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Commodore Leftbridge could not believe what his spotters were calling in. He had to see it for himself. When he raised his own binoculars to his eyes, he could not deny it. Seeing was believing.

Commodore Leftbridge's small command had been cruising the Caribbean on routine patrol. The usual stuff of rescuing would-be sailors, customs enforcement, and showing the flag with the local British citizens. The close proximity to French colonies in the region had never really been much of an issue. They kept to their sky ways, and the British tended to keep to theirs.

Now however, the Frenchies looked like they were feeling a bit feisty. The Foreign Office had cabled Leftbridge in Bermuda and let him know a new French officer was en route to station at Martinique. The cable claimed he was hot-blooded and eager to prove himself. They didn't say he was a looking for trouble.

A French cruiser was now flying provocatively close to the Commodore Leftbridge's flotilla. The question was, what to do about it.

Today's battle report is V4 Castles in the Sky play test. I am intentionally using asymmetrical forces to see how they stack up against each other.

Forces

Royal Navy

Arethusa Class Light Cruiser- Command 2

Bull Finch Destroyer- Command 4

Shah Class Frigate- Command 4



L'Aire National

Gloire Class Armored Cruiser- Command 1



Mission

This is a Raiders mission with the French as the Attacker. They are attempting to disable or destroy the Arethusa Light Cruiser. The British are attempting to drive the French attacker away. This game will last 6 turns.

Set-up

We rolled for complications and terrain as normal. Since this is in the Caribbean, it will mostly take place over ocean. It is a 48MU x 48MU board. 1 MU = 1 inch. We rolled up no complications.

For terrain we rolled up an Alt 3 Mountain, two island (land based terrain with no impact), and a cloud bank at Alt 2. We followed the terrain placement rules to place the terrain with the mountain and one island on the British side of the board, and an island and the cloud bank on the French side.



The British were in a group to the West with the Shah lagging slightly behind moving up the middle of the board at mid-altitude and speed. The French started on the Northeast side of the board, steaming towards the British at full speed and mid-altitude.



You can rea the full recap on the Blood and Spectacles blog! Find it here:
https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2021/01/battle-report-castles-in-sky-tropic.html