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!