Battle of Camperdown - The Leeward Division Attacks, Kiss Me, Hardy at the Devon Wargames Group

Last weekend I took the Camperdown collection to the Devon Wargames Group's first March meeting to run The Leeward Division Scenario, I played last month at Chez JJ with Mike and Jack using Far Distant Ships (FDS).

If you missed our playthrough of this scenario using FDS then follow the link below.
JJ's Wargames - Battle of Camperdown - The Leeward Division Attacks, Far Distant Ships

The initial plan had been to do something similar at club with a few additional ideas I had had since that game, but as always the plan changes on first contact and with more folks wanting to play than I had planned for and FDS, being a fleet level game better suited to fewer commanders, I opted to play this time using Kiss Me, Hardy (KMH) better suited to handle multiple players and offering an opportunity to compare and contrast with the FDS game.

My KMH Ship Record Cards (SRC's) have become my standard way of 
recording ship damage during my KMH games and are fairly easy to
pull together and store in a laminated format so they can be used again any time
I want to play a given scenario or big-battle.

It just so happened that during the odd evening when on holiday in Madeira, the previous week, I had time to sit down and pull the Camperdown Ship Record Cards together and thus they were ready for this game and so with a quick bit of printing and laminating when I got home everything was set up to go. 

The chaps all set up to play with their KMH Ship Record Cards seen along the table edge ready to record the firing and damage results.

Needless to say much fun was had by all, and all six players had plenty to do managing their various commands during the game.

The difference in play between KMH and FDS is very noticeable, with the former very good at capturing the feel of a naval battle from this period at the level of ships captain's, commodores and commanders of small squadrons such as this, with lots of narrative and individual ship drama that has become very familiar with the multiple games I have played using them.

FDS on the other hand gives a much better simulation of commanding one or multiple squadrons from the point of view of a flag officer looking to put his command in the optimal position to best allow his captains to fight their individual battles, only enhanced with more squadrons and bigger fleets on the table.

Both rules and the games they produce are in my opinion only enhanced by playing them with these larger models, seemingly emphasising the drama of the battle being portrayed no matter at what level of command the players are involved with.

The battle gets going at last weekend's DWG club meeting

I have put together an AAR of our game on the Devon Club Blog, link below, with thoughts about the comparison between KMH and FDS, where you can follow the drama of our play and during which produced an interesting twist that enhanced the performance of the Batavians versus our first run through of this scenario.

Devon Wargames Group - Camperdown, Attack of the Leeward Division, 'Kiss Me, Hardy'

All in all, I came away thoroughly content that I think I've found two sets of rules that allow for the sweet spot for a particular size of game with multiple players to be catered for as required allowing me much more flexibility around player numbers and time to play any given scenario or big battle, without losing the drama and narrative I look for in a good game.

More anon

JJ