AAR: Pourvoyeuse vs East Indiamen

Ater action report for a Close Action game, scenario from Monsoon Seas. In the original action in 1782, the French frigate apparently plinked for two hours and decided the Indiamen were too tough for her. I always thought that the French captain was...perhaps not cowardly, exactly, but certainly not as bold as he could have been. I found out why.
Josh played the four HEIC ships, which start in a straggly line close hauled on the starboard tack. I played Pourvoyeuse, beating upwind on the port tack and headed to intercept the lead Indiaman. The aggressive merchantmen closed on me, moving to envelope my frigate. His first shot caused "leadership casualties" and of course I failed the morale check, dropping from C to D quality. I realized that if I were in the midst of them, they could all shoot at me and I could only shoot at one of them, and probably not the same one all the time. Therefore I ran downwind, trying to get outside of the mob; but one of them accidentally rammed me and fouled, and by the time I got unfouled, the others had boxed me in. I nearly escaped, but Berampore charged over and cut me off. Her gunnery wasn't much of a threat but I had to heave to to avoid a collision, and again the other Indiamen had shots at me with fresh broadsides.We ended the game at turn 14 with Pourvoyeuse at E quality, her Basic Gunnery starting at an 18 factor at range 1, but reduced by -3 for a crew section, -2 fatigue, -2 crew quality, and -4 guns dismounted, for a whopping net 7 gunnery factor. The frigate had lost 1 rigging, 2 hull, and 1 sailor, for a total of 13 points to the English. The HEIC flag had lost 2 masts and a hull, and the Berampore had lost a hull and was on fire, giving a total 5VP to the French. I'm told this scenario is a lot more realistic, and easier for the frigate, with the Indiamen divided among two players. Nonetheless, we had a good time.