Pirate Raids and Other Misdeeds

[TLS]

The Pirate Lord of Jamaica, 1702

Winter, 1702

With the war in Europe in full swing, the pirates of the region are on the move. Most notably, the pirate Lord Henry Avery--emboldened and enriched by his successful raids in the Indian Ocean, in particular the famous taking of the Gunsway, has had his eye on Jamaica since its transfer of sovereignty to the Austrians. Knowing that the Emperor in Vienna will likely spare little thought for his Caribbean island, the pirate has been steadily stepping up his presence there. With little more than the writ on a distant and arbitrary monarch, the few officials in Erzherzogsburg look on with dismay and in futility as he turns the port into his base of operations. The Flemish administrators of the port are tossed a few pieces of eight to keep them satisfied, and Avery continues to have the run of the place.

When news reaches Avery of the sale of Jamaica to the Irish, however, he knows that the good times are threatened. He has grown rich and powerful using the proceeds from the Gunsway, both financial and in terms of prestige, to amass the largest non-sovereign fleet in the world. His Flagship (also christened Gunsway, in honor of his victory) boast 72 guns, and he commands what may well be the largest military force in the New World. When he receives news of the sale, he moves swiftly into action, having his men overpower (or, in reality, merely glower at) the token Austrian force and instead raise the Jolly Roger. When Irish officials sail into port, seeking to pronounce the authority of the Stuarts, they are seized, disrobed, publicly shamed and humiliated, and then allowed to flee with their lives only after being parted of all their earthly possessions--the are graciously afford transit, in the form of being thrown into the harbor of Santiago de Cuba within sight of a Spanish patrol boat. Thankfully at least a few of them are able to stay afloat long enough to be rescued.

Erzherzogsburg is now firmly in pirate control, and is re-christened "Libertalia" in honor of the freedoms of the new pirate lands. Avery soon sets about establishing a proto-state on the island, and calls for more buccaneers and raiders to flock to his banner, purporting to, at last, have established a free land for free men, bound by nothing more than the Pirate Code. He sends out emissaries to his rivals in the region, noting that the fleets of Europe are in disarray, but is as yet unsuccessful in swaying the other pirate grandees to his cause. Now he waits for the Irish sovereign to make up his mind and, he hopes, blunder into a war across the sea he cannot hope to win.

[Haneastic]

Angered at the Pirates' seizure of the newest Crown Colony, James is painfully aware that Ireland lacks the force to take immediate action. A fleet is dispatched with orders to escort Irish shipping between Africa, the Caribbean, and the Irish Crush colonies, and protect Irish interests from piracy.

Irish First Fleet
3 BatRons
3 CruRons
6 PatRons

[TLS]

The Expansion of Pirate Interests, Winter-Spring 1703

The increased presence of patrols in the Caribbean has kept much of the pirate fleets at bay, while many privateers flocked to the banner of the Polish crown in the previous war, thus sating their quest for raids. However, the fact that a series of major transfers in possession of islands has occurred leads Avery to recognize that the time has kind to strike while the iron is hot. While Tew's forces in Trinidad have sworn fealty to the Polish crown (at least for a time) and are recovering from their wounds, William Kidd's fortress on the island of Tortuga joins forces with Avery for a push to secure and raid the islands of the Lesser Antilles.

The combined pirate fleets strike out for both the soon-to-be-Irish and soon-to-be-English possessions, while avoiding the French fortress and base of operations at Martinique. Many of the French colonists who are leaving the islands have liquidated their assets and are uniquely susceptible to brigandage and shakedowns. Even the assembled pirate hosts are too small to effectively seize all of the islands, and the Irish fleet is able to ensure that the islands of Anguilla and St Kitts emerge unscathed, but their squadron arrives too late for Barbuda and Montserrat--though it does scare away the pirates and prevent them from establishing a stronghold on either. Meanwhile, the to-be-English colonies are patrolled by smaller squadrons, while the French seem thoroughly uninterested in dying for islands that they are abandoning wholesale. Martinique throbs with the refugees, while the outer islands depopulate and cower before the pirate raids.

Game Effects

Irish Colonies
Anguilla - Unaffected by raids (will provide at least 50% income for 1704, may change depending on events)
St. Kitts - Unaffected by raids (will provide at least 50% income for 1704, may change depending on events)
Barbuda - No Income for 1704, population reduced to 1,000, unoccupied by pirates
Montserrat - No Income for 1704, population reduced to 1,000, unoccupied by pirates

English Colonies
St Lucia - Unaffected by raids (will provide at least 50% income for 1704, may change depending on events)
Grenada - Unaffected by raids (will provide at least 50% income for 1704, may change depending on events)
Grenadines - No Income for 1704, population reduced to 1,000, unoccupied by pirates
St Vincent - No Income for 1704, population reduced to 1,000, unoccupied by pirates
Dominica - No Income for 1704, population reduced to 1,000, occupied by pirates loyal to Kidd
Antigua - No Income for 1704, population reduced to 500, occupied by pirates loyal to Kidd
Barbuda - No Income for 1704, population reduced to 500, occupied by pirates loyal to Avery
Barbados - No Income for 1704, population reduced to 1,000, unoccupied by pirates

