All at Sea - On the Stocks in JJ's Dockyard, New British Builds, Part Four

JJ's Royal Dockyard continues to play host to senior dignitaries from the Admiralty and repeat renditions of 'God Save the King' from the band of His Majesty's Royal Marines as two British first rates slip down into the water to await fitting out.

This week my British collection of models has been joined by two British three-deckers, one of historical renown in the history of the Royal Navy, the other, a generic model, representing the British preference for deploying first and second rates to act as their command ships and units of power throughout key points of their battle formations.

As in the previous three posts in the series, see the links below, I have pulled together some background history to tell the story of these ships and the role they played in the Royal Navy of their time.
All at Sea - On the Stocks in JJ's Dockyard, New British Builds, Part One
All at Sea - On the Stocks in JJ's Dockyard, New British Builds, Part Two
All at Sea - On the Stocks in JJ's Dockyard, Ne British Builds, Part Three

HMS Royal Sovereign

HMS Royal Sovereign of 100-guns flying Signal 16 from her mainmast repeating Nelson's final signal at the Battle of Trafalgar - 'Engage the enemy more closely'

HMS Royal Sovereign was designed by Sir Edward Hunt and built and launched in Plymouth, Devon on 11th September 1786 for a cost of £67,458 or just under £11.5 million pounds in today's money.

Hull plan of the 1786 Royal Sovereign -National Maritime Museum

The second HMS Royal Sovereign circa 1725 pictured as flagship at the Nore - L de Man

As a three deck, first rate ship of the line carrying 100 guns ranging from 32-pounder, 24-pounder and 12-pounder long guns, she was a powerful addition to the fleet and was at the time the third ship in the Royal Navy to carry the name, preceded by King Charles I's, Sovereign of the Seas 90-guns, later renamed Royal Sovereign launched in 1637 and the Royal Sovereign 100-guns launched in 1701 and flagship of the Channel Fleet in the Seven Years War.

Her first significant action was as part of Admiral Lord Howe's fleet at the Glorious First of June in 1794 under her commander, Captain Henry Nichols and being a 'fast sailing ship' the flagship of Howe's second in command, Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Graves, commanding the van division aboard which he would lose a leg in the battle

Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Graves c.1794 - Francesco Bartolozzi

Royal Sovereign was one of four ships in Howe's fleet to take significant casualties in the exchanges of fire between the two fleets on the 29th May with eight killed and twenty-two wounded, that saw the Channel Fleet as a whole suffer 67 killed and 128 wounded and left Royal Sovereign with material damage to her masts and rigging, however by 10.30 the next morning all ships except HMS Caesar reported to Admiral Howe that they were ready for action.

However the French had taken more heavy damage and suffered a corresponding casualty rate that left the fleet the worse off with Indomptable 80-guns, needing a dockyard refit, Tyrannicide 74-guns without any topmasts and having to use its lower sails whilst placed under tow and Terrible 110-guns and Eole 74-guns, with significant hull damage. In addition Admiral Villaret-Joyeuse had the disappointment of seeing his lead ship Montagnard 74-guns depart the fleet on the evening of the 29th without any explanation soon followed by the corvette Venus 28-guns, sent after the deserting vessel, but also not returning.

The 30th of May saw the two fleets maintain contact in poor visibility, but not engage, allowing French reinforcements of three ships of the line to arrive and allow Villaret-Joyeuse to send the Indomptable back to Brest for repairs.

The Glorious First of June 1794, painted c.1795 - Philip James de Loutherbourg

On the morning of the 1st June 1794, the day dawned clear with a smooth sea and a moderate wind of about sixteen knots from the south-east.

At 05.00 the British fleet turned towards the French on a north-west heading, before turning to the north at 06.15 and then on a westerly heading at 07.10 when Howe signaled 'the hands to breakfast'.

With the tradition of the Royal Navy fighting better on a full stomach met, Howe signaled at 07.16 for the fleet to engage the enemy closely followed by another signal at 07.25 for them to pass through the enemy line and attack to leeward.

