Thursday Night Trafalgar Game

 Late night Les, Bob and Mike came over to play another game of Trafalgar.  It was my standard game of "use all the ships" and pitted a combined French and Spanish fleet vs a British/US one - Four fleets, four players - that worked out well.  Ernie couldn't make it last night as he was at his secret laboratory in an undisclosed location feverishly working on his upcoming game, Fanticide.  While he was missed, his dedication to making his new game the best it can be is very inspiring.  By the way I've play tested the game and it's simply a blast!  I'm looking forward to getting a copy and few war bands when it comes out.

The first picture shows the fleets making initial contact, with my US fleet (lower left) tangling with some French frigates while the main French fleet (Les, center left) prepares to take on the British (Mike, center right).  Bob's powerful but slow Spanish fleet is at the top of the picture and is attempting to get into the battle (the wind was not Bob's friend last night).

 Contact! The British and French become heavily engage in the center - this would prove to be a very bloody exchange.  The dice gods were very angry last night as there were an inordinate number of critical hits (caused by rolling a "6" when shooting) and then followed up by at least half of the critical hit damage die rolls being "6's" also, which cause the maximum damage.

 A close up of the French frigates vs the more powerful US fleet (2 5th rate frenchies vs two 3rd rate US ships of the line and 1 4th rate Frigate - the Constitution.  The French frigates acquitted themselves very well as they tied up the superior US fleet and kept them out of the main action - well played Les!

Of course the frigates didn't survive the exchange but they did their job.

 As with all my battle reports, I stopped taking pictures midway through the game to focus on playing.  Here's a picture of the sunken ship pile.  The fight between the Brit and French fleets was intense but went in favor of the Brits as they lost 2 third rates to four third's for the French.  To the left of the French casualties are the two French frigates lost to the US ships.  I do need to get to work on my sunken / disabled ship markers.

A last picture of the game before we called it.  The French and Spanish fleets finally meet up and are in the process of forming a line (lower part of the picture).  It was getting late so we called the game and gave the Brits a narrow victory.  I do sense a rematch in the offing!