French Colonies
Martinique - Bolstered by refugees, population increased to 10,000, colonial city placed (income increased to .75--.25 from sugar cane, .5 from city)
Florida - Bolstered by refugees, 2 additional outposts (placed at player discretion)

Pirate Booty
Pirates seized 2 points in raiding income, increased recruitment

[TLS]

The English Strike Back

Winter, 1704

Over the second half of 1703 the English Commonwealth has assembled a formidable force in Boston, aiming to head south and secure their newly acquired possessions from the pirate menace. In early winter 1704 the force is assembled and the weather is clear and so the mighty armada heads forth. The aim, at first, is to secure the islands and then to prepare to take the fight to the pirate menace.

By early February, the English Armada appears off the coast of Antigua. The pirates, who signed up for easy plunder and not to die in a suicide mission, soon abandon the island (1 PatRon and 1 Buccaneer militia brigade withdraw to Dominica) while the English come ashore and start establishing a base at St. John's. The English armada makes a show of force around the remaining islands, landing detachments to fly the flag (no combat value, but work to secure for income and political purposes) and push the pirates out of the way.

Carrying orders to secure all of the islands, after securing the unoccupied islands the armada moves on the main pirate bastion of Dominica. The overwhelming naval superiority of the English armada allows them to pummel the pirate garrison and facilitate a hostile landing by the English infantry brigade. The pirate ships turn and flee after a brief engagement (1 English PatRon lightly damaged, .5 points, 1 turn to repair, 1 pirate PatRon sunk) while the English infantry brigade is able to secure the island, albeit with with substantial casualties (1 infantry brigade reduced to a battalion, 2 buccaneer militia brigades destroyed). With their main offensive ground force reduced to its smallest possible entity, the English commander is unable to continue the offensive to seize the island of Barbuda from the pirates loyal to Avery. However, most of the English colonial possessions have been secured.

Casualties from the turn

England
-1 PatRon lightly damaged (.5 points, 1 turn to repair)
-1 Infantry Brigade reduced to battalion

Pirates
-2 Militia infantry brigades destroyed
-1 PatRon sunk

Forces in English Colonies, end of Spring 1704

England (Antigua)
-2 BatRon
-2 CruRon
-1 PatRon
-1 Lightly damaged PatRon
-1 Infantry Battalion

Pirates (Barbuda)
-2 PatRon
~1 Buccaneer militia infantry brigade

[TLS]

Jamaica Campaign

Winter, 1705

The English operations to secure their islands are completed by the end of 1704; the last pirate holdouts on Barbuda are evacuated back to Kingston under the cover of the approaching hurricane season, and the English are able to occupy them by the end of 1704 to little cost.

The Irish, meanwhile, have spent the majority of the past two years preparing a larger invasion force to conquer their expensive purchase: Jamaica. Avery’s nascent pirate state is uneasy, as their promised riches and power have yet to truly materialize: their raids on the Windward Islands were barely profitable, and otherwise they are on the defensive. By the time the Irish fleet appears offshore from Kingston, Avery has been hemorrhaging support from the outlying pirate islands.

However, though the Irish have assembled a powerful force, Avery is sly enough of a pirate commander to know that he will be unable to actually meet the Irish fleet in open battle. He thus sends the bulk of his fleet away from Kingston well before the Irish navy is able to interdict them and establish a stranglehold on the island--he himself takes command of the fleet, leaving a squabbling band of petty pirate “nobles” in command of the fortress at Libertalia (the rechristened Kingston).

The Battle of Kingston, February 17-18

Irish
-5 BatRons
-2 CruRons
-5 PatRons
-5 Infantry Brigades

Pirates
-1 Fortress
-1 Garrison
-3 Militia Brigades

After landing the invading army across the bay at Portmore, just out of the reach of the Pirate guns, the fleet turns to attack the Pirate fortress at Kingston. The fortress guarding the bay is distracted by the overwhelming Irish fleet offshore, and thus isn’t able to turn its guns on the attacking Irish land forces (no FF turn for the pirates). However, the pirates are both fighting in rough terrain and defensively (+1 to Irish dice rolls) and thus hope to humiliate the Irish for seeking to take back the island by force of arms.

The initial Irish assault on the city is disastrous, with over half of the force dispersed in disarray at light casualties for the Pirates (3 Irish infantry brigades shattered, 1 Pirate garrison shattered). The Irish commander regroups and continues the attack with his two infantry brigades, counting on their superior organization and firepower to overcome their current numerical deficit. The buccaneers fight back ferociously, and over the rest of the day manage to disperse another of the Irish brigades (1 inf shattered) at similar casualties to their own (1 militia brigade shattered).