Howe designed to breakthrough the French line and create a 'pell-mell battle' in which the superior British sailing and gunnery skills would prove superior to the French fleet; but sadly for his plans Admiral Graves lived up to his lack lustre performance during the American War and his indecisive engagement at the Battle of the Chesapeake, together with several of the captains in his van in turning away to engage in some traditional line to line bombardment.

The Glorious First of June 1794
At 07.16 Howe signaled his fleet to 'engage the enemy closely' followed at 07.25 to 'pass through the enemy line and attack to leeward'.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/June_1_1794_Order_of_Battle_Map_EN.svg

Fortunately for the British, Howe would not be denied his victory, and carrying on where Admiral Rodney concluded the American War with his breaking of the French line at the Battle of the Saintes in 1782, Howe's flagship, HMS Queen Charlotte 100-guns, carved her way through under the stern galleries of the French flagship Montagne 120-guns at 10.10 am, firing a full broadside the length of the enemy ship killing some 100 of its crew and wounding another 200 in the passing bombardment.

Closely following the Queen Charlotte and using similar tactics, were HMS Bellerophon 74-guns, Leviathan 74-guns, Marlborough 74-guns, Defense 74-guns, Invincible 74 guns, Brunswick 74-guns, Ramillies74-guns, Montagu 74-guns, Royal George 100-guns and Glory 90-guns, which left the French line broken and at the end of the day six enemy ships of the line captured as prizes.

As the flagship Vice Admiral of the Blue, Sir Cuthbert Collingwood at Trafalgar, I have HMS Royal Sovereign flying a blue pennant from her foremast

HMS Royal Sovereign would remain a key component of the Channel Squadron throughout the French Revolutionary War and in 1795 Vice Admiral William Cornwallis would raise his flag aboard her during which time she would see action in June of that year during what would become known as Cornwallis's Retreat, covered in the third post in this series and the section about HMS Mars 74-guns, that played a key role in the action.

HMS Royal Sovereign in the 'thick of it' during retreat of Admiral Cornwallis and his squadron off of Brest - Thomas Luny 

By mid afternoon HMS Mars had come under heavy attack from the leading four French ships that were chasing the British squadron and caused Cornwallis to turn the Royal Sovereign back to the aid of his hard pressed rear most ship.

The raking fire brought to bear on them by the Royal Sovereign proved to be instrumental in causing them to fall back and allowing the Mars to get away just before the French broke contact thinking a relief British squadron was over the horizon.

Admiral Cornwallis who raised his flag aboard HMS Royal Sovereign in 1795

Of course the most famous moment in the history of the ship would come on the 21st October 1805 when the Royal Sovereign took her place at the head of Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood's Lee Column at the Battle of Trafalgar, being the first British ship to break the Franco-Spanish line, living up to her reputation as a fast sailer in the light winds that prevailed on the day..

Cuthbert Collingwood, first met Nelson in 1777 during the American War of Independence when they both served together aboard the frigate HMS Lowestoft 32-guns, that would mark the start of long and friendly relationship with both of their careers running in close parallel to one another right up until Trafalgar.

Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood - Henry Howard

With the commencement of the Napoleonic War in 1803, Collingwood was appointed to Vice Admiral Cornwallis's Channel Squadron, and later promoted to Vice Admiral in 1804.

In August 1805 Admiral Collingwood in the Royal Sovereign was commanding a detached squadron of six ships tasked with watching the port of Cadiz and it was his small detachment that was chased away by Vice Admiral Villeneuve's combined fleet as it made its way down the coast from Ferrol and around Cape St Vincent into the Spanish port on the 20th of that month.

Collingwood later reported 'They are in the port like a forest' reckoning them 'now to be 36 sail of the line and plenty of frigates. What can I do with such a host? But I hope I shall get a reinforcement, suited to the occasion.'

Nelson joined Collingwood off Cadiz on the 28th of September relieving Admiral Calder who had arrived with 26 sail the previous month but was subsequently ordered to return home on Nelson's arrival to face court martial for his command of the Battle of Cape Finisterre in July, covered in my previous post.

