Kiss Me Hardy Battle of Cape St Vincent Anniversary Game - Devon Wargames Group

[carojon]

Last weekend at the Devon Wargames Group we played the 225th Anniversary game of Cape St Vincent on a 12' x 6' table with 45 models on the table.



The weather played its part with a wind shift and an Atlantic swell that forced lower gun ports closed.



Despite an early start and a late finish we had to end our game before a final conclusion, but with both sides having given and taken damage and a slight advantage to the British.



Despite an inconclusive end, much fun was had by all and a two day replay is on the cards to see what might have happened.

If you would like to know more then just follow the link to JJ's

https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2022/02/battle-of-cape-st-vincent-14th-february.html

JJ

[Golgotha]

Very impressive looking ships and game. Pity you could not see it to conclusion what are your thoughts on the rules?

[Belisarius]

Looks like a tremendous game which , hopefully, rewarded the time and effort  spent on the preparations for it. The ship’s record charts were a nice touch , I’m a big fan of such aids . I’ve played three games, using the KMH rules , and I’d be interested in your thoughts on them . It can be problematic getting enough gamers together and willing to put in the time needed to play these big battles. The Dons did well , this time . 👍

[carojon]

Hi Chaps,
Thanks for your comments, and yes this game really needs a couple of days around the table to do it justice, with the British taking more time than usual to close on the enemy in a bow wind and develop their attacks.

That said I really like Kiss Me Hardy, for getting the balance between simulation/game and fun/not fun with me scoring them high on the fun/simulation spectrum of rules.

I guess my take on them is that the chit or card draw activation and the friction it creates is a real ‘Unique Selling Point’ and all the players enjoy the anticipation of getting that combination of a fire chit first giving them the potential drop on an opponent whether they move first or second.

The ship record cards needed some work to make them fit for purpose and the inclusion of all the stats for firing, moving and strike tests, really saves a lot of time referring to the QRS by having them in front of players when needed for that particular ship in any action.

I now have the template set up so that I can easily turn out the record card for any ship required and the Messing About in Boats article means ships can now be much more tailored rather than the vanilla ship stats in the original rule set.

The other key addition is the fleet preservation rule that decides through a test when individual squadrons and fleets have had enough punishment and will attempt to break off which with the test for who get away or not based on the damage they are carrying allows games to reach a conclusion with a result.

We, as a club, just need to play more often to get better at using them in our games and so I have a club campaign ready to start next month.

JJ