This was a hypothetical action in 1741, pitting 16 Royal Navy ships against 10 Spanish and 8 French. The Brits begin closehauled on the port tack at medium sail; the Spanish start parallel to leeward, at fighting sail; the French start broadreaching, in line with and facing the Spanish but far enough away that they can cut upwind to engage the Brits. That's what we expected to happen, in fact--the Spanish command conference decided the Brits would stay upwind, engage the French and ignore us. We would be too far away to shoot effectively and unable to close the range in any reasonable time.
The British, however, didn't know that. They immediately drove straight at us. Their plan, as it turned out, was to pass through our line and defeat us, and hope the French wouldn't be able to pass through our line to attack them.
Unfortunately, the 50 gun Brit who was trying to pass astern of me didn't quite judge it right, and rammed into my 108 gun Real Felipe. And he fouled, so I was stuck in place. And with an invitation like that, of course a Brit 74 sauntered over to park at my bow and rake me repeatedly. Fortunately Real Felipe is a monster and can withstand quite a bit of punishment. I fired half-broadside rakes at the 50 who had immobilized me, then...formed boarding parties! Both Brits hastily formed defensive boarding parties. I assaulted the 74, which barely repulsed me. The 50, knowing she couldn't withstand a boarding action, cut away the grappling lines and edged away.
Meanwhile, the French line had swept down on the British van and gotten embroiled in a furball there. The French admiral signaled me that he was going to keep his ships together at the van, which meant that my ship and the rest of the Spanish rear were not going to be rescued. That was probably the right decision overall, but that was cold comfort with my ship and her consort Brilliante fighting five Brits, and the rest of the Spanish rear equally outnumbered.
It was about this point that my consort exploded.
The Brits had sent four strong ships to attack the three weaker ships of the Spanish rear, but hadn't been effective as I would have expected--in fact, one of the three managed to escape, and another was battered but still attacking at game end. The third, however--Brillante--had been reduced to floating scrap wood when she caught fire and blew up. Surrounding her were a knot of five ships--my Real Felipe and four Brits. The burning debris from the wreck caught all five of us on fire, but Real Felipe managed to extinguish hers quickly. Not all the Brits were as fortunate. I finally managed to turn (having been immobile since game turn 3) and put enough shot into that 50 to finish her off.
The game was called at that point with an Allied victory; the Brits hadn't managed to defeat our rear fast enough to prevent our winning at the van. I think the Brit plan was clever but flawed--it relied on their being able to get through a hostile line, and the French not being able to get through a friendly line. I am thankful not to have been selected for British admiral, since I don't know what would have been a winning strategy--there were several comments, from all three sides, to the effect the Brits were doomed from the start as they were facing a strength point disparity of about 20% .
Showing posts with label Close Action. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Close Action. Show all posts
Monday, November 16, 2015
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Close Action: l’Étenduère’s Opportunity
This was a scenario set in 1747, between a French convoy escort, commanded by the Marquis de l’Étenduère, and British attackers under Rear Admiral Edward Hawke. The British have nine ships, mostly 50s and 60s and one 70, with mostly B and C crews and the weather gauge; the French have seven ships, ranging from 64s to an 80, with C and D crews. There is limited searoom to the sides of the map, on the grounds that the Brits are trying to get past the French without going so far around that they can't attack the convoy. Josh was admiral for the Brits, Chris Williams commanded the French.
The British ships were individually weaker than the French ships, so the plan was to concentrate our rear three on their rear two (a D 64 and D 68), and refuse our van. That plan lasted about one turn before the British captains threw it to the winds and followed their own fancies. Our rear three engaged their rear three, rather than two, which meant we gave the French the opportunity to add a C quality 74 into the mix; further, our ships got in each other's way, and didn't close aggressively. In the van, I swept down as a threat to cross their leader's bow, staying carefully out of the enemy gunnery arcs. Unfortunately, the rest of our van followed me, although the plan had been to turn away from the enemy and refuse action. Here, too, the Brits were clumsy, blocking each other's shots.
Seeing that we were committed, I cut through the enemy's line in hopes of causing some collisions that might give us an advantage; however, the French deftly avoided me and I was isolated. Worse, they got off a critical hit that did waterline damage, and sending men to the pumps cost me another crew section. After that, my gunnery was essentially ineffective. Perhaps I should have continued parallel to the enemy, instead of cutting through--but that would have pitted my 60 against a French 74, which meant having a 21 gunnery factor + 27 hull +16 crew against 27 gunnery + 36 hull + 25 crew.
In contrast with the British, the French stuck together reasonably well. Their rear three ships handled our three, and the rest joined the action at the van. I think the French admiral felt he made some mistakes, but I didn't notice anything glaring.
The end result was that the British lost 23 sections (11 R, 5 H, 7 C) vs. 9 French (4 R, 3 H, 2 C); the British failed 5 morale checks vs. 2 for the French. Part of it can be ascribed to poor Brit tactics, but not all. The French started with a stronger force, at 532 vs 473; further, the British ships are individually more fragile, and easier to diable. Post game suggestions included adding a couple of British ships and spreading the French out more, so the Brits have a chance to attack before the French can tighten their line; lowering the French crew quality; and doing away with the hard map edges which limit maneuver opportunity.