HMS Royal Sovereign bears down on the Franco-Spanish at the Battle of Trafalgar shortly before the Forgueux fired the first broadside of the battle - Stuart Bolton

Nelson recalled the five ship inshore squadron blockading Cadiz established by Collingwood, writing at the time 'The enemy are still in port, but something must be immediately done to provoke or lure them to battle' and taking his battle fleet away from Cadiz, fifty miles to the west, leaving only frigates to watch the port.

On the 18th October 1805 against the advice of his subordinate commanders not to leave port, Villeneuve received intelligence that persuaded him otherwise. Firstly Vice Admiral Francois Rosily was in Madrid having been sent from Paris by Napoleon to replace him for his failure to enter the English Channel; secondly a British convoy was reported in the straits having sailed from Gibraltar with just four escorts offering an opportunity to order the fleet to sea before Rosily arrived and perhaps some salvaged honour. The Bucentaur hoisted the signal 'Prepare to weigh'.

Captain Sir Henry Blackwood aboard the frigate HMS Euryalus was tasked with alerting Nelson to the sailing of the combined fleet and soon news was on its way to the British admiral, with light winds causing the Franco-Spanish force to finally get clear of the port by noon on the 20th October, by which time Nelson had ordered his fleet on a parallel track towards the straits designed to intercept them the next day.

HMS Royal Sovereign after a refit and lying at anchor in Plymouth Sound - Stuart Bolton

At just before twelve noon on the 21st October, the Royal Sovereign at the head of the Lee Column came within gun range of the Forgueux 74-guns, as her commander Captain Baudoin gave the order to open fire, fine on her starboard bow, followed a minute later by one, fine of her port bow from the Spanish first rate Santa Ana 112-guns, flagship of Vice Admiral Don Ignatius de Alava.

Captain Edward Rotherham, commanded HMS Royal Sovereign at the Battle of Trafalgar

Royal Sovereign's commander Captain Edward Rotherham held the ship on a steady course, unperturbed, with officers and men standing patiently at their double-shotted guns, ordering the men and marines on the upper-deck to lie down for their safety and to hold their fire until ordered to do so just before crossing the bow of the Forgueux and stern quarters of the Santa Ana at 12.20pm.

On the Victory, Nelson watching the progress of Royal Sovereign through his telescope, observed to those close by his admiration, declaring "See how that noble fellow Collingwood takes his ship into action!"

The Spanish first rate of 112-guns Santa Ana, flagship of Vice Admiral Don Ignatius de Alava

As the Royal Sovereign passed through the enemy line, Collingwood remarked to Rotherham, "Oh Rotherham, what would Nelson give to be here", and with the order to commence firing given, the double-shotted broadside smashed the ornate woodwork on Santa Ana's stern galleries causing mass death and destruction as she passed by, whilst simultaneously delivering a similar treatment to the Forgueux's bow, receiving a broadside in response from the French ship, before the Royal Sovereign  swung round to fall broadside to broadside with the Santa Ana to engage in a two hour battering at about 400 yards range as Vice Admiral Alava ordered his gun crews across to the leeward guns to take on the British first rate.

The Santa Ana struck at 14.15 having taken fire from other British ships passing through the line as well as that in her battle with the Royal Sovereign, suffering 238 dead and wounded from her total strength of 1189 men at the start of battle.

Royal Marines on the forecastle of Royal Sovereign - Christa Hook, Osprey
Over one-hundred marines served aboard Royal Sovereign at the Battle of Trafalgar

The Royal Sovereign ended the battle without a mizzen or mainmast and a badly damaged foremast, with most of her rigging shot away and casualties numbering 141 dead and wounded from a starting strength of 826 men.

Hearing of the death of Nelson, Collingwood assumed command of the fleet at the close of the battle, transfering his flag to the frigate Euryalus whilst taking the Royal Sovereign under tow as he oversaw the securing of the British fleet and its prizes as the weather took a turn for the worse.

After Trafalgar the Royal Sovereign served with the Mediterranean squadron, blockading Toulon up to November 1811, returning afterwards to the Channel fleet through 1812-13.

Post war she was converted to a receiving ship in Plymouth, being renamed HMS Captain in 1825 until being broken up there the following year.

