By Ed Ostermeyer, Master Engineer (Grade 2)

Good day to you, young Inventor.

In these chaotic days of this accursed Civil War, it is well that you have all your important papers in order.

Especially important is to have in your possession documents known as “letters patent.”

Today’s session of instruction from the Inventor’s Vade Mecum will discuss the acquisition of two of these letters patent from the War Department.  

The first of the letters patent can be useful, though you may not need its help right away.

Of the other letter patent, a young Inventor and his fishboat cannot afford to be without one.

The Letter of Recruitment

If you recall from our last Vade Mecum session, you saw that Sailors can be a welcome addition to your fishboat’s crew, although there are certain procedures and documents necessary before you access the manpower rolls of your country’s navy.

The letter patent you need to accomplish this is called a Letter of Recruitment.

The procedure you will use is called an Appeal.

To recruit Sailors for your fishboat you must make an Appeal to your country’s War Department.

During each month’s Time Phase, you may make one Appeal to secure a Letter of Recruitment. This is done by consulting the Letter of Recruitment Table.

Using the Letter of Recruitment Table

To use the Letter of Recruitment table, find the value of your Project’s current training level from the Mechanic’s Board. There is no cost for this procedure but you may spend funds to improve your chance for securing the Letter of Recruitment.

Cross reference your crew’s Training Level with the row corresponding to the amount of funds you are willing to spend.

You may go into debt.

At the intersection of row and column is the number that you must roll on a 10-sided die to receive the Letter of Recruitment.

Roll the die; if the number rolled is equal to or higher than the number displayed on the Table, the attempt succeeds and you are successful in acquiring a Letter of Recruitment.

Should Lady Luck not be with you…

If the number rolled is less than the number displayed, the Appeal is unsuccessful.

You now have two options to choose from.

First, you can wait until a following month to try again.

Alternatively, you can modify the number rolled in two ways.

If your project has a Letter of Marque, you may add a +2 to the die roll.

Also, after the die is rolled you may spend $5 to give yourself a +1 modifier.

If these modifiers added to the number rolled give a successful result, your Appeal succeeds and you receive the Letter of Recruitment.

Uses for this particular letter patent for your Project can be found in Part Seven of the Inventor’s Vade Mecum (Nautica ed.) covering the procedure for recruiting Sailors to your Project team.  

Possession of a Letter of Marque is indispensable if your fishboat Project is to succeed.

In time of war, a government may offer a Letter of Marque (Its complete title is a Letter of Marque and Reprisal) that allows civilian-funded and crewed riverine or seagoing vessels to become part of the country’s navy. A vessel and crew in possession of a Letter of Marque is termed a privateer, in effect a “legalized pirate” that can attack both warships and merchantmen of the enemy’s navy and commerce fleet.

Using the Letter of Marque Table

During each month’s Time Phase, you may make an Appeal to receive a Letter of Marque from the War Department.

This attempt can be made only if your Project’s Training expertise is Level 1 or higher.

Use the column on the Letter of Marque Table that corresponds to your Training Level.

There is no cost for this procedure, though you may wish to spend funds.

On the Letter of Marque Table, find the row that corresponds to the funds you wish to spend on the attempt.

Where column and row intersect on the table is the number you need to roll on a D10 to succeed and receive a Letter of Marque.

If you Succeed

Possession of your Letter of Marque is permanent. 

Place the Letter of Marque marker in the appropriate place on your Mechanic’s Board.

Your acquisition of a Letter of Marque automatically requires you to make a War Department Assignment Check at this time.

Note that this could mean your vessel and crew will be going on an Action Mission sooner than you planned.

If you are Unsuccessful

If the die roll result is less than the number shown on the table, your attempt is unsuccessful. Again, at this point you have two choices.

First, you may do nothing further and apply again the following month.

Second, the unsuccessful die roll result may be modified as follows:

If, during training, you have successfully attacked a target and your vessel and crew have survived the Action, add +2 to the number rolled.

(This successful attack can be where the torpedo attack is made on a captive scow.)

If your Project is in possession of a Letter of Recruitment, add +1 to the number rolled.

You may also spend $5 of your funds to add a +1 to the die roll.

You may go into debt.

A Profitable Line of Work

Through its Letter of Marque, the privateer enjoyed the protection of, and was obligated to follow, the laws of war.

If captured, the crew of a privateer was to be treated as prisoners of war, and not hanged as pirates.

In the main, being a privateer could be a very profitable occupation.

Upon their sinking or capturing enemy warships or merchantmen, a privateer’s crew could then bring evidence of that sinking or capture of the enemy vessel to an authorized prize court.

The prize court would determine the validity of the privateer’s Letter of Marque.

If valid, the prize court would hear arguments that the vessel in question did in fact belong to the enemy. If so proved, the vessel was “condemned” as a war prize.

Both the prize vessel itself and its contents could be sold at auction with the proceeds to be divided between the privateer’s owner(s) and crew.

If an enemy warship was sunk, the prize court would award cash bounty provided by the government, or by other interested parties.

That should be enough for you to study on this week.

Now go forth, young Inventor, and make us proud.

Next time, the Inventor’s Vade Mecum will take a look at time, current events, and the effect both have on the young Inventor’s fishboat project as we explore the vagaries unique to each side’s respective Fortunes of War Gazetteer.

(Note: All graphic images of Infernal Machine game materials used in this series of articles are subjective and may change and appear different in their final form.  All images show sourcing unless otherwise noted.)

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