Punch up in the Med

For a change we decided to play a game of Black Seas from Warlord Games. The scenario was for the opposing fleets; British and French, to attempt to capture the Martello tower which had been captured by an unknown force.

The wind was from the North so both fleets deployed in their northern deployment areas, with the French fleet in the East and the British in the West.

The French split their fleet into heavy and light flotillas, with the 1st and 2nd Rate in the heavy flotilla and the light flotilla consisting of a 3rd Rate and two 5th Rates. The British cunningly copied the French setup. The French heavy flotilla sailed to the South of the island, with the light flotilla sailing to the North, hoping to get the advantage of the wind. Both British flotillas sailed to the South and pounded the Martello tower.

The sneaky French pounded the British instead and managed to cross the 'T' of the British heavy flotilla, causing the 3rd Rate to strike it's colours, whilst the British 1st Rate turned away to the North. The British light flotilla continued to pound the tower whilst taking severe damage, with the leading 5th Rate catching fire.

The British 4th Rate got the better of the French 3rd Rate, causing it to stike it's colours. It then headed towards the island to try and capture the fort. This didn't go well and the British struck it's colours. However it had done some damage and the French snuck in their 1st Rate to quickly capture the Martello tower.

The British fleet did most of the early damage to the tower and paid the price, losing a 3rd, 4th and 5th Rate in the process, leaving only the 1st and 5th Rates left to lick their wounds. The French took the tower and only lost the 3rd Rate, although one of the 5th Rates was leaking quite badly.