Typically HMS Royal Sovereign would have carried 28 x 32-pdr long guns on her lower deck, 28 x 24-pdrs on her middle deck and 30 x 12-pdrs on her upper deck with additionally 10 x 12-pdrs on her quarterdeck and 4 x 12-pdrs on her forecastle.

British Generic First/Second Rate

The generic British first rate contained within the Warlord British fleet box and now sold separately, allows the collector of these models to field these first (100 plus guns) and second rate (98 -90 guns) three deckers of 100 to 90-guns that were typical of the era with the typical strength of these ships in the Royal Navy through the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars numbering between five to eight first rates and seven to sixteen second rates with an average strength in the early part of those wars at around sixteen ships on strength.

These three deckers formed a significant component of British fleets in the major engagements of the era;

Glorious First of June - 7 ships (3 First Rates)
Cape St Vincent - 6 ships (2 First Rates)
Cape Finisterre - 4 ships
Trafalgar - 7 ships (3 First Rates)

In 1793 when the Revolutionary War commenced the Royal Navy had five first rate ships of the line with two in commission all of 100-guns;

Victory
Britannia

In ordinary
Queen Charlotte
Royal Sovereign
Royal George

First rate ships invariably carried 32 pounders on the lower deck, 24 pounders on the middle deck and 18 pounders on the upper deck, with carronades mainly carried on the quaterdeck and forecastle.

HMS Queen Charlotte, first rate ship of the line, pictured at the Spithead Review, c.1790 - William Anderson
National Maritime Museum

Alongside the first rates, the Royal Navy could also deploy sixteen second rates of which seven were in commission;

Boyne - 98 guns
Duke - 98 guns
Princess Royal - 98 gun
Queen - 98 guns
St George - 98 guns
Windsor Castle - 98 guns
Sandwich - 98 guns

In Ordinary
Atlas - 98 guns
Glory - 98 guns
London - 98 guns
Prince George - 98 guns
Impregnable - 98 guns
Prince of Wales - 98 guns
Prince - 98 guns
Blenheim - 90 guns
Namur - 90 guns

The three decker second rate was first conceived of in the 1670's as a cheaper alternative to the first rate.

The 98 gun ship was created merely by adding 8 guns to the quarterdeck of the 90 gun variety, usually armed with 32 pounders on the lower deck, 18 pounders on the middle deck and 12 pounders on the upper deck.

HMS Namur - Jack Spurling
HMS Namur of 90 guns had perhaps a more illustrious history than the Victory serving from 1756 through the Seven Years War, French Revolutionary War and Napoleonic War that saw her eventually razeed to a 74-gun third rate in 1805, seeing action at the Siege of  Louisbourg 1758, Battle of  Lagos 1759, Havana 1762, Cape St Vincent 1797 and as a 74 gun razee, Cape Ortegal 1805, retiring to harbour service in 1807.

The Warlord model comes with three different figureheads and with a little bit of careful work others from other kits in the range could no doubt be affixed to provide plenty of variation to a British battle line.

HMS Temeraire - Geoff Hunt
HMS Temeraire 98 guns served throughout the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from her launch in 1798, gaining the nickname 'The Fighting Temeraire', and sailing astern of HMS Victory at Trafalgar, her only fleet action.

In time the second rate fell into decline, with some Admirals preferring to use the two deck 80-gun ships even when they had these three deckers available to them, given that the second rates were short and high making them poor sailors.

Quotes highlight the problems these ships had, noting that the Prince of 1788 'sailed worse than other ships'  and the London of 1766 'does not stand under her canvass particularly well' or that the Duke of 1777 'was neither weatherly nor for-reaches with other men of war' , and it was 'the opinion of many competent judges that the classes between that of 100 guns and the 80 gun ships of two decks are are very unnecessarily continued in the Royal Navy'.

HMS Victory races HMS Temeraire towards the Franco-Spanish line at Trafalgar - Geoff Hunt

No matter what the comments from those who were in the know at the time or of those who had to sail them, the British three decker makes an impressive addition to the look of your fleet when out on the table and this model captures the look quite nicely.