The British ships were individually weaker than the French ships, so the plan was to concentrate our rear three on their rear two (a D 64 and D 68), and refuse our van. That plan lasted about one turn before the British captains threw it to the winds and followed their own fancies. Our rear three engaged their rear three, rather than two, which meant we gave the French the opportunity to add a C quality 74 into the mix; further, our ships got in each other's way, and didn't close aggressively. In the van, I swept down as a threat to cross their leader's bow, staying carefully out of the enemy gunnery arcs. Unfortunately, the rest of our van followed me, although the plan had been to turn away from the enemy and refuse action. Here, too, the Brits were clumsy, blocking each other's shots.
Seeing that we were committed, I cut through the enemy's line in hopes of causing some collisions that might give us an advantage; however, the French deftly avoided me and I was isolated. Worse, they got off a critical hit that did waterline damage, and sending men to the pumps cost me another crew section. After that, my gunnery was essentially ineffective. Perhaps I should have continued parallel to the enemy, instead of cutting through--but that would have pitted my 60 against a French 74, which meant having a 21 gunnery factor + 27 hull +16 crew against 27 gunnery + 36 hull + 25 crew.
In contrast with the British, the French stuck together reasonably well. Their rear three ships handled our three, and the rest joined the action at the van. I think the French admiral felt he made some mistakes, but I didn't notice anything glaring.
The end result was that the British lost 23 sections (11 R, 5 H, 7 C) vs. 9 French (4 R, 3 H, 2 C); the British failed 5 morale checks vs. 2 for the French. Part of it can be ascribed to poor Brit tactics, but not all. The French started with a stronger force, at 532 vs 473; further, the British ships are individually more fragile, and easier to diable. Post game suggestions included adding a couple of British ships and spreading the French out more, so the Brits have a chance to attack before the French can tighten their line; lowering the French crew quality; and doing away with the hard map edges which limit maneuver opportunity.
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Close Action: Cape de Gata
Mark Campbell hosted a scenario from the upcoming "War of Jenkin's Ear and the Austrian Succession" book, a hypothetical action between Spanish and British at Cape de Gata on 16 December 1741. Twelve British ships in three squadrons, ranging from 50 to 80 guns and B to D quality, face fifteen Spanish ships--which include five really weak 50 gun vessels, but also the 108 gun Real Felipe--in two squadrons. of D and E quality. Two of the larger ships on each side are Poor Maneuvering. Both fleets start at Broad Reach (which is unusual) with the wind to port, with the British to windward and the lead ships of both sides about even with each other. I was the admiral for the British van, Stan Sunderwirth was the overall flag, and Albert Parker commanded our rear; Brian Hernandez was in charge of the Spanish van, subordinate to Jim Fleury.
The British commanders anticipated that the Spanish might immediately turn port and come upwind at us, which was the most threatening possibility; we also thought they might all wear, but that would leave them too far away to interfere with out maneuvering. We discussed turning starboard and running down on them (which would let their rear catch up and possibly envelope our rear), wearing close (which the Poor Maneuvering ships can't do), wearing deep (which takes us too close to the Spanish, if they chose the aggressive option; they could easily charge in through gaping holes in our formation and break our line), and even a fleet tack (seriously--but again, the Poor Maneuverability ships made that too risky). What we decided to do was sail ahead, close up our line, and then cut across the Spanish van and defeat them before the Spanish rear could join in. I wasn't convinced this was the best plan--the Spanish rear would already be broad reaching, and could easily catch up to the fray--but it was simple enough that we didn't have to worry about being caught in disarray if the Spanish did something aggressive, and it gave us the option of responding to whatever the Spanish did.
As it turned out, the Spanish rear maintained course, while the Spanish van wore, and then wore again. This had the effect of refusing the van and closing up their fleet somewhat, with five of their van ships leeward of and protected by the first part of their rear squadron ; however, it also made it easy for my squadron to cut across and get ahead of them. By turn 10, my squadron had gotten ahead of the Spanish leading ships, which were forced to turn downwind to avoid us. On turn 11, I collided with and fouled San Fernando, the lead Spanish ship; this was not what I intended, but it had the advantage that San Fernando was locked in place. The rest of the British fleet was able to pass her, firing as they went; on one turn, she took fire from five ships and my marines.
I finally cut loose at the end of turn 16; San Fernando was dismasted and rather the worse for wear by that point, although she survived to the end of the game. Six ships of the Spanish rear were coming down on us, finally about to join the battle; the Brits had a corresponding clump around San Fernando; and downwind, six Brit and seven Spanish were hotly engaged. Somerset, the British flag, collided and fouled with Paloma in position to rake; then Real Felipe, the Spanish flag, did the same with Panther. By turn 21, Somerset got loose and Paloma struck; Gloucester duelled Poder, Dragon
traded shots with Santa Isabel, Guernsey hammered Fama, and Warwick took a shot at the unwounded Javier.
Which blew up.
Warwick, being adjacent to the explosion, was severely damaged; and when the flaming debris settled, Warwick, Dragon, Santa Isabela, Fama and Guernsey were all on fire, but this worked out to a net advantage for the higher quality Brits. The Spanish marines had been ready for firefighting, but apparently not trained well enough, as none of them succeeding in quenching the flames; Fama struck as a consequence. This brought up to 6pm and the game was declared a British victory.
