Duty And Daring

It was a devastating battle, leaving several French and Spanish ships struggling to remain afloat. Proserpine (a 36-gun Frigate) was not involved in the battle, having been on picket duty nearby. Now having arrived at the scene of the battle to deal with it’s aftermath, Capitaine de corvette Cyrille Léopold Villeneuve (Proserpine’s commander) has been ordered by the fleet commander to assist the 3rd Rate, Commerce de Bordeaux, that has been damaged in the fight. The ship has suffered severe damage to masts, rigging, hull and rudder, and has no surviving ship’s boats. It’s officers and men have taken heavy casualties, have lost their captain, and jury rigged sails and rudder have proved inadequate for her to navigate on her own. The wind and tides are are driving the ship perilously close to reefs and shoals off the enemy coast. Proserpine must get to the Commerce de Bordeaux, take it in tow, and make her way to safer waters before the stricken 3rd Rate falls victim to the rocks or enemy vessels!

Proserpine rapidly approaches Commerce de Bordeaux and hails her to begin preparations for towing – however some rogue waves disrupt the process and it takes a couple of attempts to successfully get her under tow… However just as towing is set to get underway the call comes to Capitaine Villeneuve “Sails Ahoy – enemy vessel approaching“! It’s HMS Defence, a 74-gun 3rd Rate under the fire-breathing Scotsman Captain Rorie Cairbre MacClelland, who missed the main battle and is intent on getting herself a prize regardless!

As Proserpine and Commerce de Bordeaux make way with the tow in place, HMS Defence starts bearing down on their position – she’s recognised that Proserpine is only a 5th Rate, and that Commerce de Bordeaux is in no state to offer much resistance… Everyone knows they are thinking”this should be easy…“

The game continues as Capitaine Villeneuve decides the shortest route between two points is a straight line and he makes a beeline for the open water, despite this bringing his vessels more or less directly towards HMS Defence!

Captain MacClelland pulls a fast one on the French, turning across the wind he is taken aback and thrown around the other way – suddenly bringing part of his broadside to bear on Proserpine…

…who receives the first bombardment of the fight – taking hull damage and crew casualties…

…however Capitaine Villeneuve keeps his cool and plays ‘chicken’ with his opposite – Proserpine literally brushing her bow against HMS Defence’s port side as the latter cuts across her path – and now Capitaine Villeneuve returns fire with part of his larboard broadside at point blank range into HMS Defence – giving almost as good as he got!

As the opposing vessels continue on past each other, the two 3rd Rates exchange broadsides – the heavily damaged Commerce de Bordeaux at the disadvantage and taking heavy damage from the Royal Navy vessel.

Then they are past – Capitaine Villeneuve pulls out all the stops and his crew work hard at maintaining best speed possible for open water with the weight of the tow dragging on them… But Captain MacClelland still has a trick up his sleeve a she starts bring HMS Defence around for another run at the French…

…MacClelland allows his vessel to be taken aback again, using the wind to throw him around again to get into position to get another broadside off into the extremely badly damaged Commerce de Bordeaux…

Which HMS Defence does – even as Commerce de Bordeaux replies as best she can with what little firepower and crew she has remaining… She takes more damage and is now on the verge of striking her colours, or even sinking (she’s reduced to just 20% hull and 10% crew remaining)!

However even as Captain MacClelland uses the wind to rapidly turn HMS Defence by being taken aback a third time, the French vessels are past the danger zone and heading for open waters… MacClelland can only watch as his prey heads off into the distance, and the sounds of fiery scottish cursing is heard coming from the poop deck on HMS Defence… On board Proserpine Capitaine de corvette Cyrille Villeneuve breaths a little easier, one obstacle overcome, now  he just has to get his charge Commerce de Bordeaux safely to Brest…

Aftermath

This game was played solo with just the basic (introductory) version of the rules, I was Capitaine Villeneuve commanding the French vessel Proserpine and the opposing Royal Navy vessel HMS Defence (and to a degree the partially disabled Commerce de Bordeaux) were controlled using the campaign’s AI (Artificial Intelligence) system. The game was the March scenario of the Sails of Glory Anchorage Forum’s 2015 Solo Campaign – for more solo Sails of Glory games from the campaign see also the previous scenarios When The Fog Lifts (January 2015) and Our Ships Were French Oak And Hearts of Oak Our Men (February 2015).

For some AARs (After Action Reports) of Sails of Glory against a human opponent, and using the full advanced and optional rules, see my recent trio of games against Joel McNelly: Un Trio de Batailles Navales (1), Un Trio de Batailles Navales (2) and Un Trio de Batailles Navales (3). And keep an eye out here for more Age of Sail games with Sails of Glory soon.