Action off Malize...

continued from the previous post .....

The newly arrived troops for the garrison are in the process of disembarking from the merchant ships hired to transport them

A French squadron bears down on Malize, commanded by the Duc de Pommefrites; ships: Florissant (flag ship), Tonnant, Gaillard and Hasardeux (three heavy 3rd rates and a common 3rd).

As the french ships approach, Commodore Burke leads the British squadron out to meet them; ships:  HMS Thunderer (flag ship), HMS Audacious, HMS Arrogant and HMS Prince Albert (three heavy 3rd rates and a common 3rd).

The two flags ships in sight of each other

The British ships alter course to try and cross the french battle line, but have to steer against the wind and don't make enough head-way. The Florissant bow rakes HMS Thunderer with a broadside as it passes ....

damaged by the bow rake Thunderer turns slowly with the wind and gets a broadside from the Tonnant leaving it disabled with many of its crew dead, half its port guns gone and its rigging shot away.  HMS Thunderer had returned fire but not caused significant damage to either french ship

As the french passed by they swapped broadsides with HMS Audacious which inflicted some damage on the french but came of much worse and lost most its crew, ports guns and rigging. HMS Thunderer and HMS Audacious start to drift on the wind. Captain Biedekker in HMS Prince Albert manages to get his ship between the two of them .

..... HMS Arrogant nears the french and starts to engage them...

The french broadsides hammer HMS Arrogant, she loses all her rigging and most of her starboard side batteries, unable to steer she starts to drift on the wind...the french sail on towards the port; HMS Prince Albert starts to turn about ....

the cumulative damage from british fire on the french ships now starts to tell; The Florissant unable to steer effectively runs aground on the rocks on the island in front of Malize, the Gaillard also with damaged rigging turns successfully to avoid the same fate as the Florissant; Tonnant and Hasardeux fire on the ships in the harbour....

One ship in the harbour is damaged and starts to list, Tonnant and Gaillard move on to attack the fort...

The Tonnant causes some damage to the fort guns but receives heavy damage form them and starts to move away, the Gaillard moves past her and starts to turn; meanwhile HMS Prince Albert sails towards Malize passing HMS Arrogant ...

HMS Prince Albert heads in to have a go at the french...exchanging broadsides at long rage with the Hasardeux

HMS Prince Albert then stern rakes the Tonnant while the Hasardeux heads away

The Tonnant is damaged badly and on fire

HMS Prince Albert closes in and finishes her off ....

---oXo---

After the French are out of sight, Captain Biedekker of the HMS Prince Albert writes a brief summary of the engagement..

Action off Malize 
- a French squadron attacked the port during disembarkation of the garrison troops ; Commodore Burke led us out against them.  After a hard fight heavy damage to our ships and many crew lost
    HMS Thunderer dismasted and drifting, Commodore Burke killed.
    HMS Audacious badly damaged and drifting 
    HMS Arrogant damaged and has run aground on a small islet - good chance it can be re-floated.
    HMS Prince Albert - light damage.
Damage was inflicted on the French -  One ship ran aground on the rocks, another sunk by gunfire from the fort and HMS Prince Albert. Two lightly damaged french ships left the area.
Will attempt to assist Thunderer and Audacious, with help from the merchant ships. Will remain on station off Malize...

A cutter was sent with this report to the naval HQ in Jumeida...

Sail Ho !

HMS Albert is standing off Malize with some other ships, while the new garrison disembarks.

A cry of 'Sail Ho, off the larboard bow' is heard from up top .... Captain Biedekker turns and looks out towards the horizon...

 he gets his out his telescope for a closer look ....

 French ships ! The Captain turns and barks the command 'Beat to Quarters'.......

to be continued ....

Building a fort - ready for action ...

The fort sections have been painted up. I used a mid-brown undercoat, then two coats of 'Home of Colour' Pecan matchpot (bought at Homebase), with a mid-grey wash to finish. The flagstone paving was then added, a tweaked scanned copy of a piece of acrylic floor tile which I printed up and stuck on as needed.

