Grappling is the act of a single crew member or combatant to hurl a grapple at another ship, with success depending upon the throwing a grapple rules. Both friendly and unfriendly ships can be grappled.
Ships can only be grappled if they are moving at both the same speed and the same vector at the time the grapple is thrown. For ships of the size in the game’s campaign, a single rope will be sufficient to seize two moving ships in place; if either ship spins its helm, a collision will occur.
Throwing a grapple requires one full round of movement to throw and brace. It costs only 2 action points (AP) to cut a rope with a ship’s axe. To cut a grappling rope with a sharpened blade requires a full round of movement. Grappling hooks attached to loose ropes can simply be thrown off, but this also requires a full round of movement.
Unless a moving ship is friendly, a grapple thrown over a distance would most likely be cut before it could succeed in creating a boarding opportunity.
Grapples can be thrown any time by non-crew aboard a ship without orders being written. Grappling must only be logged during the movement notation phase if the crew is to take part in the grappling attempt. Grappling attempts by the crew can be logged as “G,” while ungrappling attempts by the crew can be logged as “UG.” When a crew aboard a grappled ship are not actively ungrappling it or are in melee, the ship’s captain may act freely.
Grappling by the crew takes place in the grappling and ungrappling phase of the sequence of play. Once a full boarding action is in place, the crew can attempt to ungrapple during the melee phase.
Grappling is best accomplished by multiple persons aboard the grappling ship; each grapple that is successfully attached is one more that a resisting crew must successfully cut or remove. If boarding occurs while grappling, hooked grapples can be defended so that they cannot be cut, enabling an effective boarding attempt.
Between friendly ships, grappling and ungrappling motionless ships can be performed without the need to roll dice.
As with fouled ships, grappled ships cannot move or turn in place. They can only drift.
Once a ship is ungrappled, it may move normally on the next turn.
See Naval Combat
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