International Naval Wargames Day 2025

August 6th, is the birthday of Fred Jane, author of 'Janes Fighting Ships' and, of course, pioneering naval wargamer. The day is celebrated as International Naval Wargames Day, and I convinced Catherine to play 'Galleys & Galleons' as our weekly Wednesday evening game (even though it was her turn to choose).

To be honest the day had crept up on me, so I didn't really have any time to plan anything ambitious. And I wanted to keep the game simple anyway, as we'd be starting fairly late in the evening. I decided to run my Punto Malpelo scenario from last year. In this action, set off the coast of South America in 1828, two vessels from the navy of the nascent nation of Gran Colombia - Guayaquilena and the Pichincha - attempt to break a blockade of a key river-mouth by a larger vessel of the Peruvian navy, the Libertad. The stats for all of the ships are in the post linked to above.

Catherine took the Peruvian interloper, whilst I took the Gran Colombians. The action starts with only Libertad and Guayaquilena on the field of battle. The Pichincha was slow getting into the action. Libertad has 24 guns, whilst the schooner Guayaquilena has a mere 14. The schooner had the weather gauge however - I had the two ships start on opposite edges but randomised where they appear. The Gran Colombian vessel appeared upwind of the Peruvian.

The appearance of the 20-gun Pichincha is diced for. When I played this last year I simply required a 6 at the start of the Gran Colombian turn, and it quickly appeared. But it seems hat really its captain wasn't ready to commit until it looked like they might stand a chance in the fight, so I changed it for this game. The Gran Colombians couldn't start rolling - needed a 6 - until the turn after the Guayaquilena has fired a broadside at long range or closer. If the Libertad was damaged then there was a +1 to the roll. So the Guayaquilena had to close and shoot in order to stand a chance of any assistance.

The two vessels passed on converging courses, with the Guayaquilena doing its best to stay out of effective range of the Peruvian ship's heavier guns. The Peruvians fired first, but scored no damage.

Guayaquilena inflicted a hit with its opening broadside.

A return hit from the Libertad.

The nimble Guayaquilena danced around the Peruvian, and got in a couple more hits, leaving it seriously damaged. But the wind shifted against the Gran Colombian vessel and it had to pull away for some time, allowing Libertad time to repair the worst of the damage. A good job too, as, scenting victory, the Pichincha was coming up fast.

Libertad turned up into the wind as the two Gran Colombians captains brought their vessels down on it.

A broadside at the Guayaquilena failed to inflict any significant damage.

Guayaquilena passed across the Libertad's stern, but also failed to score any significant damage.

But both Gran Colombian ships were firing rapidly now, and the Libertad was struggling. It lost a mast too.

Guayaquilena survived another potentially crippling broadside; the Peruvian shooting was either abysmal of very unlucky.

More broadsides ...

... and the Libertad struck.

This was a fairly easy win for the Gran Colombians, although the fact that every time Catherine lined up a good shot she either rolled badly or I rolled well in defence meant that the shots didn't translate to useful damage. The Peruvian ship has some decent firepower, especially at close range. I exploited  turning ability as much as I could, forcing the Peruvian ship to conform to my movements instead of it controlling the battle. The plodding Pichincha was an added bonus.

So that's another International Naval Wargames Day over. Next year it will coincide with our regular wargames club night, so I will have to make sure we put on something bigger.