The British commanders anticipated that the Spanish might immediately turn port and come upwind at us, which was the most threatening possibility; we also thought they might all wear, but that would leave them too far away to interfere with out maneuvering. We discussed turning starboard and running down on them (which would let their rear catch up and possibly envelope our rear), wearing close (which the Poor Maneuvering ships can't do), wearing deep (which takes us too close to the Spanish, if they chose the aggressive option; they could easily charge in through gaping holes in our formation and break our line), and even a fleet tack (seriously--but again, the Poor Maneuverability ships made that too risky). What we decided to do was sail ahead, close up our line, and then cut across the Spanish van and defeat them before the Spanish rear could join in. I wasn't convinced this was the best plan--the Spanish rear would already be broad reaching, and could easily catch up to the fray--but it was simple enough that we didn't have to worry about being caught in disarray if the Spanish did something aggressive, and it gave us the option of responding to whatever the Spanish did.
As it turned out, the Spanish rear maintained course, while the Spanish van wore, and then wore again. This had the effect of refusing the van and closing up their fleet somewhat, with five of their van ships leeward of and protected by the first part of their rear squadron ; however, it also made it easy for my squadron to cut across and get ahead of them. By turn 10, my squadron had gotten ahead of the Spanish leading ships, which were forced to turn downwind to avoid us. On turn 11, I collided with and fouled San Fernando, the lead Spanish ship; this was not what I intended, but it had the advantage that San Fernando was locked in place. The rest of the British fleet was able to pass her, firing as they went; on one turn, she took fire from five ships and my marines.
I finally cut loose at the end of turn 16; San Fernando was dismasted and rather the worse for wear by that point, although she survived to the end of the game. Six ships of the Spanish rear were coming down on us, finally about to join the battle; the Brits had a corresponding clump around San Fernando; and downwind, six Brit and seven Spanish were hotly engaged. Somerset, the British flag, collided and fouled with Paloma in position to rake; then Real Felipe, the Spanish flag, did the same with Panther. By turn 21, Somerset got loose and Paloma struck; Gloucester duelled Poder, Dragon
traded shots with Santa Isabel, Guernsey hammered Fama, and Warwick took a shot at the unwounded Javier.
Which blew up.
Warwick, being adjacent to the explosion, was severely damaged; and when the flaming debris settled, Warwick, Dragon, Santa Isabela, Fama and Guernsey were all on fire, but this worked out to a net advantage for the higher quality Brits. The Spanish marines had been ready for firefighting, but apparently not trained well enough, as none of them succeeding in quenching the flames; Fama struck as a consequence. This brought up to 6pm and the game was declared a British victory.
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Close Action: De Ternay vs Graves
Second game at Guns of August was Close Action, the De Ternay vs Graves scenario. I was admiral of the French side.
In this scenario, the French start in line ahead, close hauled, with the wind on their port; the English are also in line ahead, broad reaching with the wind to their starboard, and with their first ship about 30 hexes windward of the first French ship. My plan was to go ahead for one game turn, then turn right in succession and let the English come to us (That's not the ideal plan for this situation; however, the game started late, I wasn't familiar with the other players' experience and expertise, and I didn't have much time for the briefing. I figured it was better to go for "simple and get people into a fight" rather than "theoretical optimum, complex, and bored players").
The English almost immediately took the "fireworks" formation, with six ships going in three directions and no discernable plan to it. And my lead ship never turned to starboard; he just kept going straight ahead, and we kept following, beautifully in line. Unfortunately that meant our two lead ships got doubled; this was exacerbated when the leader tried to tack while he was too close to the enemy, and made himself a stationary target. Meanwhile, a rogue Englishman sailed down my line and cut in front of me. I had to turn into the wind to avoid a collision, but managed to grapple him, and my greater weight of metal (plus rakes from my cohorts as they sailed past) was more than he could deal with; he was 3 crew boxes from striking when the game ended. When time was called, we had 49 points (and would certainly take one of their ships); they had 64 (and would take one of ours, and quite possibly a second). Not the best game I've ever had, from an admiral's perspective, but given the starting position and our scratch team of captains, we did pretty well.
In this scenario, the French start in line ahead, close hauled, with the wind on their port; the English are also in line ahead, broad reaching with the wind to their starboard, and with their first ship about 30 hexes windward of the first French ship. My plan was to go ahead for one game turn, then turn right in succession and let the English come to us (That's not the ideal plan for this situation; however, the game started late, I wasn't familiar with the other players' experience and expertise, and I didn't have much time for the briefing. I figured it was better to go for "simple and get people into a fight" rather than "theoretical optimum, complex, and bored players").
