The Adventures Of Harvey Knight - 1

Thomas has now added a campaign system to Torpedoes & Tides. Since I'm still trying out scenarios and poking around with teh rules, it seemed a good way to structure things, so I thought that I would give it a try.

Essentially you play the lead commander of a flotilla of  torpedo boats, and get sent on various patrols and missions, hoping to gain experience and build a reputation.

I generated Lt Cdr Harvey Knight, who leads a flotilla of 72' boats - four torpedo boats and two motor gun boats - on the east coat of England. Not every boat will go on every mission; you need spares.

There's a small cast of characters as well; the other boat commanders, and some personnel back at base, but aside from giving them names you don't need to do anything else at this stage. All of the boat crews start as green; Lt Cdr Knight will have to work hard to bring them up to scratch.

For the first mission the flotilla was tasked with intercepting a convoy off the Dutch coast. Harvey took his own boat, MTB 413, as well as Lt Cdr Stewart in MTB 414 and Lt Cdr McDonald in MGB 103. The convoy had three small freighters, as well as three escorts, two R-Boats and a Vorpostenboot.

The plan was to attack the tail of the convoy. They quickly spotted a freighter. MTB 414 went in fast, dodged being spotted by an escort and launched both torpedoes at the German vessel.

BOOM! It sunk. 

An R-boat opened fire to no effect.

Lt McDonald in MGB 103 ran alongside the flank of the convoy, looking to pick out the next freighter, so that Lt Cdr Knight in MTB 413 could take that one out with his torpedoes. However the Germans were now thoroughly alerted, and the freighters were piling on all speed to escape, whilst a big Vorpostenboot came into view. The first shot it fired showed that it was well armed with big guns.

(I made some random rolls to determine information about the escorts. This was a nasty thing for the dice to throw up on a first mission. And in Torpedoes & Tides, even slow ships like freighters can crack on if they remain on blinds, so it's vital to spot them as soon as possible in order to force them into 'normal' actions')

Attacking the rear of the convoy had been something of a mistake. The three British boats piled on the speed, but soon lost touch with the other two freighters which disappeared into the night. This just left them dealing with the German escorts.

Another shot at MGB 103 inflicted light damage.

Knight decided that enough was enough and sent the other two boats home. He would stay for one shot at the Vorpostenboot rather than suffer the shame of going home having fired no torpedoes. Unfortunately his attempt to do this was thwarted by McDonald in MGB 103, who laid smoke to cover his exit and blocked Knight's shot.

At this point Knight should have followed his other boats home, but he was now intent on trying to sink the big escort (now identified as the Kobold). However the R-boats were now preventing him getting a clear shot with his torpedoes.

The Kobold opened fire on him as he worked past the smaller craft to line up a run. MTB 413 was lightly damaged.

Torpedoes away! 

They missed, and a confused helm order saw MTB steer not to the port and safety, but to starboard and a dangerous run home right past the Kobold.

Another hit! The Kobold's gunners were shooting well tonight.

MTB 413 was now battered. And at that point the Germans scored yet another hit. But for one the dice were with the British; all damage resolved as suppression; one more proper hit would have sunk the boat and ended Lt Cdr Knight's career (and the campaign) on the first game.

All of the British boats got home, with MGB 103 having suffered light damage and MTB 413 in a very bad way. Going after that escort was a very stupid thing to do.

However they had sunk a freighter and the experience was good for the crew of Stewart's MTB 414. Amazingly Knight's reputation improved as well; the story of his attack on the Kobold somehow ended up showing him in a favourable light, and people had begun to notice him.

Less good was that the repair yard was at capacity, and little work could be done on the two damaged boats, which would be  unlikely to head out on the next mission. Next time Knight would have to hitch a ride on another vessel.