Flank Attack at Ventosa , Battle of Vimeiro 1808 - Tiny Wars Played Indoors

 

Mr Bill Slavin, host of the blog 'Tiny Wars Played Indoors', has continued with his adventures into the early years of British involvement in the Peninsular War with his playing of the third scenario from the O'er the Hills scenario book, picking up where he left off in the last game he played, by taking a look at the fighting that occurred out on the British left flank at the Battle of Vimeiro, 21st August 1808 around Ventosa Farm.

This scenario recreates the uncoordinated attack by General Junot's flank columns as the French commander sought to draw in British reserves with his frontal attack at Vimeiro Hill as his flank columns exploited in behind the British ridge line position and was first play-tested to be included in the O'er the Hills book by Steve M and me back in December 2017, where the uncertain arrival and set up of the French columns really emphasised the replay potential of this scenario with one game likely to be quite different from another depending on the slight element of chance that the French arrival could offer better opportunities than those that occurred historically and that the players could make good use of any advantage.

Over the Hills - Play-test, Ventosa

https://standtogames.co.uk/shop/ols/products/oer-the-hills-rules

In addition, this part of the battle was written about by a participant in the fighting there, which I covered in my account of 'A Soldier in the 71st' and is also captured in the header to this post as the wounded piper of the 71st Highlanders piped his comrades into battle.

Prelude to Ventosa, A Soldier of the 71st

If you are catching up with this series of games played by Bill you can follow the links below to his previous two postings covering Vimeiro Hill and Rolica that preceded this game.

Tiny Wars - The Leopard's Debut, Battle of Rolica

Tiny Wars - Vimeiro Hill, Battle of Vimeiro 1808

As with his previous games, the scenario is brought to life with Bill's great tables together with the games being fought in glorious 28mm and the pictures that accompany his report are a delight.

Bill Slavin's representation of Ventosa Farm and the forces arrayed on the hill around the position

As with the previous games, it is really interesting for me to see how these scenarios translate when played by others and the games they generate when compared with our own play-test games and in this case illustrating the potential for the French to have a better day than was the actual case, which keeps it interesting for both parties.

General Solignac's columns close in on Ventosa Farm, little suspecting the British lines awaiting them on the other side of the hill

The Ventosa farmstead is a significant piece of terrain in this little action, allowing the French to anchor their position if not carefully dealt with by the British commander and if the French can withstand the likely British assault on their position allow their follow up column which includes French dragoons to severely embarrass any overcommitted British attack.

French voltigeurs are hard pressed by British counterattacks

Having fought as the British commander in our run through of this scenario and having had the threat  of French cavalry getting in among my extended British lines as French columns bore down in their wake, I read Bill's account of his game with great interest and well remember the adrenalin rush of some of our critical die rolls when reading his account

If you would like to find out how Bill's game turned out and his thoughts about the scenario then just follow the link below for his post and more pictures like those featured here.

Tiny Wars - Flank Attack at Ventosa, Battle of Vimeiro

Enjoy 

JJ

All at Sea - Trafalgar Project Update, The Last Six, Plus the Royal Armouries Model of Agincourt

The work has been busy, busy, busy, in JJ's shipyard as the last six ships in the Trafalgar collection rolled down the slips this weekend ready to be fitted out with rigging and sails prior to sea trials.

Needless to say, the proverbial bunting is out and the band of the Royal Marines is busy practicing by the hard as the project moves into the next stage of planning and preparation with game plans, table designs and rules well into the pre-playing stages as the club prepares to resume normal service hopefully later in the year.

Yesterday, I took a slight break from work on the collection to celebrate a family birthday and to enjoy an hour on Zoom watching a presentation from the Royal Armouries team in Leeds and the team, including the Perry twins, involved in the production of the Agincourt model produced in 2015 as part of the 600th anniversary commemorations.

