NOVA Close Action group game of scenario JA-01. This is a hypothetical action from 1739 assuming the British managed to find the Spanish treasure fleet bringing silver from the New World back to Spain. The scenario has an optional rule for assigning treasure to the Spanish ships, which increases their VP value in case of striking or capture, but we didn't play with that.
(Click on any image to see an enlargement.)
On the British side (red blocks) are, front to back, Kent (70), Lenox (70), Elizabeth (70), and Pearl (40). The white blocks atop the British ships indicate that they are at Plain Sail.
The Spanish squadron (yellow blocks) is, left to right, Castilla (60), Guipuzcoa (66), Leon (70), and Esperanza (50).
I took some notes during the game in hopes of providing some sort of complete narrative. But as captain of Esperanza, I can only comment on Spanish plans, and most of my comments are relative to that ship.
The left image shows the initial setup, the right image shows the results of scattering. Oddly, the British, with slightly better crew quality, have stretched out, while the Spanish squadron has tightend up ... except, alas, Esperanza.
The British race ahead. The Spaniards had been ordered to turn in succession to the lower right edge of the image, so Castilla leads our way.
The white blocks on Castilla and Leon indicate that those ships are at Medium Sail. That's helpful for the Spanish, since those ships are Very Slow. (They start at MS by scenario special rule, but we had missed out on placing the blocks when I took the picture.)
Another scenario special rule says the Spanish are not allowed to raise sail until GT05. So it's going to be hard for Esperanza to get away.
The first turn of gunfire. Esperanza inflicts a hull box on Kent, whose return fire misses.
Sails are coming down on Lenox and Elizabeth (the orange counters).
Castilla tried to pivot on her last movement point but failed her Uncertain Wearing roll, so gets a pivot marker to indicate that she must pivot on her first MP next turn.
If I remember correctly, at some point around this time we got countermanding orders to head towards the bottom of the picture instead of the right edge.
The gunfire fortunes are reversed as Esperanza takes a rigging and crew hit, but return fire misses Kent.
Sails are coming down on Elizabeth. Esperaza's travails begin as though she takes another hull box off Kent, she loses a hull box, a sailor box, and a critical hit dismounts some of her guns.
Esperanza loses her first sailor section. I raised sails in hopes of catching up with my compadres.
Pearl's sails come down. If you compare her sail state block with the other British ships, you can see that there are two sizes. Pearl current has a thicker block indicating PS, while the thinner blocks are for MS. No block at all means FS.
Esperanza receives the bulk of the British fire again, loses her first rigging section, and gets an Obscured Broadside.
Esperanza had no gunfire this turn. She's such a runt that her Final Gunnery Number vs Lenox would have been a -2.
Collision! Elizabeth had to move 1 forward due to manuever limits from Turn 7. Castilla plotted 1 forward, too. We weren't sure at first whether or the collision happened before she could move. The GM ruled in her favor, and she will get a full raking broadside.
Elizabeth loses her first rigging section in the collision and fouls Castilla.
Elizabeth gets a concentration of fire from three of the Spanish ships, two of them raking, and loses another rigging section.
Castilla then grapples Elizabeth, which is neither able to unfoul nor to ungrapple.
Esperanza clears her obscured broadside.
The Spanish continue to concentrate on Elizabeth. I plotted "(R)" to maintain my stern rake, only for the non-moving grappled ships to drift out of the line of fire of my stern battery. My firepower at this point was so low that, doing the math, a full broadside on farther-away Pearl was better than a half-broadside one-hex stern rake on Elizabeth. If I remember correctly, my shot missed anyway, or did a single box of damage at most.
But the other two Spanish ships knock off Elizabeth's first sailor section.
Again I try for the stern rake by plotting "1", and again the gods of drift deny me.
My move was so obvious that Lenox maneuvers for the stern rake. Esperanza loses her second rigging section.
But as bad as that was for me, the British have it worse. Elizabeth loses her third rigging section, and Kent loses her first rigging section, her first hull section, and catches fire due to a critical hit! Pretty good shooting from Guipuzcoa given that she only had a half broadside.
Elizabeth manages to both unfoul and ungrapple from Castilla and will be able to move next turn.
Sorry, I missed out taking a picture for Turn 11. It was an exciting turn. Lenox and Pearl were positioned perfectly to make it hard for me to avoid a rake. So I just concentrated on trying to help disable Elizabeth. The latter lost a hull section, but I lost my second sailor section and took another critical hit which dismounted more guns.
Leon, Esperanza, and Elizabeth all failed a Morale Check this turn, though since I had to take three of them, I was happy it wasn't worse.
I have no notes for turn 12. I'm pretty sure Kent managed to put out her fire.
We had to call the game at the end of turn 12. There was no strong consensus on who won. The VP totals were pretty close. Looking at the big picture, Esperanza was a wreck, but so was Elizabeth, which is a more more valuable ship. The critical hit on Kent inflicted enough damage that I'd give the nod to the Spanish. But then I would say that, wouldn't I, so that the sacrifice of Esperanza wouldn't be in vain?