The English almost immediately took the "fireworks" formation, with six ships going in three directions and no discernable plan to it. And my lead ship never turned to starboard; he just kept going straight ahead, and we kept following, beautifully in line. Unfortunately that meant our two lead ships got doubled; this was exacerbated when the leader tried to tack while he was too close to the enemy, and made himself a stationary target. Meanwhile, a rogue Englishman sailed down my line and cut in front of me. I had to turn into the wind to avoid a collision, but managed to grapple him, and my greater weight of metal (plus rakes from my cohorts as they sailed past) was more than he could deal with; he was 3 crew boxes from striking when the game ended. When time was called, we had 49 points (and would certainly take one of their ships); they had 64 (and would take one of ours, and quite possibly a second). Not the best game I've ever had, from an admiral's perspective, but given the starting position and our scratch team of captains, we did pretty well.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Battle of the Atlantic, Take 2
Mark Campbell put on a Close Action game in DC as a playtest of a hypothetical scenario which pits an elite British force against a line of American super-74s and super-44s. I participated in a previous game at Historicon 2012, reported here. This time, I was the British admiral, I had several advantages--I had time to study the scenario, I had motivation to study--the enemy admiral being Lee Tankersley, I knew I couldn't just wing it--and almost all my players were experienced.
The scenario opens with both fleets in line ahead, close hauled, on a collision course with the Americans a couple of hexes closer to the intersection. The Americans have heavy frigates, effectively about the same as a normal 74, in parallel line a few hexes to windward. The British second squadron is also a few hexes to windward, but behind the first squadron.
I don't always stress staying in line, but in this case I did; and I stressed that we should stay at least 7 hexes away from the enemy, given their abundance of short range carronades.
We started with first squadron turning starboard in succession, coming into broad reaching with the wind (and Americans) off our port side. The Americans maneuvered to close the range by a couple of hexes; I ordered first squadron to wear and open the range, an order which Mark described as "perfect--exactly the right thing to do, at exactly the right time". I admit to some qualms as the line turned, moved, and turned, but when it was done we accomplished the maneuver with no collisions, everyone in line and no one blocking fire of anyone else. I was quite pleased.
Quite pleased with first squadron, that is. While we were doing aquatic ballet and leaving half the Americans leeward and without targets, a couple of my second squadron ships decided it was time to play chicken with the American battle line--apparently forgetting completely about the whole "stay seven hexes away" part. These two ships got hammered but they also dished out a lot of damage and disrupted the American line; and even when they struck, they had the American admiral's ship Ohio trapped between them.
Meanwhile, the enemy frigates had swept around the furball and come down to attack the head of our line. I ordered my lead ship to tack--pausing first to be sure it was Joshua commanding that ship, so I could trust that it would be handled properly--and then ordered other ships to follow. They worked their way to windward, came down on the Americans, who were still disordered, and handed out stern rakes as they passed by, dismasting Franklin and forcing her to strike, and lining up to rake the hapless Ohio as well.
Meanwhile, the rest of our line moved to windward to engage the frigates. Ocean guessed badly on a maneuver and discovered that getting shot at by three American heavy frigates is just as bad as getting shot by three normal 74s, but she helped block the enemy line of movement. My own ship, the 100 gun San Josef, got pretty badly battered as well (and failed 3 of 3 moral checks, sigh). However, we forced two of the frigates to strike, and the third one was stuck and obviously doomed. The fourth and smallest--captained by a nine year old girl--slipped out of the net and escaped, battering Ocean as she passed.
With eighteen turns complete and a snowstorm bearing down on DC, we called it. The Brits had six ships effective, San Josef and Ocean seriously damaged, and Benbow and Black Prince struck. The Americans had Franklin, Independence and Guerriere struck, Ohio and Constitution immobilized and doomed, Delaware severely damaged, and three super-74s and the little 38 gun frigate still effective. A convincing British victory, and a good game.
The scenario opens with both fleets in line ahead, close hauled, on a collision course with the Americans a couple of hexes closer to the intersection. The Americans have heavy frigates, effectively about the same as a normal 74, in parallel line a few hexes to windward. The British second squadron is also a few hexes to windward, but behind the first squadron.
I don't always stress staying in line, but in this case I did; and I stressed that we should stay at least 7 hexes away from the enemy, given their abundance of short range carronades.
We started with first squadron turning starboard in succession, coming into broad reaching with the wind (and Americans) off our port side. The Americans maneuvered to close the range by a couple of hexes; I ordered first squadron to wear and open the range, an order which Mark described as "perfect--exactly the right thing to do, at exactly the right time". I admit to some qualms as the line turned, moved, and turned, but when it was done we accomplished the maneuver with no collisions, everyone in line and no one blocking fire of anyone else. I was quite pleased.
Quite pleased with first squadron, that is. While we were doing aquatic ballet and leaving half the Americans leeward and without targets, a couple of my second squadron ships decided it was time to play chicken with the American battle line--apparently forgetting completely about the whole "stay seven hexes away" part. These two ships got hammered but they also dished out a lot of damage and disrupted the American line; and even when they struck, they had the American admiral's ship Ohio trapped between them.
Meanwhile, the enemy frigates had swept around the furball and come down to attack the head of our line. I ordered my lead ship to tack--pausing first to be sure it was Joshua commanding that ship, so I could trust that it would be handled properly--and then ordered other ships to follow. They worked their way to windward, came down on the Americans, who were still disordered, and handed out stern rakes as they passed by, dismasting Franklin and forcing her to strike, and lining up to rake the hapless Ohio as well.
Meanwhile, the rest of our line moved to windward to engage the frigates. Ocean guessed badly on a maneuver and discovered that getting shot at by three American heavy frigates is just as bad as getting shot by three normal 74s, but she helped block the enemy line of movement. My own ship, the 100 gun San Josef, got pretty badly battered as well (and failed 3 of 3 moral checks, sigh). However, we forced two of the frigates to strike, and the third one was stuck and obviously doomed. The fourth and smallest--captained by a nine year old girl--slipped out of the net and escaped, battering Ocean as she passed.
