Cape St. Ignatz, a naval engagement

Back in town after a long trip to Maine, I decided to have a small naval battle. We used the “It Is Warm Work” rules since they are fairly fast and simple. We haven’t played these since 2014 or so and were a little rusty. Ken took the French squadron and I the British. I had intended to umpire but Rick was late and the other Fencibles are out of town on vacation. My scenario is crude and simple, 5 French ships of line vs. 4 British. The British have crack crews and that is the only advanced rule being used. The wind is the same for both sides and we decided against wind changes for this trial run.

French ships are in italics in this report and the photos.

We advanced towards each other. The French moved first as we got close and I headed downwind to rake the Bete Noire at close range, rolling an impressive array of 1’s and 2’s.

Ken responded by trying to break my line a la Nelson at Trafalgar.

Incontinent managed to damage Couchon Gros but after both ships passed, found herself downwind from the main battle and spent the rest of the game trying to tack back into the fight. The main scrum saw heavy damage on both sides. There were a lot of boarding actions and I will have to re-read that part of the rules again, not sure we did it correctly.

The Bete Noire slowly ground down the crew of the Misanthrope through a series of ties in the boarding fights. Misanthrope eventually cut the grappling hooks loose and sailed off, vainly trying to recapture the lost Disreputable. My camera decide it was time for a break.

We had been playing slowly and all concerned thought it was dinner time, so both squadrons broke off the fight. I figure the Admiralty would not be pleased to have lost one His Majesty’s ships of the line, even if we had captured a wrecked French one in exchange.

Ken (who has actually sailed boats) wondered about the sequential movement. I said we could get rules that had simultaneous movement but expect the game to slow down a lot more. I hope to get some more games of this under our belts in the future and may even find better scenarios.

We have various other things waiting later this month, more Bloody Big Battles games, a trial run of the new edition of Twilight of the Sun-King, etc.