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Gloria's 1st of June ... a Sails of Glory reconstruction
Gentlemen,
I haven't been here for a while but my wife recently posted an "album" on her Facebook page of a game we'd played that I thought might be of interest; if for no other reason than to share just how far we sometimes go to "immerse" ourselves into the experience. Although I'd botched up the scenario, we DID have a good time. I hope you find the following enjoyable:
actually, the Glorious 1st of June was fought in 1794 between two fleets about 400 miles off Ushant, France; a French fleet guarding a vital grain convoy from America and a British fleet trying to capture it. a few days beforehand, however, a small battle took place between a couple straggling French ships and up to six fast Brits sent ahead to snag them. this album shares our attempt to bring this minor engagement to life...ENJOY!
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...another sloppy day with nowhere to go so, feeling an itch for high seas adventure, i throw on something "piratey"...
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...just because i felt like making an "event" out of it...
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...while Mike set us up with a game of Sails of Glory (he's given me a whole British fleet of 3rd Rate '74s!)...
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...as well as a proper beverage to share for the occasion!
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...so i lift a glass toward my hubby...who's acting as a French commodore...
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...while he responds in kind, saluting me with his ruler
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...after doffing our rum and refilling my tankard with water (battles are dry work) i return to the table. this time we'll be using some squadron rules Mike whipped up in a pinch to try out a simple line battle
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...these are our starting positions. Mike has a 3rd rate '74 and a 1st rate behemoth, the Montagne!
i have two squadrons of 3rd rates...i guess that makes me an English admiral! one of my squadrons is on the board and the other will arrive later. i need to take or sink his ships; he needs to escape...we have 12 turns
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...so we begin! first things first....i choose which card will determine the maneuver of my squadron. it is chosen from the slowest ship and applied to all
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...as play begins, Mike ponders his choices...he has the weather gage which means he can choose when and where he wants to fight or to run
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...after a few moves; on turn 4 i start bringing my second squadron onto the board. we're both reaching at full sail with all of our ships. i'm gaining on him, but not quickly enough
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...by turn 6 we're more than halfway across the table and neither of us has fired a shot in anger. Mike is disappointed in his having totally underestimated the speed of his monster ship...he said he should be fighting for his life by now!
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...finally, on turn 10, i swing the leading ships of both of my squadrons to starboard...turning against the wind...but i have no choice; we're running out of room and TIME!!!
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...then Mike accepts the challenge and swings his '74 to port
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...uh, oh...that's not looking good...i'd better lower some of my sails...
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...while my reinforcing squadron still tries to catch up
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...it's a good thing i reduced my sails because on turn 11 Mike's leading '74 is ready to start the ball rolling with a rake through my bows!
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...which he did! it's a massive broadside and it's his first fire and, being typically French, he fires high! but, thanks to my slowing down, he misjudged the range and ended up firing long
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...then he lets loose with his Montagne...118 guns!...also firing high to try to dismast me and also firing at long range. fortunately for me, the long range and his French gunnery being way off...most of his balls splash harmlessly into the ocean...
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...but he DID do SOME damage and at first i had to figure how i was going to respond. in the meantime, Mike muttered something about his luck
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...seeing that all was not lost, in the final turn of the game i was able to move closer to strike back with at least a partial broadside of my own...
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...which wasn't much but at close range i could add my carronades to my fire and did SOME damage to his Montagne. so take THAT!!!
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...sadly, in the end, my fleet was stretched out across the table while his ships were in a position to exit almost unmolested.
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...we didn't accomplish much in our first attempt at ships of the line having it out with each other as they were meant to, but the squadron system seemed to work. we could have played another turn or two just to see Mike's ships off the board, but the end would have been pretty much the same
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...the Butcher's Bill: after repairs the Montagne had suffered very little damage...
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...whereas my poor HMS Spartiate lost a mast and a lot of sails...which would force her to temporarily drop out of the squadron to make repairs...but she'd be able to return to fight again!!!
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...Mike saluted my game and humbly apologized for my not being able to bring his ships to bay. for what it's worth, the original fight ended about the same, in that it was a draw...but both sides were fairly beat up...especially the French who barely limped home
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...so, we definitely WILL replay this scenario once Mike modifies the starting set-up to get our ships into action sooner. as it was, we both still DID have fun .... i LOVE these games!!!
And that's the way it was; an afternoon of "dress-up", rum and Sails of Glory. Fortunately for my wife, she drew some extremely forgiving damage chits; much more than half of them being harmless! That's OK, it'll keep her interested in the game. :happy: As my bride said, we WILL revisit this scenario and (hopefully) share another AAR. Until then, may the wind be always at your backs!