With eighteen turns complete and a snowstorm bearing down on DC, we called it. The Brits had six ships effective, San Josef and Ocean seriously damaged, and Benbow and Black Prince struck. The Americans had Franklin, Independence and Guerriere struck, Ohio and Constitution immobilized and doomed, Delaware severely damaged, and three super-74s and the little 38 gun frigate still effective. A convincing British victory, and a good game.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Battle of Cape Henry
Josh and I drove to DC yesterday for a Close Action battle hosted by Albert Parker. We had eleven players total: Richard Kunkel (admiral), Heather, Will, Dave Cross, Josh and I for the French, and Jim Rumizen (British admiral), Al Cook, Albert, Mike Bosworth and Steve Becker for the English. We were using Albert's twelve-direction movement, which takes more effort than the standard six-direction but is well worth it.
The scenario was the Battle of Cape Henry from 1781, Destouches vs Arbuthnot, which is Scenario 15 in the Rebel Seas book. The Royal Navy has eight ships, ranging from the 98 gun London to the Adamant, 50; the French also have eight, ranging from Duc de Bourgogne, a small 80, to a captured British 44 gun two decker, Romulus; both sides were about even in points and crew quality. Both sides start in line ahead, close hauled with the wind on the port bow, the British pursuing the French. This scenario is unusual in that heavy seas, and the way ships heel to leeward, mean that ships need to close their lower deck gunports on the leeward side; this means that all ships are penalized when firing downwind, but not upwind.
The French plan was to wear, engage the head of the British line at medium range, and--according to the admiral--keep reversing course with successive wears to keep the range open. I don't know what the British plan was, but from comments among the British players, it seems no one followed the plan anyway--the military maxim is "No plan survives contact with the enemy", but this may have been "No plan survives contact with my subordinates."
On the first turn, the British continued in line ahead, and the French wore...most of the French wore. Turn One is where the French plan started coming unstuck, a little earlier than is usually the case. The Romulus, which would be the third ship in the French line, didn't complete the wear; she therefore was an obstacle for the rest of our line to detour around, while Provence and Eveille sailed straight toward the enemy. By turn 5, the leading elements of both fleets were in action, but Neptune was still trying to get past Romulus without a collision. This left a gap between the first two French ships and thee rest of the French line; why the Brits didn't keep in line and sail through the gap, I don't know. Busy pursuing our lead ships, I suppose, or the British having bad luck with their signal limitations.
The lead two French ships tried to withdraw from the Brits but had to turn to avoid the French admiral who was sailing by. They got trapped and by turn 8 they had collided and fouled with Robust. Eveille was stuck in a position where she couldn't shoot effectively so Josh, her commander, formed boarders--I believe that's the second time I've seen it done in ten years. Unfortunately Robust managed to get loose just before Josh could launch his attack. Nonetheless, a dogpile was forming, and they always seem to attract other ships, as people try to maneuver to protect their teammates or take close range shots at immobilized enemies. That's what happened here. My notes for Turn 11 read "To the west, London and Adamant collide and foul. Main island still a scrum. Mass drifting and fouling."
On turn 13, southeast of the main glob, Heather's Neptune and my Conquerant nearly got two Brits to collide with us; they escaped only by the favor of the dice. As the game wound down, I boldly sailed right to the edge of the traffic jam to deliver some close range rakes; Neptune prudently kept a little farther away from the mess and engaged one of the few remaining mobile Brits; Duc finally got into the action after a long detour to leeward, and Romulus, 44, suicidally attacked the 98 gun London.
The game was called due to time at turn 16, which was good because I'd tempted fate a little too long; by some good maneuvering and sheer luck I'd managed to get my shots in while keeping out of enemy firing arcs, but on turn 17 I would almost certainly have gotten stuck, with four Brits around me. The damage count was about even for both sides--the French would have been ahead if Romulus hadn't chosen to attack London and Adamant. The battle was undecided when we left, but the consensus was that the French had the advantage; call it a very marginal French win.
A weird battle with a mass melee instead of neat lines of battle, but fun and interesting for all that..well, it was for me--I imagine somewhat less so for those who spent half the game fouled and immobile. I think Jim Rumizen did a commendable job as the British admiral, particularly with the signaling limits imposed by the scenario; new players Heather and Will also did well.
The scenario was the Battle of Cape Henry from 1781, Destouches vs Arbuthnot, which is Scenario 15 in the Rebel Seas book. The Royal Navy has eight ships, ranging from the 98 gun London to the Adamant, 50; the French also have eight, ranging from Duc de Bourgogne, a small 80, to a captured British 44 gun two decker, Romulus; both sides were about even in points and crew quality. Both sides start in line ahead, close hauled with the wind on the port bow, the British pursuing the French. This scenario is unusual in that heavy seas, and the way ships heel to leeward, mean that ships need to close their lower deck gunports on the leeward side; this means that all ships are penalized when firing downwind, but not upwind.