The Pirate fortress holds out until well into the night, as the Irish gunnery seems beset by a comedy of errors (a series of inexplicably bad dice rolls helps the Pirates out here) and allows the pirate fortress to strike a series of fatal blows against the Irish fleet (2 PatRonks sunk, 3 damaged, 1 CruRon sunk, 1 BatRon damaged) before it does succumb to the naval bombardment. The fall of the fortress ultimately gives the Irish the necessary firepower to drive the pirates from the city, as the withering bombardment drives the occupying buccaneers into the hinterlands within a few hours of daybreak. However, the Irish are in no position to pursue the larger pirate force deeper into the island, and spend the rest of the Winter turn establishing themselves around the immediate vicinity of Kingston.

All Jolly Rogers are summarily burned, a number of prominent collaborators with the pirates (local storekeepers, brothel owners, armorers, etc) are hanged for being pirates themselves. Under strict orders to ensure no pirates get away, the Irish err on the side of caution and hang whenever there is a doubt. However, try as they might, the Irish are unable to find anyone with concrete information as to the location of Avery and his pirate fleet. This isn’t to say there is no one willing to sell-out their former pirate lord: any number of rapscallions about to head to the gallows profess that they know where his fleet is heading. The problem is they all give contradictory information: some say he is going to reinforce at Tortuga, others say he is sailing for Ireland itself, others that he has decided to forsake the Caribbean entirely to make his way back to the Indian Ocean, where he made his riches seizing the Gunsway. Regardless, Avery’s fleet is out on the sea, and the Irish have no concrete information as to when it will next show up as the season ends.

Casualties of the Battle of Kingston

Ireland (3 ships sunk, 4 damaged, 5,000 casualties)
-1 BatRon damaged (3 points, 2 turns to repair)
-1 CruRon sunk
-3 PatRons damaged (1 point, 1 turn each to repair)
-2 PatRons sunk
-4 Infantry Brigades shattered, reformed into 2 brigades (5,000 casualties)

Pirates (6,000 casualties, 5,000 captured)
-1 Fortress destroyed (1,000 casualties)
-1 Garrison captured (1,250 casualties, 1,250 captured)
-3 Militia brigades captured (3,750 casualties, 3,750 captured)

Forces in theater, end of season

Irish

Jamaica (Kingston)
-3 BatRons
-1 BatRon (damaged)
-1 CruRons
-3 PatRons (damaged)
-3 Infantry Brigades

Blockade Around Jamaica
-4 BatRons
-4 CruRons
-4 PatRons

Pirates

Jamaica (Interior)
~2-3 buccaneer brigades

Unknown Fleet [Under the command of Henry Avery]
-1 BatRon
-2 CruRon
-6 PatRon

[TLS]

Caribbean Campaign

Spring, 1705

The Irish, recognizing their precarious situation, decide to spend most of the spring fortifying and reorganizing in Kingston. The fleet which was previously designated for blockade duties makes a series of stops at the few other populated inlets along the coast, sends small groups of marines ashore to raise St. Patrick’s Saltire, and then sails off. The Irish admiral is tasked with trying to locate and destroy Avery’s fleet before it can reappear elsewhere in the region. The pirates remaining on Jamaica, vicious but also supremely self-interested, take advantage of the loosening of the blockade to, for the most part, abandon the island. A combination of months of small skirmishes and disease does noticeable damage to both forces (both the pirates and Irish lose 1 brigade each shattered) but otherwise, by the end of the spring season, the pirates have withdrawn from the island and dispersed to other ports of call--Tortuga and Trinidad being notorious safehavens.

These bands are not the first to arrive in Trinidad, however. Avery’s fleet, having fled from Jamaica earlier in the year, stopped at Kidd’s pirate holdout with plans of glory and plunder. The resident Pirate Lord of Tortuga, recognizing the dire straits of his erstwhile compadre, does all that he can to force Avery to move on, and makes it clear he has no desire to follow Avery on his mad dash to glory. However, Avery is able to convince part of Kidd’s force to join his venture. The largest pirate fleet ever assembled thus heads off north on a mad-dash to strike a blow against the Irish invaders.

The Battle of Charleston, May 5, 1705

Irish
-1 Fortress
-1 Militia Brigade

Pirates
-1 BatRon
-2 CruRon
-6 PatRon
-4 Buccaneer brigades

With an eye towards both the propaganda value of sacking a city named after the dead king Charles (who holds a near sacred place in Irish hagiography) and the material value of one of the busiest ports in the New World, Avery’s fleet suddenly appears off of the coast of Charleston in early May. Having depopulated most of the seaboard of ships in order to purge the Caribbean, the paltry Irish patrols are nowhere to be found by the time the Pirate armada sails into the bay.

The guns of the fortress roar into action, and the pirates begin to take heavy casualties. They land at Oyster Point under heavy gunfire, but the guns of the fortress are aimed primarily at the attacking fleet and thus are not involved in the land battle (defenders get FF turn, but only for the Militia--the ships are distracting the fort). The Irish defenders are able to put up a spirited and strong defense and inflict heavy casualties on the attacking buccaneers (2 buccaneer brigades shattered) but are overwhelmed by the remaining pirates. Forcing their way into the fortress, the pirates are able to silence the guns after heavy hand-to-hand fighting (1 fortress shattered and captured, 1 pirate brigade shattered) but not before the fleet has suffered noticeable casualties (3 PatRon sunk).

