Fighting Sail - Action

 A small Royal Navy fleet consisting of six Ships of the Line and a brace of frigates clash with a Spanish fleet of six Ships of the Line.

The British are led by Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood aboard his flagship Royal Sovereign while the Spanish have the huge Santisima Trinidad for their flagship.

  The Brits.

  The Spanish.

A spot of long range gunnery starts the action.

As Bellerophon scores some hits upon San Juan.

And sails swiftly to close the range.

The Spanish have turned in towards the attacking British and look to cross some T's.

The San Francisco de Asis lines up the frigate Euryalus as an easy target but in doing so finds HMS Temeraire in position for a bow rake.

Before she can get a shot off  the Temeraire gives a thunderous broadside...

San Francisco de Asis is forced to strike!. HMS Temeraire takes damage from the Spanish 1st rates in return.

Billy Ruffian does some impressive sailing to get a stern rake on the Spanish 3rd rate San Juan.

But someone who isn't very good at Age of Sail games hasn't spotted the massive Santisima Trinidad...

A close range broadside from the biggest battleship in the world is not much fun and Bellerophon is forced to strike.

As the wind veers the Spanish are getting themselves into a formidable line.

While the British are out of position and taking damage.

The Spanish 3rd rate San Juan Nepomuceno having escaped a stern rake from Billy Ruffian bravely grapples with Collingwoods Flagship and attempts to board her.

The lines are close and the Brits are still out of position and still coming off worse.

The broadsides are tremendous.

As the Spanish 1st rate Santa Ana tries to rake HMS Neptune she takes a fearsome broadside from HMS Prince.

And she too strikes her colours.

The Santisima Trinidad and Rayo unleash their broadsides on Prince, the horrendous carnage taking her out of the battle.

And the fierce hand to hand battle between Royal Sovereign and San Juan continues.

The fierce fighting continues down the line and it is the good discipline of the British that keeps them in the fight.

The larger complement of the British flagship eventually get the better of their brave opponents and San Juan Nepomuceno is taken as a prize!.

While the Santisima Trinidad has to take evasive action to avoid the entangled ships and puts herself in irons in the process.

The 1st rate HMS Britannia is in prime position to rake the Spanish flagship with a devastating broadside. The Santisima Trinidad strikes her colours and the Royal Navy get a narrow and hard won victory.

A smashing game was had by Paul and while my sailing skills are abysmal it all added to the narrative.

To finish off here are some photos I took of HMS Trincomalee in Hartlepool a few years back. Built in 1815 she is of the right era for these games and well worth a visit.

Fighting Sail - Fleet Actions 1775-1815

 

Fighting Sail by Ryan Miller is the set of rules I bought for my paper ships. The rules do have some substantial amendments available here link and they have had some stick on TMP. But haven't we all?.

They are definitely and deliberately focused on the game rather than the simulation of the period, but that is a big plus for me.

I had a couple of games tonight to try them out and they seem very promising. The amendments are giving me some confusion but I will get there.

I am very pleased with the paper ships and spend long relaxing hours making them.

I once had some Navwar 1/1200 ships but I made a mess of making them and they fell to bits every time I touched them.

These are much more suitable for me. I can even drop them on the floor without harm.

Here is a nasty stern rake going in.

They look nice on the table to me and for just over 10 pence each I am rather chuffed with them.

I will get a proper battle report posted when I get used to the rules.

Keep safe.

To Stop a Steamroller

 As the USMC took back the Grunbrucke bridge other elements of the Corps moved to head off the Soviet thrust. What follows is a clash along the road to Grunbrucke.

The Soviet artillery barrage hits first putting morale tokens on many of the Marine elements.

The flanking LAV recce vehicles are unaffected.

Here come the Ruskies, T-80U tanks and BMP-2s, oh! and a Hind helicopter.

The Marines spend much effort (activation tokens) rallying and their M1A1 tanks destroy a T-80.

Another dies in the carpark.

And some more on the road.

It isn't all one way traffic though. 

As one then another Marine tank brew up.

This T-80 gets stuck crossing the hedge.

BMPs fire their ATGMs with little effect.

The stuck T-80 is an easy target.

The M1 tank fire is very accurate.

And they take out a BMP too.

A Hind pops up on the flank and destroys a M163 AA  vehicle.

And an M1 is destroyed by a T-80, the explosion is so bad that two nearby LAVs take morale tokens!.

The BMPs race downhill to get into the cover of the hedgerow, but one gets killed by an Abrams.

The hind pops up again and kills the Abrams.

Where is the Anti Air?.

The M163 breaks cover.

But the Hind pops up again and takes it in it's sights.

The M163 rolls to react and three good die rolls destroy the Hind.

The Marines now make use of a card to bring a T-80 out of cover.

With predictable results.

With the demise of the last tank on the Marines left flank the M1s roll are unleashed.

The LAV-25s use a platoon move to advance to threaten the Soviet BMPs.

The Soviets try to react to the threat.

But the arrival of an M1 bodes ill for the Soviets. 

And the LAV firepower combined with an M1 causes havoc with the BMPs.

A resounding defeat for the Soviets and another cracking game.

Happy days!.