I remembered today that I’d forgotten to play the final scenario in my trilogy of ‚What If?‘ ironclad naval games, based on a fictitious war between the Royal Navy and United States Navy c1871. I’ve located this final battle off the South East tip of Nova Scotia, Cape Sable Island, where there is a wide beach called The Hawk. This sounds like a splendid title for a naval battle, so I’ve relocated the game from the approaches to Halifax itself to a point off the coast of Cape Sable.

In this scenario, the Royal Navy fleet will intercept the US Navy ironclad fleet as it steams toward Halifax from Boston to reinforce the naval blockade. The Royal Navy commander knows that the US fleet is on its way, thanks to the secret British spy network inside the US administration, so has altered course to intercept it before it gets to Boston. I’ll work out the details later and, hopefully, play the game at the weekend.