Battle of Sadras 1787

So it is not Napoleonic, not even revolutionary, well French revolution that is, but I am stuck with my Napoleonic Naval label.  In hindsight I should have gone with Age of Sail or something.  Never mind, on with the game.

 The British ships in line ahead have snuck between the French Ships of the Line and the transports they are meant to be guarding (off table, top edge).

The French are hurrying to rescue their transports.

The arrows denote the wind direction.

Details of the scenario for It's Warm Work designed by Darren.

The game used his models and he umpired.

Simon and Stephen B took the British 

while Dave and I went the French.

 My squadron, on the left, took early fire from the British due to accurate dice throwing by Stephen.

One page summary sheet is all you need.

 Dave's squadron worked around behind while I engaged the enemy in what was a rather one sided affair.  They shot first and threw multiple sixes.  The French captains, so far from home, were understandably nervous.

Six sided dice plus fire template visible in top right hand corner.

 One of my ships is wrecked and another boarded.

The white squares indicate French ships whose captains who have decided that 

discretion is the better part of valour.

Turning templates and China graph pencil are other tools in use.

 A close up of the excellent little models we were using.  

Old Glory 1/2000th IIRC.

Vengeance.  My ship rakes a British ship and wrecks it.

Also, we have passed round the British and can see our way to saving our transports.

 There is now a bit of distance between the two fleets 

as the British have had trouble turning into the wind.

Note disc for determining ship speed based on wind direction.

It's getting late so this was the final move.

The British had inflicted more damage.  

The French had lost two ships, the British one.

The game played really well.  Lots of laughs.

Battle of Porto Praya 1781

Darren, who also provided the ships and terrain, devised this scenario.  He went British and Stephen N and myself went the French.  Information on the actual battle can be found here.

The It's Warm Work rules are simple, but elegant.

 Set up.

The British fleet is at harbour reprovisioning.

The French fleet were heading there with the same idea,

but now see an opportunity to attack.

 The British get in some lucky shots.

Stephen has started his French ships (on the left) at full sail.

 By the end of the second turn the French have started to get some shots in as well.

Note the dice are just for the photos to show which ships have been hit.

The British are still trying to get their crews back and are still at anchor.

 After turn three (representing an hour in game time)

both sides have lost a ship.

 The next turn sees a general engagement and two more ships lost.

The battle is still even.

 Most British ships have recovered their crews and are heading into action.

Darren needs to make some more shipwrecks.

Note the wind direction movement wheels.

Also, the harbour defences are just for show (it is a neutral harbour).

 Stephen's French ships are in trouble, but losses continue to be balanced.

However the British ships have mistakenly turned into the wind

 and we didn't immediately pick this up.

The nefarious British are getting the upper hand, but as it is getting late, we decided a rain squall blew up and ended the game.

The rules worked well as did the scenario.  Action developed quickly and was constant.  I'm certainly looking forward to more play.