Battle on the Beach

After a fierce battle at sea, a group of English Buccaneers had forced a Spanish merchantmen to run aground in order to avoid capture. The plan backfired on the Spanish captain however when heavy seas caused the merchantman to break up, causing it’s valuable cargo to be washed ashore.

A nearby group of French Buccaneers witnessed the Spanish wreck and moved toward the beach to claim what they could. The English vessel began approaching the shoreline at the same time to salvage what they could. With neither Buccaneer force willing to yield, a battle for the washed up goods ensued!

The scenario played was control the field. The objective in this scenario is to control 2 more objective points than the opposing force. The English deployed from the sea aboard their Sloop and it’s longboat and the French deployed along the edge of the jungle.

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Turn 1

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During the first turn, the English vessels approach the shore as the French move toward the beach. Musket fire is exchanged between English Freebooters aboard the sloop and the Boucaniers resulting in the boucaniers taking a single casualty and point of fatigue. At the end of the turn, the English sloop wheeled around revealing it’s larboard broadside to the beach and loosing a broadside that ended the advance of 3 of the Flibustiers and causing the unit to take 2 points of fatigue.

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Turn 2

The English Forlorn hope hit the beach and disembark from their longboat. They exchange volleys with the Boucaniers, who’s superior marksmen ship leaves one of the Forlorn Hope face down in the waves. The French Commander rallies his unit of Flibustiers and command them and the nearby Freebooters to fire on the approaching unit of Forlorn Hope. The combined fire proceeds cut down the 5 remaining Forlorn hope, eliminating the unit! the crew aboard the sloop continues toward shore while loosing musket and cannon volleys which eliminate 3 of models from the unit of Les Enfants Perdus and causing them a point of fatigue. Meanwhile, the Freebooters fighting on the French side run up to the beach and prepare to board the longboat left behind by the Forlorn Hope.

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 Turn 3

The French continue to advance up the beach in an attempt to hold the objectives. The Freebooters fighting on the French side capture the English longboat and begin sailing up the beach toward the English Sloop letting off a musket volley that failed to score any hits as they approached. The English, now without a longboat, are forced to run their ship aground in order to disembark their units and capture their plunder. The sloop slams against the sandbar and grounds to a halt, but takes only minor damage. More shots are exchanged between the two forces but to no effect.

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Turn 4

The English Freebooters and Sea Dogs disembark from their sloop and exchange volleys with the Les Enfants Perdus and Flibustiers. This results in the Enfants Perdus taking 2 casualties and the Sea Dogs taking 2, but the Sea Dogs failed all of their resolve rolls and end up shaken with 3 fatigue and running away! The French aligned Freebooters sail their longboat adjacent to the objective and the Boucaniers advance toward some of the washed up cargo and both loose volleys on the Sea Dogs which cause no casualties but cause yet another point of fatigue, pushing the Sea Dogs near the breaking point! At the end of the turn, the French are controlling 2 of the 3 objective, causing the English to take a strike point. However, due to the amount of casualties taken by both sides, no strike test is taken. The French must take a lead in the casualties in order to convince the English Commander that enough is enough!

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Turn 5

Gaining the initiative would be crucial for the English this turn. The Enfants Perdus where in position to advance and begin tossing their grenadoes into the bunched up English units which could have been the end of this battle. Thankfully for the English commander though, they gained the initiative! The English Freebooters loosed a devastating volley on the Enfants Perdus, causing 2 casualties and leaving them with just 2 models and 2 fatigue, reducing their action count sufficiently to allow the 2 remaining models to throw their grenadoes. The English commander also rallied the Sea Dogs who where now ready to get back into the fight. The remaining French units held their positions and fired several volleys on the English Freebooters which caused a few casualties and some fatigue but not enough to have any significant effect. The English Sea Dogs advanced in preparation for an assault in the following turn.

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Turn 6

As the first move of the sixth and final turn, the two remaining Enfants Perdus advance into a small wood and hastily prepare 2 grenadoes to toss into the unit of Sea Dogs in order to attempt to halt their advance but luck is not on their side! It seems they where a bit too hasty in prepping their grenadoes as both of them went off before the Frenchmen could get them airborne, causing the last 2 models in the unit to be blown to pieces! The English seized this opportunity and directed all of their pistol and musket fire toward the French aligned Englishmen in the longboat, who where at this point within grappling distance of the sloop. The hail of fire caused several casualties and caused the unit to become shaken, stopping their attempt to capture the English ship, which would surely have cause the English to surrender. The remaining French unit loosed their final musket volleys in vain, as the French commander decided he had had enough and surrendered to the victorious Englishmen.

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Summary

The French got off to a good start by eliminating the powerful Forlorn Hope that came ashore on the Longboat. The potential to use the captured longboat to harass the English Sloop could have been game changer, but it was not to be. Johnathan made the right choice running the sloop ashore on the far end of the table which prevented this and caused the French Freebooters and Boucaniers to be much less effective since they where on the opposite edge of the table. This evened out the battle that took place where the sloop ran aground and ended up swinging the game in Jonathan’s favor.