Eugel
04-02-2014, 08:04
Ok, so after two matches with mixed basic and advanced rules to learn how the game works, we had our first real battle last weekend, with all advanced and optional rules. (Although it was three days ago, Iīm still excited about it :D)
I was in command of the Courageuse, my teammate had the Genereux. We started on the long table edge and our mission was to escape over the far short table edge. But we had to face two problems: The HMS Vanguard and the HMS Terpsicore. (actually, we faced another problem: our starting location. We were in a kind of lagoon, with a couple of islands surrounding us. In our first two attempts at least one of us crashed his french ship into an island, so we started over. To our defense: The wind was really bad, we had to sail head on against the wind, and it was a quite narrow escape. After the second crash, we did some terraforming and the game got going)
In the beginning, the Terpsicore held its distance, we suspected a sneaky flanking manouver, but nonetheless, we ignored her for the moment and kept going with our plan to cripple the Vanguard with combined fire. The Vanguard and the Genereux were closing on each other, myself a little to the side, always having a man in the crowīs nest looking out for the Terpsicore.
Both big ships caused some damage on each other and were getting very close, when I finally was in a firing position.
My first broadside caused a fire and a leak on the Vanguard - That should teach those British ! In return I suffered a leak as well.
But the leak and fire gave the Genereux an advantage, as the Vanguards crew would be busy and couldnīt focus that much on fighting the french who were getting ready for boarding.
While the Genereux and Vanguard crashed into each other and exchanged some musket fire, the Terpsicore managed to break a mast of the Courageuse.
I decided to do some repairs before returning to the fight, so I got some distance between me and the enemy. I gave the men some rum and spent several rounds with repair actions, while the boarding went on, unfortunately much in favor of the british.
But the Genereux broke away from the close combat and managed to sink the Terpsicore with a well-placed broadside.
The repairs didnīt go as fast as I would have liked, so the Vanguard got the upper hand against the Genereux, whose crew suffered heavy losses, and in the end, the Vanguard was victorious. But shortly after that, the Courageuse was almost fully repaired, had freshly loaded guns and a capitaine who swore revenge for his comrades...
Both ships exchanged some fire, the Vanguard noticably exhausted from the previous fight. I realised that my broadsides were still no match for the bigger ship, my ship was heavily damaged, but my crew suffered almost no losses. So I decided a boarding manouver could score a great victory for the french. The Vanguard only had three crew slots left at that moment. I turned and came into contact with the Vanguard.
My opponent fired his last broadside, fortunately for me no raking shot, but still he scored two leaks ! My hull had only two boxes left, so I knew the Courageuse would sink the next round, which would give my sailors an extra motivation for boarding the british ship. My crew fired their muskets and managed to kill some of the enemy crew. They now had only two crew boxes left...
With a smile, I revealed my boarding action. But the british commander was no fool, he tried to avoid another close combat by all costs !
We had to draw a random marker for the boarding and again the british got lucky and steered clear of the doomed Courageuse which sank into the ocean in the following turn ...
What an exciting game, it was so close the whole time and was only decided in the last second.
I have to say, the game gets much better with all the advanced and optional rules. At times, it is quite a lot to keep track, but itīs really worth it.
What makes it even better is that it was the first game for two of the involved players who just got their starter sets. As I was the one who introduced them to the game, it would have saddened me if their first match was a boring one.
Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures, which is a shame, because we had really nice terrain. Well, there is always a next time ...
Cheers
I was in command of the Courageuse, my teammate had the Genereux. We started on the long table edge and our mission was to escape over the far short table edge. But we had to face two problems: The HMS Vanguard and the HMS Terpsicore. (actually, we faced another problem: our starting location. We were in a kind of lagoon, with a couple of islands surrounding us. In our first two attempts at least one of us crashed his french ship into an island, so we started over. To our defense: The wind was really bad, we had to sail head on against the wind, and it was a quite narrow escape. After the second crash, we did some terraforming and the game got going)
In the beginning, the Terpsicore held its distance, we suspected a sneaky flanking manouver, but nonetheless, we ignored her for the moment and kept going with our plan to cripple the Vanguard with combined fire. The Vanguard and the Genereux were closing on each other, myself a little to the side, always having a man in the crowīs nest looking out for the Terpsicore.
Both big ships caused some damage on each other and were getting very close, when I finally was in a firing position.
My first broadside caused a fire and a leak on the Vanguard - That should teach those British ! In return I suffered a leak as well.
But the leak and fire gave the Genereux an advantage, as the Vanguards crew would be busy and couldnīt focus that much on fighting the french who were getting ready for boarding.
While the Genereux and Vanguard crashed into each other and exchanged some musket fire, the Terpsicore managed to break a mast of the Courageuse.
I decided to do some repairs before returning to the fight, so I got some distance between me and the enemy. I gave the men some rum and spent several rounds with repair actions, while the boarding went on, unfortunately much in favor of the british.
But the Genereux broke away from the close combat and managed to sink the Terpsicore with a well-placed broadside.
The repairs didnīt go as fast as I would have liked, so the Vanguard got the upper hand against the Genereux, whose crew suffered heavy losses, and in the end, the Vanguard was victorious. But shortly after that, the Courageuse was almost fully repaired, had freshly loaded guns and a capitaine who swore revenge for his comrades...
Both ships exchanged some fire, the Vanguard noticably exhausted from the previous fight. I realised that my broadsides were still no match for the bigger ship, my ship was heavily damaged, but my crew suffered almost no losses. So I decided a boarding manouver could score a great victory for the french. The Vanguard only had three crew slots left at that moment. I turned and came into contact with the Vanguard.
My opponent fired his last broadside, fortunately for me no raking shot, but still he scored two leaks ! My hull had only two boxes left, so I knew the Courageuse would sink the next round, which would give my sailors an extra motivation for boarding the british ship. My crew fired their muskets and managed to kill some of the enemy crew. They now had only two crew boxes left...
With a smile, I revealed my boarding action. But the british commander was no fool, he tried to avoid another close combat by all costs !
We had to draw a random marker for the boarding and again the british got lucky and steered clear of the doomed Courageuse which sank into the ocean in the following turn ...
What an exciting game, it was so close the whole time and was only decided in the last second.
I have to say, the game gets much better with all the advanced and optional rules. At times, it is quite a lot to keep track, but itīs really worth it.
What makes it even better is that it was the first game for two of the involved players who just got their starter sets. As I was the one who introduced them to the game, it would have saddened me if their first match was a boring one.
Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures, which is a shame, because we had really nice terrain. Well, there is always a next time ...
Cheers