Flying Colors Deluxe Edition: Fleet Actions in the Age of Sail

This Deluxe Third Printing of Flying Colors brings you a greatly expanded treatment of this best-selling game of Age of Sail naval battles. Within the deep box, not only are the original classic scenarios and ships included, but we are also bundling in the well-regarded and sought-after Ship of the Line expansion. Additionally, we’re including much of Mark Barker’s article content (first published in C3i Magazine by RBM Studio), including updated Trafalgar and battles of the Seven Years War. We're also including all of the ships listed within those battles so that you should not have to treat one vessel as another. Finally, as an added incentive, we’re including a half-dozen brand new scenarios, including Lagos (1759) and Cape Spartel (1782). All of this adds up to roughly four-dozen scenarios and six and a half countersheets … truly an encyclopedia of Age of Sail combat!

Unlike other naval games set in the Age of Sail, Flying Colors provides a simpler, quick-playing system allowing the recreation of battles including dozens of ships on a side. Focusing on the behavior of each fleet as a whole, rather than dealing with the minutia of shipboard operations accomplishes this. The proper retention of command and control of the fleet once engaged was paramount, as was the issuing of proper orders prior to the battle.

The command system in Flying Colors simulates these factors in a simple, elegant manner by depending upon leaders to keep their commands in order. This system allows the abandoning of the pre-plotted, simultaneous movement systems used in other Age of Sail games. This change allows two players to manage many, many more ships in a fleet in a much shorter period of time. Players can now play large fleet actions, including dozens of ships on a side, in only a few hours.

Battles

Complexity: Low
Solitaire: High