Kiss Me Hardy/To Covet Glory - JJ's Game Specific Items

 

Whilst posting about recent games played using Kiss Me Hardy and To Covet Glory, I've had a few questions about the kit I tend to use with my games and recently I've added some new materials, so I thought I would highlight my preferred way of playing these rules and some of the ideas I've come up with to streamline play and make things as easy as possible for the players to just concentrate on moving the models and rolling bones.

Of course these are just rules of play, the old fashioned kind, with none of the fancy tokens and other components you get with some more modern offerings, but I guess 'just rules' understates the fact that they more than make up for that lack of modern day presentation, but they do, in my humble opinion, need a little preparation, which to my eye means personalisation.

All the kit in use during our Cape St Vincent Anniversary Game - On the table is the Wind Compass Rose, extra wind arrow, turning circles, wind gauge acetates, broadside gauge, activation chits and ship record sheets. plus rules quick reference sheets.

This preparation is important, whether you intend to play small, single ship actions and definitely larger ones, as a game is easily spoilt by a lack of items to make the play seamless and flowing and allow the players to simply get on with play, easily able to record damage, indicate that which would be observed by the enemy and all done in a timely way that gets as many turns of play into your game as possible, whilst keeping the granularity, context and story telling that KMH generates in buckets.

Carl von Clausewitz
The Philosopher of Lard and inventor of Wargaming Marmite
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_von_Clausewitz

For example the principle method of deciding who gets to do what and the order of when events happen in the game is card driven, harking back to dear old Carl von Clausewitz' description of war being the closest thing to a game of cards, in terms of its unpredictability, and all the associated 'friction', the marmite of wargaming, you either love or it seems in some cases hate.

The most basic requirement for a game of Kiss Me Hardy, generic activation chits, order tokens used in single ship actions and TCG games and sail/mast damage markers, to which I would also add strike test and struck markers. I have modified still further the sail/mast damage markers by indicating on it which mast has been lost (bowsprit, fore, main, mizzen and all/dismasted). These appear on the model rather than debris and show all players the damage carried and can be used to show which broadside is masked for firing (dismasted ship firing -1 modifier).

I love friction, and the problems it creates to a well laid plan, but I don't like shuffling cards, probably down to having small perfectly formed hands, definitely designed by Devine providence for painting and detailing small models and figures but sadly useless for playing cricket and especially shuffling cards. 

My Ship Record Sheets are designed to tie in with my markers, with two sets of broadside gun boxes shown bottom left, starboard and port, when hit on either side requiring multiples of two or more guns being lost, we mark off the same number of boxes with one less on the other broadside to indicate accumulated damage. Likewise should a mast go down the mast damage markers can be placed to show which broadside gets the -1 firing modifier to represent rigging covering gun ports.

The answer is chits or tokens, drawn from a bag. No need to shuffle anything, because at the end of blindly drawing the game tokens from said bag, you simply gather them all in and draw blindly again, creating a fast play turn around of game turns, so important when administering large fleet actions with multiple commanders and ships.

Mast Damage and Strike Test counters placed on the ship bases during play, to remind players which ships require to take a strike test and should they fail it, simply flip it over to reveal a struck marker, and sail damage, now refined to show which mast is down, and can be placed on the base side to indicate which broadside suffers a negative fire effect when firing, as I now record damage to both broadsides separately on my Ship Record Sheets. These have gone through a few incarnations and I back to back my strike counters, fiddly I know, but it saves time and messing about during a game and once done is done. The markers are deliberately small and discreet. The game is about featuring those lovely model ships from Warlord, not the markers. Aesthetics dear boy Aesthetics!

To compliment my chits, I have created a basic generic set of counters on a pdf, designed to fit and simply stuck on a 32mm diameter by 2mm mdf laser cut disc, which I paint with acrylic green (general events), blue (others fire and move) or red (British fire and move), creating the set seen above, and used to create battle specific sets seen in the picture below that require additional named commanders on the chits plus other additions, such as 'England Expects' and Admiral chits for activating signals.

The rest of the kit includes stuff common to other Age of Sail rule sets. The Wind Compass Rose and Acrylic Turn Circles, bottom right are available from Warbases and make a nice touch to any game. The Wind Attitude Diagram, bottom left, has been copied to acetate and is simply placed over the foremast of a model, lining the forward bow/quarter line with it with the wind arrow, above it, placed alongside the model in line with the Wind Compass to check attitude to wind, if in doubt. At some stage I will get an acrylic version of this from one of the mdf folks. At top are my battle specific chits all bagged up and my broadside gauge, see below.