Avery’s gamble has been bloody, but it has paid off. The pirates now have the run of the port, and loot and pillage it for a good two days. The captured Irish officers are hanged as ‘tyrants,’ but the pirates make a show of ‘pardoning’ and releasing all line soldiers and militiamen--not that they are especially appreciative, as the pirates are doing it while they are robbing them of most of their earthly possessions. Cautious of being caught off guard, Avery sends his fleet off into the Atlantic in search of a port of call to sell his booty and plot his next move. He leaves a much diminished Charleston in his wake, and a black eye on the face of the Irish monarchy.

Game Effects: Charleston produces no income in 1706, half income in 1707 and 1708, full income in 1709.

Casualties of the Battle of Charleston

Ireland (1,750 casualties, 1,750 captured [350 executed, 1,400 released])
-1 Fortress captured and destroyed (500 casualties, 500 captured [100 executed, 400 released])
-1 Militia brigade shattered and captured (1,250 casualties, 1,250 captured [250 executed, 1,000 released]

Pirates (3 ships sunk, 3,750 casualties)
-3 PatRons sunk
-3 buccaneer brigades shattered, combined into 1 buccaneer brigade and 1 remnant, disbanded (3,750 casualties)

Forces in theater, end of season

Irish

Jamaica (Kingston)
-3 BatRons
-1 BatRon (damaged)
-1 CruRons
-3 PatRons (damaged)
-2 Infantry Brigades
-1 Infantry battalion

Pursuing Pirates
-4 BatRons
-4 CruRons
-4 PatRons

Pirates

Unknown Fleet [Under the command of Henry Avery]
-1 BatRon
-2 CruRon
-3 PatRon

[Haneastic]

The Kingdom of Ireland makes it clear that any merchant known to be dealing in stolen Irish goods from Charleston will be considered persona no grata and banned from dealing in Irish ports of call.

[TLS]

Caribbean Campaign

Summer-Fall, 1705

The Irish, apoplectic after the raid on Charleston, redouble their efforts to locate and destroy the pirate Avery. Patrols around the Caribbean are stepped up, any known pirate brothel, grog-house, or quay is ransacked for any and all information about the elusive Raider of Charleston. Forces along the coasts of Irish colonies and Ireland itself are fortified--the Irish government seriously entertains the threat of Avery attempting to raid the mainland itself, not putting itself beyond the reach of the Irish vagabond, who has demonstrated his aptitude and appetite for grand raids of monumental design.

But there is nothing but silence. The pirate lords of Tortuga and Trinidad, having renounced all ties with Avery, keep their reduced fleets safely out of the range of the Irish battlefleet, though the Irish and English patrols (officially uncoordinated, though rumors abound of potential collusion between the two hated enemies to tackle the pirate threat) do end up tangling with unaffiliated minor pirate squadrons (2 Irish, 1 English patrons damaged, 3 pirate PatRons sunk) in their attempts to clean up the Caribbean Sea.

By the time Hurricane season has set in, all of the major fleets have removed themselves from the region in an attempt to avoid the damage caused by the tropical tempests. The Irish and English main fleets spend the season recovering in their North American colonies, and the pirates stay ashore in order to not be caught at sea in the trying times. However, even in this risky season, there is no word or sight of Avery's fleet. Local governors and commanders of all the European powers begin to write home to Europe with their various theories--the fleet was lost at sea, Avery is hiding in the northern wastes, he has fled to Morocco to become a Barbary lord--but they all send roughly the same message: Henry Avery and his fleet have left the Caribbean, and seem unlikely to return.

Casualties

Ireland:
-2 PatRons damaged (1 point, 1 turn each to repair)

England
-1 PatRon damaged (1 point, 1 turn)

Pirates
-3 PatRons sunk

[TLS]

Parts Unknown

Winter, 1706

A steady peace has more or less fallen over the Caribbean, with the cooler temperatures and pleasant winds of the winter season buoying trade across the region--aided and abetted, of course, by the marked decrease in pirate activity. Irish and English sovereignty is slowly but surely being restored to their new colonies--largely uninhabited even before the pirate raids, but even moreso with the retreat of the majority of the Francophone population to the (comparatively) thriving island of Martinique.

It is in this French bastion of commerce and trade that, in mid-March, a shocking turn of events is uncovered. A Dutch trading ship, bearing curios and other goods from the Indian Ocean, arrives in Martinique after a stop along the Cape of Good Hope. The merchants aboard saw, in the distance, perhaps the largest European fleet they had ever seen that far from the home continent. Believing it to be a Portuguese or Dutch fleet bound for their colonial holdings in the Orient, they approached to barter--only, to their amazement, to see the fleet flying the Jolly Roger. Their trading vessel only barely managed to escape the pirate sloops sent in pursuit--aided, no doubt, but the pirate's unfamiliarity with the rough seas of the Southern Ocean--but noted that the majority of the pirate fleet seemed thoroughly uninterested in taking them for a prize. This was a fleet, they felt, with a mission--and that mission was taking them deep into the heart of the Indian Ocean, if not beyond.

