All at Sea – Sercey off Sumatra, 1796, Kiss Me Hardy

[carojon]

This week I got to meet up with friends to playtest another scenario written for Kiss Me Hardy and our upcoming annual club Lardy event Clotted Lard entitled Sercey off Sumatra.

This action saw an encounter between two British 74-gun ships of the line, Arrogant and Victorious under the command of Commodore Lucas and six French frigates, mainly composed of the newer 40-gun types, commanded by Rear-Admiral Sercey.

With a vital part of the British trade network at threat and with limited naval resources available in the theatre, completing the mission whilst sustaining as little damage as possible was a key driver in this interesting small naval battle.

If you would like to see how things turned out, then just follow the link to JJ’s

https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2022/08/all-at-sea-sercey-off-sumatra-9th.html

JJ

http://jjwargames.blogspot.co.uk

[willz]

A very nice looking game JJ.

[AdmiralHawke]

I have always thought this would be a fascinating battle to wargame. I’m looking forward to reading your report.
Sercey’s cruise would make a good campaign too.

[Darkest Star Games]

What a wild battle, your players certainly went big.  I found the historical account really interesting in that so many shots seemed to have been aimed at the high rigging rather than at the hull.

"I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

[AdmiralHawke]

Thank you for posting these JJ. I really enjoyed both of your accounts of gaming this scenario (on your own blog and on the Devon Wargames Group blog).

It is fascinating how the different decisions of your players, and different elements of chance, resulted in such different outcomes.

This was a much more closely matched encounter than I had appreciated. I had always thought that the two British 74s had a substantial advantage. Your recreation of the scenario has given me a greater understanding of the decisions faced by Captain Lucas and Contre-Amiral Sercey that day.

Thank you, as always, for the time that you put into writing up both your scenarios and your battle reports for the enjoyment and enlightenment of others. 🙂

PS William James’s meticulous research is indeed a treasure trove for wargamers.

[carojon]

Hi Chaps,

Thanks for your comments.

Writing up these scenarios has been a lot of fun, but you don’t really know what you have until players start trying to interpret what you’ve created.

The briefings from James’ help set the scene so the players know what constraints were likely on their historical predecessors and will hopefully influence their decisions, ie  Lucas and Sercey having to avoid their forces being destroyed or very badly damaged but trying to do that to the enemy.

What I’m thinking about in the tweaking of these games is to perhaps weight the outcome to favour the players that best match the requirements of the situation with the end result, when it comes to deciding what level of victory or defeat has resulted.

This becomes interesting in Chase scenarios where running and escaping is very much the ‘order of the day’, but escaping and damaging your opponent might be an even better result. Likewise capturing a quarry but getting so badly damaged in the process, compared to the historical outcome, might be a weighting factor against the victor on the end result.

Lots to mess about with here!

JJ

http://jjwargames.blogspot.co.uk

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