focus your efforts on raiding small coastal villages, or put all of your resources on one brake test of the dice as you seize an important fortress. Cutting out operations offer another ready-made scenario for the table. The dryfoots have just too much going on be ignored.
Yeah, land-sea operations are a vital component of a good military campaign, both on the table and otherwise. That’s going in there, and where I often fall short.
Giving them my collection as a napoleonic, the era claims itself. Now all we have to do is find constrained area with balanced forces where sea power and land power both make a difference. I have one in mind, and we’ll talk about it in my next post. Until then, I’m praying for you.