The French plan was to wear, engage the head of the British line at medium range, and--according to the admiral--keep reversing course with successive wears to keep the range open. I don't know what the British plan was, but from comments among the British players, it seems no one followed the plan anyway--the military maxim is "No plan survives contact with the enemy", but this may have been "No plan survives contact with my subordinates."
On the first turn, the British continued in line ahead, and the French wore...most of the French wore. Turn One is where the French plan started coming unstuck, a little earlier than is usually the case. The Romulus, which would be the third ship in the French line, didn't complete the wear; she therefore was an obstacle for the rest of our line to detour around, while Provence and Eveille sailed straight toward the enemy. By turn 5, the leading elements of both fleets were in action, but Neptune was still trying to get past Romulus without a collision. This left a gap between the first two French ships and thee rest of the French line; why the Brits didn't keep in line and sail through the gap, I don't know. Busy pursuing our lead ships, I suppose, or the British having bad luck with their signal limitations.
The lead two French ships tried to withdraw from the Brits but had to turn to avoid the French admiral who was sailing by. They got trapped and by turn 8 they had collided and fouled with Robust. Eveille was stuck in a position where she couldn't shoot effectively so Josh, her commander, formed boarders--I believe that's the second time I've seen it done in ten years. Unfortunately Robust managed to get loose just before Josh could launch his attack. Nonetheless, a dogpile was forming, and they always seem to attract other ships, as people try to maneuver to protect their teammates or take close range shots at immobilized enemies. That's what happened here. My notes for Turn 11 read "To the west, London and Adamant collide and foul. Main island still a scrum. Mass drifting and fouling."
On turn 13, southeast of the main glob, Heather's Neptune and my Conquerant nearly got two Brits to collide with us; they escaped only by the favor of the dice. As the game wound down, I boldly sailed right to the edge of the traffic jam to deliver some close range rakes; Neptune prudently kept a little farther away from the mess and engaged one of the few remaining mobile Brits; Duc finally got into the action after a long detour to leeward, and Romulus, 44, suicidally attacked the 98 gun London.
The game was called due to time at turn 16, which was good because I'd tempted fate a little too long; by some good maneuvering and sheer luck I'd managed to get my shots in while keeping out of enemy firing arcs, but on turn 17 I would almost certainly have gotten stuck, with four Brits around me. The damage count was about even for both sides--the French would have been ahead if Romulus hadn't chosen to attack London and Adamant. The battle was undecided when we left, but the consensus was that the French had the advantage; call it a very marginal French win.
A weird battle with a mass melee instead of neat lines of battle, but fun and interesting for all that..well, it was for me--I imagine somewhat less so for those who spent half the game fouled and immobile. I think Jim Rumizen did a commendable job as the British admiral, particularly with the signaling limits imposed by the scenario; new players Heather and Will also did well.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Battle of Havana, 1748
Albert Parker hosted a Close Action game portraying the the Battle of Havana, which took place in 1748. This was a hypothetical scenario, with the 36 gun Galga replaced by the formidable Fenix, 80, to make a more balanced game. Each side has seven ships; the Spanish vessels are larger and tougher, the British have better crews. Players included (Spanish) Dave Cross (admiral), Richard, Al Cook, Andrew, Pete and Ashlee; British player were me (admiral), Josh, Will, Albert, Heather, and Shawn.
The wind is from the southeast. Both fleets start in line ahead, with the wind on the port bow; the British start to the northeast of the Spanish line, with a weather gauge advantage over the last few Spanish ships. As the British, we expected the Spanish van to wear and come back towards us while the Spanish rear kept running away; our plan was to cut off the closest two Spanish ships and defeat them. This is pretty much exactly what happened.
It was a bit more difficult than I expected--partly because the gamemaster rolled a lot more 6's for the Spanish than he did for us, even though he was playing on our side....Another factor was that the two Spaniards we cut off were the two biggest and toughest ones; as we approached, these two ran into each other and fouled, which made them easy for us to catch, but not easier to pound into submission. The other reason it was tough was because the starting situation meant that the British were strung out and had to arrive piecemeal, one ship every turn or two rather than en masse; with the Spanish continually moving away from us, our rearmost two ships never got into the action at all.
Fortunately the Spanish divided their own forces as well, and and rather than ganging up on us as we trickled into the action, most of the Spanish fleet milled around in circles away from the action. Our lead two ships, Stafford and Tilbury, took a lot of hits as they sailed into the midst of the enemy, but then the rest of our fleet started arriving and most of the Spanish started leaving, and it quickly became five of us against three of them; shortly Fenix withdrew and it was five to two. A lucky hit set Africa on fire, demoralizing her crew; a few turns (and a few volleys of chainshot) later, she surrendered. That left Invencible isolated; all we had to do was knock off one of her masts so she couldn't escape. In fact, the rest of the Spanish had the wind gauge and could have succored her if they'd tried, but Invencible's player was told "we British are the wolves, the Spanish are the elk, and you are the baby elk at the back of the herd", and that was pretty much the way it went.
Afterwards most of us adjourned to Five Guys for the "debriefing, recriminations and courts martial" phase before the drive home.
The wind is from the southeast. Both fleets start in line ahead, with the wind on the port bow; the British start to the northeast of the Spanish line, with a weather gauge advantage over the last few Spanish ships. As the British, we expected the Spanish van to wear and come back towards us while the Spanish rear kept running away; our plan was to cut off the closest two Spanish ships and defeat them. This is pretty much exactly what happened.
