On this day 7 April

[7eat51]

On the 3rd of April 1800, Spain sent a convoy of 13 ships to its colonies in the Americas. Escorting the convoy were three frigates: Nuestra Señora del Carmen (34), Santa Florentina (34), and Santa Sabina (34). On the 5th of April, the HMS Leviathan, captained by James Carpenter, spotted the Spanish vessels at the Bay of Cádiz. Rear-Admiral John Thomas Duckworth was sailing onboard the 74-gun ship-of-the-line. He was commissioned to stop such Spanish convoys. The order was given to pursue the merchants, and the British force, comprised of the Leviathan, HMS Swiftsure (74), the frigate HMS Emerald (36), and the small fireship HMS Incendiary, gave chase. The Spaniards scattered in an attempt to elude capture. On the 6th of April, the British captured several of the Spanish vessels. At 12:00 on the 7th of April, Rear-Admiral Duckworth gave orders to his force to sail parallel to several Spanish ships that were sighted, two of which were the frigates Nuestra Señora del Carmen and Santa Florentina. At dawn, the frigate captains Don Fraquin Porcel and Don Manuel Norates realized that the new ships were British. The Leviathan called to the nearest frigate to surrender, but it tried to escape. Similarly, the second frigate tried fleeing though under musket and cannon fire from the Leviathan. The HMS Emerald, commanded by Captain Thomas Moutray Waller, successfully fired upon the Carmen and Santa Florentina, damaging their rigging sufficiently to secure their surrenders. By the end of the excursion, the British captured nine of the merchants and two of the frigates, which, subsequently, were commission as the HMS Carmen and HMS Florentina. Throughout the engagement, the British did not suffer a single casualty.

Rear-Admiral John Thomas Duckworth:




For more information on today's event:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_7_April_1800

[Cmmdre]

Looks like Duckworth landed some rich prizes. Not bad at all.

[Ship's Cat]

Cool event...lame battle to simulate in SoG.

[7eat51]

I wonder how fog-of-war can be simulated in SoG, similar to the ships running parallel in this event.

[Wargamer]

Probably somewhat similar to Avalon Hill's Jutland. You would need a map and search system. Otherwise you might think about utilizing a bomber hanger for floor space to play on. As said above, not really a battle conducive to the game at hand. Fog of war for what is really a table top game...

To simulate, probably require a map of the area. hexes or squares but something you can use to move your ships, using a counter or other marker. Each side has a copy of the same map, and play battleship style to search for the enemy. Not much fun in my opinion.

[Berthier]

Agree with Al, there are numerous fog of war game systems for naval play, duplicate maps are very common, Avalanche Press uses a single strategic map and fleet and dummies if I recall to bring on tactical battles. For scenario for SOG I think the simplest would be to have
1) Historical situation
2) Add some possible additional/reduced forces to each side based on a probability roll
3) vary the start positions on a probability roll
4) vary the weather and wind directions similarly.
The probability rolls should be based around say a 66% chance of each thing occurring as it did historically..but if you have to roll for mutliple events then the chance of everything being the same as the historical situation falls away sharply thus giving you the capacity to run through the same scenario multiple times with a good degree of variability. Even the above situation with maybe one less Br 74 and the possibility of another Sp frigate or 74 arriving mid battle would make a challenging game.

[7eat51]

Tomorrow evening, we will be trying out a new system for placing interceptors in our WGF game. It is based on dice rolls which determine direction, altitude, and possible mistaken identity with effects on the first few moves. I can see how such a system can bring about some variation and fog-of-war without too much distraction.