It's a bit of a cliché that Medieval naval battles were just like land battles at sea, but what if you take a successful set of medieval land battle rules and set them afloat, does it work? That’s what rules writer Andy Callan did with Never Mind the Billhooks. If you don’t know by now Never Mind the Billhooks is published by Wargames Illustrated, so full disclosure, I’m already both a fan of Billhooks and have a vested interest in everyone else being a fan too! Regardless of that disclaimer, it was very interesting to recently take part in a game of the naval version of Billhooks; Never Mind the Boathooks. We are going to be giving away copies of Never Mind the Boathooks with a future issue of Wi, and with Andy and his disciples already having played the game several times, both in the comfort of their own games rooms and out at shows, it was high time I took a look at the game - always handy for the person doing the editing! Like it’s landlubbing sire, Boathooks is much more a game than a simulation. The history adds the flavour but just about everything else in the rules is about creating a fun game. I’ve found that, more than any other type of wargamer, naval games often become an exercise in rulebook flicking attrition, as players are forced to back away from the models on the table, slump back in their chairs and search through 200+ pages for the rule on tacking against the wind when the breeze is coming offshore, and the mizzen sail is unfurled but the mainsail is at half mast, etc. Not so with boathooks, players spend the vast majority of their time sliding impressive-looking cogs, gallies and pinnaces about the table, while rolling dice and sending their figures to board their opponent’s ships, etc. Everything you will need to play will be in an upcoming issue of Wi (hopefully the April issue), so I’m not going to say too much more about the mechanics of the game here, I just want to show you some photos of our game, and advise you to be on the lookout for suitable 28mm vessels which you can recruit into your medieval navy. Andy (left) and Steve (right) point at their respective fleets on the table. And here they are arrayed and ready to do battle. This is an average-sized game, with 4 – 6 vessels per side. Like Billhooks, Boathooks is a card-driven rules system. The ships come from various sources, here we have two Cogs; one in MDF by Sarissa, and one made of paper from Peter Dennis’ Paperboys series. Turn two and
