Planning for DANG 2014

I started to prepare for my yearly naval game: DANG (Dave's Annual Naval Game) a little earlier this year than in previous years. There were a couple games on the ballot that would have required a lot of work, so I wanted to make sure I had time to complete everything.

We ran through the voting in September and this year’s game is “Cogs of War – The Hundred Years War at Sea.” While that might seem like a big topic, the game will only focus on actions in the English Channel around the summer of 1340. Here is a brief overview of the game situation:

The Battle of Sluys from Jean Froissart's 14th Century Chronicles(Wikipedia)

The Hundred Years War started off, as many of the wars, as a dispute over who is the rightful king of a country. Things basically kicked off in 1337 when Edward III of England refused to pay homage to Philip VI of France, leading the French King to confiscate Edward's lands in Aquitaine. This caused Edward to declare himself rightful King of France, starting the war.

During 1338 and 1339 the French, their allies, and hired mercenaries conducted numerous raids and attacks against English towns, shipping, and islands in the English Channel. These attacks not only damaged the towns, they disrupted English trade, and put a strain on the English treasury. While raids like this were not uncommon during this time, these attacks were different in that they were targeted major English towns with a deliberate strategic aim in mind. Toward the end of 1339, the English fleet was able drive off the French and mercenary fleet and stabilize the situation along the English Channel.

As the summer of 1340 approached, the stage was set for more naval action in the Channel.

As one DANG voter put it “Cry ‘Ahoy’, and let slip the Cogs of War!”

Historically, the English fleet devastated the French fleet at the Battle of Sluys, giving the English naval superiority in the Channel for the next several decades. 

Kevin's French Fleet from his 2011 Sluys game

For our game, we will use Kevin's scratch-built cogs and David Manley’s Medieval naval campaign rules for the operational movement and fleet action rules for the battles. Kevin built cogs for his Sluys game from Enfilade 2011. But I 'm looking at building a few galleys to round out the mix. I'll post information about building the smaller ships later.

This is DANG’s thirteenth year and here are links to recaps of games from before 2010, the 2010 Lepanto game, and the American Civil War river game from 2011, the 1812 Lake Ontario game from 2012, and last year’s Operation Landcrab game.