It was a bit more difficult than I expected--partly because the gamemaster rolled a lot more 6's for the Spanish than he did for us, even though he was playing on our side....Another factor was that the two Spaniards we cut off were the two biggest and toughest ones; as we approached, these two ran into each other and fouled, which made them easy for us to catch, but not easier to pound into submission. The other reason it was tough was because the starting situation meant that the British were strung out and had to arrive piecemeal, one ship every turn or two rather than en masse; with the Spanish continually moving away from us, our rearmost two ships never got into the action at all.
Fortunately the Spanish divided their own forces as well, and and rather than ganging up on us as we trickled into the action, most of the Spanish fleet milled around in circles away from the action. Our lead two ships, Stafford and Tilbury, took a lot of hits as they sailed into the midst of the enemy, but then the rest of our fleet started arriving and most of the Spanish started leaving, and it quickly became five of us against three of them; shortly Fenix withdrew and it was five to two. A lucky hit set Africa on fire, demoralizing her crew; a few turns (and a few volleys of chainshot) later, she surrendered. That left Invencible isolated; all we had to do was knock off one of her masts so she couldn't escape. In fact, the rest of the Spanish had the wind gauge and could have succored her if they'd tried, but Invencible's player was told "we British are the wolves, the Spanish are the elk, and you are the baby elk at the back of the herd", and that was pretty much the way it went.
Afterwards most of us adjourned to Five Guys for the "debriefing, recriminations and courts martial" phase before the drive home.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Brits vs Americans
My Saturday afternoon game at Historicon was a fictional Close Action scenario, pitting Brits vs Americans in 1821. The Brits had 10 ships, ranging from 74s to a 110, while the Americans had super 74s and super 44 frigates. All ships had A or B crew quality, and were heavily armed. (One ship got a 45 gunnery result without either Initial Broadside or Rake modifier).
The scenario started with both squadrons in line ahead, close hauled, with the Americans a little closer to the point where the lines would meet. The Americans were in two lines, with their four frigates behind the line of battle ships.
The Brits wanted to keep the action at medium long range, where the American carronades and medium guns would be less effective; consequently we planned to turn in succession to a broad reach and then fade away from the USN line. The American plan, as it turned out, was to let us do what we planned while they sent their first few ships around to windward to come down and break our line. The American plan worked pretty well, trapping most of the second squadron (four of whom were inexperienced players) to windward, making it difficult for the other RN ships to come to their aid. The Americans did have a couple of ships fairly thoroughly beaten up, including Delaware which was sacrificed to break the line, but they definitely came out ahead. Both sides played well, including the four new guys on the British side, and it was a very intense battle. I'm still trying to figure out what the best British plan would be.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Close Action AAR: British vs Americans
Went to Springfield Virginia (just outside DC) for a Close Action game put on by Mark Campbell. This was a hypothetical scenario, with the Americans trying to punch through a channel blockaded by the British. The Americans start in the south; they get extra points for getting their 44s off the north end, if they can do so without losing rigging sections. Wind is from the southwest. All forces start in line ahead by squadron; the Brits are close hauled heading south, the Americans are broad reaching north.
I didn't get a scenario page so I don't know exactly what the forces were, although they totaled about 850 points. I believe both sides had three frigates to the west and two on the east; the American main line had four Super 74s and as I recall the Brits had five ships of the line, including two 110s. My ship was USS Franklin, the lead American 74.
The American strategy was to have our western frigates block the Brit western frigates from blocking our main line from blocking the Brit main line from getting at our western frigates. I've paraphrased it a bit, but that was the essence. Meanwhile, one of the eastern frigates would keep the two Brit frigates on that side busy while the other one slipped past.
As the lead American ship of the line, I immediately went to plain sail and turned port to try to get upwind of the Brit heavies. By turn 3 it was clear that I would beat the leading Brit ship to the intercept point by a couple of hexes; I should have started lowering sail again, but didn't do that until turn 4 (and it's a two-turn process). On turn 4 I crossed the enemy line, getting a half broadside range 2 bow rake. I debated getting one hex row west of the Brit line, moving a bit north and turning, which could (and in hindsight, would) have had the second Brit collide with me, causing major rigging damage to that ship and sowing confusion among the Brits; however, the lead Brit could have done something (although he didn't) to cause me to collide with him, which would have caused me severe rigging damage and been unhealthy for me. I elected to play it safe and made a little wider turn. The lead Brit scooted past me and the second Brit and I exchanged half-broadsides, which nearly took my first mast down before I could finish getting from Plain Sail to Medium Sail.
I then had to decide whether to keep sailing along the British line, rendering passing honors, or to beat upwind and help our frigates. The next Brit was San Josef, a captured Spanish 110, which was in the midst of tacking at the time. As it happened, she failed to tack and I could have gotten a bow rake in, but I'd decided to go west to succor our frigates, so I only got a medium range half broadside in on her.
Meanwhile our other heavies were southwest of me, getting ready to engage two of the Brit frigates. (The third western Brit, Horatio 38, had headed north to be a backstop, which I expect was in accordance with his admiral's intent. If it'd been my ship, I'd have stayed up in the action and tried to lure one of the American 44s into colliding with me, but what Horatio did worked well enough).
