Rolling bad dice in wargames since 1977
United States
Austin
Texas
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A friend and I played this last Friday. It covers the year 1805 when the French sortied to the West Indies and eventually joined with the Spanish Fleet to fight Nelson off Cadiz during the Battle of Trafalgar.
Mostly, 1805 is a strategic naval game. The game begins with the Royal Navy blockading several French and Spanish ports that hold the Allied Navies. The Allies (French and Spanish) are waiting for an opportune moment when the weather has worn down or blown off the blockading ships and their own supplies are plentiful enough to make a dash for the open sea.
Once at sea, the French and Spanish are trying to raid or invade historical objectives that undermine the British war effort. They could incite the Irish to rebel, they can raid British ports, they can invade British possessions and allies. They could fan flames of war between the British and the Americans.
This is why the blockade is so important: so that the French can't run amok at sea as they already are on land! Until they break out, the big problems the Royal Navy faces are weather, a manpower shortage, and something of a resource shortage. Weather takes a toll on the blockading ships. The Royal Navy then has the option to send blockading ships damaged by weather home immediately, or keep them on station to help the undamaged ships prevent a breakout in the event of a sortie. In England, the yards begin the game already full of ships being repaired and in need of crews. Slowly, they are brought to readiness.
If the Royal Navy can bring the Allies to battle, they enjoy a distinct edge in maneuver and fighting ability, but generally will not enjoy an advantage in numbers nor even in sea-worthiness for the reasons described.
Battles are resolved by first ascertaining who has the weather gauge and the possible length of the battle. This is done by comparing leaders. The British are generally better, but not always. A fleet that begins a battle upwind may always decline the battle—which is usually what the Allies want to do. Then each side chooses maneuver and tactics to determine how it will fight each battle round. This determines how many dice each side gets in the round. The dice are rolled, compared to a strength chart, and damage applied. Ships stand a chance of being damaged (making them weaker in battle) or floating wrecks (making them vulnerable to foundering from the weather!) After battles, a fate chart is consulted to see what happens to the leaders and any additional damage to the fleets.
Ultimately, the battles tend to result in the indecisive contests we read about. But the difference between this and just about any age of sail wargame you can think of is that the battles have contexts and important consequences. If the French can break away, they can continue on the raid/invade missions. If they British can just maul the French before they get away, then the weather will likely assist in ridding them of severly damaged ships. Anything they can sink or capture are VPs.
In the game we played, Vince sortied a fleet from Toulon on T2 with Admiral Villenuve leading. He was immediately intercepted by Nelson with the Mediterranean fleet. A huge battle ensued. Villenueve (when facing Nelson only) is a "fatalist" and reduces his own battle rating by a couple points. Nelson, of course, is the battle master but has his own Achilles Heel: he suffers a -2 when determining his fate after the battle.
In the battle, Nelson came to grips with the French, but many of his ships were damaged as the French fired at the enemy's rigging. Once joined, the battle was hard-fought, but though slightly outnumbered by the French, the British scored more damage. After the battle, several more British and French ships were damaged. The fate of leaders were then determined: Villenuve survived; Cochran survived; Nelson was killed! (Damnit!) However, the French lost the fight and returned to Toulon.
Cochran kept the damaged fleet on station until relived by another that had to make long journey around Spain. While the French were in port, they slowly repaired. Cochran's fleet was unable to repair until he sent ships back to Gibralter, Malta, or Magdelanas. This he didn't do, trying to keep the French bottled up. Eventually, the ships retired to Malta once a new fleet was on station.
That was pretty much the highlight of the game for me. Over the course of the winter, the French were able to make several successful sorties. They raided Alexandria and tried (but failed) to invade Naples. Both the British and French sent fleets to the West Indies to secure or deny various objectives.
Overall, the game was great fun. It's not a short game by any stretch. It took us five hours to get through a third of the game. The game itself isn't hard to grasp but players do grind through a year in weekly turns. The British have resource management to worry about while the French try to weigh objectives vs. sortie opportunities. It's comparable to Third World War in scope and difficulty. There's a shorter Trafalgar scenario in the game. I'm looking forward to trying this again.
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Kevin Conway
United States
Boonville
Indiana
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Thanks for the excellent report/review. I snapped this up (along with Washington's War) with the GMT Facebook coupon. Hopefully I can get it on the table soon.
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Jim F
United Kingdom
Birmingham
West Midlands
HRC - His Royal Cheekiness, Rajah Babu
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You got a thumbs up for the post and for your little motto. Made me laugh - not bad for a Monday.
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Rolling bad dice in wargames since 1977
United States
Austin
Texas
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...And I'm still none too hot with the dice!
Today was my second time at the game, again as the British. Again the French attempted a sortie out of Toulon early and were picked up on a spotting roll before leaving the loose blockade zone.
We go to the Battle Board and its Villeneuve vs. Nelson all over again. The French are destroyed in the battle: half the fleet wrecked and the remainder damaged. Three wrecks founder and two are taken as prizes. Villeneuve rolls for his fate and succumbs. The battle went two round and Nelson rolls an unmodified three for his Fate. The two rounds and Nelson's Ground-Hog-Day-like terrible luck strike him down again!
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Posted Mon Mar 28, 2011 4:30 pm
