Thursday, April 12, 2018

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.

8 comments:

  1. Looks good! Are the rules from your group or commercially available?

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    Replies
    1. Commercially available.

      http://www.wargamevault.com/product/81783/It-is-Warm-Work--Age-of-Sail-Naval-Rules-2nd-Edition

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  2. Sounds like fun and an interesting scenario.
    Any more thoughts on the rules? I’ve been considering them, though they seem designed for a large number of ships.

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    Replies
    1. Compared to all the other rules I've played they are certainly simple, fast play. Easy to command lots of ships and easy to add additional rules to suit tastes and/or scenario.

      Probably not for the purist, but I reckon excellent for club games.

      The only aspect I would possibly tinker with would be to have simultaneous fire, rather than one side going first.

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  3. Very nice looking fleet action. If the British ships had allowed themselves to be taken all aback, though, they would have been in serious trouble, methinks!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Darren put on a good game. Yes, it was a good point to stop on, although being taken aback in these rules is not too serious.

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  4. Replies
    1. Yes, Darren has done a good job with the ships and the terrain set them off well.

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