NOVA Close Action group game of scenario JA-04. This is a hypothetical action from 1740 between two small roughly-equal squadrons. The British need to destroy at least three Spanish sections by game turn 15 or the Spanish win, so the onus is on the British to engage. Assuming the game continues at that point, the match is decided by victory points.
(Click on any image to see an enlargement.)
On the British side (red blocks) are, front to back, Lenox (70), Kent (70), and Orford (70). The white "PS" blocks atop the British ships indicate that they are at Plain Sail.
The Spanish squadron (yellow blocks) is, front to back, Castilla (60), Principe (70), and Esperanza (50). They begin at Fighting Sail and cannot raise sails until game turn 5.
I ran this game, so didn't command any of the ships myself and have no particular insight into any ship's course of action.
The left image shows the initial setup, the right image shows the results of scattering.
The British race ahead and then turn into the wind. The Spaniards begin running away.
The chase continues, with the faster British ships (due to their sail state) making significant progress towards catching up as the Spanish close their line. The combatants are still too far away for gunfire to be worthwhile, though.
The Spanish continue to tighten up their formation as the British proceed full steam ahead.
The range finally allows the ships to fire. The Spanish are unlucky and their shots miss, while the British do better, with Castilla and Esperanza each taking a rigging hit.
The sides are nearly back in the parallel formations in which they began the game, the British being a bit more loosey-goosey as they close in on the Spanish. Lenox and Orford begin lowering their sails.
All ships fire this turn, but only Castilla's is effective, knocking a rigging box off of Lenox.
Uh-oh! Apparently there is a miscommunication amongst the British ships, and Orford continues full steam (wind?) ahead as Kent crosses her path. The resulting collision knocks 8(!) rigging boxes off Orford, taking out her first rigging section. I asked if the players wanted to call a mulligan here, but the consensus was that we should continue play.
Castilla again fires effectively, inflicting a rigging hit on Kent. I cannot remember whether Orford chose not to fire, or did so and missed.
There were a lot of sail state changes this turn. The Spanish may finally raise sail per the scenario special rule and choose to do so, while Kent's sails are coming down. Principe, with an "E" rated crew (compared to all the other ships' "D" ratings) takes a little longer to get her sails changed, hence the differing status markers from the other two Spanish ships.
The Spanish begin close-hauling their squadron. Kent and Orford sort themselves out, Orford drifting downwind, while Lenox continues her hot pursuit.
Yet another turn where most of the ships are relatively close in hexes but the fields of fire restrict shooting to Principe putting a hull hit on Lenox.
The Spanish continue close-hauled, taking Esperanza effectively out of the fight for a bit.
Orford and Kent, having to accelerate from 0 due to their previous collision, maneuver verrrry carefully to keep out of each others way.
Lenox chooses not to wait for her cohorts but charges the Spanish line. She manages at last to put some cannonballs into Castilla, but takes some serious hits in return from that ship and Principe.
The Spanish gnash their teeth as Lenox's four marines hit but Principe's seven marines miss.
Another collision, but intentional (I think) this time on the part of the British, fouling Lenox and Castilla. I failed to record the damage from the collision, but I think Lenox lost a rigging section here. She's also pummeled by both Principe and Castilla, receiving sailor and marine casualties as well as hull hits, while knocking a hull box off Principe in return.
Esperanza, Orford, and Kent manuever to get into the scrum around the immobile fouled ships. Note that Esperanza can't easily get into the battle by turning to port due to the wind direction. The white cube is a reminder that the non-moving ships might drift.
I unfortunately did not record details of gunfire this turn, but I did note that Lenox lost her second rigging section.
Principe tries to keep hammering Lenox and so plots S but the gods are not with her and she
drifts, obscuring her fore battery before she can let off a broadside. Had the fouled ships drifted, it would have worked out ok ... but they don't.
But the British also have a bout of bad luck, too, as Lenox forms a boarding party and subsequently grapples Castilla, only to have the Spanish ship immediately undo the grapple and then unfoul the two ships! Those three crew sections being unavailable for gunnery, combined with Lenox only having a half broadside, make her gunfire ineffective this turn.
On the other hand, Orford is now in range, and unloads into Principe.
Now free, Castilla privots as Lenox forges ahead. Being not under way, Castilla is subject to drift and does so, tapping Lenox.
I again failed to take detailed gunfire notes, but this turn Lenox lost her first hull section and her marine section. She passed all her morale checks.
Note that Orford gets the coveted stern rake on Castilla, Kent can finally resume shooting, and Esperanza is nearly back in the battle.
A good turn for the British, as both Orford and Lenox get stern rakes, while the only full Spanish broadside is from the increasingly beat-up Castilla, who loses her first rigging section this turn.
Kent and Castilla try to enter the same hex. The rolloff goes to Kent, who chooses to take the hex and let Castilla try to bear off. She doesn't. I think the ships fouled, but unfouled at the end of the turn.
Castilla loses her first hull section, but passes the resulting morale check.
Orford closes in for yet another stern rake on Castilla, who subsequently loses her first crew section and has her wheel shot away. This causes two morale checks. She fails one of them.
Little Esperanza receives Kent's full attention and loses her first rigging section.
Principe plotted 1P, which would have given her a stern rake on Kent, but she fails her wearing roll so she moves
2 instead and effectively puts herself out of the battle for a turn. The arrow marker next to her is a reminder to all that she has to turn to port next turn.
Esperanza moves to save herself but blocks Principe's forward battery in doing so.
Fired on by all three British ships, Castilla loses her third rigging section and takes another critical hit, the exact type which I didn't write down as we decided to call the game at this point.
The final section losses were:
| Ship | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | H1 | H2 | H3 | H4 | S1 | S2 | S3 | S4 | M |
| Orford | ● | ||||||||||||
| Lenox | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ||||||||
| Esperanza | ● | ||||||||||||
| Castilla | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
The damage is about equally distributed but the players owned up that many more sections were a single box away from destruction and I'm not sure if those were equally distributed as well.
It seemed unanimous amongst the players that the British were winning when we stopped.
Early in the game I thought the Spanish had things well in hand and indeed it seemed that the Spanish might win by avoiding losing three sections by turn 15. But the British really brought it on the last few turns. That extends to the luck factor. From perhaps-faulty memory, the British out-critically-hit the Spanish by something like 3:1. On the other hand, the Spanish seemed to be able to ungrapple and unfoul almost at will.
This ended up being a surprisingly interesting scenario and was certainly an enjoyable evening of gaming. Thanks to all the participants!