Count Curzon stood on the quarterdeck of the San Martin peering into the gray haze of the morning; he knew that the pirates had established a base along the Nylian coast and he intended to find it and pay them a visit. Still his heart skipped a beat when the lookout cried out that he had sighted sails to the east, this was going to be the acid test of his hastily reformed navy and he could not afford a defeat. He signaled to the other two captains to prepare for battle. As he did so he felt no small amount of pride, titanic efforts had been made to repair the L'Apertif in time for this cruise and the brand-new San Louis was crewed with the best sailors from the Western Fleet. In the distance he heard the pirate's picket boat fire a cannon-shot, no doubt to advise their friends that visitors were about to call.
the pirate base, a quiet cove to go ashore and trade (and party) with the locals
while the ships are refitted and careened, most of the crews were ashore the Mayhem signalling that the Freedonians had bee sighted
the Freedonian fleet approaches as the pirates frantically scramble to get to their ships
the crews of the Theft and Larceny cut their cables
and set sail to join the Mayhem in confronting the Freedonian fleet
eager to begin the chastisement of the brigands the San Martin and L'Apertif open fire on Theft
while the Larceny moves purposefully (if perhaps foolishly) toward the great galleons
true to the craven nature of criminals Theft simply flees after firing an ineffectual broadside, leaving Mayhem and Larceny to confront the Freedonians while Cruelty and Robbery are still loading up their crews and setting sails
Cruelty finally gets under way as the multitude of marines abroad San Martin lashes Larceny with musketry and San Louis blasts Mayhem with an initial broadside, Robbery is strangely inactive...
the reloaded San Martin fires on both Cruelty and Larceny (and gives them both a
dose of musketry as well) while San Louis and Mayhem exchange short-range unpleasantness
Cruelty fires her tiny guns in defiance and Larceny blasts away at San Martin damage is really piling up on Larceny
a closer view of the action, in the background Robbery is suspiciously inactive the (unusually so for a pirate) heroic Larceny continued it lopsided battle with the Freedonians, sinking as a result of the combined initial broadsides of San Louis and L'Apertif while Cruelty and Mayhem flee to the west and Robbery bends on full sail and shamefully retreats eastward without firing a shot
despite best efforts the Freedonians are unable to bring the cowardly Robbery to heel
and must watch her escape into the distance, the falling wind almost immobilizes the larger
ships of the Freedonian fleet at the mouth of the cove
however, the pirates had no time to pack, the Freedonian fleet goes ashore to loot the
camp of treasure and supplies and then burn anything that can't be carried away,
it will be along harsh winter for the fleeing pirates, no money, no supplies and no tools for repairs
Count Curzon looked on with pride as his sailors dropped anchor and began lowering boats, the men had fought well and the pirate fleet had been scattered. Most of the boats headed ashore to begin destroying and looting the pirate base camp while a few headed out to sea to capture the survivors of the sunken Larceny, these most likely would end their days in a gibbet as a warning to others thinking of such a life. The victory would serve to raise the confidence of the sailors as well as making them wealthy, which was just as well the Count knew that the Ferndalian fleet would be a much tougher opponent and he was determined to drive them back to the eastern end of the Middle Sea.
Looks good! The terrain is homemade?
ReplyDeleteI've gotten away, almost entirely, from historical armies, going full-bore with Imagi-nations.
I'm interested in seeing where else you go with yours.
We have dabbled in VSF campaigns as well, one of which lasted seven years of game-play (almost ten in real-world time). What period are you playing?
DeleteI am creating an alternate-Earth history, spanning a "mythical" age (think Warhammer) to the far future. This way, I can use my entire collection of miniatures for the storytelling and games.
DeleteMy primary focus, is 17th-18th century Earth equivalent, but will also write stories and battle reports about "the future."
I've been off-and-on with this for a few years, mainly due to graduate school and moving 1300 miles, but am now focusing much of my free-time towards creating the world, a strategic layer of rules (to give background) and a tactical layer so all of the games have a common base.
A bit crazy, but that is how much I am ahistorical anymore.
I retrospect I should have drawn up an alternate Earth to use rather than making a new map for each campaign. That would ease a lot of work. Truth be told, I sort of enjoy playing God and creating something from scratch (and I like drawing maps)
DeleteWell, my "earth" was struck by a rather large meteor towards the end of the Roman Empire, which caused its immediate collapse and drastically altered its appearance.
DeleteI have Campaign Cartographer and am using that to create a "theater map", but am hesitant to do the full world as yet.
My reasoning is that since I've already established that much of the face of the world has changed, I can plug in any map I make and call it equivalent to some place on our Earth.
Really, when I look at your pictured map from the Origins of the TCW, it looks a lot like a western Med that has been altered, by a ocean rise and a lowered Med, being that that Straits of Gibraltar are closed off, making the Med a large lake.
However, that's just how it looks to me, given that I've not paid any attention to the scale.
I envisioned what the Med basin would look like if the African tectonic plate had headed west a bit and closed Gibraltar.....the lower left of my map opens out into the Indian Ocean and I am just assuming that the rest of the world is largely as we know it. The easy access to the East left North America undiscovered by the Epicureans until well past 1492. Freedonia, Nylia and Nordlandz are the only ones currently taking interest in the Western Lands
DeleteI love maps. :) The more we chat here, the more I want to go back and update old posts where the original maps for my campaign reside. I no longer have the original files, but I can certainly show what I am talking about in my blog posts. At least, this is true until the newer maps are finished.
DeleteImagi-nations are a pure source. I enjoy the freedom they provide me, without having others criticize the "accuracy" of my paintjobs, unit flags, etc.
So it is true with our re-imagining of Earth history and geography. Seemingly insignificant differences can have wide-ranging effects, as per the sealing of the Med at Gibraltar.
Yes, I'm a bit of a terrain-monkey I greatly enjoy making hills, mountains and fortresses (as well as a wide assortment of other things!) check out my other blog where I cover the rest of my wargaming habits https://antonswargame.blogspot.com/p/adventures-in-blue-board-and-foamcore.html
ReplyDeleteWill do! I've a few boxes of Black Seas ships incoming, and will be making terrain for that. I really do like what you have done with yours.
DeleteThose are excellent models, I chickened-out and got the Zvezda 1/350 scale ones as they are much larger and easier for my bratwurst-sized fingers to rig.
DeleteI agree. I honestly did not know about Zvezda's larger ships. I will check into those, also, as they may work for depicting individual ship actions.
DeleteThe problem is that they have gotten painfully expensive
DeleteThey are also very limited in selection. The money isn't as much an issue, at least for my current situation, but making a fleet out of what is available would be a problem, I think.
DeleteThe League of Augsburg folks are going to have ships, soon apparently, but I am not sure of the scale. It was mentioned as a reply to a comment on their latest video on YT.
It was a jolly old fight. But it was better to cut and run. I would of been slaughtered.
ReplyDelete