Battle off Ushant

We drove to DC today for a Close Action game, with the scenario being a hypothetical action between French and British squadrons off Ushant in 1782. I don't have a copy of the scenario, but it was seven Brits (including a 98 gun flagship, two 64s and four 74s) against seven French (a 100 gun flagship and six 74s). The French had an advantage in firepower; the British had an advantage in position and more experienced players.

The Brits start off on a broad reach on the port tack; the French are close hauled, also on the port tack, and should get to the intercept point first. In this case the French immediately turned and withdrew downwind; the British line headed toward the middle of the French formation, threatening to break the line. The French turned back to close hauled. Our lead British ship, not finding a good opening to penetrate the French line, swooped down under full sails to lay alongside the third French ship. That turned out to be more aggressive than was good for him, and he lost a couple of masts. At this point the French were in a creditable line, albeit a bit more strung out than ideal; our side could be described three two-ship columns plus our "forlorn hope" out in front. My division, the British rear, had stayed to windward, so we swept past the rest of our fleet and forced the French van to turn away; meanwhile the rest of the Brits had mixed it up with the French center. After some scrambling, this resolved to a line of three French getting rough handling from five Brits, while a little distance away was me and the other four French were circling around. I was off on my own, having creatively interpreted my admirals orders (i.e. did what he wanted, rather than what he said), and trying the herd the French. I eventually decided that disrupting their maneuvering would be worth the damage I'd take from being the only target handy, so I plowed through the middle of them. As a result, my ship got shot up, but my comrades were able to come engage the French successfully; I believe the final conclusion was that we captured six of the seven.

Josh captained the third ship in our line (no, he wasn't the reckless British lead ship, that was someone else) and did a good job dishing out damage, mostly playing conservatively and supporting the line. The three new players on the French side played well, and all present enjoyed the game.