Stop The Boats!

Last week we went to Canberra for the weekend, and one of the things we went to see was an exhibition called 'Cook In The Pacific' at the National Library of Australia. It was an excellent exhibition, with loads of maps, paintings, drawings and artefacts covering all three voyages, as well as some stuff on how Cook is interpreted and regarded now (very topical in Australia, for a number of reasons). Sadly, though, if you thought it sounded interesting, you've missed it.

Anyway, I ended up inspired to know more about Cook, so bought Nicholas Thomas's 'Discovery: The Voyages of Captain Cook', which covers the key features of each voyage and Cook's interactions with the various people's he encountered and does so without either deifying or demonising him.

Needless to say, all this reading about ships and adventures in far-off parts of the world inspired me to play some more 'Galleys & Galleons'. I thought it would be fun to pit some irate Pacific Islanders against a European voyage of discovery, especially as it would give me a chance to try Boats as a vessel type covering native canoes. This mean, of course, that I had to design and make some Pacific Island vessels, which I did. But that's for another post. Once they were made and statted up, I was ready to play.

So here we are. HMS Opportunity and HMS Explorer are two sturdy Whitby colliers on a voyage of discovery in the Pacific. Under the command of relgious zealot Lt. Morrison and his thuggish bully subordinate Lt. Dutton, the two ships have been wandering the globe looking for trade opportunities and a chance of fame and prestige. Needless to say, in the newly discovered twin islands of Nanus and Mauru, they have seriously upset the locals and find themselves having to flee for safety.

But the natives have assembled a war-fleet, consisting of canoes full of warriors, and some larger swift-sailing catamarans, and are trying to intercept the British vessels before they can make the open sea.

Can Morrison and Dutton stop the boats, and make it to safety?

The terrain had an island bang in the centre, so the first decision was whether to run to the north or south or it. Morrison took the Opportunity and Explorer north, deftly navigating a course between the island and a nearby reef.

The Nanus and Mauru islanders also mostly passed north of the island, hoping to catch the British ships as they turned for the open sea. They shallow-draft vessels could easily negotiate the reefs and shallows. One catamaran passed south of the island, to catch the British from the rear.

As the islanders came into range, Opportunity fired a broadside, to no effect.

Opportunity had weathered the gap between the island and the reef better than Explorer, and a gap had opened up between the vessels. A catamaran steered for the gap, aiming to split the two British ships. The canoes closed slowly, and a little reluctantly at times, on Opportunity.

The British ships continued to fire when they had the chance. The catamaran survived another broadside, this time from Explorer, whilst Opportunity managed to destroy a canoe. Whilst they look imposing compared to the native craft, remember that Opportunity and Explorer were equipped for a voyage of scientific discovery, so were not as well-armed as a warship of equivalent size.

A native catamaran passed across the bow of the Explorer. Rather than risk a collision, Dutton took his ship in and grappled the islander vessel. But he lacked the initiative to launch a boarding action.

The natives wasted no time, swarming ferociously over the Explorer's bows. But Dutton was an old hand when it came to cracking skulls, and his crew fended off the attack before launching one of their own, cutting a bloody swathe through the islanders.

But the second catamaran was coming up in support.

Morrison was stuck upwind of his consort, so left him to his own devices, making a run for the open sea in the Opportunity. But the native canoes got their act together, closed in and grappled the collier.

A second group of canoes closed in as well, and a fierce melee began. The natives had ferocity and numbers, whist the British had a bigger vessel and better discipline.

On the Explorer, Dutton was having trouble reorganising his crew, and hadn't managed to cut away from the one crippled catamaran before the other came up on his stern, disgorging a fresh batch of warriors into the fight.

It was over quickly. The British crew were overpowered, and the Explorer was lost.

The crew of the Opportunity were fighting like demons, though, as their veteran petty officers ensured discipline was maintained and prevented the ship being taken. Bloodied but unbeaten, they forced the handful of surviving natives back to their canoes, before cutting free ...

... and escaping. The catamarans had already broken away from Explorer and were in pursuit.

One closed rapidly, but whilst Morrison's ship was near crippled with injured and wounded crew everywhere, they were equal to the task of steering the ship to safety without incident. The Opportunity escaped ...

... leaving Dutton and the surviving crew of the Explorer to an unknown fate.

The VPs for this scenario are quirky. The pursued ships (the British) get points for escaping, but also for damaging the pursuers. The pursuers get nothing for damaging their prey, only for sinking or capturing them. In this case their capture of the Explorer was offset by the escape of the Opportunity, despite the heavy damage it had taken. And having lost both groups of canoes, as well as having a heavily damaged catamaran, the points gave the British a decisive victory.

Gunnery played a minor role in the action, and was virtually ineffective. The islanders did fire a couple of volleys of spears and stones at the British ships, also to no effect. Everything was decided in the cut and thrust of boarding actions.

Finally, here's the stats for the ships. The British ships were run as merchant vessels to reflect their scientific rather than military function. The native vessels are simpler, and built entirely for boarding using their Intimidating warriors.

HMS Opportunity - Q3 C3 - Galleon Rigged, Merchant, Chasers, Reinforced Hull, High Castles, Veteran NCOs, Pilot (58pts)

HMS Explorer - Q3 C3 - Galleon Rigged, Merchant, Chasers, Reinforced Hull, High Castles, Veteran NCOs (54pts)

Catamarans - Q3 C2 - Lateen Rigged, Unarmed, Intimidating, Shallow Draft, Sweeps (24pts)

Canoes - Q2 C2 - Boats, Intimidating (28pts)