A pocket-sized naval wargame you can play in under half an hour is exactly the sort of thing that earns a permanent spot in a backpack. Battle Box: Age of Sail, the second pocket wargame from Holmes Chapel studio Feral Wizard, packs four ships, a hex battle mat, dice, scenarios and 18 effect cards into a small tin. It is currently funding on Kickstarter and the campaign closes on 21 May 2026.
Run game nights? Backseat Gamer handles RSVPs, waitlists, date polling, and game voting so you can focus on playing.
Start organising for freeMechanically it is a dice-driven hex skirmish: each ship has stats, you spend dice rolls to manoeuvre and fire broadsides, and the effect cards layer in critical hits, ship upgrades and historical rules tweaks for each scenario. The premise is simple: 2-4 players, one tin, one quick scrap. Scenarios pull from real Age of Sail conflicts, so you might find yourself playing French privateers chasing a merchant convoy or a British squadron intercepting a Spanish treasure fleet. If you outgrow a single tin, multiple sets stack together for bigger fleet actions.
This is the second outing for Feral Wizard's pocket-sized format. The studio kicked off in November 2025 with Battle Box: Napoleonic Wars, a land-warfare counterpart that pulled in 270 backers and £6,277 (over 31 times its modest £200 goal) and now ships to backers. Average pledge sat around £23, which is the right ballpark to set expectations for the new campaign. Backers can grab Napoleonic Wars as an add-on, a smart bit of cross-pollination for the small Cheshire team behind it. UK-based shipping also means no eye-watering customs hit on top of the pledge, a rare treat for British wargamers used to budgeting an extra third for transatlantic crowdfunders.
Got a regular group? Create a private community, poll for the best date, vote on games, and let your friends RSVP in one place.
Set up your group for freePocket wargames are having a moment, and the Battle Box format suits the kind of quick lunch-break game you can sneak in at work or run as a warm-up before the main event at club night. If you are after something to slot between heavier sessions, this is worth a look. Want to find a regular game night for naval skirmishes or anything else? There are plenty already on Backseat Gamer.
Sources: Tabletop Sentinel | Kickstarter
