Action - 1720 - November 15 - Playing Tag at Vieux Fort

Ships in Action:
ALLIES:

Virgil Kyle - HMS Judicator ('Dauntless' Frigate)

'Lorien DeShard' - 'Hercules' Sleek Frigate

ENEMIES:

-French Patrolling Fleet of 8 heavy frigates

'Chevalier Vaillant' - 'Dauntless' Frigate

Action Setup:
After completing 'Bey's Retreat' with some fellow SGS officers, we received an urgent message from Lorien DeShard, a well-known member of the North Star Trading Company, asking for assistance at Vieux Fort. The nearby port had a full red zone around it, and only needed a few thousand points to 'flip' it (get a port battle scheduled). Unfortunately, there were enemies about, both pirates and French, and thus Lorien couldn't risk going out on her own to do the job alone. Hearing her plea, Captains Wick, Sherrin and myself decided to report to Vieux Fort to render assistance, despite the dangers. Unfortunately, we experienced a troubled entry to the port in question through the surrounding red zone, coming under the attack of multiple 'rat' (pirate) captains. Afterwards, both Captains Sherrin and Wick were left unable to assist, and thus Lorien and I decided to take our chances alone. We found a juicy target, a French fleet of 8 ships, and jumped it. Unforunately, Chevalier Vaillant, a freetrader in a Dauntless frigate, followed close behind us.

The Action Itself:
Upon entering the battle, Lorien and I noticed that the French fleet began moving to join up with their French compatriot. Obviously, they would not make things easy for us. Therefore, we decided to be very careful and methodical about how we went about things. We couldn't let Chevalier bring the firepower of his entire fleet of NPCs to bear against us. Also, per Captain Sherrin's advice, we made sure to keep a clear path to an exit at all times. That way, if we did end up getting in over our heads, we would still have a chance to pull ourselves out.

Over the next hour or so, we played out a game of 'tag', if you will, with Chevalier and his fleet, driving him away with bar and bronze shot when he got too close, and sinking ships in the fleet itself when they inevitably became separated from the rest of the group. After about an hour and a half, with only three of his original eight allies still afloat, M. Vaillant finally tired of his fruitless exercise, and left the rest of his fleet to us. We sank the remaining three with no great distress, and with much enthusiasm.

The Result:
Victory, in no uncertain terms. We went on to sink another pack of 8 French ships, in addition to a few small convoys of French merchantmen. Chevalier Vaillant did not bother us again.

Lessons Learned:
A good lesson to take out of this fight would be to not despair the odds. Although Lorien and I were greatly outclassed in this fight, the liberal use of guile and tactics helped to even the odds quite nicely. Also, if any of you end up in a similar situation in the future, fighting an outnumbered player force backed up by overwhelming NPC reinforcements, I would suggest using tactics similar to ours, that being to keep the players at bay while you destroy their NPC allies. The tactic worked very well for us, and I have confidence that it will work again, if properly employed.

Take care out there, and good hunting!