Building a fort - an alternate gatehouse

I knocked up a smaller gatehouse ...

also a quick tryout with all the sections gives me a fort about 1ft x 2ft;

with variations using inset buildings and smaller setups it will have plenty of uses.

Building a fort - work in progress

building a fort for the carribean area ...

I decided to make use of some of the new buildings I'd been given. Rather than have a large big high walled fort I wanted to go for something not so high, I settled on a height for the wall sections of about 4cm. My initial sketch for the section profile and gun embrasure...

Having settled on the main buildings I wanted to integrate into one potential layout I made some card bases ....

built up the back and sides ...

then added the tops

then the front slopes and backs with cork tile - rough side showing ...

The front of the bases for each section had a bit of trim added (I got the measurements of the bases wrong ! ... too narrow by 2mm) ...

a wall section gets its 'battlement', a sandwich of cork tile with a cardboard central stiffener

coping stones put on ....

 I kept most of the offcuts, very handy for making steps ...

all the sections finished off and in position ....

Materials used in the build
- One and a half tubes of glue
- Two thirds of a pack of cork tiles
- About an A5 area of Daler mounting board
- Five pieces of A4 size 2.5mm thick cardboard

The fort sections can be used stand-alone or integrated with other buildings. I'm also building an alternate gate house. If I want more height for the fort I could add a suitable base.
 
I better get on and paint the fort sections ....

More buildings for the Carribean ...

A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate to have the opportunity to acquire some buildings suitable for the Carribean, 

Having made any minor repairs needed I've started painting them up,  the four smallest ones are done

I used some emulsion paint matchpots for the wall colours and gave them a wash to give them a weather worn look.

'Maya' Ruins - finished

I painted up the pyramid and added some jungle growth...

 the top need to look more Mayan, so I made up a suitable structure from cardboard and foamboard...

 All painted and shown with the jungle ruins in the foreground, plus a few of my generic indians ..

'Maya' Ruins (WIP)

For possible further adventures in the area of the Honduras, I've been working on some stone ruins - a low pyramid and a couple of generic walled buildings.

I was given a bag of large wall sections resin castings,  these were just right to make the main structure of the small pyramid and the walls of two ruined buildings

 a check for size in some jungle bits, looking OK..

 for the pyramid I started by creating the bottom layer in the corners using cardboard and then filling in the steps with layers of foamboard

 all steps are done, every 3 steps up has a longer step for a figure ...

 Added two more layers and the top - all of the basic structure done..

need to add some rubble to the ruins, paint them and then add suitable plastic foliage. I may keep the pyramid not to overgrown.

Gettting Back to Malize ....

A British colony in the Bay of Honduras called 'British Honduras' has been established at the behest of the governor of Jumeida (and with agreement with the spanish). The main aim to cut logwood and profit from its trade (a share of which goes to the spanish). The main settlement of this colony is called Malize.

The local tribes have recently become very agressive. The british are 'eating' into their territory cutting the forest and farming. There have been a few incidents and a recent attack, the governor of the colony has decided to get the colonists into the main settlement of Malize for their safety. A small party of soldiers and local militia have been sent out to bring them in ....

---oXo---

The colonists wait anxiously for the troops and settlers to return to Malize ...

It took some time to get the first of the settlers to come along, they are now heading towards the next farm...

 a couple of the militia arrive to inform the settlers of the situation ...

 then suddenly out of the jungle a group of indians rush the farm cutting down the settlers,  sharp shooting and a some volley fire sees them off ...

 the column heads down the road to the next farm ...

 the settlers there join the column and they head to next farm (the last before Malize) ...

as the main part of the column arrives they are attacked,  fire from the regulars cuts them down and they fall back into the jungle

 a large party of indians is approaching the rear of the column, they hurry on ...

 The indians catch the tail end of the column ...

 a desperate fight ensues ...

 the indians lose heart after many are shot down and start to fall back ... a soldier, two militia and a settler were killed

 the survivors trickle into Malize ...

 [ the new british colony of Honduras may come under pressure from the French or the Spanish, or be troubled by pirates; adventurers may go inland in search of treasure or to hunt exotic animals - quite a few ideas to explore for future games/story lines....]