Pirates off the starboard bow ...

... Corsairs off the port bow!

It was a real joy to get some wee ships on the table again this week for a three player game of Galleys & Galleons. We all ran 200 point fleets, I had my trusty Dutch East India Company, Jim took the Pirate Bretheran, and Joel ran the Corsairs.

Somehow, I even feature in this picture - swiped from Joel. It was a game that was manic and hilarious in equal parts. 

All fleets started in separate corners. Top left are Joel's corsairs, top right are Jim's pirates, and bottom left are my VOC.

Both Joel and Jim messed up a lot of activation rolls to begin with meaning Joel's galleys sat around doing nothing, and Jim's ships sailed about in an uncoordinated manner.

The opening shot in the game saw the VOC sloop Nassau rake the bows of the corsair xebec Zenobie, leaving her badly damaged.

The corsair's reciprocated with some heavy gunfire, all of which was ineffective. Unfortunately, while I was distracted by the galleys (and they with me), the dastardly pirates were sneaking up on me/us.

In the background, the pirate lorcha Lotus has grappled the poor Nassau, while in the foreground, the three other pirate vessels fire on my company flagship Hollandia whose passes through the maelstrom with barely a scratch.
   

And then the piates and the corsairs met in the middle of the table and the true ridiculousness started. Almost all of the vessels were at one point captured and manned by prize crews, but then the prize crews were in-turn defeated and capitulated. 

The Hollandia was one of only two vessels to escape the game unscathed. While my other Indiaman was captured, and the sloop was sunk, the Hollandia fired on, grappled, boarded and captured the Zenobie. The two then sailed off the table together, salvaging something for the corporate investors back in Amsterdam.

The pirate brig Oberon (at the bottom) was the only other vessel to sail off the table unharmed. The most enjoyable moment of the game was the point where Joel's corsairs boarded and captured the pirate jacht Jezebel, transferring across a prize crew. He then promptly forgot, and in the next turn unleashed a barrage from the bow guns of his galley, sinking the hapless jacht and his own prize crew on board.