Beat to Quarters is an official expansion to Flying Colors by GMT Games and requires a copy of that game (preferably the latest deluxe edition) to play.

One of the most common criticisms of Flying Colors is the clutter of status markers on the map and that they may detract from game play. This concern can be minimized somewhat by using status sheets and a handy pencil to keep track of things on paper. This, however, adds a separate record-keeping aspect that the design of the game goes out of its way to avoid.

Beat to Quarters provides the ultimate way by which to keep track of the status of individual ships through the use of individual tracking cards that are kept conveniently near the map and that are laid out to conveniently hold a variety of status markers such as Broadsides Fired, Sail State, Rigging Damage, and Hull Damage. The cards are designed to be printed at a standard 3.5 by 2.5 inch size so that they can be slipped into card protectors for extended usage.

Individual tracking cards are included for all 562 individually named ships included with the latest, deluxe version of Flying Colors. But that’s not all!

As a bonus, Beat to Quarters also includes the print-and-play components for an entirely new way to play Flying Colors. Drawing from games such as Naval War, Modern Naval Battles, and (in particular) Enemy in Sight, Beat to Quarters can be played with just the ship tracking cards, a special set of markers and 8.5 x 11 inch tracking board, and the status markers from Flying Colors. The ship cards are organized into squadrons that maneuver and fire against the opposing fleet within a relatively small playing area. With Beat to Quarters, you can play the battle of Trafalgar without the space requirements for three game maps.

With Beat to Quarters, you can either enhance or completely change your enjoyment of Flying Colors!

New Game Mechanics

After the ships have been organized into squadrons based upon the availability of commanders, the game starts with an “approach” segment where the fleets jockey for control of the weather gauge through a series of die rolls. This mechanic can also be adopted to the published Flying Colors scenarios to provide a “what-if” option. What if the combined fleet had the weather gauge at Trafalgar? Once the fleets engage through the approach process, the action moves to the maneuver and combat segment.

The maneuver map consists of three columns of range boxes whose numeric values (from Windward 5 to Leeward 5) are summed to determine the range between squadrons. Based upon a squadron’s aspect relative to the wind (Beating, Reaching, Running, etc.) a player secretly “plots” a squadron’s speed. Depending on opposing squadron’s aspects, these values are revealed and added to or subtracted from each other to find out how far the squadrons move to close or extend the range. Once the new positions have been determined, each squadron rolls on a nationality-based orders table to see how many orders a squadron receives based upon the number of ships and quality of the squadron commander. These orders are used to fire broadsides and move ships to and from a squadron’s screen and protected reserve.

Combat is resolved using the same process found in Flying Colors, with which players are already familiar. Most of the other ship and fleet handling mechanics also remain the same, so there’s very little that a player familiar with Flying Colors needs to learn to play Beat to Quarters.

Here’s a photo of the Battle of the Virginia Capes in progress:

The French, under de Grasse have just crossed the British “T” … very, very bad for the British (or any fleet)! This has resulted in two dismasted ships (at center) that are now easy pickings for the French.

Wargame Vault

Beat to Quarters is available now on Wargame Vault for a low-low price of $15. Here’s the link:

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/357978/Flying-Colors–Beat-to-Quarters

Thanks and enjoy Beat to Quarters and Flying Colors!

— Mike Nagel

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