INWarD 2021 - Attack on the Aix Roads Game

This was a cracker of a game and ended up with a marginal French victory, although at a high cost, with both sides suffering some significant losses. The game began with the Royal Navy advancing toward the French anchorage, with HMS Hotspur charging straight at the boom, the monitors taking a flanking course to the South and the ironclads steaming in line ahead to the North. The range was closed in the first three turns, with the French fort opening fire on HMS Royal Oak at the head of the ironclad line. She suffered enough damage to lose her steering and ended up going aground on the shoals at the base of the island, where she remained firmly stuck until the end of the game. At the same time, the monitors had reached the shallows, only to have HMS Cyclops run aground as soon as she entered. To make matters worse, HMS Hotspur now closed to within range of the combined guns of the outer French line and was swiftly dispatched in one tremendous broadside!

Not to be deterred, the Royal Navy swiftly grasped the initiative and brought the ironclad division now led by HMS Prince Consort on to a parallel course with the anchored French warships. The monitors also ploughed on across the shallows and into the minefield, which the French failed to detonate on command, managing to avoid any more groundings and successfully outflanking the French line. The French ironclads in the second line now had steam up and managed to slip their anchors, enabling them to independently steam away up the estuary. The fort continued to trade shots with the British ironclads but a well placed bombardment by HMS Prince Consort silenced the guns, just in time for the monitors to cross the minefield unharmed, as I decided that a silenced fort wouldn't have been able to detonate any of the mines. The French and British ironclads now exchanged several broadsides, with HMS Ocean suffering a critical hit and blowing up, while Magenta and Revanche were eventually both sunk by the combined fire of the ironclads and the monitors.

At the end of ten turns, which I  had set as the scenario time limit, the French had managed to get three of their broadside ironclads off the table and up the river, but had lost two destroyed, one crippled and the fort badly damaged. The Royal Navy had lost HMS Hotspur and HMS Ocean, had HMS Royal Oak silenced and grounded, had two monitors firmly stuck on the sandbanks and had damage to the two remaining ironclads, HMS Caledonia and HMS Prince Consort, although they were still very much operational. In the scenario, this result would really be a draw, as the Royal Navy had destroyed or crippled half the French squadron, but the French in turn had managed to get half of their ironclads to safety at a high cost to the senior service, so I gave the game to the French with a marginal victory. In campaign terms, if I'd be running the game as a campaign scenario, it would be a tactical French win but a strategic British victory, as the French threat was now neutralised and the blockade firmly back in place. The monitors and HMS Royal Oak would have been re-floated at high tide, with the already damaged French fort neutralised by an offshore bombardment by the rest of the fleet. 

Good fun!