Wandering around the main room at Cold Wars on Saturday looking for a game I found myself stopping to look at some fine looking 1/1200 scale sailing ships. I normally avoid naval games because of some bad past experiences, mostly involving my uncanny ability to suffer catastrophic critical hits early in the game. I might just be the worst naval commander in the hobby. That's one of the reasons why my pirates prefer to fight on dry land (the other reason being that I'm too lazy and unskilled to build them proper ships). But I've had fun gaming with Mike Ruttle before, and he assured me that his scenario could accommodate a novice like me, so I joined the battle. The scenario was an interesting hypothetical - what if Admiral Graves had intercepted Admiral de Ternay's fleet as they escorted Rochambeau to America? A British victory at sea could change the course of the American War for Independence. The British had a half dozen ships, the French slightly more, but the British had the wind at their back (naturally). I was assigned to command the Prudent, the second ship in the British line. After a brief explanation of the rules the battle began. The two battle lines approached each other, and then the French ships Neptune and Jason turned to Starboard. Our lead ship, the Resolution, cut behind them and I followed her in. The Resolution raked the Neptune then gave the same rough treatment to the Jason. I traded broadsides with the French ships, giving better than I got. For a few turns I understood why naval battles are so popular. The excitement of trying to outwit your opponent, anticipate his maneuvers, plan your own movement, all the while accounting for the wind and the other ships in your battle line was quite a thrill. Then came turn four. Terrible turn four. I eagerly planned my next move. I expected the Jason to sail 3 or 4 hexes forward, possibly turning to port or starboard. I reduced speed and plotted a straight move that I hoped would bring in line for a close range stern rake. It was too perfect! Alas, I had overestimated my own cleverness, and underestimated my opponent Bill. The Jason didn't budge an inch. I didn't even know this was possible! I watched in sick fascination as the other French ships moved, then I glumly moved my ship forward, colliding head on with the Jason's port broadside. To add insult to injury I flubbed my die roll and my rigging was fouled. My sailing days were over - unless you count drifting with the wind. And you probably don't. The British admiral told me not to even attempt to get free; he wanted the Jason held in place so the London could unload a massive bow rake at point blank range. Sadly, due to a rules mix up, the London didn't get to fire its broadside until the following turn. However the Jason didn't miss its opportunity to serve me the first of a series of bow rakes. I gamely began forming boarding parties, a process that would take three turns. Things went from bad to worst on the following turn when the Resolution somehow got too close to the Jason and Bill succeeded in grappling her. This was a "twofer" since it also trapped the London, which didn't have enough room to maneuver away from the three tangled ships. I continued to take abuse from the Jason. Further damage was inflicted on my poor ship by the rest of the French fleet courteously unloading their broadsides into me as they sailed past on their way to engaging the rest of the British line. I fantasized about the "golden turns" when my ship could also move. I waited impatiently for my boarding parties to be ready. Thankfully the crew of the Jason was finally forced to stop raking me so they could prepare to repel boarders. At last it was "go time" and my men, those that were still alive, tried to storm the Jason. We were repelled. The Jason tried a counterattack and was repelled. We were both rapidly running out of men. Last man standing wins. One of the British ships at the end of our battle line managed to duplicate my feat of sailing head on into the broadside of a French ship, giving me a welcome dose of schadenfreude. It at last appeared that I would be able to win my boarding action. My hopes were shattered when a young French captain, not satisfied to pound me from long range, maneuvered in to give me a stern rake at point blank range. The casualties inflicted helped lead to another inconclusive round of combat on the decks of the Jason and Prudent. Mercifully this was the last turn, and the French were declared the winners. In summary it was a fun game, and everyone seemed to have a good time. The rules were easy to learn, and seemed to run smoothly. I should mention that were some younger gamers involved in the battle, and they were great. They waited patiently, for more than an hour, until their ships could get involved in the thick of the action, and displayed good sportsmanship throughout the game. Back to Table of Contents -- Junior General Report #2 Back to Junior General Report List of Issues Back to MagWeb.com Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by Matt Fritz. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles covering military history and related topics are available at http://www.magweb.com