The model is a truly stunning piece of work and the chaps went through the process of pulling a static model like this together, including the latest historical research that underpinned the final look, ranging from how many men took part, how many fought on foot, the best understanding of the choreography of the events, to how to capture the look of tens of thousands of medieval fighting men closely bunched together on terrain that even used soil samples from the actual battlefield to better inform the colours used for the ground work of the chewed up ploughed fields.

If you missed this presentation the chaps at the Royal Armouries recorded it for YouTube and you catch it here in the link below;

The Agincourt Diorama Build - Royal Armouries

 

Anyway after that pleasant distraction from all things nautical, it was back to work, putting in the finishing touches to the last Spanish, and three British three-deckers and the smallest vessels present at Trafalgar, HM Cutter Entreprenant, and HM Schooner Pickle which will go through the rigging process this weekend and into next week.

Once these last models are finished, I will showcase them with a bit of history behind the final look before showcasing the total collection that started to come together in October 2019.

More anon 

JJ

Hannibal, Rome vs Carthage on Vassal

 

I was expecting to be well into reporting our most recent Vassal adventure, namely the Vae Victrix magazine game by Fred Bey, Eylau 1807, sadly that was not to be as after two nights of struggling with a very clumsy module, not to mention a very ill-defined rules translation, we gave up and decided to play another Avalon Hill classic, Hannibal, Rome vs Carthage which came out way back when, soon after the release of its precursor, We the People.

These first card driven games really revolutionised the way we played boardgames back in the late eighties and early nineties, bringing as they did a great way of combining the historical context and events that characterised a particular theme in the cards that could also be used to generate movement.

To a modern audience card driven games (CDG's) probably seem so normal but I remember them being very much a new and rather strange way of playing an historical war-board game and the idea was not universally greeted with enthusiasm in all quarters, we however loved them and continue to do so.

Having not picked up Hannibal on its release, it was a gap in my collection that I was keen to fill and at Xmas, Carolyn got me a first edition copy which I am looking forward to playing face to face, but in the meantime Steve and I decided to try out the Vassal module and got started this week.

The game has gone through some changes since its launch but its basic layout and appearance has remained constant with the classic components of political control markers, military combat unit counters and key generals being the principal components seen displayed on a lovely point-to-point map with of course some classic artwork adorning the cards that players use to generate play.

A gorgeous map from our Vassal game of Hannibal shows off well the cockpit of war in the Western Mediterranean between Carthage and Rome in the Second Punic War, with the positions midway through turn two or 217 BC, with the game set to progress through hopefully to 202 BC captured in nine turns of play with variable card hands starting at seven per player and ending up with nine as the war escalates.

Being very familiar with We the People and Washington's War the learning curve for both Steve and me getting to grips with Hannibal wasn't quite so steep as it is with other less familiar games and so we both got into happily removing and replacing political control markers from the map as revolts broke out in Celtiberia, Corsica and Sardinia, whilst we also started to build up our forces, whilst getting our heads around slightly more unfamiliar game concepts such as the use of elephants in battle and the difficulties of siege operations, as Hannibal tromped off towards the Alps and I (being Rome) had to deal with a revolt in Syracuse, which is proving rather difficult to suppress.

Proconsul Publius Scipio has just landed on the Iberian coast at Malaca (bottom left of map) with his 5SP Proconsular Roman army, but Hasdrubal with his standing force of two Carthaginian strength points up the road at Novo Carthago (New Carthage) is planning a reception committee!

However the Romans do at least have something in common with the British in Washington's War, namely a good control of the seas and so after being made Proconsul at the end of turn one, 216 BC, Publius Scipio promptly took ship with a five point Roman army to land in the Punic recruiting heartland of Iberia at the pretty coastal town of Malaca, hoping to cause a bit of mischief in the process.

This while Hannibal was busy losing elephants and men to attrition has he forced marched off through the Alps bound for mainland Italy, easily skirting around the garrison Scipio had left at Massilia (modern day French Riviera) before his setting off to Spain.