With the chits and markers came the need to produce a simple Ship Record Sheet, see the example above from our recent game of the Action off Start Point in 1793, that is generic in layout, easily stored in Excel, but that can turn out the stats for any ship using KMH or TCG and with all the factors that that ship will use when firing, testing morale and moving all brought together from the rules and on it for ease of use when playing.

Warbases - Kiss Me Hardy Turning Templates
Warbases - Compass Rose

Nymphe and Cléopâtre slugging it out in a recent game, with the former shown here bow raking the
latter and seeing a 'strike test' counter placed on Cléopâtre's base to remind us that she needs to test when the Strike chit is drawn, which if passed, as she did in this case, you remove it, if failed, you turn it over to reveal the enemy ship has struck her colours. Note the Warbase turning template in the background.

 

One aspect I was keen to alter slightly in my adaptation of KMH was the Firing Solution calculation for judging a full, partial or raking broadside, as I wasn't entirely happy with the idea in the original rules of using the body of the model, bow and stern to measure out the 15 degree angle of fire, or the raking assessment of a full on ninety degree plus or minus two degrees either side of the firing ship to stern of a target ship.

Arc of fire illustration - British Frigate vs French Frigate, Mark Lardas, Peter Dennis (Osprey)

This is all subjective I know, as we need a contrivance to allow for gun captains angling their cannons as shown above, that provides a common method of assessing a fire solution that is easy for the players to calculate at a glance but with an easy check to confirm should that be necessary.

My Broadside Gauge adopted and adapted from the old rule set
Form Line of Battle by Stephen Harrison and Robin Peck

I used to play a very simple but fun set of fast play age of sail game, Form Line of Battle, by Stephen Harrison and Robin Peck, which I still have my original copy of, published in 1987. 

It came with a set of simple items on card that you could cut out for use with the game that included the Broadside Gauge you see above, and which I have used in countless other games over the years to decide broadside and raking solutions, purely for its simplicity and to me seemingly reasonable representation of this kind of naval firing.

The Broadside Gauge in use in our Cape St Vincent game, seen top centre placed alongside HMS Culloden as the British assess an early broadside opportunity. If in doubt the laser is used to extend the line out to the potential target.

So the two angles measured out from a single point represent the arc of fire for a broadside to broadside 30 degree fire solution and a broadside to stern or bow rake, 20 degree solution with the centre point placed alongside the mainmast for broadside to broadside looking to have the mainmast of the target in the 30 degree angle for a potential broadside shot and with the stern or bow within the 20 degree angle for a rake.

My Target Lock laser pen, Mr Steve picked up for me at Firestorm Games in Cardiff. This is a really useful piece of kit for any naval game where firing can be quite often at long ranges and the need to check the angle over distance.

Having the full length of the target's base within the broadside arc determines whether it is a full broadside, with just the mainmast but only part of the ships base in angle determining a partial one.

For deciding the range to the target, I take mainmast to mainmast as the measure for a broadside and mainmast to the centre of the stern or bow of the model, with the whole length of the model in the arc for a rake with the additional requirement that rakes can only be delivered at short or point-blank range.

Close up, the fire solution assessment is very easily judged by looking, but for a ranged shot where the angle is in doubt the use of the old laser 'Target Lock' comes in really handy, by running the line out from the gauge held over the firing ship's mainmast to the target and is another piece of important kit that is always in my bag for these games.

Finally I come to my most recent addition to my kit and by no means less important, my brand spanking new range sticks, that will make tape measures being used to assess the range to the target redundant.

My new range sticks for Kiss Me Hardy

When running my Talavera project a few years ago using the fantastic Napoleonic computer moderated rules Carnage & Glory, I very much appreciated the range sticks we used using pdf markers produced by the rules author Mr Nigel Marsh affixed to pine wood strips, that saved so much time calling out gun and musket ranges to be input on the computer during combat calculations.

Ok so KMH doesn't need a computer to run things, but hey Nigel, if you're reading this, what about Carnage & Glory at Sea?

Anyway, the beauty of KMH is its simplicity of design in that gunnery is a case of find the range to determine the die score needed to hit, which remains a constant. The only thing that modifies the chance to hit is the number of dice you roll, based on number of guns, crew quality, first fire and other such factors.

So I now have my range sticks delineated into range bands with the die score required indicated, point blank 2 or more, short 3 or more etc.

