Red Tide (a fighting sails scenario)

Red tide map

Introduction:

We seem to be playing a lot of Fighting Sails lately with Don, Richard and myself raising fleets and a couple of others testing the waters so to speak. Recently we pressed ganged two new players into trying out the game.  To make thing more interesting we tried out a random chit activation system. Each ship has two activations (move and shoot) when the controlling players chit is drawn he can decide which of his ships can activate and the ship can do one action. All the ships will activate twice per turn. So players had more control over their ships actions but not nessicalyty when they could be activated.

The Red Tide scenario is based of the St Lucia game TTS played a Tactica. A weak British squadron is blockade in harbour and a resupply convoy with a strong escort is on route. Opposing the defender was two French squadrons. 

Forces:

The Harbour squadron consist of two fourth rated ships of the line supported by a large coastal battery. 

The French attackers consists of two squadrons each of three third rate ships of the line 

The resupply convoy consists of three merchant ships escorted by a second rate and two third rated ships of the line.   

Set-up:

Before the set-up the  escort squadron can pick what is the initial wind direction. 
The Harbour squadron set-up in the Northeast corner of the table within twelve inches of the harbour. 
The French squadrons deploy next, one in the Northwest and the other in the Southeast table corners with all ships within twelve inches of the table corner.
The relief squadron deployed in the Southeast corner with all ships within twelve inches of the table corner.

Victory conditions:

The British win if they get at least one supply ship in the harbor before the end of the game.

The French win is they capture the harbor. To do this they need to destroy the harbor squadron including the coastal battery and end the game with at least two ships in the harbor.

Aftermath.

We played this scenario once. Richard opted for the harbour defenders, I got a french squadron, Jaap and Hans (aka the new guys) took the relief squadron and the other French squadron respectively.

The French scored a minor win in principal with all the supply ships sunk but without any major damage inflicted on either of the fleets.  The Bolt Action mechanics worked a treated and made for a tense game with Japp’s supply ships attempting to run the gauntlet before the French could effectively blockade the harbour. But the dice gods did not smile on him as Hans’ squadron rolled higher than average to get into position while the supply ships struggled to break average with their rolls.  The supply ships made it to the within range of the coastal battery and the harbour defenders rushed to the rescue but the second French squadron arrived and sealed their fate with a long range broadside.

The scenario maybe a little loaded in favour of the French. Maybe, next time the British should be the attacker and the French defender. But then again the merchantmen nearly slipped through the gap if the dice gods were a little kinder.

That is all for now thanks for stopping by.