Typically a second rate 98-gun ship of the line would be armed with 28 x 32-pdr long guns on the lower deck, 30 x 18-pdr on the middle deck, 30 x 12-pdr on the upper deck , 8 x 12-pdr on thequarter deck and 2 x 12-pdr guns on the forecastle.

Next up in All at Sea the focus shifts to the Spanish Navy or Armada Espanola with my first model in the collection, the Santisima Trinidad.

The Battle of Trafalgar at Warlord Games HQ, Nottingham

The Trafalgar Collection of Warlord 1:700th model ships had its premiere this weekend at Warlord Games HQ in Nottingham to which I drove up on Friday night in preparation for our refight of Trafalgar in this the week of the 216th anniversary of Lord Nelson's famous victory over the Combined Fleet.

I suppose this game is the fruition of the project tentatively started back in November 2019 with my first build of what was then the new range of age of sail models launched by Warlord Games after I had seen them premiered in the April at Salute.

My very first build, a 36-gun British frigate from the then new range of Warlord model ships. I remember well falling in love with the detail and the lines of this model and my eagerness to build more of them.
JJ's Wargames- All at Sea, Another Project !

The inspiration for starting the collection came from seeing the models premiered at Salute back in 2019, which just goes to show why going to shows can be so detrimental to staying focussed on projects already underway, just ask my Romano-Dacians!
JJ's Wargames - Salute 2019 Show Report

So almost two years later the culmination of the project resulted in the game table below as the two fleets were laid out based loosely on Mark Adkin's, The Trafalgar Companion, map of the battle lines as the two fleets prepared to engage and the first ships of the Franco-Spanish Combined Fleet opened fire on the lead ships in the two British columns.

It's 11.45 am on the 21st October 1805 and the line of the Vice Admiral Villeneuve's Combined Fleet prepares to meet its destiny with history as the two columns of Vice Admiral Lord Nelson's British fleet bear down on it and receive the opening broadsides of the battle that was to follow, seen from the nearest ship to camera, the Spanish 74-gun San Juan de Nepomuceno, part of the Squadron of Observation.

Mark Adkin's map from his 2005 Bicentenary Trafalgar Companion was the basis for the initial set up, here shown with my addition of the ship numbers on the bases to better able players to identify each model in the game. Note all the ships illustrated were on the table from the mighty Santisima Trinidad to the diminutive cutter HMS Entreprenante.

However before we could get to setting up a game of this size, a lot of preparation and planning had to be coordinated and after several communications between Gabrio Tolentino, from Warlord Games and author of the rule set Black Seas, which we would be using for our game, and myself, I found myself loading up the car in preparation for a Friday night drive up to Nottingham from Devon, for an overnight stay to get over to Warlord Games HQ the next morning to get things ready for our invited group of players and spectators.

Several important items in the car boot, the ships and my overnight bag.

Moving a large collection of these models around securely and with the associated sea cloths requires a bit of pre-planning but I now have the set up well and truly tested with this little adventure with my Tiny Wargames sea pattern cloths, neatly rolled around the carpet tube cut-offs from a local carpet supplier in my home town, together with the ships and other game related items safely ensconced in their mdf tray inserts for my 19 litre Really Useful Boxes, living up to their well thought through brand name.

We use Tiny Wargames (link at top right of the page) cloths at the Devon Wargames Group for pretty much all our game requirements and by simply ironing out any creases and rolling them around some old carpet tubing you can easily transport them as needed and roll them out crease free when needed for play. Here are four 10 x 5 foot cloths on two tubes (there is another one underneath that seen) easily put across the back seat of the car.

The drive up to Nottingham on Friday night was a bit of a chore with a three hour, forty minute drive taking another forty minutes to do, given road works and weight of traffic near Gloucester, and around Birmingham on the M42, but after a night's sleep and breakfast at my city centre hotel, it was only a short drive to Warlord, not before grabbing a few tourist pictures of the famous Nottingham Castle and a certain outlaw that used to frequent this part of the country.

