Friday, April 11, 2014

Things of Glory

Today Mark and I started with a Sails of Glory game (his first) and then went on to a Wings of Glory game before having a couple of DBA games (which will be covered in a separate post).

The Sails of Glory game used Mark's sea broad and was also a time to try out my Warartisan paper boat that has now been based and sports a minimum of rigging (and a good set of coats of PVA glue).

Ship ahoy!  My boat (using the credentials of Genereux spies the HMS Defence).

We come close, but no cigar...

HMS Defence gets in the first shot.

It's a bow rake!

My boat returns fire using those new fangled fire markers.

What do you mean fire larboard?  Didn't I say starboard?  Oh F!  After inflicting fabulous damage it has to be all taken back went it is found that my boat wasn't actually manning its starboard guns.

My boat getting the worst of it.  Why always crew hits?  :-(

The killing blow.  HMS Defence gets in a full broadside and my boat sinks.  The HMS Defence was severely damaged, but it lived to claim victory (I think we had experienced just about every kind of special damage there was, but sadly mainly on my boat).

I think I prefer the look of cotton wool to denote a broadside.  I have to remember that for my basing, white is orange and light blue is the new green.  Probably could use a more sea green colour than the light blue, but I need to produce some sea boards of my own (and finish rigging my boat).

After our nautical game (which took about two hours including chat and game introduction) we took to the air.

I pilot a Yak into a late war Japanese plane which was much more heavily armed than I realised.  No matter, I got some good shots on it, but in a final pass we each received so much damage we were both done for.

5 comments:

  1. Looks like a cracking couple of game :)

    I am impressed with the paper boar
    So much so I would fancy a go myself

    However I have a few metal ones to finish off first before I start off on a new project
    IMHO the paper one holds its own for sure

    Must, must, must get my hands in a Sails of Glory game

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    1. The Warartisan model was fun to make and a bit different (nothing like a "paper boat" for playing naval games). Not being on a plinth and having weathered sails makes it stand out. I possibly will change the basing on my Sails of Glory models and I' now into painting the yards and masts which gives much better definition. Then it is a wash for the sails and they will look good I think.

      SoG plays well ship on ship. It would need a lot of discipline to play a significant action (as in large number of ships). In the excitement of the game you tend to forget steps or to check you guns are loaded etc. Would need an umpire to police multiple players. Making mistakes is all part of the fun as well.

      With your metal models you would be able to use them will little trouble to play Sails of Glory, but would still need the movement cards and base (which shows wind affect on ship on firing arcs as well as being itself the target area).

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  2. The paper vessel stands well against the Sails of Glory models - a good way of building up a fleet.

    I was thinking about your 7th picture, the two vessels on opposite courses delivering close range broadsides. I was wondering who had the weather gage (i.e. was to windward). Under the rules, would it have been feasible for one or other vessel to hold its fire, then wear around the enemy's stern and rake the enemy at close range?

    Just curious...

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    1. My ship was running with the wind but had mast damage and so was more limping with the wind. HMS Defence was being taken aback, but that was working to its advantage.

      While close range double shot is nice (and we had a few such killer broadsides at the end) I always find that if you have the chance FIRE! The simultaneous movement is such that it is hard to predict the enemies location (particularly as you are moving as well and have already committed to your next move).

      To answer your question, yes it would be possible, but braving the enemy fire first would be, ah, brave. :-)

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    2. True... but it might be an idea to give it a whack some day. Simultaneous movement might be a problem, of course, depending on how much can happen in a move. One feels that such a thing ought to be 'doable', but to achieve it might lead to a rather slow game, especially if you want fleet actions in a reasonable time scale.

      In the actual game, if your ship capacity to manoeuvre had been compromised you were probably better off thumping in your broadsides as and when you could. Having said that, being taken aback, or sailing by the lee, ought to have placed the enemy in serious trouble - he really can't manoeuvre in those circumstances, not for several minutes whilst waiting for her head to fall off the wind.

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