Today, Lawrence was off unwell, so it was left for Phil and me to arrange a game, and Phil chose Sails of Glory, so we opted for using French frigates against the RN!
Phil took Le Succes, I the Courageuse.
Although there were islands on table, they were upwind of us so no danger.
Against us were HMS Orpheus and Cleopatra. They had better guns, we stronger hull burdens.
It looked like the RN were going to 'Cross our T'...
...on my suggestion we headed behind the English line...
...They turned upwind to slow their movement.
We were well out of range, and both sides moved to get advantage.
The English moved into line abreast.
We headed straight past them.
One of us would have to commit to an exchange of fire!
Phil turned as the English broke formation to attack us.
We were now just in range...
Phil and I fired together, I got a bow rake on HMS Orpheus.
My fire was most effective, causing mast damage.
3 hull boxes down, that made Orpheus less dangerous!
Phil got more fire on Orpheus as they passed.
HMS Orpheus fired back ineffectually.
Phil managed to hit HMS Orpheus again after a sharp turn.
I was heading out of the action as I misjudged the English likely actions!
Le Succes lost a crew box to English musketry. to which she could not reply.
Phil engaged both English ships, beating both of them!
HMS Cleopatra was lightly damaged, but ok.
HMS Orpheus was badly damaged.
Le Succes was lightly damaged...
...and my Courageuse was virtually undamaged. 
I turned to try to rejoin the action while the rest of the ships licked their wounds and reloaded cannon!
HMS Cleopatra and Le Succes holed each other with their next exchange of shot.
HMS Orpheus's fire was very poor, as she was now close to being a wreck.
I finally got Courageuse heading back in the direction of the action!
I was still far away from helping Phil, who was still running rings round the English.
Le Success fired on HMS Orpheus as I closed on her stern.
Orpheus lost some crew, but was not damaged otherwise.
My fire made up for lost time, setting HMS Orpheus on fire!
Pretty period - isn't it!
We all manoeuvered reloading!
HMS Orpheus turned ahead of me and fired...
... causing light damage on Courageuse.
As I closed, my musketry killed several of her crew.
Cleopatra was moving to engage Le Succes.
I turned to fire into the crippled HMS Orpheus...
I got a devastating volley in.
Goodnight sweetheart!
Her crew struck the colours, but the ship probably burnt to the keel!
Meanwhile, Le Succes got a stern rake on HMS Cleopatra.
I managed to damage her too.
HMS Cleopatra was too heavily engaged to escape...
I lost a musketry duel with the Cleopatra.
I then turned sharply onto HMS Cleopatra...
...and forced her to strike too!
All in all, a good day for Les Francaises!
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