In anticipation of a possible Hannibalic incursion into Italy the Senate handily went and voted for Fabius Maximus to take up a Consular position in 217 BC and he now commands the home army at Rome of 8 Strength Points and given his undoubted abilities at running away, may well find himself taking up the vacancy of Proconsul.

Oh dear, how sad, never mind, as a famous old drill sergeant used to say!
Publius Scipio and his army is no more and Hannibal with his 5SP army is in Gallia ready to advance into mainland Italy. Well now we'll see what these Romans are made of.

Oh yes, did I not mention that there was a vacancy going for the role of Roman Proconsul, ever since Proconsul Publius Scipio's excursion to Spain never got past the ports at Malaca as his Proconsular army got stomped on by Hasdrubal who promptly raised an army of four strength points to match that of the Roman's 5 SP but also brought three extra strength points of Spanish allies together with his undoubted military skills, (3 strategy rating vs 2 for Scipio) and despite losing the initiative after the first round of battle and not getting it back, dismissively dealt with every one of the seven strategy cards Scipio threw at him to win the battle, losing two SP to the Roman's one but cutting the remaining four down in the resultant rout back to the beaches.

The Battle of Malaca 217 BC Hasdrubal beats Proconsul Scipio
despite losing more troops in the fighting causes the Roman army
to break and run back to boats, cutting them down to a man

So, we are very much enjoying our excursion to the Punic Wars with all the fun that card driven games offer in terms of the unexpected and with the feeling that you are never really in control of events, no matter how well things seem to be going.

All to play for and with about four card plays still remaining in turn 2, we'll see how well Steve's Carthaginian offensive proceeds in the next report.

All at Sea - British Generic First/Second Rate Ship of the Line

Hold the Line - Richard Grenville
HMS's Victory, Temeraire and Neptune provide the punch to the head of Nelson's weather column attack

 

The final model built as part of my penultimate group build of six models was one of the five generic British three-deckers to put alongside the named models of HMS Victory and Royal Sovereign together with the first of these five built at the same time, in March last year.

The first of my generic three-deckers added last March, loosely designed to represent HMS Neptune, hence the figurehead.

All at Sea - HMS Victory

All at Sea - HMS Royal Sovereign & Generic British Three-Decker

Given the limited options in terms of figureheads and a cast stern gallery I decided early on to have these models represent the other British three-deckers generically and thus allow their use in other scenarios where similar ships were required, whilst retaining the look of the Trafalgar ships they would represent, namely Britannia 100-guns, Dreadnought, Neptune, Prince and Temeraire all 98-guns.

I looked at the development of the 90-gun and later 98-gun second-rate ships in my April 2020 post (link above) and the British preference for these three deck ships over the Franco-Spanish preference to build similarly armed two-deck 80-gun large third rates.

As mentioned in a previous post, the British fleet at Trafalgar found itself at a significant disadvantage in numbers of third rate two-deckers to the Combined Fleet, twenty-eight against seventeen, and with six of the twenty-eight being the excellent 80-gun option.

This advantage would be partially offset by the British three-deckers, with seven such vessels versus the four Spanish first rates, although the proportion of the number of ships involved was about equal with the British force making up 11% of Nelson's fleet, to the 12% the Spanish three-deckers represented of the Combined Fleet, but with the British 100-gun first rates outgunned by the Santisima Trinidad 136-guns, Santa Anna 112-guns  and Principe de Asturias 112-guns.

Of course, numbers of ships and guns are not the only consideration when assessing the merits of both fleets when also taking into account the tactical and command abilities that could and often did make up for any lack of numbers.

The fact is the large British three-deckers with their highly motivated and able crews allowed Nelson and Collingwood to place these ships as strongpoints throughout their respective squadrons, ideal for either battering their way into the line of the Combined fleet as exemplified with Nelson frontloading his column with Victory, Neptune and Temeraire, smashing his way into the centre of Villeneuve's squadron to knock him out of the fight; or with Britannia, Prince and Dreadnought further back in the column able to make their presence felt in the latter stages of the fight, able to add their fire to overcome any resistance or to help ward off succour from the Allied van.

