"Frigate action in 1812" Topic

Today, we had a Sails of Glory game, pitting 2 British frigates against USS Constitution!
The write up is at this link

Hah! One of my favorite AoS scenarios and one which actually came very close to becoming an historical actuality in early 1814, when Constitution was sighted by two British 38 gun frigates (HMS Junon and HMS Tenedos) off the coast of Massachusetts. I will be running this at HCon in July.

Under my "Steer to Glory" rules this scenario is a very close match-up. Constitution is rated as average in speed with an elite crew. One British frigate is classed as fast with a veteran crew and the other as average in speed with a trained crew. The ratio of Constitution's defensive strength compared to a British 38 gun frigate is 7:4. Constitution has unlimited dismantling shot, while the British ships have none.

The British start with the wind gauge to the West of Constitution. Constitution's minimum victory condition is to escape by fighting its way to a position west of the British, beyond gun shot and with a speed at least equal to any surviving British ship(s). The British victory condition is simple: capture or destroy the Constitution.

If the two British ships are run by separate players, the outcome of the game usually depends upon the degree of coordination between them; if a single player runs both British frigates, the US player really needs to be on the ball to come away with a win.

Good dice also help a lot, as evidenced by the following that occurred at a Southern Front convention game in Raleigh last Summer – a brilliant, nearly faultless tactical effort by the American player had succeeded in crippling both British frigates, only to have victory snatched away by a literally last-chance British long shot that brought down Constitution's dangerously tottering foremast, which in turn caused her equally tottering mainmast to fall – leaving her dead in the water and unable to move.

Edit: just realized this might seem like a thread hijack. I did not intend it as such. Just got overly stoked seeing someone else play a favorite scenario set-up.

B

I know a lot of Sails players consider USS Constitution too powerful under those rules, It is interesting that the principles under your rules, regarding co-ordination and luck seem to mirror mine!
After the game, I felt a little like Snoopy, saying 'Curse you, Red Baron'! – we will try again sometime!
PS, good luck at HCon!

Nice scenarios. Thank you for sharing them.

Hi Herkybird –
I've never played Sails of Glory, so am unable to comment.

But there was a reason why the Admiralty deemed it permissible for a pair of frigates – by which term we can presume to mean the standard British 1000t 38 gun 18lbr frigate of the time – to engage a big 44 gun American frigate. That suggests to me that, as powerful as an American 44 might have been, the Admiralty saw a reasonable chance of victory in a two-on-one engagement.

On the rule design front, my view is that, although both have legitimate places when modeling a combat environment, the influence of tactics should most definitely dominate over that of chance. IMO, too many rule sets fail to grasp the fact that, as chaotic as an AoS might seem at first glance, they were all conducted to one degree or another upon a firm underpinning of proven tactical principles and doctrine. Admirals and captains did not maneuver and fight their squadrons and fleets on a random basis.

OK, I'll shut up now. I can tell that I'm starting to get a bit too far off the deep end here.

Best regards to a fellow miniature sailor.

B