[TLS]

East Africa

Fall, 1706

By the fall of 1706, over a year since Avery raided Charleston and sailed off into the unknown, a picture finally emerges of his exploits. The bearers of that news are a French fleet sent on an exploratory and trade mission around the Indian Ocean--they began their adventure some years ago, barely cognizant of the tribulations in the Caribbean, but come back fully informed as to its end.

Said French fleet, having originally stopped in Zanzibar a few years back on its way into the region to resupply and establish trading relations with the Imam-in-exile, stops in Zanzibar on its way out of the region to work on cementing those ties. On their approach to the island, however, they find that the Zanzibari fleet has been greatly enlarged, with European-style ships and white crews. What's more, when entreaties are sent to call upon the Imam, they find that all of their good work (and bribes) paid out on their way into the Ocean has come to naught--he has been overthrown, and replaced with a new Sultan: Hakim al-Manzil. The French fleet is not even allowed to use the harbor, but is allowed to anchor offshore and buy supplies at higher rates.

A small delegation from the fleet is sent ashore to try to ascertain the changes since their last visit. It is quickly intercepted by the Zanzibaris and brusquely taken directly to the Sultan's palace where an audience is granted with the new ruler. To their surprise a clearly European figure lounges in the majlis, attended by African eunuchs and gilded in silk and golden finery. A turbaned figure in the Sultan's court, clearly a native French speaker, proclaims that the new Sultan is willing to engage as equals with the French court but will not abide by any sort of unequal treaties or engagements made under the previous Imam, a decadent descendant of a broken house. The new Sultan, a wayfarer in his old life, embraced the faith of Islam and has renounced the Caribbean and the European possessions therein. He is the Guardian of the Swahili Coast and the Indian Ocean and Protector of Islam. The French delegation is sent away with little ability to get a word in edgewise.

On their way back to the fleet, the French envoys are lucky to have been placed with a particularly chatty escort, originally hailing from Provence by way of Tortuga. They learn that Avery took his fleet straight from the sack of Charleston across the Atlantic and around the Cape with the plan of returning to his old life of raiding the Mughal treasure fleets, ideally from inlets on Madagascar or other Indian Ocean islands. However, when the fleet stopped in Zanzibar, they discovered a highly combustible political situation, with the Omani Imam (son of the defeated Imam who fought the Ottomans) at loggerheads with both the Arab merchants and Swahili peasants of his realm. Striking a bargain with the ruling class, the pirates deposed the old Imam (in particularly gruesome fashion) and Avery converted to Islam to assume the throne. The pirates themselves, largely indifferent to religion, nominally followed suit. Avery is now sovereign lord of much of East Africa, and has similarly started to attract all sorts from across the Oceans to his banner.

[TLS]

The Grand Expedition

1716

For years the Stuarts have obsessed over their rival on an island across the sea, plotting their revenge for attacks on their patrimony. Of course, the English are far too tough a nut to crack, and so the Irish decide that a better course of action is to send their entire battlefleet around the world to attack an elderly trader and his merry band of misfits.

As soon as the weather becomes acceptable for the endeavor, in early May, the Irish load a large army onto their ships and set sail for the Swahili Coast. 15,000 men embark at Dublin for the great adventure, buoyed by promises of glory, honor, and gold. Tales are spun of the buxom lasses of Far Zanzibar arrayed among the Sultan’s mountains of Gold, and that all that stands between the good lads of Galloway and Monaghan and those riches are a decrepit band of increasingly elderly pirates. Morale is high as the fleet hits the high seas.

In an attempt to learn from the French logistical difficulties in their ill-fated expedition in Natal, the Irish try to minimize exposure of their army to the diseased African coasts by keeping the men on ship, stopping often for re-supply at Irish trade posts, and engaging in all sort of medical quackery to ward off the evil spirits of disease. Of course, there are still 15,000 pasty Hibernians crammed onto wooden tombs for months on end with little fresh food, water, and fetid heat, and casualties are still high. The Irish benefit from being able to call on the French at Caronville, but their numbers easily overwhelm the tiny French settlement, and they are soon sent on their way to try to take the Zanzibari outposts at Cabo Delgado.

Battle of Cabo Delgado, August 15

Zanzibar
-1 Garrison Brigade
-4 Militia Infantry Regiments

Ireland
-2 Infantry Brigades (Hibernia, Royal Dublin Fusiliers)
-4 Light Infantry Infantry Regiments
-4 BB1 (Mary of Modena, Anne Hyde, Arabella Churchill, Louisa Maria Theresa)
-8 BB2 ( Aimend, Aine, Airmed, Anu, Badb, Banba, Crobh Dearg, Danu)
-10 FF1
-6 PatRon

The Irish come upon the Zanzibari outpost with severely depleted manpower; the equivalent of 6 Light Infantry regiments have been shattered by disease and the tolls of traveling by sea, and thus are unavailable for the fight. The Zanzibaris, meanwhile, have not left their fleet off the sea nearby, and thus are isolated by the attacking Hibernian fleet; in order to retain their strength for the coming battles, however, the Irish do not embark any marines for this battle. The Zanzibaris fight fiercely, but the Irish force of arms is more than enough to eventually overwhelm them.