Some of the local Nottingham hostelries pictured on my short walk to get the car outside the front gate of Nottingham Castle

The modern day front gate to Nottingham Castle

The most famous outlaw in history, Robin Hood, graces the front wall of the castle. I can't say I have ever really liked this rendition of the man or myth and would have much preferred an Errol Flynn style of cocked hat, feather and rakish goatee beard and moustache rather than the tight fitting scull cap that has our hero looking more like a naughty school boy. 

As a kid I grew up with images of Errol Flynn as my archetypal
Robin Hood so the statue above was rather underwhelming 

So with my 'tourism of Nottingham box' well and truly ticked I was off to Warlord and meeting with Gabrio and the team to get the table set up in preparation for our day's game.

The Battle of Trafalgar has to be a 'must do' game on most age of sail wargamers bucket list of games to play, and this being my first go at this epic historical naval battle, I was really looking forward to the day

To help set the scene and present the players with the options our historical commanders faced on the day we had a quick run through of the set up and the battle tactics the various commanders chose to attempt to thwart each others plans and then left it to our present day commanders to choose their own options within the parameters of the set up.

Gabrio in the role of Gamemeister for the day points out some of the key factors that will influence the game during our pre-game briefing.

A view of the initial setup from the British side of the table

Having the honour to assume the role of Vice Admiral of The Blue, Cuthbert Collingwood, leading the leeward column aboard HMS Royal Sovereign I opted to put Black Seas to the test, to see if I could follow Collingwood's plan of attack by sending my ships in to the rear squadrons of the Combined Fleet in echelon, holding my fire until reaching a point blank or close range broadside solution, ideally administering stern and bow rakes as my ships passed through the enemy line.

Lord Collingwood's Lee Column approaches in echelon, bearing the brunt of the opening broadsides from the Combined Fleet, but resolutely holding their fire.

The wooden walls of France and Spain prepare to test the theory of the immovable object meeting the irresistible force.

The first few moves saw the British fleet press forward boldly as their lead ships were peppered with long range broadsides mainly at the rigging, but with occasional strike causing the odd issue, like an early critical hit fire aboard Victory that fortunately was soon extinguished by the veteran crew, something the poorer crews on the Allied ships would find more difficult to do.

  

HMS Victory leads Temeraire 98-guns, Neptune 98-guns, Leviathan 74-guns and Conqueror 74-guns as the weather column bears down on the Combined Fleet ahead.

A sight to stir the heart of any 'true Brit', HMS Victory leading the fleet into action with all her colours flying and her immortal signal aloft.

Adopting Collingwood's tactics certainly proved a test of nerve as the range shortened and the Allied fire became more effective, leaving the lead ships, Royal Sovereign and Belleisle rather battered as they prepared to answer back with interest.

As it turned out Nelson wasn't having things any easier on his front, but the British commander's plan of front loading his column with the 100-gun Victory and two solid three deck 98-gunners in the shape of HMS Temeraire and Neptune certainly paid dividends as the big ships soaked up everything that was thrown at them as they closed the range.

The battle begins as HMS Africa passes down the weather side of the van of the Combined Fleet

However the battle really started on the extreme end of the Combined Fleet line as HMS Africa took up the challenge of keeping the van occupied as the plucky little British 64-gunner took on the best of the lead squadron, swapping broadsides with Rear Admiral Dumanoir's 80-gun Formidable.

HMS Africa bears her teeth as the yellow flash from her lower deck 24-pounders salute the van of the Combined Fleet to get our battle well and truly underway

Seeing HMS Victory take a determined change of course towards Admiral Villeneuve's 80-gun Bucentaure and Rear Admiral Cisneros in the 130-gun Santisima Trinidad, the Allied van started to turn into wind as Dumanoir attempted to bring his squadron round to help the fleet flagship.

 

The Combined Fleet returns Africa's salute as Rear Admiral Dumanoir aboard the 80-gun Formidable orders his ship to open fire.

The Centre Squadron of the Combined Fleet with the mighty three deck Spanish 136-gun Santisima Trinidad (Rear Admiral Cisneros) in the centre of the picture and with the 74-gun Heros, 74-gun San Augustin and 74-gun San Francisco de Asis ahead of her and Vice Admiral Villeneuve's 80-gun Bucentaure, and Captain Lucas' 74-gun Redoutable directly astern. To the starboard side of the Spanish flagship are the French brig Furet and frigate Hortense.