The great  thing is that KMH ranges extend to forty centimetres and the pine wood finishing strips I picked up from my hardware store come in 240mm long x 16mm wide x 5mm thick, lengths that perfectly facilitated the production of six sticks, spray panted black and then sticking on my prepared range bandwidths, on both sides, as there is nothing more annoying than picking up a range stick only to find you are looking at the blank side and wasting time, twiddling it over.

Kiss Me Hardy - Facebook Page

If you like the ideas I've come up with to create my KMH kit then you can download the PDFs of my chit designs, markers and range stick graduations in the pdfs I've put together which I will post here and on the Kiss Me Hardy Facebook page, and feel free to grab the jpeg of the Broadside Gauge if you so wish.

JJ's Kiss Me Hardy PDFs - Chits, Markers & Range Sticks

Above all, I hope these ideas will help improve your Kiss Me Hardy games and get more ships out on the table.

JJ

Small Ship Actions - Devon Wargames Group

 

This weekend I 've been having lots of fun messing about with the small ships play testing some scenarios I've been working on and getting the pleasure of seeing how they play with lots of new ideas added into the rules we've been using, Kiss Me Hardy and To Covet Glory.

These historical small ship encounters are really fun to play and the detail from William James' accounts of them throw up lots of factors to try and include to challenge the players with factors their real life counterparts had to deal with before getting to grips with the enemy.

The three games were quite distinctive and recreating actions fought in the first year of the Revolutionary War with France, featuring a classic frigate duel, a chase in the Caribbean between a small packet ship and a privateer schooner flying the 'red flag', no quarter given signal, and finally a night action fought off the north coast of Spain.

With only a couple of models on the table the 1:700th scale comes into its own by providing presence, that many empty sea naval games struggle to offer when compared with terrain heavy large figure games on land.

 

However I think these small historic scenarios provide buckets of drama and in a very small way put the players on the quarter deck deciding the next order to issue to the helmsmen.

If you would like to know more and see how our games turned out then just follow the link to the club blog below.

Devon Wargames Group - Small Ship Actions 1793

Battle of Cape St Vincent 14th February 1794 - 225th Anniversary Game at the DWG

 

At 1004, on the 14th February 1797, the day having dawned fine but misty, the British frigate La Minerve signalled that there were twenty sail, bearing south-west. This was followed at 1030 by a conclusive report, proving that the main Spanish fleet was present, when the Bonne Citoyenne signalled 'Strange sail seen are of the line'.

Admiral Sir John 'Jervie' Jervis
Aged 64, a veteran of fifty years by the time of Cape St Vincent and
a 'fighting admiral', having masterminded the naval side of the
combined operation to capture Martinique in 1794.
JJ's Wargames - By Fire and Bayonet, Grey's West Indies Campaign
A hardworking disciplinarian, expecting the same dedication from his subordinates,
but with a softer side having replaced £6 in spoiled notes at his own expense
 (five months pay) to a sailor who had left them in his washing.

As all the signals arrived on the flagship, HMS Victory, they were passed on verbally to Admiral Jervis by his Captain of the Fleet, Robert Calder, leading to a famous exchange:

'There are eight sail of the line, Sir John.'

'Very well, Sir.'

'There are twenty sail of the line, Sir John.'

'Very well, Sir.'

'There are twenty-five sail of the line, Sir John.'

'Very well, Sir.'

The hesitant Calder persisted:

'There are twenty-seven sail of the line, Sir John.'

Then adding to emphasise his point,

'Near twice our own number.'

'Enough Sir!'

came the sharp rebuke,

'The die is cast and if there are fifty sail I will go through them!'

Last Saturday I joined friends at the Devon Wargames Group to play a game that I have long wanted to have a go at running, the Battle of Cape St Vincent, the climactic battle between the navies of Great Britain and Spain fought off the Portuguese south-western cape that lends its name to the battle.

The Beatles and the Rolling Stones of their day. Sir John Jervis cleared out the 'dead wood' under his command of the Mediterranean Squadron and formed the nursery of the future commanders of the Royal Navy which helps illustrate why this British fleet was the elite in the navy of that time.

To provide background to this game I have uploaded a series of posts in recent days looking at the wider campaign situation that resulted in the battle together with my planning and preparation for the rules and the translation of the historical set up to the tabletop and if you missed those posts you can follow them in the links below.