Casualties of the Battle of Cabo Delgado

Zanzibar
-1 Garrison Brigade
-4 Militia Infantry Regiments

Ireland
-1 Infantry Brigade (Royal Dublin Fusiliers) shattered, 2 LI remnants scrapped to reinforce

The Irish then set about establishing a base and preparing for the coming campaign against the Pirate Sultan. French vessels secure the shipping lines around the Cape, allowing for the Irish fleet to move into a more aggressive posture vis-à-vis the Zanzibaris. The Irish army on the Mozambican coast spends the next season trying to fight off tropical diseases; located much further north than even the French were, malaria and yellow fever begin to strike at the Irish expedition, reducing the effective cohort of the army even further (after all the LI regiments are brought back up to full strength, 6 LI regiments, an additional 4 are again shattered by disease, reducing the total force to 4 LI regiments)

The mighty Irish fleet is less affected by the miseries of those onshore and moves to harass the main Zanzibari fleet. With their large number of patrol vessels the pirates are able to keep the Irish at length for much of the season, withdrawing within range of the fortress at Zanzibar to dissuade the Irish from attacking. The Irish have dedicated orders to wipe out the pirate fleet, however, and even though the Zanzibaris refuse to move from out of the range of the guns of the fortress, the Irish choose to engage.

Battle of the Zanzibar Archipelago, September 16

Zanzibar
-1 Fortress
-3 BB2s (Khayali, Dualifin, Luliwa)
-12 Frigates (Mughamara, Suzana, Al-Ibn As-Sabie, Hamama, Yaqub, Khatar, Mubarak, Maryam, Jayiza, Al-Makhawi, Tajir, Muhammad Al-Azim)
-12 PatRons

Ireland
-4 BB1 (Mary of Modena, Anne Hyde, Arabella Churchill, Louisa Maria Theresa)
-8 BB2 ( Aimend, Aine, Airmed, Anu, Badb, Banba, Crobh Dearg, Danu)
-10 FF1
-6 PatRon

The Zanzibaris know that the archipelago of small islands and sand-banks outside the harbor funnels the battle to their advantage and they lay into the larger Irish fleet with everything they have. The guns from the fortress pound the attacking fleet, damaging the flagship Mary of Modena, while the Zanzibari gunners show that they haven’t lost their skills with their new occupations as bona-fide royals (Zanzibar lands 16 hits, 2 of which are crits; the BB2s Crobh Dearg and Danu are sunk and 2 PatRons are disabled). The Irish have largely sat out the massive naval battles of the last decade but have been using the time to drill and prepare for this meeting and return the damage (Ireland lands 15 hits, none of which are crits; they sink the BB2s Khayali and Luliwa and disable one PatRon).

The Irish fleet has effectively cornered the Zanzibaris in the harbor—the shoals and sandbars constrain both fleets, but the Irish advantage in tonnage allows them to force the Zanzibaris to continue the battle. This time the Zanzibaris perform far less effectively, and though they’re able to sink an Irish ship the deficit in cannons is become readily apparent (Zanzibar rolls 16 hits, 1 Crit; BB2 Banba sunk and 4 PatRons disabled) while the Irish continue with their punishing rate of fire (Ireland rolls 11 hits, 1 crit; FF1s Mughamara sunk and Khatar disabled).

By this point evening has descended upon the harbor and the Zanzibaris are desperate to escape. As the day has progressed they have been able to maintain, and even drastically expand, their advantage in small ships, and they leverage that to make their escape. Using a combination of familiarity with the seas, the descent of darkness, and the chaos of the fight, the (heavily damaged) remaining BB2 and the core of the Zanzibari frigate fleet make it out of the archipelago and make for the open ocean, but in the process lose most of their Brig coverage (5 PatRons disabled). The Irish decide that they’ve accomplished their goal and extricate themselves from the harbor—though in the process are delayed, leaving themselves open to yet more fire from the Zanzibari shore (2x hit on Mary of Modena).

Casualties of the Battle of the Zanzibar Archipelago

Zanzibar
-2 BB2s Sunk (Khayali, Luliwa)
-1 BB2 (4x) heavily damaged (Dualifin) [4 turns, 2 points]
-1 FF1s sunk (Mughamara)
-1 FF1 (4x) heavily damaged (Khatar), captured by Ireland [4 turns, 1 point]
-1 FF1 (3x) heavily damaged (Suzana) [3 turns, .75 points]
-2 FF1s (1x) damaged (Mubarak, Maryam) [1 turn, .25 points]
-6 PatRons captured by Ireland

Ireland
-1 BB1 (7x) Heavily Damaged (Mary of Modena) [4 turns, 5.25 points]
-1 BB1 (5x) damaged (Anne Hyde) [3 turns, 3.75 points]
-3 BB2s sunk (Banba, Crobh Dearg, Danu)
-2 PatRons heavily damaged [1 turn, .25 points]
-4 PatRons sunk

The Zanzibari fleet sails up the coast to Mombasa to repair and regroup, unaware that another threat is heading their way: the Ottoman expeditionary force. After assembling in late July, the Ottomans sailed south in their own attempt to leverage the chaos and seize some of Zanzibar’s precious possessions. In mid-August, around the time that the Irish began their assault on Cabo Delgado, the Ottomans begin pressing in from the north with an attack on the Zanzibari settlement at Mogadishu.