British first and second-rates distribution in the two attack columns

  

These British three-deckers should add an imposing threat of intent to my British columns and make any Allied commanders draw breath as these leviathans close in.

So the final build in the project  will feature another three of these big British ships, alongside the Spanish Rayo of 100-guns and the two British small ships, Pickle and Entreprenant.

Postscript:

The Trafalgar Project took another step forward this week as I got my first COVID jab on Monday and joined half the population in the South West of England to have had their first vaccination and have my second booked for early June so the prospect of being able to get back to social wargaming took another significant step forward.

Many thanks to the volunteers at the West Point, Exeter, Vaccination Centre and to Hamish Marshall, former BBC Spotlight News journalist who was working with the meet and greet party at the gate and who directed me to the car-park, and also to the Astra-Zeneca/Oxford Vaccine research and development team who put in the work with all those marvellous volunteer patients to produce a working vaccine in record time to allow the world to resume our lives with a semblance of normality despite having now to get used to living permanently with a new virus threat around the globe.

Personally, I felt a bit rough for 48 hours following the jab, with flu-like symptoms, so at least I know it was working, but am now getting back to normal with just a slightly tender upper left arm, so at least the painting can continue; so as always, onwards and upwards.

Sources referred to in this post:

The Trafalgar Companion - Mark Adkin

http://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2020/04/all-at-sea-on-stocks-in-jjs-dockyard_25.html

https://sailsofglory.org/showthread.php?5593-First-and-Second-Rate-Ships-of-the-18th-Century

https://forum.game-labs.net/topic/18506-neptune-class-second-rate-ship-of-the-line/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptune-class_ship_of_the_line#:~:text=The%20Neptune%2Dclass%20ships%20of,Battle%20of%20Trafalgar%20in%201805.

All at Sea - Principe de Asturias

The Prince of Gravina - Carlos Parrilla Penagos

 https://www.carlosparrillapenagos.es/pintura-naval/

With work to complete my Trafalgar fleet of models moving into the building of the final six models in the collection, the work now focuses on the remaining big three-deck ships of the line that characterised the fleets of Britain and Spain, two of which were built as part of the penultimate group of six.

This particular model is destined to represent Admiral Don Fredrico Carlos Gravina's flagship at the battle, Principe de Asturias, and when next seen in battle array on the table will be sporting his Admirals pennant to better signify his particular ship in the line of battle.

The header at the top of the post is of course another fantastic representation of the mighty Spanish 112-gun ship by Carlos Parilla Penagos depicting the ship at Trafalgar at around two-o'clock in the afternoon unleashing a full broadside against the 74-gun HMS Revenge as she herself receives a stern-rake from the 64-gun HMS Polyphemus

Spanish 112-gun ship of the line - Naval Museum, Madrid

The Principe de Asturias was one of the class of Spanish three deck 112-gun ships known as the 'Meregildos' and was built by Honorato de Bouyon to the plans of Jose Romero Fernandez de Landa and launched on the 28th January 1794 in Havana, Cuba.

Built with the finest tropical timbers, the Principe de Asturias was destined to carve out a unique record of fighting service in the Spanish navy and some would later claim that she was the best ship overall to see action at Trafalgar.

Honorato de Bouyon and Serze - Naval Museum, Madrid
Naval Engineer

Similar to the British Royal Family, having the substantive title of 'Prince of Wales' used by the heir apparent to the monarch, the title of 'Prince of Asturias' has been used by the Spanish monarchy since 1388 when it was first granted by King John I of Castile to his first born son Henry II of Castile.