JJ's Wargames - The Planning and Preparation for the 225th Anniversary Game of Cape St Vincent Part II

JJ's Wargames - The Planning and Preparation for 225th Anniversary Game of Cape St Vincent Part I

JJ's Wargames - The St Vincent Campaign, October 1796 to February 1797

This game is a big one when it comes to this period of naval warfare, and the challenges of size increase when you decide to play it in 1:700th, but I think when you see the models on the table, the scale offers so much in terms of the visual effect of naval gaming in the 'grand manner' to use my favourite 'Gilderism'.

The planning and prep for the game included the map work seen below which I translated on to my table at home, so I had a pretty good idea how the set up should look, but I wasn't entirely sure of the table dimensions and took along two 10 x 5 foot cloths to permit 'going large' to allow for the full deployment of the British fifteen ship approach column.

With both fleets initially operating with a bow wind, table length wasn't my concern but more so the width once the Spanish turned with the wind to try and get back to Cadiz along the approach route of the British.

In the end we set up a 12 x 6 foot table and spread both cloths over it to give as much width as the human arm could manage and a bit extra on the ends for table space for dice, rules and marker as seen below once everything was set up.

Our 12' x 6' table laid out and ready to go 

In fact the extra width allowed the British column to arrange itself along the North East corner which made bringing the new arrivals on in line ahead very straight forward.

The table seen from the south with the Spanish set up nearest to camera

Our usual club routine sees as starting setting up at about 10.30am and playing through to about 16.30 to 16.45 leaving plenty of time for a pint afterwards, but for this game we had the building opened up by 09.30, started at about 10.00 and played through until about 17.45, and had a late pint in the pub.

Bob gets our game underway as Vice Admiral Moreno aboard Principe de Asturias and getting the first movement chit out of the bag, and immediately turns to starboard in accordance with the signal received. This as Cordoba greets HMS Culloden with a ranging shot.

The first stage of an historical scenario is always interesting to see what the players will do with the positions handed to them by, in this case, Messrs. Jervis and Cordoba, and as soon as the first orders chits appeared, both commanders took the opportunity to run their signal flags aloft to inform their respective juniors of their new headings and objectives.

Likewise Cordoba and Morales in the leading group, turn onto the heading for Cadiz.

Jervis on the other hand had decided to dispatch Parker with his Van Squadron to deal with Moreno as he led the rest of the fleet towards Cordoba's approaching gaggle.. The lead British ship, Culloden has just turned onto her new heading, south, centre top of picture.

The respective  positions of the various squadron groupings that would come to characterise our recreation of this famous battle started to take shape within the first three turns as Rear-Admiral Parker had his leash slipped by Jervis and happily obeyed his signal, 'Engage the Enemy more closely' freeing him to wade in among Moreno's group of five opposing Spanish with his squadron of three, Culloden 74-guns, Blenheim and Prince George, both 98-guns.

Likewise the Spanish commander took an early decision to order a new heading for the fleet to the NW and on to Cadiz, thus bludgeoning his way through the British that were in the way, bringing on a general engagement across the battle area as the groups met earlier than in the historical fight.

The two main fleets approach as in the background Parker and Moreno's lead ships have opened fire on each other

The battle commences as Captain Troughbridge orders HMS Culloden 74-guns to open fire on Moreno's flagship, Principe de Asturias 112-guns as the Oriente 74-guns on her starboard side replies with San Firmin 74-guns close astern.

Perhaps the rather aggressive stance taken by both opposing command teams is typical of wargamers, but the need to wear down an opponent with accurate gunnery, before closing to melee or boarding as it would be known at sea, applies equally to land and sea battles of this period.

Thus the Spanish may be of poorer quality in combat terms, but there are a lot of them and the task is not to beat them all but to beat enough of them to make the others sail away in disorder, thus making it easier to defeat the trailing retreaters individually.

The map above helps show the progression of our game as the Spanish made an early change of course NE as Jervis split his squadrons to attack each group only to see the wind shift and the swell to increase as the battle developed. The most badly damaged ships at the close are illustrated with the San Fermin having struck after being boarded.

So for example, Admiral Parker found Admiral Moreno more than ready and able for the little battle that developed in the south, and although the San Fermin fell to boarding, the British prize crew soon found themselves desperately looking to get ready to defend their prize at the close because Moreno was not forced to break off and was still very much in the fight.

The Spanish have turned as Jervis splits his squadrons to tackle each of their groups

HMS Culloden in Rear-Admiral Parker's squadron (Jack) bore the brunt of the initial exchanges as born out by the damage she had taken by the close. Three gun boxes knocked out on her starboard side indicate the direction of the fire she received from Principe de Asturias. Her port (larboard battery have used their initial broadside (red box on 'PORT'), in her firing back at the line of Spanish 74's that passed her on the other tack.

