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Anav
12-29-2011, 20:34
Taken from DANFS

The second Hancock was one of the first 13 frigates of the Continental Navy authorized by resolution of the Continental Congress 13 December 1775. She was built at Newburyport, Mass., and placed under command of Captain John Manley 17 April 1776. After a long delay in fitting out and manning, she departed Boston in company with Continental frigate Boston 21 May 1777. On 29 May they captured a small brig loaded with cordage and duck. The next day they encountered a convoy of transports escorted by British 64-gun ship Somerset which set sail to close Hancock. Manley was saved by clever and well-timed action of Boston who forced Somerset to give up the chase by taking on the transports.
After escaping from Somerset, the two frigates sailed to the northeast until 7 June when they engaged the Royal Navy's 28-gun frigate Fox who tried to outsail her American enemies. Hancock gave chase and soon overhauled Fox who lost her mainmast and suffered other severe damage in the ensuing duel. About an hour later, Boston joined the battle and compelled Fox to strike her colors.
Hancock spent the next few days repairing the prize and then resumed cruising along the coast of New England. East of Oape Sable she took an enemy coal sloop which she towed until the next morning when the approach of a British squadron prompted Manley to set the coal sloop ablaze and leave her adrift. The British brig Flora recaptured the Fox after a hot action. Boston became separated from Hancock who tried to outsail her pursuers. Early in the morning 8 July 1777 the British were within striking distance. HMS Rainbow began to score with her bowchaser and followed with a series of broadsides which finally forced Hancock to strike her colors after a chase of some 39 hours.
Hancock, renamed Iris, served the British Navy so effectively that her new owners boasted of her as "the finest and fastest frigate in the world." The most famous of the many prizes which made her officers wealthy men was the American 24-gun ship Trumoull, captured 8 August 1781. Later that year a French squadron in the West Indies captured Iris and used her as a cruiser. When the British took Toulon in 1793 they found Iris dismantled and used as a powder hulk. The British blew her up as they evacuated Toulon.

David Manley
12-30-2011, 02:50
Nice to see one of my rellies getting a namecheck there :) One of my first decent Langton models was the Hancock (with suitable conversion).

Capn Duff
12-30-2011, 06:00
With all these actions available am looking forward to the game, lets hope it plays as good as the history sounds

csadn
12-30-2011, 14:12
With all these actions available am looking forward to the game, lets hope it plays as good as the history sounds

Assuming the maker doesn't decide to ignore frigates altogether....

David Manley
12-30-2011, 14:19
From the look of things they aren't (two of the models in the initial release are frigates). However, the way the stats appear to be working out it looks as though the scope for sufficient fidelity to really bring out the differences between frigate types may well be pretty limited.

Berthier
12-30-2011, 17:23
Balancing the need for accessibility to the general gaming public, satisfying the naval buff, creating an enjoyable game and making money wont be easy. They seem to have succeeded with WOW/WOG but I think naval games are a harder ask. Games Workshops Trafalgar appears to have had little impact and a lukewarm reception despite it's massive pre-conditioned market. The WOW first world war series superficially appears (I have no figures to back this up mind you) to be far more successful than the WW2 version despite the enormous number of models available pre-painted from other suppliers for WW2 to drive that game system. It is interesting then that Ares stuck with a WW2 first release product for them probably only because they had committed to this with FFG and much of the work/tooling had been done. I wonder if they were working from scratch if they would have taken this path given the number of discounted WW2 models still available on the net.

There no doubt is a "romance" aspect to WW1 aviation (however much displaced from reality this perception really is) that is missing from WW2, probably due to the pioneering nature of the first conflict. There is also a "romance" associated with the Age of Sail though I do worry if it is as strong and will sustain the product line. Time will tell no doubt.

Anav
12-30-2011, 17:40
Well, I can tell you I'm in.