Men o' War blockade run scenario

This is a re-run of a scenario designed by Tim in England where the French & Spanish have to escort a fleet of transports into port past a British blockade.
Brits (JIm): 2 squdrons each 1 1st & 2 3rd rates, 1 squadron 3 4th rates, Elite crews.
French (Chris): 2 squadrons each 1 1st & 2 rd rate, Regular crews.  3 transports.
Spanish (Mark): 1 1st & 4 3rd rate Raw crews.

The French are in the middle of the far side of the table with men o' war each side of the transports.
The Spanish are on their elft.
The Brit 4th rates are scattered on patrol with a squadron approaching from each end of the table.
The port is in the middle sof the near table edge.  The wind is accross the table behind the French.

The 2 Brit squadrons are sailing diagonally downwind at maximum speed to try to cut teh French off from port.

The RH Brit squadron got past the Spanish though their rear ship copped damage from long range raking fire before the Spanish turned to follow them.

The lead French ship of their left flank was smashed by point blank, bow raking double shotted broadside by the Brit 1st rate,of the RH squdron, has been boarded & struck it's colours.

The Brits now have a problem as their converging squadrons & their prize get in the way of each other restricting their fire.  The tail ship of theri RH squadrons being pounded by French & Spanish. 

The British are in some confusion as their two main squadrons pass each other, but a brave 4th rate is tying to board the Spanish flagship.

The rear ship of the RH British squadron has struck its colours while the other Brits are still sorting themselves out.  The 4th rate has now boarded & captured the Spanish flagship.  

On the left of pic, badly damaged Brits & their 1st prize are sailing off to the left as 2 ships of their RH squadron have tacked & are returning towards the fight.
On the right, the remaining Spanish have turned away.
In the centre, the Brits LH squadron has finally got into the action with devastating effect sinking 1 French ship & 2 have struck their colours. 
The British ship that had struck its colours was boarded & recaptured.
The fight has now come within range of the guns of the port defences,.  

At this point nightfall curtailed the action. 
It was judged that the heroic Brit 4th rate, now badly damaged, is trapped between the surviving French shisp & the fortress guns & cannot escape (although part of it's crew has sailed off with their prize).  The other British ships are unable to intercept the transports.

The Brits have 3 ships with crtical damage & 1 captured.
The French have had 1 ship sunk & 3 captured.
The Spanish have had rheir flagship captured.
The French have only 2 ships left, but they have done their job protecting the transports as the Brits are occupied taking prizes & the transports are moving into the cover of the port's batteries.

The Allies claim victory as they have acheived their victory condition of getting the trtransports to port.
But the Brits aklso claim victory pointing to the one-sided butcher's bill with their taking of 4 prizes & the sinking of another for the loss ofjust the heroric 4th rate.  

Men o'War

Spanish: 1 1st rate, 3 3rd rates, all raw crews.  Jim
French: 1 2nd rate,  3 3rd rates, all regular crews. Mark
v.
British: 1 1st rate, 1 2nd rate, 4 3rd rates, in 2 squadrons, all elite crews. Chris

The wind is blowing down the table from the far end.  The Spanish are in the nearest corner, the French in the RH corner.  The Brits at opposite ends of the far siude of the table. 

The Spanish held their course to windward while the Brits turned away to pass them the leeward.  Both sides started loaded with chain shot, then chanegd to standard solid shot.   

The French converged on the other British squadron, but turned to windward of them.  Again both sides atrted with chain shot, then changed to solid shot.

In both actions both side suffered a lot of rigging damage, but both aliied squadrons gained an advantage at the start of trh combat geting 2 shios to 1, then used the weather gauge to lap around the rear of the enemy line & pound the rear ship.

The Brit squadron fighting the French had their lead ship too badly damaged to stay in the fight & the rear ship so badly damaged it struck it's colours. The lead 2 ships decide to free downwind.
The Brit squadron fighting the Spanish had done serious damage to the Spanish, but their rear ship is a total shambles, so they too decided to break off & run downwind while they still had enough rigging to do so..  
.  

Mech War: Germans v. Soviets

Same terrian & forces as last Sunday, but on opposte sides of the table & this time Jim + Chris as Soviets & Mark & JamesF as Germans. 

Pic from Sovier side.
The Soviets advanced all their armour to their left flank, but the Germans immediately reinforced their right so the 10 T34's (half only 76's) met 10 MkIVs.  Some of the Soviets were in cover, but the Germans mostly had the advantage of defence then the dice gods heavily favoured them.  

Meanwhile the Soviet infantry advanced supported by off table artillery. 

The Soviet gods of war were as supported by teh dice god as much as the Panzers & they decimated the German infantry allowing the Soviet infnatry to drive off the remainder. 
But the total loss of the Soviet armour at the cost of just 2 MkIVs left the Soviet infantry unable to do anything but cling on to their gains. The Soviets hold more objectives, so technically can claim a victory, but it's a pretty hollow claim.

In three recent battles with these forces, the Germans have won two & the Soviets one.  In each case the better plan was supported by better dice causing a decisive result in the tank fight. 

Mech War Soviets v. Germans

Chris' Soviets v. Jim's Germans
Same forces as last weekend.  House ruels for WWII Mech War.  

Pic from behind German right flank.
Deployment platoon by platoon as counters drawn from a bag BA style.

The Germans used theri half tracks to move quickly to occupy the 3 woods near the centre.
The Germasn advance their MkIVs on their right.  The Soviets engaged them with T34/85s in the wood but advanced armoutr on theri right & centre.

The Soviet tanks in the wood on their left were wiped out by superior numbers reinforced by good dice.   The Soviets then thought better of their advance right of centre where two Tigers lurked in the field & sent them back to meet the MkIVs.  But the MkIVs continued to shoot well & the Sovieta rmour on their left was destroyed.  
In the woods the Germans infantry held off Soviet infantry attacks.
The T34's sent around the German left were kept occupied  by the Tigers.

The Germans concentrated their forces better, then got good dice to multiply their advantage into a decisive victory, reversing the result of last weekend's battle with the same forces. 

American War of Indepenance

 Jim's: Brits: 9 vet innfatry, 4 small indians, 2 guns , 2 Brit cavalry
Chris' French & Colonials: 4 French vet inf, 8 comial inf, 4 small woodsmen, 2 gunbs, 2 French cavalry.
28mm figs. House Rules M2M.

Pic from behind British lines after map deployment.

The Brits are advancing on their right.  They are also sending some of the troops from their left through the fields to support that adavnce leaving 2 vet inf, 2 indiasn & 2 guns to defend their left.

The Brit inf have engaged the French infantry on the right while their cav sipports their right & Indians in the woods support their left.
On the far flank the Brits are withdrawing behind a screen on Indians.

The British infnatry advance on their right was halted by acurate French musketry & a valaint bunch of colonials in the wood on their left left.
A bit of support form their infantry gave the British cavalry an edge that the dice didn;t muck up & the French cavalry has been driven off.
The Brit inf brought from the left is attacking the colonials in the central wood after they have been softened up by Indians. 
On the far flank the Brits have falklen back to the fields & their artillery is really hurting the colonials.

On the right, the Brit infantry has been pulled back with heavy losses covered by their cavalry. 
In the centre the Brits have cleared the colonials out fo the central wood.
On the left the Colonials are falling back rather than be mangled by British muskets & grape shot.

At this point neither side's commander feels able to make another attack & is contrent to cease fire & write a dispatch to Washington ot London claiming a great victory.