The ship set sail from Havana to Cadiz in February 1795 escorting a convoy of 44 merchant ships, arriving in May to begin her tour of duty with the Spanish Mediterranean Squadron operating out of Cadiz and Cartagena and from where she would see her first major action in battle against the British fleet of Admiral Sir John Jervis at the the Battle of Cape St. Vincent on the 14th February 1797.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_St_Vincent_(1797)

The Principe de Asturias was under the command of Brigadier don Antonio de Escano who took command of the ship on the 24th January 1797 as flag-captain to Lieutenant-General Juan Joaquin Moreno de Mondragon y D'Hontilier, commanding the third squadron of the Spanish fleet under the overall command of  Lieutenant-General Jose de Cordoba y Ramos.

Brigadier don Antonio de Escano - Jose Sanchez (Naval Museum, Madrid)
Commanded the Principe de Asturias at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent

The events of the battle are well known and I have summarised them before when looking at other Spanish models in the collection, and I have attached a link under the map above that gives details of the battle, suffice to say that the Principe de Asturias is reported to have fought conspicuously; gallantly attacking the British centre and coming to the aid of her 112-gun sister ships the Purísima Concepción and Mexicano before helping to prevent the capture of the 130-gun Santisima Trinidad, whilst coming off relatively unscathed with just twenty-nine casualties of whom ten were killed.

Battle of Cape St Vincent - Derek Gardner
Principe de Asturias, centre, 'bares her teeth' and exchanges broadsides with the British fleet at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, 14th February 1797

Following the battle, Principe de Asturias returned to Cadiz with the rest of the Spanish fleet that escaped the battle, arriving on March 3rd, to be put under blockade by Jervis's British fleet.

The Spanish fleet in Cadiz would remain under constant British blockade through to May of 1799 when the Spanish were joined by the French Brest squadron under Admiral Bruix, ending up joining the French being blockaded in Brest following a brief sortie to Cartagena and finally sailing back to Cadiz and arriving in May 1802 following the Peace of Amiens.

With the resumption of war between France and Great Britain in May of 1803, the Principe de Asturias was laid up in ordinary in El Ferrol and would be rearmed and recommissioned in November 1804, in anticipation of Spain's declaration of war on Great Britain the following month.

The Santa Ana and Principe de Asturias take on supplies in Cadiz, October 1805

The Principe de Asturias would be in El Ferrol when Admiral Pierre Villeneuve led his fleet into the port following the Battle of Cape Finisterre with Admiral Calder's squadron on 22nd July 1805 and would be joined by her previous commander Rear Admiral Antonio de Escano acting as chief of staff and flag-captain to Admiral Gravina who transferred his flag from the Argonauta 80-guns, with Principe de Asturias coming under the command of Commodore Don Rafael de Hore as the Combined Fleet headed south to Cadiz in August 1805 and the climactic battle in October off Cape Trafalgar.

At 12 noon the Principe de Asturias was sailing third from the rear of the Combined Fleet, coming into action at about 1.00pm to rake HMS Revenge and by 3.00pm found herself engaged by several British ships, alone among her squadron, for not having drifted to leeward and out of the main melee.

My interpretation of HMS Revenge, whose history was covered in a previous post
HMS Revenge - JJ's Wargames

Her battle with the second group of Admiral Collingwood's Lee Column was brought to an abrupt end as Captain Richard Grindall brought HMS Prince 98-guns into action, as the British three-decker slammed in two close broadsides to rake the Spanish flagship, as recorded in the log of the Principe de Asturias;

' ... the English three-decker ... discharged all her guns, at grape-shot range, into our stern. The Major [General Gravina] was wounded in the left leg; he was obliged to go below but while he was being temporarily dressed, he gave orders that he should be conveyed back and placed sitting at his post on deck. 

Weakened by loss of blood, he fell fainting; but quickly coming to himself and not perceiving the national colours, he ordered them to be hoisted without delay and he resumed command ... In this critical position we sighted the Neptune and San Justo that were coming to our aid, which was observed by the enemy who obliged them to sheer off.'