In the main central battle, the decision to sail the British squadrons down either side of the Spanish gaggle meant that the lead British ships were subjected to fire from fresh enemy opponents as they moved slowly along their line, causing ever increasing levels of damage as they got nearer to the big Spanish three deckers at the back.

Yes the Spanish were suffering as well but the battle had turned into one of attrition allowing Spanish numbers to have an effect they would not have had, had the British attack simply fallen on a specific part of their gaggle, quickly disposed of several of their ships, and broken the fleet morale to resist further attacks.

The fight between Parker and Moreno developed into a separate little battle in its own right 

Moreno's flagship, shows the benefit of the sturdy three decker's ability to absorb damage, with 29 hull hits but still only well in the light damage category of the 15% morale loss level on her Damage record.

The firing becomes general and close in.

With both fleets committed to their orders the attritional battle, typical of an AWI action started to play out, only made worse from a British perspective by a change in wind further round to the north that forced the British to tack, or for those with smashed bowsprits, turn away, followed later by a 'Turning Choppy' chit that saw the test produce an increased Atlantic swell forcing the lower gun ports to close.

The San Firmin, one of the three 74's in Moreno's group bore the brunt of R. Adm. Parker's attack
and in her desperate state was an easy target for boarding, once softened up. Note both her batteries have used their initial broadsides in her desperate defence.

The effects of the swell on the gunnery was probably the worse thing to happen from a British perspective, further reducing their gunnery advantage, seeing the two-deckers gunnery dice halved and the three deckers reduced by a third.

Admiral Jervis (Lawrence) on HMS Victory 100-guns, closest to camera leads the fleet against Vice Admiral Cordoba's (Paul) main group of ships as Irresistible 74-guns and Goliath 74-guns, immediately ahead open fire.

If that wasn't bad enough, the Spanish then decided to start rolling their d10's in such away that the most outrageous critical hits were being scored against their British opponents, just as the British started to miss with their responding d10's, which saw several British masts and wheels go over the side, and unbelievably a gun-burst on one British ship causing it five damage points rather than any hurt to the enemy. 

Captain James Saumarez, commanded HMS Orion that was in the van position of Jervis's squadron as it proceeded down the starboard side of Cordoba's main group of ships exchanging fire at medium to long range in an increasing swell that forced the closing of the lower gun-ports on her starboard side.

The frigate HMS Lively 32-guns, tacks as Vice Admiral Thompson's (Steve M) squadron obey Jervis' signal to cross the Spanish and turn alongside their larboard side, under Vice Admiral Morales (David) with HMS Egmont 74-guns leading Goliath 74-guns and Thompson's flagship Britannia 100-guns following.

The reduced gunnery also affected the rate of damage being inflicted particularly at the close ranges, and in situations where potentially Spanish ships may well have struck in more normal seas, they were able to sail on with more moderate damage and continue the fight.

HMS Colossus was the second ship in Jervis' squadron behind Orion and displays a similar damage profile, all be it an unfortunate critical hit at medium range from the Spanish return fire that took down her fore mast and has reduced her speed accordingly, although the bow wind meant the British were moving slowly anyway.

Thus it was that our British commanders were looking a little punch drunk and on the ropes as our Spanish commanders were not quite believing their luck, and with the battle very much on but very much undecided as the last few hours of our day approached.

HMS Irresistible was the third ship in Jervis' line with Victory close astern and took the brunt of Spanish fire, once they had got their 'eye in' practicing on Colossus, again causing a critical hit on the British 74 removing her bowsprit and inflicting high officer casualties on the quarterdeck. The lost bowsprit meant no tacking which limited the her choices of manoeuvre.

Intermingled ships as Moreno and Parker grapple each other and the San Firmin falls to British boarders

The Prince George was in the thick of the exchanges between his and Moreno's small squadron and the firing was very close which minimised the effects of the closed gun ports caused by the heavy swell. As with Moreno's Principe de Asturias, the three decker shows her ability to absorb the knocks that would stagger a 74-gunner.

However a closer look at the state of the respective fleets and the damage caused at the end revealed an interesting picture that would have rewarded a second day playing our game to a conclusion.

The morale states of the respective fleets meant that despite their numbers Spanish morale is brittle with an 11 PPV (Preservation Point Value) for the fleet as a whole versus 19 PPV to the British, meaning that with the loss of three three-deckers (9 PPV) and a two decker (2 PPV) the Spanish would likely break off the battle long before the British reached a similar state.

