Shiver Me Timbers! Thar be Pirates! And so it was off to somewhere in the Caribbean Sea and the Royal Navy looking to quash pirate activity in the area by attacking the fort and village on Pirate Island in a Sails of Glory scenario by Mark Williams. Jay has sent in some great pics and a game report so we will turn it over to him……
“Hector Barbossa was having a rare moment of satisfaction with recent events. Tomorrow, Black Pearl’s contract with Blackbeard would come to an end after a year and a day of service in exchange for more of the cursed gold that had put them in their current predicament. If they had only known when they plundered the gold in the first place. Service to Blackbeard had not been without benefits for both the Pearl and Queen Anne’s Revenge. Blackbeard knew his business and there had been a lot of loot and plunder over the last year for everyone. As they approached Blackbeard’s base of operations, a lookout called sails ho. Barbossa focused his eye glass towards the bearing called. Well, 4 sets of sails. As Blackbeard changed course to intercept with the Queen Anne’s Revenge, Barbossa realized the last 24 hours of their contract might be very busy.”
“Mark Williams ran a scenario using Sails of Glory that had a English task force that had the objective to capture Blackbeards home base and sink any pirate ships in the area.”
“Note: Sails of Glory is essentially the ship version of Wings of Glory. Each ship selects a manuver card and then all movement takes place, then firing. How the ship manuvers depends on how much sail is set along with the ships facing in regards to the wind. Each captain must also allocate their crew to various tasks on each ship and perform anything from raising/reducing sail, loading/firing guns, putting out fires, repairing sails/masts, musket fire, boarding, etc. Guns can be loaded with round shot, grape shot (more efffective in causing crew casualties), or chain shot (more effective in causing sail/mast damage). Despite most of the players having limited or no experience with the game system, Mark did a good job of briefing the system and the players were ready to go in no time. The terrain, ships and ship displays were of high quality and quite appealing to look at.”
“The English side consisted of the flagship HMS Adamant (4th rate ship of the line), HMS Melfanger, HMS Terpsichore (both frigates), and the sloop HMS Swan which was carrying the landing force. The pirate side featured the Black Pearl and Queen Anne’s Revenge (both ships were better than the English frigates, but inferior to the Adamant), along with a fortification and town along with a town militia. Kevin, Pat and Jay ran the English while DJ and Mark J took the pirates.”
“Both sides wasted no time in approaching each other to get the battle started. The English had to protect the Swan since it had their landing force and would be needed to capture the town/fort. An island in the middle of the map sort of divided the English force as there wasn’t a lot of room between the island and where the fort was. As the HMS Melfanger led the English squadron forward, the Queen Anne’s Revenge (QAR), suddenly turned to port and caught the Melfanger with a full broadside, causing heavy damage. A general brawl erupts as HMS Tersichore comes into action from the far side of the island and catches the QAR reloading. The QAR is shot at from multiple English ships, but doesn’t take much damage as the English silently curse their bad gunnery.”
“It becomes clear the QAR is after the Swan while the Black Pearl comes up into action and comes close to finishing off the Melfanger. QAR fires at the Swan and causes very heavy damage while the QAR takes very heavy damage from the Tersichore. The Black Pearl takes some damage from both English ships near it. The next turn sees a lot of final action as the QAR and Swan sink each other while the Black Pearl finishes the Melfanger. The Terpsichore extracts revenge with heavy damage to the Pearl. The Adamant also chips in with a big broadside on the Pearl. The Pearl also unloads on the Terpsichore, but it isn’t as heavy of a blow as normal due to the damage the Pearl has already suffered. The Adamant also colides with the Pearl and both ships take some damage. The Pearl, Adamant, and Terpsichore are all in very close quarters and a collision of some kind seems to be unavoidable.”
“The final turn sees the Black Pearl collide with both the Adamant and the Terpsichore with the resulting damage being enough to finish her off. At this point, the game is called a draw since the English won’t effectively be able to take the town/fort. Adamant survives with light damage while the Terpsichore has moderate damage from the action. While unfortunate that the English will be unable to capture the installation, having sunk both the QAR and Black Pearl is a good consolation prize.”
“After the game ended, players gave feedback to Mark for some suggested changes/tweaks as this was a new scenario that Mark was trying out for the first time. Neither side did what he thought they might do, which is always hard when trying to get a balanced scenario, etc. All players agreed it was a lot of fun to play and the action was fast paced. The quality of the setup was excellent and everyone looks forward to trying this one again at some point in the future.”
A Thank You to Jay for the descriptive after action report, to Mark Williams for presenting his well prepared game with great accessories and terrain and all the players for taking time to join in for an afternoon of gun. Our continued appreciation to Miniature Market Rock Hill for their support.
Remember to shop local.
