The Wardroom is now open for general discussion about the 2020 missions.
Rob.
The Wardroom
The Wardroom is now open for general discussion about the 2020 missions.
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.
January Mission.
With the projected attempt by your Squadron to effect a spoiling attack on the enemy coast, your Senior Captain has dispatched a Sloop to take soundings to ascertain the position of shoals and shallows along said coast. As protection for you a Frigate is covering the seaward side of the coast, outside the sandbars.
The enemy is aware of your intentions and has decided to intercept your ships and thwart your survey.
You may deploy as many enemy ships as you feel your two vessels can take on, and still win the day.
The enemy will approach from seaward, and must prevent you from passing the Sloop from end to end of the coast, and thus completing its mission.
No ship other than sloops may pass within the shoals.
Your survey Sloop must use backing sail speed to take soundings.
The wind is blowing directly off the coast, will not change direction, but may be variable. This change will take effect three cards after being drawn for.
The coast itself should be just within extreme range from any vessel hugging the outer edge of the shoals.
Use any of the Official rules you wish, and or parts of them.
Good luck with your survey.
Bligh.
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.
Solo Campaign. March and April Mission.
Enemy ships sighted!
The enemy are stirring now that the Spring is here. Your Commodore has been tasked with watching enemy harbours for any attempted sorties by their ships. Unfortunately a storm has forced the inshore squadron off their station, and left only two of your Frigates to keep watch on the enemy. Aware that with the change in winds direction they may be coming out at any moment you position your two Frigates close to the southern end of the estuary from the port. This will force the enemy ships to try and weather the northern headland if they wish to avoid an encounter with your Frigates.
Your senior Captain now has a decision to make.
A. Does he take on the enemy ships with the two Frigates?
B. Does he send a Frigate to summon the help of the nearest ship of the Line which has still to appear above the horizon following the storm and then take them on alone to delay their escape, hoping for succour from the Squadron in time to save his ship from the ravages of the enemy?
C.Does he shadow the enemy with both ships, or dispatch one as above, and then shadow them alone hoping for the Squadron to arrive in time to prevent the enemy escaping around the North Cape?
The decision is yours!
If he decides A it will be a straight fight against however many ships appear.
If B, his accompanying frigate will leave by the western edge of the mat in an attempt to find the ships of the blockading Fleet. If successful he will return with the closest 74 on a successful card draw.
If C is chosen, he must either seek to delay the enemy in some other way, or shadow them and hope for the best and that the Liner may arrive in time to prevent the Enemy escaping around the North Cape.
THE GAME.
Set up as shown on the table, and draw one card from the
Enemy ships sighted deck on each of the first three moves, but not until you have decided what action your Frigates will perform from A,B or C . This will determine the makeup and order of ships leaving the estuary.
Enemy ships must try to exit from the corner nearest to the Compass point printed on the photograph.
Any of your own ships will depart or enter from the mid mat edge which is due West.
Arrival of support ships. If a 74 arrives it will bring the searching Frigate back with it. The Frigate will arrive two cards before the 74. Two moves after your supporting Frigate has left the playing area draw one of the Supporting Blockade cards.
GOOD LUCK IN YOUR MISSION CAPTAIN.
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.
Following a query, for the March/ April mission, if you wish to field more ships you may add any number of ships of the line if you send a Frigate to search for the Offshore Squadron. The chance of arrival is just the same as stated in your card draw.
You must however add ships of the same number and rate to the enemy squadron which your card draw has indicated have sailed forth.
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.
Last edited by Bligh; 04-20-2020 at 04:51.
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.
Last edited by Bligh; 04-20-2020 at 05:01.
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.
Do you have a link for the encounter cards? Which solo system are you using? Thanks!
Hi Bryan.
These are my own encounter cards. Feel free to copy and use them as you wish. You can change the instructions to suite your requirements for the scenario. My friends and I use them in our games ever since Captain Kiwi came up with the idea back in the Eighty's for an AWI battle "Fort Vincennes"
Which we did at the World Championships.
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.
Thank you Rob! Do you have a link that contains all the cards or all they all listed here?Originally Posted by Bligh
I do have several more cards which I can download here but it will take a day or two because I will need time to scan them in on both faces and marry them up before posting them. If you are in no hurry in the meantime do pop onto the reporting for duty thread and introduce yourself. I'm sure one of our shipmates will be only too pleased to supply you with a version of the solo rules that he has written.
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.
Thank you Rob! Please, do not do any extra work for me on these cards. I will take what you have posted and use it. I may add or modify some as well. Great idea, I will introduce myself.
I use a program called nandeck to create decks of cards. If you provide me the text, I can quickly generate the cards and a pdf for them.
http://www.nand.it/nandeck/
Here's a link to the pdf that I created for your cards listed here or attached:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19tj...ew?usp=sharing
SogEncounterDeck.pdf
Here are a few more cards for you Bryan.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Thank you so much! These are great.
No worries I will find the Master cards tomorrow and then you can just print your own. I also have a few Captain casualty cards.
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.
Here are a few of my earlier ones. Unfortunately they were before I joined up the back and fronts so will need backs.
Casualty cards for when the Captain takes a wound as per the Ares rules ie. After 50% crew attrition you have to draw for the Captain being hit.
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.
...
Last edited by Bligh; 07-04-2020 at 13:34.
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.
...
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.
....
Last edited by Bligh; 07-06-2020 at 13:13.
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.
I really appreciate you posting these. Thank you so much!
No trouble Bryan.
I only wish I had time to do them all in one shot.
More will follow.
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.
No problem Rob. If it's easier you can give me the text and I can generate them. Are there instructions on how you use these?