Thus as our game approached lunch at the 12.30 break we had both British columns ready to close and unleash their firepower to good effect in the next round and with HMS Africa now supported by the unlikely help of Captain Sir Henry Blackwood's light squadron prepared to lay their frigates down as proverbial speed bumps on the approach of Dumanoir's lead ships.

The battle fast approaching its crescendo, interestingly at around 12.30 game time, mimicking the historical breaking of the line on the actual day of battle. We took the time soon after to break for a bite of lunch, courtesy of Warlord Games, after having sampled some grog and hard tack biscuit. Collingwood's Lee Column led by the Royal Sovereign is about to break the Combined Fleet's line

Our day had a bit of extra historical interest with an opportunity to experience the culinary delights of serving on a 19th century man-o-war as Gabrio tempted us with an offering of hardtack and grog to fortify our efforts in the afternoon session.

Thankfully the grog was a lot less potent than its original formula but still using the original components managed to give the taste of a not bad cordial, but the hardtack lived up fully to its name, leaving me not quite sure what the cracking sound in my mouth was and checking my remaining teeth with some relief after the first bite. I can see why this stuff was much better boiled down into the classic British pudding of a good old duff that would line the the stomach just like a school dinner pudding and leave you ready to face anything the enemy could throw at you.

To get the full Trafalgar experience Gabrio treated us, if that is the right term, to some authentic naval sustenance, and for me the grog wasn't bad at all but the biscuit could have done with more weevil to help soften it.  

Crunching a piece of hard tack instantly reminded me of the
dinner chat in Master and Commander, perhaps the best and most accurate historical
military film made, and we weren't using condiments to refight our table top Trafalgar.

Do you go for the grog or the hard tack or as Captain Jack Aubrey would say, 'making the choice between the lesser of two weevils!'

With lunch gleefully consumed and a consideration of where the game was at before starting the afternoon session, we got back to it and things started to happen almost immediately.

Post lunch and the battle explodes into action as broadsides get exchanged at close and point-blank range causing extreme damage and fires.

Rear Admiral Dumanoir orders the van to reverse course by tacking about to bring his ships to the aid of the hard pressed centre.

Collingwood's leeward column prepares to break the line

The Royal Sovereign barrelled on forward towards the Santa Anna. looking to bow rake the Spaniard and take the French 80-gun Indomptable out with a passing stern rake.

However Captain Hubert commanding the Frenchman was having none of it and skilfully passed a skill check to pass his large third rate through the wind to bring himself broadside to broadside with the British first rate.

The Franco-Spanish van starts to turn and prepare to tack as Victory leads the weather column towards the centre and bears the brunt of the first broadsides, one causing a fire aboard the British flagship.

The mighty HMS Royal Sovereign shows the lethal destruction that a British first-rate ship of the line can unleash with a point-blank first broadside, utterly demolishing the brave French 80-gun Indomptable that attempted to tack on to the weather side of the British flagship and was crushed in the exchange of fire, as a close broadside from her larboard side starts a fire on the Spanish flagship Santa Anna 112-guns (Vice Admiral Alava).

However Captain Hubert's skill at sailing and managing his crew in the most dangerous of situations availed him little as the Plymouth based Royal Sovereign unleashed all the pent up fury of suffering the battering on her approach with a point blank broadside that demolished the Frenchman and just to emphasise the point left the Santa Anna teetering on striking her colours after 32 pound round shot smashed their way in through her bows.

Just as in the historical encounter, Captain William Hargood brought the Belleisle up in close support of his flagship and gave a similar gunnery demonstration by finishing off the Santa Anna with a point blank stern rake whilst delivering a similarly decisive blow to the following 74-gun Fougueux with a point blank bow rake as the the two British ships found themselves amid the French frigate line on the leeward side of the Combined Fleet.

HMS Victory and her close consorts get stuck in with the centre of the Combined Fleet with a fire seen blazing on the Santisima Trinidad and Bucentaure after the first close broadsides.

