Close Action AAR

Al Parker hosted a Close Action game in Annandale, with Josh and I taking the French, versus Al, Richard, and The Other Al as the British, in a scenario set around 1748 and using the 12-direction movement rules in Bloody Red Flag. Unfortunately I don't recall the name of the historical action it was based on, or of the English commander; I believe the French commander was du Bois de la Motte, and the historical outcome was pretty much a draw.
Three British ships, three French, with nearly equal point totals. Josh took the lead (Alcide) and rear (Arc en Ciel) while I had the flagship (Magnanime); the Brits are Plymouth, Worcester and Lenox. The two squadrons start in line ahead, approaching each other head on, with the British slightly downwind.
I gather that in the actual battle, both sides sailed ahead and fired as they passed, then turned around and did it again, rinse and repeat. In the game, however, the two English leading ships turned around immediately, presumably so the French wouldn't catch them before the biggest English ship could catch up and join in. The French line got rather extended in pursuit, but the English did nothing to attack Alcide before the others caught up.
On turn 8, Alcide cut downwind of the trailing English ship, took some fire, and suffered a "wheel shot away" critical hit. My ship also suffered the same crit, which means we can only pivot once per turn instead of twice. It makes us a lot less maneuverable. The consequence is that three turns later, we both collide with an English ship. It costs Magnanime some rigging; Alcide suffers the worst possible rigging loss, then gets a "mast may fall" critical, rolls badly, and loses another mast. She's basically dead in the water. Fortunately we're positioned such that we have targets and can get off some effective fire, and the English don't have good shots. Richard's ship Worcester can't shoot at us at all, because our ships are too close to an English ship; wargamers might take the shot and risk hitting a friend, but real captains wouldn't, so the game doesn't allow it.
I point out to Richard that he has a good shot at another English ship, and switching sides could greatly enhance his retirement. South of France, south of England, which one sounds better? The other Al says "English cooking!" and we reply that's another argument in favor of France. French weather is better. French wine. Al Parker points out that the English have Stilton and cheddar; I riposte that we French have over 200 kinds of cheese. French women. The other Al says "But they don't lie back and think of England!"; the rest of us realize that this is a telling point in favor of France. Richard is looking awfully tempted, but (perhaps due to the fact that the game doesn't actually allow switching sides) he resists.
On turn 12, Alcide forms boarders, which is rare, but she's fouled with Plymouth, immobile, and no longer has a target, so Josh figures he might as well try it. Unfortunately he takes enough casualties from cannon fire that the crew's morale drops and they refuse to attack. He sends them back to the guns. Richard still doesn't have a shot; visions of courts-martial dance in his head.
Superior French tactics begin to overcome the maneuverability disadvantage. By turn 18, Lenox is surrounded; she's the biggest English ship but has taken a lot of damage and her gunnery has dropped off a lot. Plymouth is still close to the action and taking fire, while Worcester moves around the furball and finally has a clear line of fire. On turn 19, Alcide aggressively drifts ("how do you drift aggressively?" Watch Josh, he can show you) down to sandwich Lenox with Arc en Ciel on the other side, while Plymouth unwisely closes on Magnanime, which has twice the firepower. Worcester mulls the increasingly attractive option of  running away, and justifying it with "Someone had to survive to to report what happened."
We called it at that point due to time. Final tally was that the English squadron had lost 2 mast sections, 3 hull and 4 crew, total nine sections; the French had lost 4 masts, 2 hull and 2 crew sections, total eight. It was a narrow French victory, although we had a clearly superior position and would probably have has a greater margin of victory if the game had continued a few more turns.

A good scenario and a fun day gaming.