Cogs: The English Fleet

Edward III's cog Thomas lead's the English fleet to Sluys

Hoo boy,

I've finished my English fleet for the Sluys game.  I haven't talked too much about the rules or the scenario, but it's based on one laid out in David Manley's Medieval Fleet Action Rules.  I don't know if David has plans to publish these, but I've reviewed them and I like them a lot.  In the rules he provides an order of battle for Sluys.  The rules are simple.  There is an artillery fire phase, a missile (arrow) fire phase, and a boarding/hand to hand phase.  All the phases are adjudicated a la DBA, with a fighting factor combined with a die roll.  If your die roll exceeds that of your opponent that's good.  If your die roll doubles that of your opponent, it's very good.

 The scenario calls for 22 English cogs, plus Edward III's flagship Thomas, which can be seen leading the parade.  I painted far more cogs than called for--there are 43 of them out there.  The only thing I want to do is to put together a cannon, so one model can be cannon armed per the scenario.  You can see the large, medium and small sized cogs.

Another view of the English fleet

This is a project I'm really proud of.  My goal was to hand make everything, and I've succeeded.  I'm really not much of a scratchbuilder, as any of my friends can tell you.  The minis are far from perfect, but even so, they work.  My next big challenge is to figure out how to come up with a workable galley, though I have some ideas.

All 43 of my English cogs

 The project is only half completed at this point.  There is a small Flemish fleet with five small cogs, and 28 French fleet.

 The English decisively won Sluys, but it wasn't a walkover.  They fought all day and into the night and the French casualties were horrendous, as you could imagine.  The English cleared the decks with arrow fire and then fought hand to hand, throwing the losers, in armor overboard.  Not a good battle to lose.  However the scenario is very well constructed and poses some real problems for the English to resolve.  My hats off to David.  I've admired his work for years and I really like this scenario. 

Friday night at Enfilade.  Be there or be square.