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Thread: The Treasure Ship

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    Default The Treasure Ship

    The Treasure Ship




    The French Navy had been raiding the British East India Company for a year and collected a large amount of treasure of various kinds but the most valuable items have been loaded on to the good ship Bertin and is en-route for France. The Bertin had anchored on the west side of a large bay in a secluded natural harbour and is taking on water prior to the next stage of her journey home. She is lying to her bower anchor and so is facing into the wind. There has been a constant on shore breeze for the last few days and her Captain is concerned that his ship shouldn’t drag her anchor and risk losing a fortune so he prefers the security of his main anchor even though it will be a slow process raising it when they come to leave.



    On the east side of the bay lies the Bertin’s escort the Frigate Courageuse, her Captain John le Vagabond is more concerned about the rumours of a British naval force in the area and is quite happy lying to his 2nd anchor, his wind is offshore and there is only a short fetch so very small waves. As I said he is quite happy until there is a hail from the tops. Sail Ho.
    (That would be in French but my French is very limited and so you’ll have to do your own translations in this game.)
    A sail can only mean one thing of importance, the arch enemy of France the British Navy has found them.



    He runs up the rat lines with his telescope and spies a large Frigate, she looks to be of French build, he recognises the sweet lines, it can only be the HMS Amelia, taken by the British in some underhanded way a few years previously. There’s another smaller Frigate further south, a short ugly ship she is, it must be HMS Cleopatra, he’s seen her before, he never forgets a ships lines.

    Cut the anchor rode he shouts, before sliding down the backstay to the deck, all hands on deck, raise sail fast as you can boys, gunners check your priming, all men to their stations, there’s going to be some hot work this very day.



    The British have caught the French on the hop and if they can act fast will be in a good position to take the treasure ship and starve France of the money they so dearly need.

    Bertin is off to the left of the picture, Courageuse far right, HMS Amelia right and HMS Cleopatra in the foreground.



    Captain Vagabond is in remarkably good spirits, mainly because he has only lost his 2nd anchor, the topsails are set and the Courageuse starts to turn with the wind off her port bow. It will take some clever helming to get through the gap in the islands but Vagabond has every confidence in his helmsman on watch.



    The Captain of the Bertin can’t afford to lose his bower anchor when he is so far from home and getting a replacement is not likely, so the crew are heaving on the capstan raising it slowly. As they turn the heavy capstan the ship moves slowly forward, it’s going to take 3 turns to raise the anchor, 1D3 dice roll.

    The two British Frigates are flying under full sail, HMS Cleaopatra is gaining in the race to get to the Bertin first.



    The Courageuse is making her way through the gap, te crew are hauling on lines, letting go others and the mainsail is set, they are picking up speed but quite a long way behind the flying British ships.



    At long range the much heavier HMS Amelia fires her starboard quarter battery and takes the return shots from Courageuse. The ships Carpenter reports that the shot has sprung a leak below the water line and Captain Vagabond orders men below to plug it.



    Bertin has finally raised her anchor and set the topsails to turn her head away from the wind and towards the downwind gap in the islands. Her Captain knows that the Cleopatra will get to him well before he is through, but if they close fast enough the damage should be small and he is relying on the fact that the Bertin is a much larger ship and quite well armed.



    Bertin now with mainsails set and HMS Cleopatra close the distance between them, they both fire as soon as their guns bear rather than risk missing as they pass each other going at this speed. Bertin has had the guns double shotted, quite a risk when they have been loaded so long but lady luck is on their side and no gun explodes with the excess load. Cleopatra takes heavy damage, she is a much lighter ship that Bertin even though she carries a heavy broadside.



    Captain Vagabond over on the right is calmly telling the helmsman they need to turn to starboard, the First Officer relays the command to the sail handlers and they make the corrections. The crew are busy pumping and trying to plug the hole to stop the water pouring in.



    Both Captains let out a sigh of relief as they make it through the channel, but HMS Amelia has got within range of Bertin and lets fly with her starboard bow battery. They fired on the upward roll and the cannon balls went high doing no damage to the ship but there were a lot of crew casualties.

    Cleopatra is in the natural harbour and it’s going to be difficult for her to turn and head out quickly.

    The crew of Courageuse have managed to plug the hole and quickly the pumps reduce the level of water in the hold to its normal 3ft. or 1m because they’re French. However they are still a long way from Amelia, but they have the wind on the quarter, their best point of sail. In spite of losing crew Bertin is rapidly reloading the post guns.



    HMS Amelia is caught between the two French ships and suffers heavy crew casualties but she hits Courageuse hard with the first salvo from the port side. She sends another ball through the planking below the water line and everyone on Courageuse holds their breath until the Carpenter reports that he can plug it, given a little time. The marines in the tops fire their muskets and Amelia comes off the worse from that exchange.

