The League of Augsburg
Medway stage 2
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| A dressed shot of the dockyard looking east from White Wall Creek. |
When I started the project I knew where I wanted it to go but it seemed somewhat of a tall order. Several months down the track and I believe the most difficult bits are behind me. Most of the ships are done. The dockyard board which is the most involved, is done bar the shouting - one minor road change plus the appearance of a...
Walking through 17th century naval rules Part 2 - Hail Mary!
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| What will happen to the unlucky Eendraght? |
The walk through of my evolving naval rules for the 1640-1700 period continues where we pick the action up at the beginning of Turn 4 with the Allies once more winning the initiative which allows them to move first or, compel the French to move.
By the firing step in T4 the Allies had manouevred ships into two opportunities. The first involves Eendraght,...
Walking through 17th century naval rules Part 1
Let me start by saying thanks to Neil Fox for helping me get onto this path in the first instance. He sent his Solebay Fast play sheets to me and I played many games with them to get a feel for the issues around naval gaming and in particular the period 1650-1700.
The more I played, the more I enjoyed, the more I tinkered. The new situations offered additional...
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| The Allied squadron in line astern |
The more I played, the more I enjoyed, the more I tinkered. The new situations offered additional...
I bet you thought I'd abandoned this..
On the contrary my friends, or should that be Integendeel, mijn vrienden! It takes focus to get a substantial project finished and I had run out of gas with changing short term priorities after completing three of the four corners of this table during the late summer.
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| Aerial view of layout to get a feel for how it might build. I completed various buildings before attempting the gorundwork. |
The most...
The Big One - The Texel AAR Part 2 and conclusion
Back with the climactic conclusion to the Battle of the Texel...
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| Tonnant (far left) stern rakes Vrijheid (far right) igniting a magazine. Royal Therese is already on fire(right foreground). |
Turn 9 A breath of fresh air
The wind had moved to a light northerly and ships were permitted only to move at half speed to simulate their emergence from the torpor of a flat sea. The most alarming situation for...
The Big One - The Texel AAR Part 1
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| Into battle! Admiral de Ruyter's Centre squadron at the Battle of The Texel August 21st 1673 |
It was with great anticipation that I got ready to throw the first dice in this scenario. It was in the planning for weeks. The largest number of ships I had managed to get on the table, probably stretching the limits of a 4 x 4 feet set-up. I had some question marks about how the rules might hold up in...
The Big One - Part 2 The Fleets
For the game I matched the fleets at around 2575 points give or take. The number of line of battle ships was twelve apiece with the Dutch using one frigate and the Allies two. In addition the Dutch used six fire ships and two hoekers whilst the Allies used four fire ships and two yachts.
Dutch fleet
de Ruyter's Division
De Zeven Provincien (80)
Voorsichtigheid (84)
Spiegel (70)
Maagd van Dordrecht (68)
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Dutch fleet
de Ruyter's Division
De Zeven Provincien (80)
Voorsichtigheid (84)
Spiegel (70)
Maagd van Dordrecht (68)
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The Big One... Part 1 Getting organized
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| Cruising off the Dutch coast - d'Estrees White Squadron with the English Red and Blue behind. |
I have been motivating myself with the thought of a large-scale fleet type battle for a while. As I have split my painting efforts between English, Dutch, French, Barbary and Chinese vessels I had to find something that would allow me to maximize the number of models on the table within a historical...
Nest of Vipers: Tripoli, July 2nd 1666
Visitors to the blog may remember Sir Jeremy Smith's failed attempt to convoy merchantmen into Tangier past Berber Corsairs:
Weather beaten? Smith at Tangier
Here, Smith attempts to root them out in their home port....
Weather beaten? Smith at Tangier
Here, Smith attempts to root them out in their home port....
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| Looking out from Tripoli at Smith's 'Tangier Squadron' |
The humiliation suffered within sight of Tangier on March 5thso enraged the King and the Navy Board that Sir Jeremy Smith was...
Terrain and something out of nothing
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| A rough mock up of a North African harbour. Stuff just placed on for effect nuthin' fancy. |
There is nothing more boring than a plain blue cloth for naval gaming. As many Age of Sail fights took place very close to shore, I wanted to model terrain for coasts from Ireland to the Tropics.
I have made a fair old stab at it over the last week and by accident discovered a very useful purpose for what...
Campaign Turn 1 complete - Round up
One turn down and five great games each with interesting results. Apart from the plenary information made available to everyone below, each player received a private breifing of events in their campaign orbit. The table shows the raw points scores after ship repairs but before purchases and upgrades for turn 2. The limit is 200 points spent per turn and players can go into debt and spend the 200...
Naval campaign game 5: All hands to the oars!
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| Darkness and fog - ideal for an escape bid from a potentially hostile harbour |
November 23rd, 1688: Copenhagen
Chaos reigns supreme in England. The invasion by Willem of Orange less than three weeks previously has caused the army to disintegrate. The naval service is in turmoil, torn between loyalty to its old commander in chief and King, the officers and men weigh the options for their individual...
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