When they are all up I will tell you the context in which they were first used, but ther is no real doctrine about where or when. Just use them for any scenario where you envisage they may be useful. For instance the shoals ones are only any good if you are using shoals. On the otherhand you can use the Captain casualty whenever the Ares rule for Captain being hit comes into action. If you have a look at the last couple of years solo Campaign games you will see where I used some of the sets of cards.
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.
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.
Thanks for putting so many of your cards in one place. I already have a number of these printed out but have still not managed to get a game in recently so I'll be able to add the ones I've not seen before to the existing ones.
Cheers
There will be more as soon as I get chance to find them John, plus an extra one that I have been meaning to do for some time.
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.
Thanks Rob I've just been in on the laptop and grabbed the ones I didn't already have. I must try and get a game, I really don't know where the time goes.
I know what you mean John. I seem to be so busy since lockdown that I have not played a single game. Hopefully I will get one in this month.
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.
Decided Ineed a sails fix, so this coming week I intend to have a game, will try and get an action report done
If you do one I will try and match you Chris. Non of this year's solo games have been taken up yet so I stopped writing them.
Rob.
Last edited by Bligh; 01-10-2021 at 12:47.
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.
Here are a few more cards to add to those already posted here Dobbs.
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.
...
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.
...
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.
Hi Rob, thanks again for your work on these cards.
Not only have I not had a game in an age I've not even been on the site either, what is the world coming to. It's good to see you are as active as ever.
Take care
Good to hear from you John.
As a friend of mine remarks whenever he calls" I'm still on the right side of the turf' hope you and yours are keeping as well.
There may be a couple more cards to come languishing somewhere in on of my plastic boxes whick are used like a ready locker for shows and often come back still packed for the next outing of a particular scenario to which those particular cards are relevent. I know there are some more all about landing on enemy shores and wrecking a semaphore station somewhere.
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.
We're good thanks.
You do realize that the problem with this site is I start to get all excited about sailing small ships, and so after signing off I had a quick look at Ebay and this morning bought HMS Victory, she's sailing over from America, with a quick passage might even make it for Christmas.
The problem with that is I need another large French ship to match her and make the fleets even again
I posted a game on my blog back in September, I had intended to put it on here but just didn't get round to it, I'd just bought 6 new ships, mainly 50 gunners and so far only one of them has made it into battle, I do believe I'm becoming more of a collector than a gamer. If you're interested this is a link to the game.
http://vagabondswargamingblog.blogsp...og-50-gun.html
Being above the turf is always better than the alternative.
Cheers
Last edited by Vagabond; 12-09-2020 at 05:44.
Nice AAR and blog as well. Thanks for sharing!We're good thanks.
You do realize that the problem with this site is I start to get all excited about sailing small ships, and so after signing off I had a quick look at Ebay and this morning bought HMS Victory, she's sailing over from America, with a quick passage might even make it for Christmas.
The problem with that is I need another large French ship to match her and make the fleets even again
I posted a game on my blog back in September, I had intended to put it on here but just didn't get round to it, I'd just bought 6 new ships, mainly 50 gunners and so far only one of them has made it into battle, I do believe I'm becoming more of a collector than a gamer. If you're interested this is a link to the game.
http://vagabondswargamingblog.blogsp...og-50-gun.html
Being above the turf is always better than the alternative.
Cheers
"It's not the towering sails, but the unseen wind that moves a ship."
–English Proverb
Superb story John.
You really ought to post it here so that I can credit you.
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.
Jim, sorry I've only just got back on the site, thanks for the rep. funnily enough I just started playing your scenario Duty and Daring from the March 201? Solo campaign last night. Jean Vagabond was just a midshipman (or the French equivalent) back then and is not responsible for the meanderings of the French Frigate that looks like it's about to ram the 1st Rate they are trying to rescue.
You may imagine the game is not going well for our hero, especially as the British 74 arrived on turn 1
You're very welcome for the rep. I admit I had to go back and look at that scenario as I'd completely forgotten anything about it. Having reread it I do recall it being a challenge. I sympathize with your plight; a British 74 on turn 1?!? That's not good at all. Best of luck!!Jim, sorry I've only just got back on the site, thanks for the rep. funnily enough I just started playing your scenario Duty and Daring from the March 201? Solo campaign last night. Jean Vagabond was just a midshipman (or the French equivalent) back then and is not responsible for the meanderings of the French Frigate that looks like it's about to ram the 1st Rate they are trying to rescue.
You may imagine the game is not going well for our hero, especially as the British 74 arrived on turn 1
"It's not the towering sails, but the unseen wind that moves a ship."
–English Proverb
I've just had a big Sunday lunch and a bottle of wine, I don't remember the last time we did this. Anyway I read your AAR and I am using Courageous and I see you used Sybille I believe I might have an even bigger up hill task. Anyway I am just going to my room to see off the British 74 or die in the attempt.You're very welcome for the rep. I admit I had to go back and look at that scenario as I'd completely forgotten anything about it. Having reread it I do recall it being a challenge. I sympathize with your plight; a British 74 on turn 1?!? That's not good at all. Best of luck!!
Myself I don't think it's worth writing the campaign as long as there's a whole year of scenarios for us others to catch up.
I'd say you just focus on having fun with your own actions and then we can immitate yours if we want to join in.
Sound advice Jonas.
Thanks.
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.
Doesn't seem to be worth time and effort if no one participated last year? I think Jonas has the right idea with getting 2020 done or doing individual scenarios.
"It's not the towering sails, but the unseen wind that moves a ship."
–English Proverb
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks