"Enemy In Sight!" Solitaire Skirmish

[Salem Vendari]

This was my first full game playing with the advanced rules, and I must say it was a great. It is with great regret that the English have captured the first-rate ship-of-the-line Montagne.

The wind began blowing in from the east, both sides coming in at 45 degree angles to take full advantage of it, though after a few turns it shifted to the north-east and stayed that way. His Majesty's Ships Defense and Terpsichore came in from the north, while Montagne sailed in from the south. As the English were AI controlled, the Terpsichore broke formation and decided to challenge the much larger ship to a one-on-one battle. A quite artificial unintelligent choice, if I do say so myself. Terpsichore found herself sinking to Davy Jones' Locker after only two or three salvos (the first took out half of her burden!).

Next, Montagne turned her nose toward the other ship, HMS Defense. This one actually gave me trouble, as she outmaneuvered me, consistently preventing me from bringing my starboard broadside to bear (not that bear really wanted it). The two ships spent most of their time circling each other, Defense keeping Montagne out of range until she was ready to strike (and she did several times without the French ship being able to return fire, either due to reloading, or the broadside being loaded with grapeshot and sitting just out of range). Eventually, though, Montagne closed in firing her grapeshot with a bit of musket-fire to kill off as many of the crew as possible. After the smoke had cleared, both ships were left with one crew box remaining. At that point, the Montagne struck her colors; she only had four burden boxes remaining, while the Defense still had all but one open.

I will upload pictures sometime this weekend so you guys can get a better image of the action that went on. I'm still getting used to maneuvering (there were several collisions in this game), but I'm definitely better than when I first started playing.