INWarD 2022: The Battle of Le Havre [2]

I played the remainder of the INWarD Broadside and Ram game yesterday, which lasted for six turns by which time the result was pretty clear. After a wobbly start, the Royal Navy pulled off a stunning victory, sinking the entire French third division, sinking half of the second division and seriously damaging the rest, which were boarded and captured in the scenario wash up, but allowing the first division to escape to Le Havre unscathed. It was ironic that the first division was composed of the most powerful of the French ironclads but didn't fire a single broadside!

The Royal Navy itself suffered only damage to most of the ironclads of the first and second division, despite some close action and ramming attacks, with some successful running repairs keeping the fleet in top shape, despite the second division being split up in the action at various critical points. The British managed to pin the French down by a combination of ramming and aggressive tactics, forcing at least one of the French warships into the shallows and sandwiching others in a pincer movement.

The highlights were a full speed ramming attack by HMS Minotaur on the Revanche, flagship of the French second division, which effectively stopped the whole line astern formation in its tracks, along with the ramming of HMS Monarch and HMS Captain by the Alma and Atalante, which completely backfired leaving the French third division in tatters. The heroic French third division was deliberately sacrificed in order for the rest of the fleet to make an escape, but this wasn't enough to save more than half of the ironclads, a massive blow to the Marine Imperiale.

It was interesting to see how this replicated quite well the actual Battle of Camperdown, on which the scenario was loosely based. It was also really good fun and I think quite a well-balanced game, even given the decisive end result. The French certainly gave as good as they got at the start of the action and did manage at various points to give the Royal Navy a thrashing, but in the end, the superiority of the British ironclads and their commanders was a clinching factor.

Good fun!