HMS Africa boldly takes a lead from the Victory and wades in among the rear ships of the Combined Fleet van.

The Royal Sovereign is closely supported by the 74-gun Belleisle as she unleashes her own point blank rakes on the rear of the Santa Anna taking out the Spanish flagship before demolishing the 74-gun Fougueux with a bow rake, following in the wake of the Santa Anna and effectively decapitating the head of the Rear Squadron with the destruction of its three lead ships.

It's in a really large game like this that you start to appreciate the Duke of Wellington's description of a battle being similar to a ball, in that you are really only aware of what's going on in your corner of the ballroom at any given time, making it very difficult to give an overall impression.

From where I was on the quarterdeck of the Royal Sovereign I was aware of close range broadsides being swapped between Victory, Santisima Trinidad and Bucentaure with fires breaking out on all three flagships at one time, and then the gradual removal of nearby third rates which included the doughty Africa and some British frigates that over extended their welcome amid the enemy line.

Fires break out on the Santisima Trinidad, Bucentaure and Victory as the fighting becomes close up and personal.

Even my end of the line didn't go unscathed with the Tonnant striking her colours after suffering a severe battering on the way in and the Bellerophon left in a perilous state after some close up exchanges with a toss up as to which sides third rates would strike first.

HMS Africa is encircled by enemy ships as she bravely fights her own battle with the enemy van

That said the Nelsonian approach of getting in close and hitting very hard seemed to be well replicated by Black Seas and as well as giving a very entertaining day's play produced a very hard fought battle with the result only going in one direction but leaving both fleets looking in the state depicted by the great marine artist of the period, Nicholas Pocock, and of course nature and her weather would have the final say in the result. 

Our game towards the close with a mass melee of opposing ships as the order breaks into disorder mimicking the look of a Nicholas Pocock picture from the time. 

Thus ended a day of firsts, my first Trafalgar game, the first time the collection had been out in battle on the table, my first visit to Warlord Games and my first game of Black Seas.

Tim's 32-pounder ball with shoe for scale, which only leaves one with a feeling of awe for the men that had to move these things around under fire.

Thank you to James Wright (Vice Admiral Villeneuve), his Spanish second in command Thomas Pottage (Admiral Gravina and my generous opponent for the day), My Lord, Vice Admiral Nelson (the suitably named Christopher Nelson) who went above and beyond to appear in period costume and of course Gabrio Tolentino and Tim Bancroft who performed magnificently in herding the cats and helping our game to roll along in such a splendid fashion and with Tim bringing along his 32-pounder cannon ball which as well as giving me a near hernia when lifted produced huge respect for those men on the lower decks of a first rate having to manhandle one of those projectiles down the barrel of a gun in action.

Thank you to the folks who added to our game by coming along and watching it unfold, taking time to chat wargaming stuff and just adding to the fun of the day and of course to the folks at Warlord Games who made us very welcome during our visit.

Pocock's depiction of the close of Trafalgar seems to capture well the state of a lot of our ships after our day of battle, but of course in the best traditions of wargaming no one was hurt and everyone had a fun day.

Finally, not forgetting what this collection is all about and with future plans to put on more games like this with it to support our veterans, I availed myself of the limited edition Lucky Jack figurine as a memento of the day and a contribution to Combat Stress.

My Lucky Jack figure will make a nice distraction from the normal painting routine and will feature in a future post.

The original plan for the day had been to livestream the game on Twitch but there were technical difficulties that prevented that, but there are several great video clips of the game on the Warlord Facebook Page together with more pictures of the game.

Facebook - Warlord Games Black Seas and Black Powder

In addition I gather there will be a video compilation of the game to come and if you would like to see more now you can check out a short video I recorded of our game in progress, below.

Once again, many thanks to all involved in our 'big game' and here's looking forward to future events.

Next up, I'm working on some small ship additions to the 'All at Sea' collection with some Spanish and French Schooners and Cutters, plus I've been battlefield exploring with Mr Steve, so a post to come covering our little expedition back to the English Civil War and the Prayer Book Rebellion, and I have another book review from my ancients library.