HMS Prince turned her attentions to the badly damaged French 74-gun Achille after her close in battle with HMS Revenge, and her crushing broadsides brought the battle of Trafalgar to a devastating close as the French third-rate blew up amid a spectacular explosion at about 5.30pm.

An hour before, the severely wounded Gravina, no doubt sensing the outcome of the battle, ordered all Allied ships that could do so, to withdraw, the Principe de Asturias making her way back to Cadiz, having suffered remarkably lightly considering the attention received from the Prince, with 162 casualties (14% of her crew) which included 52 dead and 110 wounded.

Admiral Don Fredrico Carlos Gravina
Second-in-Command to Villeneuve and commander of the Spanish ships and squadron of observation,
Gravina is reported to have had a difficult relationship with his younger French superior.

Having survived Trafalgar the Principe de Asturias would be in Cadiz at the start of the Peninsular War against Napoleon and would be present at the surrender of the surviving French ships from the battle, caught in the port by the Spanish in 1808 after the French invasion.

In 1810 she sailed from Cadiz back to her place of construction, Havana, where she would be wrecked in 1814 and with her mighty timbers reported to have still been visible in the waters close to the port some twenty years later.

At Trafalgar the Principe de Asturias was armed with 30 x 36 pounder long guns on her lower deck, 32 x 24-pdr guns on her middle deck, 30 x 12-pdr guns on her upper deck and 18 x 8-pdr guns distributed across her quarterdeck and forecastle.

Sources referred to in this post:

The Trafalgar Companion - Mark Adkin

https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=2648

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_ship_Principe_de_Asturias_(1794)

https://www.todoababor.es/listado/navio-principedeasturias2.htm

https://todoavante.es/index.php?title=Combate_Trafalgar_Parte_oficial_nav%C3%ADo_Pr%C3%ADncipe_de_Asturias_1805

In the next post covering this penultimate group of models I'll be showcasing the latest British three-decker to join the collection.

All at Sea - Trafalgar Project Update, The Penultimate Group Added to the Collection

The Heavyweight Punch - Geoff Hunt
This picture, a 60th birthday present, graces the wall in my room, so seems a fitting one to head up the final builds of the Trafalgar collection of models which sees the heavyweight punch added to both fleets as I round off the collection with the mighty British and Spanish three-deckers.

Last month I posted the first pictures of the Trafalgar collection of 1:700th model ships which is now into the final builds to complete the collection and this week I finished off the penultimate group of six models that have now been added to the respective line-ups.

So first up I will start with the outstanding French and British third and fifth-rates that were the last ones needed to complete their respective groups.

The French fielded fourteen 74-gun ships of the line at Trafalgar, alongside their four 80-gun two-deckers and so these last two 74's complete the collection of French ships of the line in Vice-Admiral Villeneuve's Combined Franco-Spanish fleet.

Algesiras - Admiral Charles Magon, Capt. Gabriel Brouard

Pluton - Commodore Cosmao Kerjulien

Mont-Blanc - Commodore Noel La Villegris

Intrepide - Commodore Louis Infernet

Swiftsure - Capt. L’Hospitalier Villemadrin

Aigle - Capt. P Gourrege

Argonaut - Capt. J Epron

Achille - Capt. G de Nieport

Redoutable - Capt. J Lucas

Fougueux - Capt. L Beaudouin

Heros - Capt. Jean Poulain

Scipion - Capt. Charles Berrenger

Berwick - Capt. Jean-Gilles Filhol de Camas

Duguay Trouin - Capt. Claude Touffet

The Combined Fleet had a superiority of eleven third-rate 80's and 74's (28 against 17), which included no fewer than six of the excellent 80-gun ships against just one British.

It was in this part of the fleet line-ups that the British were at a distinct disadvantage with three of the much weaker 64's versus just one in the Spanish fleet compounding it.

