"Enemy In Sight!" Solitaire Skirmish

[Salem Vendari]

This was my first full game playing with the advanced rules, and I must say it was a great. It is with great regret that the English have captured the first-rate ship-of-the-line Montagne.

The wind began blowing in from the east, both sides coming in at 45 degree angles to take full advantage of it, though after a few turns it shifted to the north-east and stayed that way. His Majesty's Ships Defense and Terpsichore came in from the north, while Montagne sailed in from the south. As the English were AI controlled, the Terpsichore broke formation and decided to challenge the much larger ship to a one-on-one battle. A quite artificial unintelligent choice, if I do say so myself. Terpsichore found herself sinking to Davy Jones' Locker after only two or three salvos (the first took out half of her burden!).

Next, Montagne turned her nose toward the other ship, HMS Defense. This one actually gave me trouble, as she outmaneuvered me, consistently preventing me from bringing my starboard broadside to bear (not that bear really wanted it). The two ships spent most of their time circling each other, Defense keeping Montagne out of range until she was ready to strike (and she did several times without the French ship being able to return fire, either due to reloading, or the broadside being loaded with grapeshot and sitting just out of range). Eventually, though, Montagne closed in firing her grapeshot with a bit of musket-fire to kill off as many of the crew as possible. After the smoke had cleared, both ships were left with one crew box remaining. At that point, the Montagne struck her colors; she only had four burden boxes remaining, while the Defense still had all but one open.

I will upload pictures sometime this weekend so you guys can get a better image of the action that went on. I'm still getting used to maneuvering (there were several collisions in this game), but I'm definitely better than when I first started playing.

[Salem Vendari]

Afterthoughts:
-Still not a fan of crew actions, though I do understand it's importance when it comes to repairing leaks and putting out fires.
-Sail settings add a wonderful level of strategy when it comes to maneuvering as it allows for tighter or wider turns when trying to avoid collisions and leaving the map.
-Fires, leaks, and broken masts are devastating, especially when you have fewer crew actions later in the game.

[Comte de Brueys]

... At that point, the Montagne struck her colors; she only had four burden boxes remaining, while the Defense still had all but one open.

...

I will upload pictures sometime this weekend so you guys can get a better image of the action that went on. I'm still getting used to maneuvering (there were several collisions in this game), but I'm definitely better than when I first started playing.

So the French learned a hard lesson.

Nice little AAR, Salem.

Pictures are welcome.

[Salem Vendari]

So the French learned a hard lesson.

Yes, I was disappointed, especially since I've decided to adopt France as my nation of choice for SoG.

[Salem Vendari]

[Here are the images], as promised. I uploaded them to Google+ for simplicity. All of the images depict the game as it was played in order, with some pictures of the damage tracks to show the state of the ships at different points in the battle. The only possible way Montagne could have won that game was for all of the damage tokens HMS Defense drew to be crew damages. That one 0 ruined everything.

[Union Jack]

Pictures located where?

[Salem Vendari]

Google+. I realized the link was hard to spot, so I just edited the post and put brackets around it.

[Naharaht]

That was a good AAR, Salem. If you click on the 'tree in a box' icon in the Quick Reply toolbar, you can upload pictures directly to this site.

[Salem Vendari]

That was a good AAR, Salem. If you click on the 'tree in a box' icon in the Quick Reply toolbar, you can upload pictures directly to this site.

I'm aware of that. I'd just prefer not to have an incredibly long post with 30+ pics of the action.

[Bligh]

Great pictures Salem.
Just a pity we don't have the commentary attached.
Rob.

[Salem Vendari]

Great pictures Salem.
Just a pity we don't have the commentary attached.
Rob.

I'm thinking about going through and editing them. I'll have plenty of time this weekend. And hopefully I can post an AAR about player vs player action in the coming week.

[Bligh]

That will be great, and I'm looking forward to seeing that. Don't feel you have to annotate everything. Just the key moments in the action will add such a lot to your readers enjoyment of your superb photos.
Rob.