Galleys and Galleons, the return

 Today, as the title indicates, we had another game of Galleys and Galleons, published by Ganesha games. Lawrence as ever produced the models and terrain for us to use and the quick ref sheets, rulers etc.

Once again, we used the Royal Navy against the Sultanate of Rum.

The table had his lovely little harbour, and the teensy weensy volcano!

Here, Mick and Phil are poring over the rules for their Royal Navy and Merchant navy forces, in the foreground, Lawrence and my Sultanate forces.

The British!

After struggling getting my head round the rules last game ...I got a copy of the rules from Amazon and after a good read was better prepared!

Our first game was over rather quickly

The RN ships were ok...

...but Mick had a disaster with his merchantmen...

...his big Navy ship failed its quality rolls and sailed in front of the twin line of Merchantmen.

My advanced Galleys watched in amusement as...

The Merchantmen barreled into each other...

...The red dice indicate damage!

Even the Navy got caught up in the pile up!

Game over!

So, we started again, but with Lawrence (left)

 ...and me...

 ...in opposite corners and Mick (right) trying to get between us to the harbour. Phil had a Navy force...

... in harbour to sally out and escort the Merchantmen in.

Once again I sallied forward to cross Micks 'T'...

...Phil moved from the harbour to intercept Lawrence's Pirates.

An overview!

I lead with my fast Galleys.

My larger ships followed.

Lawrence's galleys lead too.

..with his Xebecs following.

Mick split his force , sending a line of Merchantmen towards my Galleys, while sending his Galleon and Frigate with the other 3 Merchantmen left to go behind my Xebecs.

Racing with the wind, the two ships spotted my Flagship behind the Xebecs...

...The worst dice in Christendom came into play again... 

...My ship got hit in the magazine and disappeared in a puff of smoke!

This left the RN in a great position to destroy my fleet! - good job they had to reload!!!

My Galley managed to get in the way of the Merchantmen and get rammed! - My Galley was only lightly damaged!

The bulky Merchantmen concertinaed again! 

All were damaged, and the middle one sank!!!!

Then, one of the other outflanking Merchantmen decided to beach itself on the volcano!

How the battle had changed!

On the far side, one of Lawrence's Xebecs was caught.

The rest of his ships continued on to join me fighting the Merchantmen!

My Xebecs moved to meet Lawrence's, and escape the pursuing Royal Navy!

My Galleys engaged the remaining Merchantmen in the crash zone!

The RN ships chased one of my Xebecs.

My unengaged Galley moved on the flank of the last Merchantman in the crash zone.

It swung round, and like a Trireme of old, rammed the Merchantman amidships!

My Galley suffered light damage...

...the Merchantman, already crippled, simply sank!

Lawrence's Xebec was grappled with a larger RN ship.

His Galleys were navigating the rock barrier.

Suddenly, Lawrence's ship exploded, as his magazine caught fire - he had been de grappled and shot at!

A flaming ember struck Phil's nearby Flagship...

...This ship too blew up in short order!

We all agreed the Pirates of Rum came out as the winners, but more importantly, we all had a lot of fun!

Revenge of the French

 Today, we had a new player, Mick, who wanted to do 7YW after seeing last weeks game, so we had at it again!

(My camera is causing problems again, so sorry for the naff quality of many pics!)

Once again Lawrence used his French, the Russians being Faux Pas at present...I wonder why?!

Neither side really outscouted the other, so we had to deploy in the narrow middle section, My and Mick's Prussians are on the left here in the bad terrain!

Mick had our right, with Hussars leading 2 Kuirassier regiments and a Dragoon regiment.

On the left, I had 2 Kuirassier and 2 Dragoon regiments.

Opposite me, an Austrian contingent with lots of Cuirassiers and some excellent Hussars.

In the first turn all but one of our command dice scored 1!

We had 2 Cautious Incompetent brigadiers in our centre, supported by Frederick.

I got a Kuirassier regiment moving, nothing else.

I got a gun up the hill,  followed by my Grenadier brigade.

Mick got his Hussars going.

Phil, opposite me, had no problems! He got his first regiment off...

His Hussars and more Kuirassiers were on their left.

My Grenadiers, moving slowly, just beat Phil's Swiss to the hill top.

The Hussars on our right met the Turpin Hussars of the French.

Mick had his heavy cavalry supporting them.

The French had the Cuirassiers du Roi.

The Hussars clashed, despite every advantage, the Prussians were beaten!

..at least they didn't rout!

Back on my wing the Széchényi hussars prepared to charge.

Phil's Kuirassiers held back.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, the commander of the French (Soubise) tried and failed to activate Phil's last Dragoon regiment!

On Mick's side, the French Hussars failed to charge the recoiled Prussian Hussars.

Lawrence sent his Cuirassiers, supported by Rgt Le Reine.

Most of his horse remained at the rear, they didn't get an order!

Mick's infantry were attacked by Rgt Alsace and La Marine.

The Swiss began their attack on my Grenadiers too.

Mick's Battalions returned fire on the French.

My Kuirassiers were warily advancing. 

Phil got a gun battery playing on my Grenadiers.

Mick's men got a great volley against La Marine!

Alsace too got shredded by the Prussian fire!

Both regiments routed through their second line!

To their right the Prussian Hussars had charged and routed the Turpin regiment, but now ran into the French Cuirassiers...

...who pursued the broken Prussians back the way they had come!

The Swiss were blasting my brave Grenadiers.

The regiment on their right had been hit hard too, and retreated in front of the second line.

My Kuirassiers were charged by the Széchényi hussars, and they only just beat the Austrians!

My Grenadiers managed to cause a little damage to the Swiss!

Those French Cuirassiers now ran into Prussian Kuirassiers... 

...and were forced to retreat. (NB: the single remaining stand still managed to charge and destroy Mick's Howitzer late on, but the pic didn't come out!!!)

By beleaguered Grenadiers were being outshot by the Swiss, big time!

...There were a lot more Swiss following!

One of my Grenadier regiments destroyed the gun...finally!

The Swiss took another casualty...

One volley blasted my Battalion....

...another destroyed it!

The Bayreuth Kuirassiers charged my victorious Kuirassiers in flank and routed them off table.

Mick lost his last Kurassiers to the French second line infantry.

At this point the Prussians ceded the battle. I had very little horse left, Mick even less, and despite Mick's success against the 2 front line regiments, the mass of Swiss on my flank were poised to break my whole wing! - Once again, the worst dice in Chrisendom scuppered my plans!!!!

Ah well, let battles be battles!

At least we are doing something else next week, I only hope I can get my camera working better!!!