 

As with the previous six French 74's presented I decided to paint these in the Revolutionary war scheme rather than the more common chequerboard look seen later in the Napoleonic War.

All at Sea - Generic French 3rd Rates in Revolutionary War Trim

To complete my Trafalgar French collection I needed to add one more fifth-rate 40-gun frigate to complete the line up.

All the light ships of the Combined Fleet were French, with five 40-gun frigates and two brigs acting as scouts, signal relay vessels, command vessels if needed and in the end valuable tows for the bigger ships of the line, dismasted and badly damaged, that the Allies were able to get away from the victorious British fleet.

Cornelie - Capt. André-Jules-François de Martineng

Hermione - Capt. Jean-Michel Mahé

Hortense - Capt. Louis-Charles-Auguste Delamarre de Lamellerie

Rhin - Capt. Michel Chesneau

Themis - Capt. Nicolas-Joseph-Pierre Jugan

I think the role of the small ships in a battle such as Trafalgar is often underplayed by naval wargamers, often leaving these ships aside as unimportant to the decision of the battle between the big ships of the line, but I'm keen to see them not only on the table for completeness but fulfilling their important role during our games as described.

At Trafalgar, Villeneuve distributed his frigates and brigs across his five squadrons thus;

1st Squadron (Gravina), Squadron of Observation, Themis (40-guns) and Argus (16-guns)

2nd Squadron (Magon), Squadron of Observation, Hermione (40-guns)

2nd (Rear) Squadron (Alava), Rhin (40-guns)

1st (Centre) Squadron (Villeneuve), Hortense (40-guns), Furet (18-guns)

3rd (Van) Squadron (Dumanoir), Cornelie (40-guns)

The French frigate Themis takes the Spanish three deck flagship of Vice Admiral Alava, Santa Anna under tow after the Battle of Trafalgar - Antoine Roux

Finally I added the last British third-rate 74-gun ship to complete the British line up of sixteen ships

Conqueror - Capt. Israel Pellew

Leviathan - Capt. Henry Baytun 

Ajax - Capt. (acting) John Pilford

Orion - Capt. Edward Codrington

Minotaur - Capt. Charles Mansfield

Spartiate - Capt. Sir Charles LaForey

Mars - Capt. George Duff

Belleisle - Capt. William Hargood

Bellerophon - Capt. John Cooke

Colossus - Capt. James Morris

Achille - Capt. Richard King

Revenge - Capt. Robert Moorsom

Swiftsure - Capt. William Rutherford

Defence - Capt. George Hope

Thunderer - Capt. (acting) John Stockham

Defiance -Capt. Philip Durham

As mentioned, the British fleet was at a distinct disadvantage in third-rates versus the Combined Fleet, offset by the heavy batteries of the seven three deck first and second-rates, vessels I intend to look at in the next two posts as I complete the fleet line-ups.

That said the British third-rate component contributed about 25% of the total broadside weight of fire the British fleet could muster with 10,934 lbs out of 43,666 lbs (19.5 tons) total. This against 34,240 lbs (15 tons) for the French and 28,170 lbs (12.5 tons) for the Spanish.

These total weights of fire power for the three national fleets at Trafalgar are staggering when you consider one of the largest land battles of the era, Waterloo, would see the combined capability of all the artillery present generate a tiny 1.5 tons in comparison.

These models have been really fun to build and certainly repay the effort in trying to capture the look of the respective fleets and I will conclude this look at the last models needed to complete the collection with the six British and Spanish three-deckers to be added and the humble but just as important little British ships, the Bermudan schooner HMS Pickle and the Cutter, HMS Entreprenante.

The Fatal Embrace, Battle of Trafalgar, 21st October 1805 - Barry Mason

Next up: More ships as the final models to be added get their showcase before I look at the fleets in detail with the models built to represent them, plus Steve and I are into a new Vassal module, the Battle of Eylau, 1807 from Vae Victrix Magazine.