Trafalgar Part One

Well, this was like being thrown into the deep end.

At least I had read the rules, Grand Fleet Action in the Age of Sail.  It also turned out I had played a game with them, but seven years ago.  The AAR can be seen here:   One Sided Miniature Wargaming Discourse: Battle of Cape Finisterre - 1805

For Trafalgar we had Julian (who supplied all the ships - Sails of Glory models), James (who supplied the venue and hospitality) and Stephen as the Combined Fleet commanders.  Mark B was Collingwood and I was Nelson.

My squadron, the Weather Column is on the left,

Collingwood is on the right

The British forces.

The situation after the first turn.

Note measuring stick on the right-hand edge of the table.

The ships are moving between 2 to 4 segments,

it's light wind so things are a bit slow.

But the British do have the wind :-)

End of Turn 2.

Collingwood is under fire.

The forward and rear enemy squadrons have turned to starboard

(and are very close to the table edge).

Turn 3 and Collingwood is returning fire with devastating effects.

Turn 4 and Collingwood is in the midst of the Combined Fleet.

The situation as it appears from the other side of the table (east).

A slightly closer image than the one above.

The enemy ship Santa Ana is in serious trouble

Turn 5 and the Santa Ana has struck.

For Nelson's squadron the Africa has now come within range of the forward enemy ships.

Turn 6 and the Victory has joined the Africa in engaging the enemy.

The bigger picture at the end of Turn 6.

There are still many British ships to come up.

The table from the right-hand side, looking north.

The enemy rear squadron has effectively gone in a circle.

I have obscured the table edge, but it might present a serious problem unless ships start coming about.

(The table edge appears as a brownish smudge).

Now for a much more balanced and informative post, check out James's post at: 

The Chauvinistic Blog: Trafalgar part the first

Your Target For Tonight

Another new game to try my hand at.  Still a work in progress by Simon, but it looked fantastic and was playing well.

Northwest Europe full of targets.

I was in charge of the Luftwaffe defending the oil storage facility.

It had already been visited by the RAF during the night.

Note: the FW190s have been de-swastika-ed.

Here come the bombers!

More Portuguese Infantry

More Old Glory stove pipe British repurposed as Portuguese.

With this unit I can make two 4 base brigades (16PtLN in Napoleon's Battles' terminology),

or a 5, 6 or 7 base brigade. 

 There are two casualty marker stands that I consider integral to the brigade.

It doesn't concern me that it lowers the figure count,

it's the number of bases that really matters.

The all-white facings represent Regiment No. 13 Peniche,

not that I feel bound by that.

Eagle eyes will have seen there is a surfeit of drummers.

Must be that the Old Glory purchase was one pack of infantry and one of command. 

Generals Random

While working on the Vittoria OOB I found I was a few generals short.  This is now fixed.

Army command stand for the French.

Commander for the Portuguese Division.

Command stand for British cavalry.

Commander for the Spanish Division.

Some of these figures are Battle Honours, not sure about the ones I've used for the French and I have no idea of the one I used for the Spanish commander - he was a figure I rescued from someone's discards. 

Container with Offshore Banking Facilities

Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of the completed board, just my pile of containers.

Oh, and the score sheet. 

 I got a photo of that.

The offshore banking addition just added some extra options for acquiring money and or containers, but seemed to take people's eye of the main game, which is to turn containers into money, not chase auction bids consuming valuable actions by calling the bank.

Later Fatimid Egyptian versus Later Merovingian

This was a companion game to One Sided Miniature Wargaming Discourse: Later Merovingian versus Later Fatimid Egyptian

This time I would run the Egyptians and face the Merovingians played by Phil.  In the club's Basic Impetus competition Phil will be facing Mark B who runs Later Fatimid Egyptians.

The Egyptians were out scouted and face six units of Merovingian heavy cavalry on open terrain.

There are some gentle hills and broken ground on the extreme right of the battlefield.

The Egyptian skirmishers on both wings rush forward to engage the enemy,

the Mamelukes and archers move forward to get in bow range,

but their infantry hang back.

The Merovingians easily clear the Egyptian skirmishers away on both flanks.

Action looks imminent for the Mamelukes who have closed up to face their foe.

While the Egyptians have lost both units of light cavalry,

the Mamelukes have got the better of their opponents

and their infantry has withstood the first charge of the enemy.

The Mamelukes have prevailed,

but their infantry is in trouble.

The Merovingian left flank has been eliminated.

However, the same fate seems about to befall the Egyptian left.

The battle is now in the balance.  

A loss of one more unit will break either side.

Closing in for the kill.

The advantage is with the Egyptians.

Victory for the Fatimids.

Nimitz

Simon, as the more experienced gamer, commanded four ships of the RN while Lee took the Hipper and Königsberg.  I had the Scharnhorst and Leipzig. The models are Lees.  It had been a while since I last participated in a game of Nimitz, but it quickly came back to me.

The German fleet sailing in from the right.

If you look closely two ships are facing the wrong way,

always a challenge with this scale.

The Royal Navy ably represented by the somewhat lumbering Queen Elizabeth.

The fleets engage at long range.

The two British light cruisers have sailed off

 leaving their heavier sisters to face the full German force.

The Hipper has been sunk and the Scharnhorst seems unable to hit anything.

Note: The cotton puffs are meant to denote speed.

The more puffs the slower which is a bit challenging

 as when you are out of puff it meant you were going fast

 which I suppose has some kind of logic to it.

After another German ship is sunk,

the Scharnhorst and Leipzig bravely flee.

Only the HMS Blackpool received any serious damage.

The HMS Clacton was unscathed due to the daring-do of its famous commander.