The Wreck of the Dutchman

As a motivational aid to painting I like to set a wargaming theme for the year. This year was to be Pirates. The preparations for our Longships (or Dark Age pirates) campaign are currently well under way but I also had an urge to play the more traditional pirates of the 17th century. My original plan was to use my 15mm Sharp Practice Caribbean collection with the new Peter Pig 'Pieces of Eight' rules. These were originally due out in February but were delayed until this month - in the meantime I was given a Firelock Games 28mm pirate set for my birthday. These are lovely figures and I was lucky enough to source a second hand set of both the 'Blood and Plunder' rules and the 'No Peace Beyond the Line' expansion. These are quality products and I was hooked from the onset. The expansion contains a campaign system which I reckon would also work as a nice solo project.
So  to get started, my plan is to play in 15mm whilst I paint up the 28mm Blood and Plunder figures. Any games I can't manage in 28mm, due to figure requirements, will also be played using my 15mm collection.
I'm calling this my Six Nations campaign, as the rules allow for up to six nationalities. The idea behind the campaign is to follow the fortunes of the rival commanders. I chose faction types for each nation using a random die roll and came up with the following:

English Buccaneers, 'militia' under 'Lucky' Jack Quilp, based at Port Royal, Jamaica
French Chasseurs, 'pirates' under 'Happy' Dan Le Pew, based at Tortuga
Spanish  Caribbean Militia, 'privateers' under Diego Don Lardo, sailing from Santo Domingo, Hispaniola and commissioned to harry the natives.
Dutch Navy, 'militia' under Captain Rip Van Dam, sailing from Caracoa
Native Americans, Darien tribesmen 'militia' under Chief Man Friday, based on the Darien Peninsula
Unaligned, Scottish Militia of the Scottish Carolina Company under Ebeneezer Balfour, based at Stuart's Town, Port Royal, South Carolina

Game one was to be the 'Plunder' scenario and was sea based (all Blood and Plunder scenarios have a sea, land and amphibious version).
The setting:
The merchant sloop 'The Dutchman' has run aground in shoal waters off Hispaniola. The crew have abandoned ship but the priceless cargo of English Breakfast Tea remains on board. Hearing of this, the Governor of Jamaica, Sir Augustus Fyffes-Farthingdale, has commissioned Lucky Jack Quilp to rescue his favourite tipple. The Spanish under Don Lardo are determined to prevent this.

As a sea game I was going to need some ships. In the campaign the rival captains start with boats and must work their way up to commanding larger vessels. In any case a boat of some sort would be wise for this scenario to avoid running aground in the shoals.
Hence, I cobbled together some longboats out of cardboard. Definitely a learning curve here as the first one was a dog's dinner and resulted in several fingers superglued together. By the fourth boat I was beginning to get the hang of it though. For the Dutchman I converted a nice 28mm long boat (courtesy of Uriah the boat builder) into a Sloop. Never fear this merely consisted of adding a removable deck as I will need this for my 28mm figures.

The flotilla - Minifigs longboat for scale

The first problem I faced was one of scale. The game is designed to use actual figures in the ships / boats and surprisingly this is easier for the larger figures. The problem is that there is a minimum working base size that mitigates against using the smaller figures. In the end I compromised and came up with a boat size that wasn't too far off in length but rather wide in the beam to accommodate the figure basing.
Figure wise I had everything I needed in my current collection except suitable figures for Miliciano (militia); in the end I substituted Napoleonic era sailors for these. I may purchase some League of Augsburg era soldiers to fulfill this role. For land based games I will use penny basing with 2 figures per base (as I do for my Sharp Practice games) counting bases rather than figures. In this case, due to space constraints in the  boats, I would count a doubly based penny as two figures.
As the campaign concentrates on the commanders each game can use a different force composition. For this game I opted for the following 100 point forces:
English
One longboat carrying Lucky Jack Quilp and 5 Freebooters plus 4 Sea Dogs
One swivel armed long boat carrying 5 Freebooters plus 4 Sea Dogs
Spanish
One longboat carrying Don Lardo and 8 Lanceros plus 6 Milicianos
One swivel armed long boat carrying 4 Marineros plus 6 Milicianos

Both sides assigned their sailors (Sea Dogs or Marineros) to the swivel gun; the English also assigned a unit of Sea Dogs to man the sweeps.
Both sides also adopted the same plan; the swivel armed boat would harass the enemy whilst the other boat would head for the sloop.
Before the game, each side may choose from a selection of tactics, the number depending upon the card played this campaign turn. As the English had a spade they could not choose any tactics but the Spanish club allowed them three. As it happens only one was feasible in this scenario, so they chose 'Undisciplined Louts', which meant that the English may begin the game drunk (typecasting!). Each unit had to test at the start of the game and sure enough one unit of Sea Dogs and one of Freebooters had overindulged on the Daiquiris and Pina Coladas. This would enhance their morale but impede their shooting ability.
So on to the first turn and the English draw an event! A change of weather meant the action would take place in the rain (hindering reloading) and there was a drop in the wind for the first turn.
The change in the wind was crucial as one of the English boats was moving under sweeps and hence unaffected. As a consequence Quilp's boat streaked ahead leaving the Spanish struggling under light airs.

Quilp surges ahead in the boat race

The gunboats headed towards each other taking pot shots whilst Don Lardo's Lanceros could only look on. Inevitably Quilp made it to the sloop first; grappling the Dutchman he pulled the boat alongside and led the Freebooters over the side. Taking possession of the first plunder piece, this was passed over the side to the waiting Sea Dogs. In subsequent turn Quilp played a club (3 actions plus his own command point) to move to the second deck section, pick up the second plunder piece, return to the longboat and release grapples. (Note this is technically illegal as a unit has a maximum of three actions per activation - whoops. Not that it would have made a difference in the long run).

Quilp boards the prize

Whilst Quilp made off with the tea chests, Don Lardo was fast approaching with a boat load of angry Lanceros armed to the teeth. However, move four saw the Spanish pull an event. Apparently these were tidal waters and a strong current was moving across the table. Lucky Jack Quilp was certainly living up to his name as he rounded the sloop and made his escape with the current whilst the Spanish were struggling against it.
On to move six (the scenario limit) and the Spanish had 2 Strike Points (one for casualties and one for losing the plunder); if the difference in strike points, at the end of the turn, is ever two or greater then the losing side must take a strike test (morale). Luckily, for the Spanish, a chance shot from the Milicianos saw a unit of Sea Dogs fail their resolve test giving the English their first Strike point. So at turn end the Spanish had two and the English one; a difference of one and not enough to force a Strike Test.

Quilp makes off with the loot

As neither side had struck, the game is decided on the number of Strike Points. So a win for the English, which is only fitting as they had captured the loot. For the losing side there is a chance that the commander is captured, although this seems a bit harsh in this scenario. Naturally, Don Lardo failed the test but as he had three unused Fortune points left I allowed a re-roll (not sure this is intended but it seems reasonable). Just to add a touch of excitement he failed two re-rolls, only passing on his last Fortune Point!
So all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this game and will definitely try and get some more campaign games in.

Lucky Jack Quilp - to the victor the spoils