Broken down by command, it shows Cordoba's group likely breaking off on the loss of three three deckers ((9 PPV) or five two deckers (10 PPV) or a combination of the two and Moreno's group only losing a three decker (3 PPV) or two of its two deckers (4 PPV) to cause a test to break off, which would effect Cordoba's group.

Moreno had already lost a two decker at the close and boarding attacks were in play on others of his command, whilst Nelson and Collingwood were ranging in on the battered third-rates of Cordoba's group as our game ended

Moreno's ships attempt to use their numbers to make up for their lack of quality by massing against Parkers little group of three ships, with their five which includes two three deckers on both sides.

The battle in the centre becomes general and British masts and bowsprits start to fall as Spanish fire proves unerringly accurate.

HMS Egmont 74-guns was the lead ship in in Vice-Admiral Thompson's line as it passed along the larboard side of Cordoba's main group. Arriving later into the fight than Jervis' squadron ahead in the line, she shows less damage than Orion, Colossus and Irresistible, but bears the mark of the Spanish gunnery in our game with her helm dismantled early in the first exchanges of gunfire.

The mass of Spanish ships seen from the larboard side of Cordoba's and Morales' main group with the British attack developing along each side seen ahead.

On further consideration of the state of play at the close of the game, I was able to do a victory point calculation based on a simple, 'how well have I done', victory check I had prepared should we have ended the game with or without a conclusion.

The Spanish weren't having it all their way as the damage log for Conquestada 74-guns leading the starboard group in Cordoba's gaggle of 17 ships and taking on the leading three 74s of Jervis' squadron.
Her larboard gun battery is smashed up and her mizzen mast is gone, testament to the accuracy of the British fire

Close astern of the Conquestada was San Ildefonso which was next to receive British softening up, slightly less damaged than her comrade.

It's the end of the day for us at about 17.45 and the table is tidied up to show where our game was stopped, with battle well and truly underway but sadly no more time to conclude matters.

The Terrible was tucked in close behind the Conquestada and San Ildefonso and has had her guns take apart by British fire as well as losing her helm early on in the exchanges of fire.

Our end table seen from the north and the main battle. The two British 74's seen heading south-east (left of picture) are Nelson's Captain, followed by Collingwood's Excellent looking to head off the escaping though battered Spanish ships, Conquestada, San Ildefonso and Terrible.

The leading Spanish ships though damaged look likely to be able to break off should they choose, but the British lines on either side are working their way toward Morales and Cordoba's flagships and Nelson and Collingwood are preparing a greeting for these chaps in the centre of the picture.

That victory point calculation revealed the following:

My victory assessment awards a value for each ship in the battle based on its hull size x 5 and then adds or deducts points for being outnumbered, damaged or running away, based on a sovereignty rating to deduct points for disgrace

The damage recieved and the loss of the San Firmin reduced the Spanish tally by 55 points

Despite their problems the British were making progress increasing their points tally by 22 thanks to the taking of the San Firmin, but with still plenty of work to be done.

Still very much undecided at game end, the battle between Parker and Moreno. 

I know it is often felt unsatisfying to leave a game with the decision point undecided and I may well come back to this game and refight it over two days at Chez JJ when time permits, but on the other hand I rather like the way this shows how very much a battle like Cape St Vincent could have turned out very differently had not Jervis played very much to his strengths and to the enemy's weakness.

That and a good helping of Nelsonic genius.

The Spanish were not the power they had been in previous centuries, but in large numbers were still a force to be reckoned with as most British commentators of the time have remarked, noting how determined Spanish crews were to defend themselves when under attack.

Our game was definite tick on the 'old bucket list ' of games I have wanted to do for a very long time and I can only thank my friends and fellow DWG club members for making it such a memorable and well played game that typifies how the club like to play.

Thank you to Paul (Vice Admiral Cordoba), David (Vice Admiral Morales), Bob (Vice Admiral Moreno), Lawrence (Admiral Jervis), Jack (Rear Admiral Parker), Steve M (Vice Admiral Thompson and Waldegrave's Squadron) and John (Commodore Nelson) the latter having a very quiet game, only getting into action right at the end and who I now owe a very special place in the next game to make up.

If you would like to watch a ten minute compilation of pictures and video clips from our game illustrating how the models were being activated, fired and moved, using Kiss Me Hardy, then just click on the link below.

Cheers

JJ