A squadron of French commerce raiders watch the skies for new prey.
The British transports and their alert escorts steam over the Mauritanian desert. Ed's squadron is spread out on the port side, and Sean's squadron is close on the transports' starboard.
The transports: two 'nef cargo ships are accompanied by two small 'dig transports and the 'dig passenger liner Majestic.
Two squadrons of French raiders move in from the table edge, racing into the spread-out port side of the convoy. Jim's squadron is on the left, and Phil's squadron is on the right.
Another view, from the perspective of Jim's French attackers. The French plan was to cut through the convoy at high speed, doing as much damage as possible, then break away from the fight.
As the French penetrate the British portside escorts, the transports turn away from the attackers and make all possible speed. The starboard escorts turn across the transports' paths, moving into range to fire on the French ships.
British fire was surprisingly ineffective. In the first turn, Ed managed to roll 26 dice and not get a single hit. Later turns continued that trend.
Jim's French position themselves for broadside fire against the British, then move on to attack the transports.
Phil's French squadron (on the left) and Jim's squadron (on the right) cut through the British defenders' fire and set their sights on the transports.
The two cargo dirigibles and one of the transport 'nefs have been destroyed, and the French are well on their way to destroying the second 'nef and the Majestic.
This game was definately a French victory. All the transports were destroyed, heavy damage was done to the British escorts, and the French attackers came out relatively unscathed. The French got three victory points for each destroyed transport, and one for each destroyed British military vessel. The British got one point for each destroyed French vessel and (in theory) three for each undamaged transport that made it off the table. The total points were 16 for the French vs. 2 for the British.
In hindsight, I probably needed seven or eight more transports and another squadron of defenders. Transports get half the damage boxes of an equivalent military vessel, and this made them surprisingly fragile. The victory point values should be adjusted as well. A method of taking ship class into account would work best.
(Photos by Jim Pitts and Ed Sansing.)
