Recruits Wargaming Convention - Part 2.

There are a lot of pretty games that are put on at Recruits. This session continued that trend. On Saturday afternoon I found one of the special ones. This was a scenario based in the privateer years on the Spanish Main. HMS Redoubt had sailed from Port Royale with a small invasion force. The target was the rich but sleepy Spanish town of Santa Domingo.

I did not get the name of the game master other than Jeff with a nom de plume of Gully. This oversight withstanding, Gully put on a first class game. This little video is just a pan across the town, just to give you an idea of the amount of work and preparation that went into this game. Truly impressive.

The town may have been sleepy, but it was armed to the teeth. Here are some photos of what awaited the British invaders. I love the fact that Gully included fishermen on the docks as an extra detail flourish. Also, countless tables, chairs, crates and barrels were scattered about.

I volunteered for the task of acting as a distraction. I sailed my little boats to the far edge of the town and started my assault. This was to distract some of the guns from focusing on the main invasion. The first Spanish artillery salvo sunk one of my boats. Soldiers swimming toward shore do not constitute much of a threat. The soldiers swam slowly, weighted down with guns, knives, swords and menacing facial expressions. They were all killed to a man before they reached shore.

My other boat came under fire from cannon, swivel guns and musketry. The fisherman even threw a carp in my direction. The crew in the second boat was also killed. All of them except the officer. As the boat reached shore, he was facing 3 cannon, 2 swivel guns and 10 or 15 muskets. He apologized for the misunderstanding in his most polite and formal Spanish, and then promptly surrendered.

At this stage in the day, I was about spent on playing war games. I found a bunch of friends and we played board games for the rest of the evening. All in all looking back over the convention, I had a great time filled with lots of laughter. As the convention was closing, my board game buddies went to a local establishment and finished the time with drinks and appetizers.

Thanks Recruits! See you next year.