The League of Augsburg

The Treasury galleon

On a mission to collect valuable trade items including ivory, salt, gold and beeswax, the galleon Santiagowas scuttled by her commander in a remote stretch of the Gambia river after an abortive attack by pirates, the nationality of which has never been established. She was already laden with riches from the East which unusually, were being brought to Europe on the westerly...

Thousans of 'em!

Thursday's visit to The Gambia was indeed a doozy. Having spent two days capturing a stranded slaver and then taking another day to drag her off the shoal on which she was glued, Rupe and the lads were just sitting down to breakfast when what charges over the horizon?

Remember the heroics to capture Temperance in the first place?

A swarm of deadly little pirate craft full of angry...

This is a great scenario to play and getting the historical feel was relatively easy with Donnybrook at Sea. I have always found Blackbeard an interesting character as his pantomime persona is at odds with his thoughtful approach to piracy and his victims. 

The Pirates

He seems to have given thought to persuasion, been reluctant to kill unnecessarily and a lot more cerebral than many of his more...

The work party crossing open ground from lagoon to careenage

Maurice watched the attack develop from an observation platform near the river. Groups of warriors emerged from the undergrowth and under a hail of arrows, parties ran toward the log barricades. The irony of English muskets in African hands, turned upon their former owners was not lost on the defenders as the sailors came under fire. The...

Maurice atop the observation platform at the Careenage.

Simultaneous with Rupert's epic capture of the slaver Temperance on the northern shore of the Gambia, his younger brother, in charge of the careenage and lagoon used for repairing the damaged Revenge of Whitehall, has really stirred up the locals.

The Kombans attack!

Their continuing failure to deliver promised fresh water supplies to the...

Master Darbyshire prepares his ship for the Royalist attack.

After a work enforced pause which lasted three weeks, our Rupert on the Gambia campaign resumed last night. It brought one of those golden moments in gaming the always come unexpectedly. The campaing resumed on Day 9 of the thirty day odyssey with Rupert haveing failed to capture a grounded English slaver lying in a difficult position on...

Christians approach through the narrows

With the anniversary of this enormous sea battle occurring yesterday, I thought I would fight a little game to mirror the setting and the ships. This is a 1/1200 scale game using Ark Royal Miniatures and a few Langton Christian ships. 

The Ottomans are holding a strong defensive position

I used Mad for Warcombining the galleys and square rigged rules sections...

Héros close in during the heat of the action!

Although co-architect of the attack on the stranded English slaver Temperance, Rupert was prevented from playing anything but the role of spectator on account of a strong north westerly wind. Thomas Darbyshire, master of the grounded vessel, used his long experience at sea to make the best of a difficult position. Lying high and dry in an extremely...

Off the Bakendik Bolong, Rupert attacks the stranded Temperance.

Eight days (15 turns) into the campaign, we are at the 25% mark. It has been an eventful journey so far and the Royalists are no further than four miles from the mouth of the Gambia River. They have had two encounters with Berber pirates coming off worst in the first encounter and being mere spectators to a French victory in the...

The campaign has a full and detailed narrative which accompanies the turn by turn mechanics. All of the narrative is based on events which happen in the table-top wargames combined with the role-play conversations and the umpire controlled activities. 

So far, the narrative runs to over 5,000 words for the first ten turns. Below is an extract from 5th March, five days into the campaign and it...

We've recently begun a campaign recreating the adventures of the itinerant Royalist Fleet on the West African coast in 1652. Under Prinz Ruprecht von der Pfalz known more commonly in Engish as Rupert of the Rhine, a small battered squadron 'privateered' between the Islas Cabo Verde and The Gambia for some weeks. 

Campaign Map

I have manipulated a few facts but nothing too outrageous. We have...

Tomorrow sees a return to Claymore for me. Last time I was there was three years ago and I was lucky enough to win the Best Display game with a land based Ottoman Wars effort in 28mm. This time I am significantly downscaling in line with my green-policy of getting rid of the German tank of a car and opting for a quiet little Nipponese hybrid with much less space inside. 

Having downscaled the...