Blockade that ends with a bang, Bang, BANG!

With my six Sails of Glory ships I thought I would try out the Blockade scenario of Galleys and Galleons, although I would give the French a complete force (not just a single ship).

The French head out as the British send a frigate round to get in behind them.  The British men-o-war with their trained gun crews get in some long range shots.

Paul and Mark B were the British players and their fleet consisted of 250 points as follows: 

HMS Defence Points 102 Quality 3+ Combat 3 Special Rules Drilled Soldiers, Flagship, Galleon Rigged, High Castles, Master Gunner, Trained Gun Crews, Veteran NCOs

HMS Spartiate Points 72 Quality 3+ Combat 3 Special Rules Drilled Soldiers, Galleon Rigged, High Castles, Master Gunner, Trained Gun Crews, Veteran NCOs

HMS Meleager Points 80 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules Drilled Soldiers, Galleon Rigged, Master Gunner, Relay, Trained Gun Crews, Veteran NCOs, Yare

Their admiral was swaggering, while the French admiral was middling.  The French players were Matthew and myself and we had the following 200 points:

Imperial Points 100 Quality 3+ Combat 4 Special Rules Drilled Soldiers, Flagship, Galleon Rigged, High Castles, Master Gunner

Aquilon Points 60 Quality 3+ Combat 3 Special Rules Drilled Soldiers, Galleon Rigged, High Castles, Master Gunner

Unite Points 48 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules Drilled Soldiers, Galleon Rigged, Master Gunner, Yare

The "Relay" special rule for the British frigate HMS Meleager was designed to extend the range of their flagship but as the game played out it wasn't used.

The French are having trouble getting a shot in and have each suffered damage from the long range British fire.  At least they have the wind.

And then in a very lucky shot the Imperial causes the HMS Spartiate (the latest acquisition to my fleet suffering the new unit curse) to blow up.

Sadly the French Unite blew up after receiving a stern rake.  The explosion almost set fire to its tormentor HMS Meleager

The Imperial strikes again.  It must have been using hot shot or some kind of infernal exploding shell as a bow rake of HMS Defence caused such terrible damage that it also exploded.

The damaged British frigate is left to tail the French warships as they head out to the open sea.

You only get an explosion on a throw of 11 or 12 on 2d6 and that is only after you get a critical hit.  Makes for a fun quick game.

Relay Special Rule

Relay: if within one long of Flagship, ships within one long of this vessel receive a +1 modifier to their Quality when rolling to activate.  Only Frigates may have this ability.