TableTack: A Miniature Sailing Game

TableTack: A print-and-play miniature game of sailboat racing. 

Note: This Kickstarter is for digital print-and-play files for the rules and miniatures for TableTack, there are no physical rewards.

About the Game 

TableTack is a quick-playing sailboat racing game that uses integrated point-of-sail bases to help players experience the decision making inherent to sailboat racing: what point of sail to take, when to tack/jibe, where to position yourself strategically in the fleet, and the gambles of how close to cut a mark or whether to to hope for a wind shift in your favor. And don't worry - no charts to reference or math to do!

Who would enjoy this game: 

Sailors who can't get out and sail.This doesn't scratch all the itches, but it does stretch the tactical muscles and lets you prove your acumen against your clubmates. This will also be a good introduction for sailors to the world of putting toys on the table with rules. Blank bases are included if you want to model up and spec out your favorite vessel that I haven't included.
Tabletop Gamers who want a novel beer-and-pretzels racing experience. TableTack uses relatively common core systems to generate the feeling of sailing without the overbearing detail that naval games are often known for. This will also be a great introduction to sailing for folks who haven't had the pleasure.
Sailing Clubs teaching racing. This game is accurate enough to give a good crash course in the basic tactics and strategies of sailboat racing. All of the files can be printed larger (limited by your build plate) for demonstration purposes.

The sailboard club I grew up in uses “20 knot snob” as a tagline, and therefore all included boats are specced using 20 knot wind speed polar plots, and then divided down to make it fit on the table, so everything feels nice and fast, but unique per vessel. (The windsurfers below use 1/3 true speed as they would be doing 30 knots on a broad reach, And a 30" move would eat up a whole table)

TableTack Back-of-Box Details

Suggested 2-5 Players (at six players it would be better, in my opinion, to split into two games, unless everyone can make decisions quickly, and/or is ok with the downtime between turns.) There is no mechanical reason for an upper limit.
Suggested Age of Players: 10+
Approximate Game Time: About 30 minutes per player for a simple course, increasing with course length and complexity.
(Reminder: This is is BYOB, bring your own box, digital only.)

What you Get in the Campaign

To keep it simple, there is only one pledge: I Want the Game!

What's Included:

1. The Rulebook PDF: 16 pages
2. Quick Reference Sheet PDFs for each boat.
3. Files to 3D Print the boats and accessories for the table
Note: 3D filament files are ready-to-print, resin files are provided un-supported)
4. Files to 2D Print the boats and accessories for the table (if you don't have a 3D printer)
5. Blank versions of the sailing bases for you to design your own vessels

The Included Boats:

(Some names and details have been changed to protect the innocent. Special thanks to Shorty at PDRacer.com for the use of the Puddle Duck Racer name):

1. BlueJay 7m* + with spinnaker (green sails right rear)
2. Crab Proa (teal sail left rear)
3. Foil Lepid (lime sail right front)
4. Goldrush* + with spinnaker (lilac sails right middle)
5. Photon Dinghy* (red sail left front)
6. Puddle Duck Racer with square or mutton rig (yellow and blue sails left middle)
7. Windsurfer** (yellow sail center front)

As seen above each vessel is scaled to fit the base (50mm/2in accross) as racing is mainly one-design and these are not intended to be on the table alongside each other.

*The Bluejay 7m, Goldrush, and Photon Dinghy can tilt on their bases to show heeling.
**The Windsurfer can be tilted towards the wind, and the person can be moved to either side as is appropriate. (There's no game-mechanic reason to have these move, it's just fun and it looks neat.)

How to Play 

Timelapse of a three player game. 

Steps for Each Round

1. The round begins with a small shift in the wind.
2. Each player activates in order from leeward to windward.
3. Each player takes one Crew Activity (strategic/tactical benefit choice) and one Maneuver (sail/tack/jibe) for each turn.
4. Each player moves their boat.
5. Start a new round until all players cross the finish line. 

A basic move shown in pictures:

Example Quick Refence Sheet

What's Next

A possible expansion set with More Boats! If this does well and there seems to be a demand for it there is a whole wide world of wind powered vessels out there. 

Shipping Information

REMINDER: This is a DIGITAL-ONLY Kickstarter. Files will be delivered via Google Drive link after the conclusion of the campaign. There are no physical rewards with this campaign.