AAR: Last Survivor of the Nile

Josh and I will each be participating in Close Action games near the Trafalgar anniversary, so we decided to put some ships on a map and have at it--what better way to celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day? ("Rum and a buxom wench, yarrrr!")(Hush!) Two French ships escaped the Battle of the Nile (a.k.a. Aboukir Bay); one, Guillaume Tell, 80, made it to Malta, and then tried to break out past a British blockade. The scenario starts with the French ship of the line closely tailed by the British frigate Penelope; off in the distance, but gaining, are Lion, 64, and Foudroyant, 80. The frigate has to play picador to the French bull, slowing it without getting hit too hard. We played twice, with me as the French both times.
In the first playing, the frigate wasn't cautious enough and I caught it with a couple of good broadsides at close range; she lost a mast and couldn't keep up with me, and I had enough of a lead that the two British heavies couldn't catch up. Guillaume Tell sailed off to the open sea and a successful escape.
In the second, the frigate first beat upwind, opening the range; then it swept in behind me, getting  two stern rakes which did major damage to my rigging and cut my speed in half. The Guillaume Tell was still sound, just slow, but I couldn't get enough broadsides on the frigate to cripple it before the reinforcements swept up. I bowed to the inevitable and struck my colors.