We arrived at Phil Kilgor’s Tabletop Hobbies in Lenexa for Tuesday Historical Gaming night and waited to see who & what would be played by going into the retail store and "cruising" all the new stuff there! In a while we had about 20 people there and Chad Gilbert announced the "moves results" from the weekly DBA Campaign game they are doing.
The results of the moves and a couple random "storms" meant that two DBA battles had to be fought by the participating players armies! The other people there broke into groups of interest and played in a 1890s Colonial Game on one table, a Napoleonic Shako game (French-Russians), and after the DBA battles were done - a micro armor WW2 game between the Russians & Germans!
Also setup and played was an American Revolutionary Naval battle "campaign game" - the Battle off Kilgor Island - 4/24/1779. Kenny Van Pelt was running the game using his "flats" (as described in previous articles) and his rule-set "Full Sail" based on the "As Per Margin" rules from MWAN magazine. As Kenny described the campaign to us, they had been playing out these naval battles for over 10 actual years (real time) but only a couple years in game time! Their system used the same ships over a series of battles complete with "previous damage & repairs" for each side to gain victory by driving the other thru a series of boxes going from New York (the British Base) down to the Caribbean (the French base). At this time the French had won the previous encounter battle off Cape Hatteras and therefore this battle would take place just off New York harbor at "Kilgor Island" in coastal waters! A French victory here would mean a possible final decisive battle in New York harbor and end the campaign; a French loss would drive the next battle farther south back to Cape Hatteras (sight of the previous French victory)!
Kenny and the British leader, Jon Haworth, rolled a series of dice to determine "each sides available points to purchase ships from their ships available"! The results of this was the French had 12 points and the British got 15 points worth of ships! Both sides retired in secret to buy their ships from the "ships available in their own side’s pool. These ships had "battle damage" from previous battles that had not been repaired in the "game-turn month" since the previous battle (campaign games are different)! The result of their "purchases" were that the British had eight ships available (1 SOL, 3 Frigates, 4 Brigs) and the French only had 7 available (1 SOL, 2 Frigates, 4 Brigs). Both sides entered the table from opposite corners with the British line having the wind behind them and the French line sailing slower (against the wind) towards the British fleet just off Kilgor Island to our right. The victory conditions were to count each ship with-in 2 feet of the south end of Kilgor Island at 10PM (our quitting time) and the British started with a one-ship advantage on the table 8-7!
Because this was a "campaign game" and the results of this battle would carry over into the next battle, we were very careful not to waste our ships and to follow "orders" to the letter (who wants to be responsible for losing a ten-year campaign by making dumb moves?)! As both sides moved toward each other we stayed out at maximum range trying to get the Brits to "first-fire" at long range while we French were saving our "first-fires" (double dice rolled) for closer range with more "hit" possibilities! The Brits reached the "victory area" quicker than we and pulled an old "battle tactic" of dropping anchor with their larger ships. (we were in shallow coastal waters so this was allowable)!
We French moving slower against the wind turned to our left to keep out at maximum range, then the order came to "turn across the wind" and shorten the range! Each French ship had to pass a die-roll to cross the wind and my Frigate "failed" so my frigate had to stop "fouled" and drift with the wind away from the upcoming battle! I failed the die-roll 3 times in a roll and had drifted about 12 inches back away from battle. Meanwhile the rest of the French and British lines had "first-fired" at each other and started the round after round of damage till one side or the other were damaged beyond repair!
Our forward 2 Brigs were engaged with the Brits rear 2 Brigs and we were hitting them (winning) there, the Brits middle (3 frigates and a SOL) were anchored and trading shots with our middle. One of the surprises of this "campaign game" was that the British SOL (their biggest ship in this battle) had been so badly damaged in the previous "Battle off Cape Hatteras" that she had very few guns left so even though the Brits had "more ships", the French actually had "more guns" in this battle because the French ships were basically "undamaged" from the previous battle!!
Apparently the British had been forced to pick "the best" ships available from many damaged as yet un-repaired ships in their pool while the French from previous victories had fresh undamaged ships available for this battle! Our rear ships (2 Brigs & 1 Frigate) battled with the British van (lead) group of 2 Brigs and later a Frigate that lost its anchor chain!
About the time the action got hot, the wind died to nothing (no sail movement, only towing from row-boats of 3-4 " per turn per ship)! This was "Gods help" to us (the French) as we had "local position" of massed fire both at the front and the rear of the opposing battle-lines! We were weak in the middle but because of the lack of wind and the Brits being "anchored" they could not take advantage of us in the middle while we could hit them on both ends!
We got "rakes" (double-dice - shooting at the bow or stern of an enemy ship that couldn’t fire back at you) and sank a British Brig at their rear (now ship count was 7-7 and we had a chance of winning this battle). We massed firepower at the rear of our line and overwhelmed another British Brig there capturing this prize! The British reaction to this was to cut their anchor chains (losing their anchors) and towing their Frigates to the lead and rear of their line! At this point my Frigate finally got into the action with "first-fire" from my as yet un-fired guns!
As we pounded each other the British gunnery was beginning to damage our French ships and we were ahead on ships (+2) for the battle! Kenny told us he could afford to lose this battle but he couldn’t afford to lose ships! He ordered us to withdraw back away from the action out of range before we lost some of our damaged ships to the British! The wind started back up and the British "chased" our damaged ships off the table-edge capturing one of our Brigs (+1 Brits)! The battle drew to a close as 10PM approached with the French ahead on ships "alive" but behind on ships within 2 ft. of the south end of Kilgor Island. The British win this battle but the French have more of an edge in ships for the next battle off Cape Hatteras!!
Playing a "campaign game offers a lot more pressure to "perform" and to "save" your assets (your ships in this case). You just cant throw your troops away in bloody gambles that dont achieve results! We enjoyed this change of pace game and the thought that goes into it! Till next time, good gaming all, Harold Morgan in Gladstone (N.K.C.Mo.)
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