    At this point Amelia has lost over half her crew, it’s not looking good.



    Bertin’s Captain orders the helm hard a lee and he puts his ship neatly behind Amelia, he fires his starboard broadside down the length of HMS Amelia causing massive damage, the mizzen mast falls in the water, slowing the ship down as the crew take axes to cut through the rigging and remove the tangle of ropes, but worse than that she is holed in two places and water is pouring into the hull. Courageuse compounds the damage, turning to starboard she brings her other broadside to bear and blows Amelia’s rudder to splinters as well as killing even more of the crew. There is only 1 man and the ships dog to try and plug 2 holes as well as pump the water out, cut the mast away and get the floating wreck underway again. It’s a forlorn hope.

    Sorry to interrupt the narrative but I should like some advice on the rules. Here Bertin could have fired her full broadside but not with a raking shot, or her Quarter battery with a raking shot. Her guns were at 2,3,2, it’s also her first shot from the starboard guns.
    Quarter guns 2 + 1 for a raking shot +1 for first shot = 4
    Broadside guns 3 + 1 for first shot = 4
    I read the rules as being separate not cumulative? Then there are A and B damage counters because of being double shot.

    Does that make sense. Cheers

    HMS Amelia, tries to pump the water out but with 1 crew action it continues to pour in and at this point she strikes her colours. Bertin and Courageuse both send a prize crew to take control and try and keep the ship afloat.

    Another rules question, Amelia had 2 hull sections clear and 1 crew action available. So at the beginning of the turn she took 2 water markers which filled all the hull sections so she struck, then the crew pumped and she lost 1 marker so should not be struck! I pumped rather than repaired the hole which meant that the hull damage recovered 1 section. I realised that pumping would not suffice and so next turn I repaired one of the leaks and took extra water damage to the hull, I also checked to see if the ship suffered a catastrophic hull collapse and it didn’t, well not yet. By the time I had repaired both hull damages I had 3 excess water tokens on the ships card. My thinking was that if I repaired the hull I could pump out the water and save the ship.

    Does that make sense, I know that the rules just say the ship has gone?

    Anyway back to the action.



    Cleopatra has been turning hard a port downwind and has very nearly turned 360’, here she is just about to head into the wind. Far too close to the shore for my liking.



    She turns to starboard, trying to edge round the point of the island, but takes fire from both French ships, a lucky or unlucky shot, depending on your perspective takes away her main mast, she is stopped in the water with the wind blowing her on to a lee shore.

    Random die roll decided she was blown onto the shore before she could get underway again.

    Basically I ran out of time and needed a quick resolution.

    Courageuse took more heavy damage including her rudder being shot up, but she is still a viable fighting platform.

    Amelia is still fixing the 2nd hole in the hull when the prize crew arrived, I couldn’t find any ruling on prize crews so decided on 1D3 for the time it took them to row over and claim the ship.

    The 2nd hole was repaired but there is still lots of water in the hull and I was checking each time to see if the hull collapsed, and eventually it did. By this time the Amelia’s crew were battened down below and the ship went down with all hands except the prize crew who made it back to their boats.

    The Admiralty finally heard of this fiasco from a merchant ships Master, there will be a court martial to allocate blame but the French treasure ship made it to France and there was rejoicing in the streets of Paris when they heard of the victory.



    Bertin the Treasure ship was hardly damaged in the fight.



    Courageuse suffered quite badly but there were plenty of crew to effect repairs.



    HMS Amelia had surplus water damage when she finally sank. She had actually repaired the 2nd hole, I just hadn’t taken the tokens off the card.



    HMS Cleopatra was towed off the rocks by the French ships and she would have made it back to France as a prize but her crew broke through the hatches and retook the ship and sailed her to a British port, although her Captain was killed in the action, which means he did not have the ordeal of a court martial to go through.

    Hopefully I've managed to get all the right bits of code in the right place, and I would appreciate any thoughts on the rules questions. I've not had chance to look up what my title should in the French Navy including what the French Navy is called in France, any help on that will mean I do not offend any Frenchmen in the future.

    Cheers
    Captain John Le Vagabond of the French Navy

  2. #2

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    Great AAR and beautiful setup.

    For question no 2: With 2 leak damages and 1 crew action left, your ship should be doomed.

    The repair action blocks the crew action for two turns.

    a) 2 leaks
    b) 2 leak damage tokens - planing repair
    c) 2 leak damage tokens - repair
    d) 1 leak damage token - planing repair
    e) 1 leak damage token - repair

    If your ship can suffer 6 boxes of incoming water with only 1 crew action left...

    Maybe after a grape shot stern raking shot from HMS Victory...