Battle of Mogadishu, August 11-12

Zanzibar
-1 Garrison Brigade
-4 Militia Regiments

Ottomans
-2 Light Infantry Brigades
-1 Ottoman Marine Regiment
- 4 BB2s (Teşvikiye, Mahmudiye, Selimiye, Mukkademe-i Hayir)
-10 FF1
-10 PatRon

The Ottomans attempt to sway the Somali clans to rebel against the Zanzibaris, but after centuries of effective trading relationships and no interference the Somalis are content to simply wait disinterestedly as the battle unfolds. The Ottomans commit their marine contingents due to the odds facing the attackers, which proves key because the Zanzibaris prove to be effective defenders in the melee (Turn 1: Zanzibar shatters the LI brigade and marine regiment while the Ottomans shatter 2 Militia regiments). As the fight drags on the Zanzibaris demonstrate themselves to be less effective (Turn 2: Ottomans shatter 2 militia regiments) until finally the Zanzibaris fall to the attackers shortly after dawn on the 2nd day (Turn 3: Ottomans shatter 1 Garrison brigade).

Casualties of the Battle of Mogadishu

Zanzibar
-1 Garrison Brigade
-4 Militia Infantry Regiments

Ottomans
-1 Light Infantry Brigade shattered, reduced to regiment
-1 Marine Regiment shattered [1 point, 1 turn to replace]

The Ottomans, having lost much of their attack force, call off their planned attack on Mombasa and send back for more reinforcements, supplies, and orders. However, the Zanzibaris are not in a place to especially celebrate: the defeat of their fleet outside their home island has left it open to attack, the Sultanate has lost its outposts to the north and south, and Avery’s enemies are left in control of the pace of the campaign.

Forces in Theater, End of 1716

Zanzibar

Zanzibar
-1 Fortress
-1 Infantry Brigade (TL 3)
-1 Cavalry Regiment (TL 3)
-6 Light Infantry Regiments
-3 Cavalry Regiments

Mombasa
-1 Garrison Brigade
-4 Militia Regiments
-1 Heavily Damaged BB2 (Dualifin)
-7 FF1s ( Al-Ibn As-Sabie, Hamama, Yaqub, Jayiza, Al-Makhawi, Tajir, Muhammad Al-Azim)
-1 FF1 (3x) heavily damaged (Suzana)
-2 FF1s (1x) damaged (Mubarak, Maryam)
-6 PatRons

Ireland

Cabo Delgado
-2 Infantry Brigades (Hibernia, Royal Dublin Fusiliers)
-4 Light Infantry Regiments
-2 BB1 ( Arabella Churchill, Louisa Maria Theresa)
-5 BB2 ( Aimend, Aine, Airmed, Anu, Badb)
-1 BB1 (7x) Heavily Damaged (Mary of Modena)
-1 BB1 (5x) damaged (Anne Hyde)
-10 FF1
-1 FF1 (4x) heavily damaged (Khatar), captured from Zanzibar
-8 heavily damaged PatRon

Ottoman Empire

Mogadishu
-1 Light Infantry Brigade
-1 Light Infantry Regiment
- 4 BB2s (Teşvikiye, Mahmudiye, Selimiye, Mukkademe-i Hayir)
-10 FF1
-10 PatRon

[TLS]

Zanzibar or Bust!

Winter, 1717

By late 1716, reports begin to reach the Irish fleet at Cabo Delgado that all is not well back in the home country, and that political pressures are mounting for the fleet to be returned. An extended strategy of attempting to pay off and play off the various factions in Zanzibar, therefore, is precluded by the needs of the service. The fact that the Zanzibari fleet has been allowed to repair unaccosted in Mombasa also indicates to the Irish that their Ottoman co-belligerents may have run out of willingness to perpetuate their campaign. Torn between the desire to return to the Home Island and to see Avery’s head on a spike, the Irish thus decide to split the baby and make a desperate assault on the island itself.

Irish agents have been furiously working the tumultuous Zanzibari camp, trying to turn minor pirate captains against the aging Sultan, the native Swahili population against the Arab middle-echelon, and the born Muslims against the converts. Irish insistence on being made sovereign over the island has turned most of these groups against cooperation, but the chaos caused by the interference has demoralized and diminished the defensive force (Zanzibar loses 2 LI regiments and 2 Cavalry Regiments). Stripping the heavily damaged ships of their marines, the Irish send them back to Ireland at the start of the year, and send the core of their fleet to the island of Zanzibar. They are able to land an army on the southern shore of the island, outside the range of the guns of the fortress, and their forces march on the Zanzibari citadel at Stone Town.

