Since it's October, that means it's time for another Broadsides! convention. This year though, because of changes in the management of the Battleship Texas, we had to find another place for the convention at the last minute. Fortunately, the convention organizer found another venue that is almost as good as the battleship: The Houston Maritime Museum.
It is a small, but very nice facility and their website is: https://houstonmaritime.org/ . Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of their exhibits as I was busy running and playing games. If, however, you are in Houston I recommend taking the time to visit. They have a 1/48 scale model of HMS Victory that is so nice that I wondered if I could sneak it out under my shirt! No, I didn't try. 🙄 What I will try is to go back and get some pictures, even if they are only of her.
Since the convention was starting over in a new location, I decided to revisit the scenario I ran from the very first Broadsides; a scenario I call "Jamaica Mistake." It is a what-if scenario based on the idea that, instead of missing the Jamaica Convoy in the fog during the War of 1812, John Rodgers and his US Navy squadron find a section of the convoy. All players are on the US side, and the object is to be the player with the largest amount of prize money when the scenario is over. There are British escorts but they don't show up until after someone starts shooting. Even then, the actual ship and its entry point are randomized so that I (playing the British) don't know exactly what I will get.
Since the scenario starts with a visibility range of 200 yards (6 inches), there are no ships on the table. Instead, there are blinds that may or may not be a merchantman and the US entry is randomized for each ship entering on the table edge.
Not as pretty as I'd originally hoped. |
The idea was that each of those black rectangles would be wooden blocks, painted gray, with a discreet number on the back so I could match them to ships. Well, since I waited till the last night to make them, my mini table-saw blade gave out. I then discovered that I couldn't cut a straight line with a Dremel tool attachment. Consequently, I got some craft foam out of the closet and used that.
Not every one of those squares is a ship; in fact, only about half of them are. The rest are shadows in the fog, false sightings and the like. The only way for players to tell was to get within visibility range and actually see what is there. To make things more fun, the visibility can change every turn. In the Post Captain rules, you roll a D12 every turn and that is the visibility in yards.
There were only two players, so they drew their ships at random. One player drew USS President and came in from the top short edge of the table. The other drew USS Argus and came in from the opposite short edge.
President from one short edge |
Argus from the other |
The first couple of phases (remember: for Post Captain there are three one-minute phases in a turn) were not good for either US player. They discovered that some of the blinds were just empty ocean. By the end of the blue phase though, they had started finding some targets.
Merchantman: "Oh. Uh, hello." |
I'm blaming any blurry photos on the "fog". Yeah, that's it. . . . |
Luckily for the Americans, the visibility went from 200 yards (6 inches) to 800 yards (24 inches) at the end of the turn. This made everything but the center of the table visible, and let the commander of President realize that the entire convoy was coming right at him.
The fog begins to lift. |
As the game sped up, my picture taking began to be a bit more erratic. Everything that came within range of President decided that surrender was the wisest option, but the ship that Hornet sighted decided to try and run. A single broadside from Argus was enough to make that merchant change her mind, but it also let the escorts know that something was wrong. I rolled, and it would take one of the escorts three turns to reach the table. Argus' merchantman had decided to surrender, but once the US captain saw the other ships ahead of him he simply sailed right past heading for the other prizes.
We wound up calling this a "naval drive-by." |
At the end of this turn, another player came by a put down a Broadside Token.
If a player puts one down, it lets him redo a die roll, or force another player to re-roll their dice. If an onlooker puts one down, the game master has to modify something on the next turn. As I was going crazy trying to keep my makeshift blinds associated with the right ships, I decided that next turn the fog would lift and everything on the table could be seen.
In fact, President was in danger of running out of ship's boats.
"You bring that BACK when you're done, Midshipman," |
The watchdog arrives. |
I had planned on covering the entire convention in one post, but looking at the length of this one battle report makes it clear that I can't pull it off. So, I'll talk about the rest of the games I played as part II.
Interesting scenario and original. Good job. Some good fun at sea. 😀
ReplyDeleteThanks. I get tired of the usual "line 'em up and shoot" scenarios we usually get at conventions, so like to try something different. Fortunately I had a couple of players who also like oddball situations. I was afraid that there wouldn't be enough combat, but it all worked out pretty well.
DeleteGreat fun looking convention game!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks, Iain. I had a good time, but more importantly, the players did too.
ReplyDelete