Setup Outline
This setup page allows players to quickly and randomly decide some of the basic features of a typical game scenario. All of the steps below can be decided by players on their own without the help of this section, but for those players who don't feel like taking the time to lay it all out, the tables below can speed things up. Those shown in bold are somewhat more necessary for game play than the others. For many people doing quick Saturday afternoon games, details such as sea depth and fleet formations will probably not matter much. The specific order of the listing is fairly important though. If players are going to use the whole setup sequence, it will be best to do it in order, since some features rely on previously decided steps.

The goal of this setup sheet is to bring players right up to the point at which the fleets are going to start shooting at each other. Players wishing to do hours of pre-combat maneuvering should dispense with the sections of this setup routine that bring the ships into such immediate contact.

1) Roll for Leader qualities
2) Roll for crew grades & modify gun dice
3) Roll for time of day
4) Roll for fleet positions
5) Roll for fleet formations
6) Maneuver for position
7) Roll for proximity
8) Roll for sea condition
10) Roll for sea depth

« Leader Qualities
The first step in the setup is to roll for each leader's basic traits and record them on a sheet of scratch paper. How many leaders each side uses is up to the players, but usually each player is considered to be a leader and will have his own flagship and "column" of ships to lead. Additionally, each side in the battle should have a commander in chief who issues orders to the other players (who may or may not pay attention to those orders). If there are four players and 20 ships on one side, then there may be one C-in-C and three "column" leaders in charge of other groups of ships nearby. Each leader should roll for the following traits: Personality, Intelligence, Instinct and Teamwork. The first three will have single descriptive words for each. The last one will be a single number.

Teamwork Die Roll - Roll one six sided die for each leader in the game. The teamwork value is an expression of how well leaders of the same side get along with each other when they are "in the wardroom." The greater the difference in values, the greater will be the chance that those commanders may ignore each other's signals during the battle. These odds however, are modified by their instincts and personalities, so the teamwork die roll is only an indicator, not an end result. As a rule, the better a leader is, the less likely he is to let his personal feelings interfere with his judgement... unless he just can't stand the other guy! :)

Selecting Leader Values - For players who don't want to subject their fleets to the random effects of the die roll table, there are two options:
1) Choose average values. The most common value would be something like Strict, Observant, Professional for a good average officer, Lazy, Observant, Landsman for an inferior officer and Inspiring, Genius, Killer for a Nelson.

2) Best Selection. Roll two or three officer profiles for each leader in the game, and then choose one of the officer profiles for use, discarding the others.

« Crew & Fleet Grades
The crew grade table below can act as a reference guide to how the different periods might be reflected in a game of Admiralty. This is only a reference list, and players who have insights into the workings of a particular fleet are welcome to make their own adjustments. All the ships in a game should be following the same era, and all ships of the same nationality should share the same line when rolling for individual crew quality. Roll two six-sided dice for each ship in the fleet and record the letter code shown in the cross indexed field in the CREW box of that vessel's ship log. Below the crew grade table is a table which modifies the number of gun dice used for game play according to the crew grade.

If the setup routine will include fleet formations and positions (see below), players should figure the average crew grade for the fleet, with each grade representing a number of one through five, five being an A grade crew. So a fleet with three B grade, three C grade and three D grade ships will have a basic fleet value of 3.0. If a fleet has three A and seven B grade crews, its value would be a 4.3.

« Time of Day
The reason players might want to roll for time of day is related to the fleet formations list below. Roll a six sided die. A 1-3 result means that it is morning time. A 4-6 result means that it is afternoon.

« Fleet Positions
Each player rolls one six-sided die. The player with the highest die roll will be in the upwind or weather position. At this point, both players should agree which edge of the game board represents the direction the wind is coming from. Usually the best direction in relation to the table area is to have the wind coming from the shortest edge, which allows players the greatest depth of movement during game play. Having the wind come from a specific table edge also simplifies interpretation of ship's orientation and is strongly recommended.

« Fleet Formations     
Players must each declare the battle formation they will use, either line ahead, line abreast or line of bearing (see diagrams at right) and also sailing order (which ship is first in each line, which is second, etc.). Different players on the same side may setup separated from each other, or they may operate as a single formation. That is entirely up to the discretion of the commander in chief or the "committee" in charge of each side. Once players have declared their formations, they must then roll to see how well ordered they will be. As a rule, fleets are in more disorder in the morning than in the afternoon (because of night time errors in piloting). And fleets with lower grade crews and lazier leaders will also be in more disorder. Refer to the table below:

Note: players do not have to setup their fleets yet. This step merely lets the players know what to expect from their own fleet as they continue with setup.

Die Roll Modifiers: Inspiring Leader = +2, Strict Leader = +1, Lazy Leader = -1, Cowardly Leader = -2, Fleet crew grade 1.99 and lower = -2, Fleet crew grade 2.0 to 2.99 = -1

Precise = Ships will remain as placed by the players.
Disordered = One-quarter of the fleet will be either scattered or crowded, roll one six-sided die to decide which.
Scattered = Half of the fleet's ships may not be any closer than two cables to each other, at least one pair of ships out of every 10 must be in inverted order, that is, if the fleet is in line-ahead, the inverted ships are in line abreast to each other. If the fleet is in line abreast, the inverted ships are in line ahead to each other.
Crowded = Half of the fleet's ships cannot be more than one-half cable from each other, and at least one pair of ships out of every 10 must be in inverted order. See the rules introduction for a definition of how far a "Cable" is (Cables are standard nautical distances used for measuring distances).

« Maneuvering for Position
If the player who was left with the downwind (lee) position during the Fleet Positions die roll wants to contest that and attempt to gain the upwind (weather) position, also referred to as "gaining the weather gage," roll on the table below. The cross indexed values are the results needed on one six-sided die in order to capture the upwind position from the enemy.

« Proximity
The battlefield should have an imaginary line drawn down its center, running between the two enemy fleets. This front line is used to decide how close the two fleets will be at the start of the game. Each player then rolls one six-sided die and consults the table below. The cross indexed field indicates how far from the frontline that each fleet's lead ship must be setup. See the rules introduction for the distance represented by one cable (distance may change depending on the scale of ship models being used).

« Wind Speed
Roll one six-sided die and consult the table below. Place a red wind speed die at the originating edge (the direction the wind is coming from) turned to show the current wind speed.

« Sea Depth
Players might want to roll for sea depth in order to establish whether or not ships can anchor. In deep sea, ships cannot anchor during the game. Roll a six side die. A 1 result means that it is deep sea. A 2-6 result means that it is near shore.

« Pre-Start
Before starting with the first turn's movement, the sail speed for each ship must be entered on the ship logs and or course the ships should all be set up on the playing area according to the disposition restrictions already determined. Each leader may then send one free signal (no die roll required). Ships with A or B rated crews may declare that they have Prepared Broadsides. Once these steps are complete, the game is begun with the first movement phase.