By turn 8 I was trading shots with frigate Severn, which was carronade-heavy and turned out to be less of a pushover than I expected; her fire, plus some medium long shots from San Josef and Vengeur (another Brit SOL) finished off my first mast and nearly got my second mast. Turn 9 saw my second mast fall, and turn 10 cost my third mast and first hull section (the Brits were mostly firing high). Our other heavies were dancing around on the western edge of the channel, getting in each other's firing arcs so they couldn't bring full effective fire on the enemy frigates. Despite this, even a tough frigate can't survive much attention from SOL, and Leander struck, followed shortly by Severn.
Two of our western frigates ran north; one of them kept Horatio busy while the other one slipped off the map for a Victory Point bonus. On the eastern edge, our two frigates tried the same plan, but a lucky British shot took down a mast on the one that was trying to get off the board, which eventually led to two frigate duels.
Meanwhile, back in the main action...by turn 10 my masts were shot up enough that my options were limited. I crept along, hoping to lunge in front of one of the Brit heavies and cause a collision; when my third mast fell, my aspirations fell to "don't die yet" and "get a few more good shots in before I go." A benevolent Fate led to some confusion on San Josef's quarterdeck and twice I narrowly escaped taking a close range bow rake from a 110.
Remember the two leading British ships which had gone past me around turn 5? They had overshot the action and had to tack and go to plain sail to get back to the fray. They came charging back in to the SOL fight around turn 13 and started taking down sails, a little later than they should have. I got in a shot on Canopus which wasn't impressive as far as overall weight of metal (gunnery factor 23 before dice), but was beautiful as far as accuracy; it took down her first mast, the critical hit took down her second mast, and the "rigging check" result from that did three boxes damage to the third mast as well, for a total of 13 rigging hits on that one shot. It was one of the few times I've ever ordered "aim for the rigging", and it worked out well.
By turn 15 the action was moving away from me toward the northwest; I traded shots with Valiant as she went past me. I lost my last original rigging box, but my marines had been busy with a couple of blankets, a petticoat and some string, so I wasn't quite dismasted--the only time I've had "repair rigging" orders have any significant effect. I was able to get in one more starboard turn to bring guns to bear before my last mast was swept away.
That brought us to the end of Turn 16 and 4:30pm. Mark decided to call it due to time. Two Brit frigates had struck, and one American 44 had made it off the map; on the other hand, my Franklin would have been doomed as soon as an enemy had some free time to come back and rake me, and most of the other ships on both sides were looking battered. It was adjudicated as a hard-fought draw. The American admiral felt (and I agree) that the Brits had done a better job at keeping their lines and not blocking each others's fire, so I'd call it a British moral victory.
It was a lot of fun having big ships with grade A and B crews on both sides. Most of my outbound shots were half broadsides rather than full, and I was still getting gunnery factor 30 before dice. And despite getting plenty of attention from the enemy, it was turn 10 before I lost a hull section, turn 14 before I lost a crew section.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Close Action: Cape Henry
The Rebel Seas supplement includes an alternate history version of the Battle of Cape Henry, with seven ships on each side. The wind is from the southwest, the French are close hauled heading northwest, and the British are on a broad reach heading north after the French. Josh and I took the British, while Tracy and Richard got the French. As the Brits, our plan was "Go get 'em!" The French plan was "We can't expect to coordinate better than Team DeBoe, so we'll just turn around and head into battle and hopefully what happens will be fun."
And that's what happened. The French line immediately tacked and ended facing south, coming to meet us as we swept down on them. Our van met the left end of their line and then both sides piled on at the point of contact. By turn 5 we had 11 ships within an area 13 hexes wide; by turn 9 it was 14 ships within 10 hexes. Richard had three of his ships collide with British, and at one point there were nine ships involved in four separate foulings.
In the photo, British ships are red, French ships are yellow. My ships are British flagship and the two with Turkish flags (just so I could keep track of them more easily).
Richard got high roll of the day, a gunnery number 36 that scored a 6 on the roll for a 42 total. He also managed to launch a boarding action; Royal Oak had had time to get ready and repelled the boarders, but Richard deserves kudos for being able to get boarders away. Overall, however, the British were able to concentrate fire better, and although only one ship had struck when we quit, the British were ahead on points by roughly 140 to 50.
Close Action: The Happy Return
As Josh is leaving for Australia soon, Richard came down from Fairfax and Tracy came from Hampton for a day of Close Action. The morning game was "The Happy Return" from Monsoon Seas, with evenly matched forces of three British against three comparable French. Tracy and I were French. We'd taken a bit of a beating but were doing reasonably well, until I guessed wrong and ended up taking a range 1 stern rake from Richard. That took me down by a crew section and I blew a morale check. I did manage to avoid colliding with Richard's ship, and thought we might be able to pull things out. Then Josh took a shot at me from medium range, purely because he didn't have anything else to shoot at. He scored a Critical Hit: Major Explosion. Guns dismounted on both broadsides, ship on fire, one crew section occupied trying to fight the fire, three morale checks, lost a hull section...we decided it was time for lunch and we'll start another scenario afterward.
Incidentally, Close Action uses d6 rolls to determine how effective your shots are. I recorded 13 of my rolls, of which 9 were the worst possible result for that roll.
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