Battle of Zanzibar, January 20

Zanzibar
-1 Fortress
-1 Light Infantry Brigade (TL 3)
-1 Cavalry Regiment (TL 3)
-4 Light Infantry Regiments
-1 Cavalry Regiments

Ireland
-2 Infantry Brigades (Hibernia, Royal Dublin Fusiliers)
-4 Light Infantry Regiments
-1 Marine Regiment
-2 BB1 ( Arabella Churchill, Louisa Maria Theresa)
-5 BB2 ( Aimend, Aine, Airmed, Anu, Badb)
-10 FF1
The Irish fleet engages the fortress, drawing its heaviest firepower away from the defensive effort, but the Zanzibaris still have a formidable defensive position (Zanzibar gets FF and Defensive roll bonus until fort is reduced; fort does not contribute to ground combat). The Irish charge over the rocky island to assault the fortifications early in the day, but the well-entrenched Zanzibaris whittle away at their numbers as they approach. Once the Irish are within range to retort on their own, they manage to noticeable casualties on the defenders, but suffer a critical blow to their crack units (Turn 1: Zbar FF 2x shatter LI Reg and Marine Reg, MF 2x shatter Inf Brig, LI Reg. Ireland MF 1x, shattered 2 LI Reg). The Irish have lost over half their force in the attack, but are desperate to take the island. They thus decide to press the attack, aided by the guns blasting from off shore. Bravely they charge again into the maelstrom, and bravely again they fall short of seizing the fortress, though not without dragging more of the Pirates down with them (FF: Zanzibar 2x, shatter 2 LI regs, MF: Zanzibar 1x, shatter the Irish brigade; Ireland 1x, shatters 2 LI regiments).

Casualties of the Battle of Zanzibar

Zanzibar
-4 LI Regiments shattered, reduced to 2 regiments

Ireland
-2 Infantry brigades shattered, reduced to 1
-4 LI Regiments shattered, reduced to 2
-1 Marine regiment destroyed [1 point, 1 turn to replenish]
-1 BB1 (4x) damaged (Arabella Churchill) [2 turns, 3 points to repair]

Ashamed of their defeat, but cognizant of the scale of the threat facing their homeland, the Irish commanders waste no time mourning their lost. The Irish pull up stakes and abandon their base at Cabo Delgado (sure that if they left a token force behind they would only be murdered by the pirates) and sail back to Europe--though are still a few weeks away at the end of the Winter turn.

News of the fleet's disaster precedes them, as war fever has gripped the Irish capital, and their failed venture is held up in the Parliament as evidence of the ruling ministry’s ill-served focus on the Dread Pirate Avery rather than the Even More Dread Pirates of London (the rabble-rousers in Parliament are not clever, just angry.)

Survivors of the Campaign, end of Winter, 1717

Ireland

En Route to Dublin
-1 Infantry Brigades ( Royal Dublin Fusiliers)
-2 Light Infantry Regiments
-2 BB1 ( Arabella Churchill, Louisa Maria Theresa) [No Marines]
-5 BB2 ( Aimend, Aine, Airmed, Anu, Badb) [No Marines]
-1 BB1 (7x) Heavily Damaged (Mary of Modena) [No Marines]
-1 BB1 (5x) damaged (Anne Hyde) [No Marines]
-1 BB1 (4x) damaged (Arabella Churchill) [No Marines]
-10 FF1 [No Marines]
-1 FF1 (4x) heavily damaged (Khatar), captured from Zanzibar [No Marines]
-8 heavily damaged PatRon  [No Marines]

Zanzibar

Zanzibar
-1 Fortress
-1 Infantry Brigade (TL 3)
-1 Cavalry Regiment (TL 3)
-2 LI Regiments
-1 Cavalry Regiments

Mombasa
-1 Garrison Brigade
-4 Militia Regiments
-1 Heavily Damaged BB2 (Dualifin)
-7 FF1s ( Al-Ibn As-Sabie, Hamama, Yaqub, Jayiza, Al-Makhawi, Tajir, Muhammad Al-Azim)
-1 FF1 (3x) heavily damaged (Suzana)
-2 FF1s (1x) damaged (Mubarak, Maryam)
-6 PatRons

[Haven]

Dutch and VOC emissaries quietly congratulate Avery on his victory. Avery is informed that to the extent he needs access to goods or weapons to replenish his losses, Zanzibarian ships will be able to call on Dutch ports to trade or replenish.

[Galveston Bay]

1728
The French governor in Key West announces that the period of Mardis Gras will be considered a truce for all, including buccaneers, who are free to come ashore and celebrate the period leading to Lent. That truce ends the Monday following Ash Wednesday so that all may seek God's word during this period.

No foreign warships are allowed in port during this time but the French Navy will be present.

More cynical observers note that this is little different from the norm, where the French have looked the other way at smugglers and pirates who anchor in French Florida for decades.

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