KMH Caribbean Broadside Spanish v British

Another scenario from one of the Lard specials, this one saw my Spanish (pretending to be French as usual) taking on Dave's British. Two Spanish ships (one merchant and one frigate) have run aground following a storm and the Spanish flagship is moored nearby salvaging crew and stores from the wreck.

Meanwhile the British arrive scenting the possibility of prizes.....

The Spanish fleet:

Five 74's prepare to defend the flagship while it carries out the rescue:

The 'Neptuno' is the ship carrying out the salvage:

The British appear, a tough force of four 3rd Rates and a Frigate. In a daring moved the Frigate races ahead to lead the attack:

The Spanish were hoping to get past the salvage operation and intercept the British before they could interfere but the speed of the British frigate will thwart this plan: 

The British shake out into line and the fleets prepare to engage in the narrow gap between the two islands. Deploying in two columns does not seem to be a good plan for the Spanish:

Battle is joined! The British frigate and lead 3rd Rate take a bit of a battering but so do the Spanish:

San Francisco and Argonauta lead the attack, San Justo and Monarca are badly placed to help out though:

The Santa Anna (the red and white ship) attempts to engage the British frigate:

Unfortunately British fire causes the Santa Anna to catch fire:

Unluckily the Argonauta and San Justo also catch fire!:

While the Santa Anna and Argonauta put the fires out the unfortunate San Justo's fire reaches the magazine and the ship explodes horrifically:

The British push through the Spanish lines with both sides firing furiously:

Masts have fallen, ships are battered but apart from the San Justo all the ships are still afloat and no one has struck:

The salvage attempt has failed largely but most of the Spanish fleet has broken through the British and got away:

Great fun again and the ships look fantastic. I think if I took a very strict interpretation of the victory points I could claim a 4-2 win (one move of salvaging and one mast destroyed versus one mast destroyed) because you only get VP for ships which strike which, presumably, does not include blowing up! I feel that would be harsh though and really Dave easily had the best of the encounter.

I need to work on my tactics as well, the two lines thing didn't work at all and I find it hard to figure out how far the ships are likely to go and come up with a better plan in future, Dave's use of the frigate really caught me out.