Ironclad: A Variant for Iron & Oak

This variant for GMTs Iron & Oak aims to do two things: make the game more
playable and enhance the relative power of ironclads. This variant replaces the
games movement system and its Standard Damage Chart.

Movement
1. Each ship is assigned a deck of maneuver cards. Each turn the owning player
secretly chooses a card and these are simultaneously revealed and executed
to resolve the movement for the turn.
2. Most moves in the game are executed automatically. However, the following
situations only - require the moving ship to make a maneuver check:

Moving upstream against a medium or strong current.

Attempting to clear an obstruction
Attempting to leave a game box (GB) occupied by his opponents ship if
the opposing ship selected Opposing Maneuvers as his card this turn.
Attempting to Cross the T
Attempting to ram an enemy ship
Attempting to unfoul from an enemy ship
Attempting to leave the map

The moving ship applies the following modifiers:

+1 for Elite Grade crew, -1 for Green Grade crew, -1 for a ram attempt or spar
torpedo attack, -1 if the moving unit has equaled or exceeded its Crew Loss #,
-1 for each occurrence of fire

3. Whenever a player is required to make a maneuver check, the moving player

rolls a die (defined by the ships maneuver rating) and adds or subtracts
appropriate modifiers. The non-moving player always rolls a d10. The new
Maneuver Chart is reproduced below:

4. If at least one ship failed to move this turn (and is not anchored), roll for drift.
Apply a single drift roll to all such ships.

5. Each ship has a facing. It points either to the side of a GB, or the vertex where
four GBs intersect. A ships facing is defined by the direction from which it
entered its current GB. If it moved orthogonally, it will be facing a side; if it
moved diagonally, it will be facing a vertex.

6. A ship may move into the GB to which it is facing (its projected course), or
the GBs on either side of its projected course.

7. Even if Maneuver 2 is selected for a turn, a ship may not move diagonally
twice during a game turn.
 8. A ship is presumed to occupy the center of the GB.

Gunnery Combat
1. Gunnery combat is resolved by a gunnery check, comparing the attackers die
roll, adding and subtracting appropriate modifiers, and the defenders roll of
any die or dice.

2. The attacker rolls the die identified for the firing ships guns, as shown on the
firing ships card. The defender rolls two dice: (1) the die identified for the
targeted section on the defenders ship card; and (2) a d4.

3. Unlike in the published rules, you do not use the yellow die to determine the
section receiving the fire. Instead apply the following rule:

Fire occurring at range 2 (long range fire) targets the Deck.

Fire occurring at range 1 (medium range fire) is resolved as follows:
o If the center of the firing ships GB is closer to the targets bow
than its stern, the fire targets the Bow.
o If the center of the firing ships GB is closer to the targets stern
than its bow, the fire targets the Stern.
o Any other configuration of ships results in the fire targeting
Amidship.
Fire occurring at range 0 (short range fire) targets the waterline.
Fire occurring at point blank range targets the bow of the target ship.
A ship which successfully crosses the T fires at point blank range, as
does the ship whose T has been crossed.

4. Ignore the shield mechanic from the published rules. Instead use the
following chart to determine the effect of the fire:

GUNNERY COMBAT TABLE Against wooden section Against iron section

Attacker roll less than or No effect No effect
equal to defender roll
Attacker roll greater than One hit No effect
defender roll
Attacker roll 2X or greater Two hits One hit
than defender roll
Attacker roll 3X or greater Three hits plus a critical Two hits plus a critical hit.
than defender roll hit.

Apply all modifiers from the Gunnery Dice Roll Modifiers Chart.