  3. #3
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    I loved the idea for the game, and also your scenery which was beautiful.
    Rep worthy by any standard.
    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    A great scenario and After Action Report! Well done, John!

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    Really nice report and pics, nicely done.

    Rules questions, you cant have raking shots unless you use the full broadside, no raking bonus for firing forward or rear sections.
    So it would only be 3 chits if you fired the forward section. Yes if with double shot and within half ruler range it would be A and B damage chits.

    Second question, the water fills the boxs before you can pump water so it does strike, take it as though the crew are too busy to fight and strike to make sure they can use all hands to stop the ship sinking, it was considered bad form and very ungentlemanly to renage on a striking, although there are recorded instances of this happening. So really up to you if you want a house rule, but damn bad form sirrah
    Last edited by Capn Duff; 09-04-2019 at 04:34.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Comte de Brueys View Post
    Great AAR and beautiful setup.

    For question no 2: With 2 leak damages and 1 crew action left, your ship should be doomed.

    The repair action blocks the crew action for two turns.

    a) 2 leaks
    b) 2 leak damage tokens - planing repair
    c) 2 leak damage tokens - repair
    d) 1 leak damage token - planing repair
    e) 1 leak damage token - repair

    If your ship can suffer 6 boxes of incoming water with only 1 crew action left...

    Maybe after a grape shot stern raking shot from HMS Victory...
    Thanks Sven, sorry to be so slow getting back on this, been very busy with family and friends, They've all gone now and it's very quiet.

    I'm not very clear what happens to a ship once it has struck due to hull damage, in the Standard Rules it says remove the ship from the board and in the Advanced rules it says the ship becomes a wreck and remains in play as an obstacle, but there is a second section about Sinking ships (page 41) and implying that it can continue to take in water but it may sink if the hull collapses.

    My idea was to maybe have this as the start of a series of games and so I was trying to take the ship as a prize but needed to stop it sinking, that's why I sent a prize crew to take the ship but also help with the repair and pump out the water.

    With just 1 crew action, I realized I couldn't pump out the water fast enough and so I should have tried to repair the leak, as you say taking 4 periods to fix 2 leaks, but by then I have 6 water damage tokens much more than are left on the ships card. Does an excess of water sink the ship or do I use the rule on Page 41 regarding sinking ships and if it doesn't sink can I then pump out the excess water after repairing the holes?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bligh View Post
    I loved the idea for the game, and also your scenery which was beautiful.
    Rep worthy by any standard.
    Rob.
    Thanks Rob, I'm planning on playing a few of the solo campaigns games as and when I can, if I get round to it and write them up should I post the AAR's here rather than on the solo campaigns section, bearing in mind that I'll be 4 or 5 years late running the games.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Naharaht View Post
    A great scenario and After Action Report! Well done, John!
    Thanks Dave that's very kind of you to say so.
    Cheers

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Capn Duff View Post
    Really nice report and pics, nicely done.

    Rules questions, you cant have raking shots unless you use the full broadside, no raking bonus for firing forward or rear sections.
    So it would only be 3 chits if you fired the forward section. Yes if with double shot and within half ruler range it would be A and B damage chits.

    Second question, the water fills the boxs before you can pump water so it does strike, take it as though the crew are too busy to fight and strike to make sure they can use all hands to stop the ship sinking, it was considered bad form and very ungentlemanly to renage on a striking, although there are recorded instances of this happening. So really up to you if you want a house rule, but damn bad for sirrah
    Thanks Chris
    Raking Shots - duhh, I didn't see the "line of sight from the central dot", my excuse is the text is too small for my eyes

    Striking - your answer makes perfect sense, there will be no ungentlemanly acts on my table or I'll hold the Captain to account.

    Thanks for the info.

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    Some very nice people has given me Rep for this post and I don't seem to be able to reply to them as I can on the Drome, so thanks, it's much appreciated and if I should be able to reply to the notification could someone explain it to me.
    Thanks

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    The only way you can reply here is to send a PM to them. I don't know why there is no auto response option either.
    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  12. #12
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    Great little action and very good scenario.
    I love your terrain too.

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    No reflection on you my dear Captain. You are one of the stalwarts holding this Forum together.
    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    Quote Originally Posted by TexaS View Post
    Great little action and very good scenario.
    I love your terrain too.
    I'm sorry Jonas, I thanked you for your kind comments but my internet ran out before I could post it. This mobile internet is ot all it's cracked up to be when you are trying to do it on the cheap.

    I also said that having seen your scenery, which I think is excellent, I was very flattered bu your comment.
    Cheers

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    John:

    Nice job on the game and AAR!!

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    Quote Originally Posted by DeRuyter View Post
    John:

    Nice job on the game and AAR!!
    Thanks Eric, I really appreciate your encouraging comments.

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