Trafalgar 
the Game

http://www.warhammer-historical.com/acatalog/Trafalgar.html

"Warhammer Historical is proud to present Trafalgar, a naval wargame, set in the Age of Sail. Within this book you will find all the rules, history and hobby information you need to fight battles between opposing navies throughout the period 1795-1815. From the Battle of Copenhagen and the Glorious 1st June, the war in the Baltic, and the eponymous Battle of Trafalgar itself, to the naval War of 1812 between Britain and the emerging naval superpower of the United States, all are contained within this volume."

This very fine rule and resource book is a real pleasure to own.  I like the rules very much. The book includes good historical overviews, scenarios, a very fine, photo- illustrated painting and rigging guide for models of 1:1200 scale. 

I would classify the simulation depicted by these rules as a bit coarse. The sailing model is quick and easy.  Some ship conditions are noted on the playing surface with counters or markers.There are no written orders and simple paperwork. The gunnery factors as published are not very granular but easily modified or expanded upon by gamers.One gets to roll lots of dice during combat and there is 'opportunity fire' - fire conducted by the non-moving player on a target of opportunity. 

My only 'criticism' is the use of the 'saving throw' mechanic found in all Warhammer gaming systems I know of. I struggle with the concept of an inanimate object like a 160' long wooden sailing ship doing something proactively to save itself from 1000 pounds of incoming iron shot. I of course remind myself that this puts an element of play into the defending players hands and could represent a round of ragged fire or firing at the wrong time or even a group of poorly aimed guns by the gun crews aboard the firing vessel. The term still just bugs me, perhaps it should be known as 'the mitigating circumstances throw'?, that's worse isn't it? I guess I'll live with the term 'saving throw' for now.