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Showing posts with label Napoleonic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Napoleonic. Show all posts

Saturday, 15 December 2018

All at sea again!

Today, Lawrence was off unwell, so it was left for Phil and me to arrange a game, and Phil chose Sails of Glory, so we opted for using French frigates against the RN!


Phil took Le Succes, I the Courageuse.
Although there were islands on table, they were upwind of us so no danger. 
 Against us were HMS Orpheus and Cleopatra. They had better guns, we stronger hull burdens.
It looked like the RN were going to 'Cross our T'... 
...on my suggestion we headed behind the English line... 
...They turned upwind to slow their movement. 
 We were well out of range, and both sides moved to get advantage. 
 The English moved into line abreast.
 We headed straight past them.
One of us would have to commit to an exchange of fire! 
 Phil turned as the English broke formation to attack us.
 We were now just in range...
 Phil and I fired together, I got a bow rake on HMS Orpheus.
 My fire was most effective, causing mast damage.
 3 hull boxes down, that made Orpheus less dangerous!
 Phil got more fire on Orpheus as they passed.
 HMS Orpheus fired back ineffectually.
 Phil managed to hit HMS Orpheus again after a sharp turn. 
I was heading out of the action as I misjudged the English likely actions!  
 Le Succes lost a crew box to English musketry. to which she could not reply.
Phil engaged both  English ships, beating both of them!
HMS Cleopatra was lightly damaged, but ok. 
HMS Orpheus was badly damaged. 
Le Succes was lightly damaged... 
...and my Courageuse was virtually undamaged. 
I turned to try to rejoin the action while the rest of the ships licked their wounds and reloaded cannon!
HMS Cleopatra and Le Succes holed each other with their next exchange of shot.
HMS Orpheus's fire was very poor, as she was now close to being a wreck. 
 I finally got Courageuse heading back in the direction of the action!
 I was still far away from helping Phil, who was still running rings round the English. 
 Le Success fired on HMS Orpheus as I closed on her stern. 
Orpheus lost some crew, but was not damaged otherwise. 
My fire made up for lost time, setting HMS Orpheus on fire! 
Pretty period - isn't it!
 We all manoeuvered reloading!
HMS Orpheus turned ahead of me and fired...
 ... causing light damage on Courageuse. 
As I closed, my musketry killed several of her crew. 
Cleopatra was moving to engage Le Succes. 
 I turned to fire into the crippled HMS Orpheus...
I got a devastating volley in. 
Goodnight sweetheart! 
 Her crew struck the colours, but the ship probably burnt to the keel!
 Meanwhile, Le Succes got a stern rake on HMS Cleopatra.
I managed to damage her too. 
HMS Cleopatra was too heavily engaged to escape... 
 I lost a musketry duel with the Cleopatra.
I then turned sharply onto HMS Cleopatra... 
 ...and forced her to strike too!
All in all, a good day for Les Francaises!

Saturday, 28 July 2018

Last game before the summer break

Sadly, today was the last club day till September, as we break for August. Some will be at the excellent Claymore show next week, and we will all be at the Border Reiver show in Gateshead on 1st September. Despite the horrible yellow light in the hall, I will be taking pictures!

Still, enough of the future, today we played Sails of Glory, as Lawrence was back!

The game was between 3 74 gun ships on either side, we used the Royal Navy, the French used my solo system.


The terrain!
 Phil, once again dicing to be our commander!- put himself in the lead, in HMS Goliath, following was Lawrence with HMS Superb, and me following with HMS Spartiate.
The French (Le Swiftsure,Genereux and Le Berwick)  gained the wind advantage - how would they use it?
 My Spartiate was a tad slower than my squadron mates.
 As Goliath closed with Le Swiftsure, both sides saved their cannon fire till they could get a full broadside in, and instead exchanged musketry. The French were better!
The next move, I was the only one not engaged. Poor HMS Superb was sandwiched between Le Swiftsure and Le Berwick. 
The damage was amazing - HMS Superb, surprisingly, not coming off worst. 
Le Swiftsure was lightly damaged... 
Le Berwick was almost stripped of her crew. 
HMS Superb had 2 leaks. 
HMS Goliath had lost some crew, but was otherwise ok. 
My HMS Spartiate was next into action...
 ....against Le Swiftsure... 
...and poor Le Berwick. 
Le Berwick was afire and sinking. 

Le Swiftsure was suffering heavy crew casualties.
HMS Spartiate was as yet untouched! 
Genereux soon changed that! - though HMS Goliath stern raked Genereux for her trouble! 
HMS Goliath positioned herself to exchange fire with Le Swiftsure. 
 I managed to get HMS Spartiate into a bow raking position, and fired at the forlorn Le Swiftsure!
With her crew gone, and an uncontrollable leak, she was doomed. 
Le Genereux left the battle, and made her escape.
Damaged as she was, Le Genereux  could not face us alone. 
A Victory for the Royal Navy!.

I was too tired to carry on, but Lawrence and Phil had a couple of Frigate head to heads, and the RN under Lawrence were again victorious...well, one was rather easy as Phil managed to ram an island!

Good to play this great game again, its been a while!