One of my view of simple scenario design is that you simply chuck plenty of troops into the mix, randomise some entry times and entry points and let the situation develop from that. Sometimes it doesn't work, but most of the time it produces entertaining results.
Anyway, that's what I did last night for a club game of Torpedoes & Tides. I played Torpedoes & Tides because (i) Daniel asked for a game (ii) Naval games were the theme for the week and (iii) Yesterday was, by a staggering coincidence, International Naval Wargames Day.
I set up the Grey Christmas scenario from the book. This sees two British steam gunboats (HMS Grey Owl and HMS Grey Wolf) opposed by a air of S-boats. One vessel from each side is elite (the British one is commanded by Peter Scott) and there's a patch of mist to keep things interesting.
But I added more. For a start I added another patch of mist. Then I gave each side reinforcements. The Germans got a minesweeper and a large flak boat with an 88mm gun. The British also got a minesweeper (one of my Halcyon-class models making its debut) and a Round Table class armed trawler.
If you look at the stats in the rules you'll see that just about everything in the game has 'big' guns. Only the S-boats are relying on smaller weapons. But they are the fastest things on teh table, and not only have torpedoes but have torpedo reloads. And they can't be torpedoed by the British gunboats.
The gunboats and S-boats start in the centre of opposite edges. From Turn 2 onwards each side rolled a D6 at the start of their turn. On a 5-6 one of their reinforcements would show up. It could appear on their starting edge, or the left edge or the right edge - equal chance of each. I then randomised where on the edge it appeared.
And that's it. Simple but, hopefully, chaotic.
Oh, and there's no moon, so visibility is limited.
I played the British and Daniel took the Germans.
Here's the position a couple of turns in. One British gunboat has been spotted, whist ahead of it the second (the elite one) is hiding in the mist. The other three markers are the S-boats and the flak boat (the 'Thor')
The elite steam gunboat tore out of the mist, revealing an S-boat that promptly opened fore on it, causing damage and a fire. The British replied to no effect, and then sped into the other patch of mist.
By now the Germans had both of their reinforcing vessels on and closing in on the fight. Both S-boats and gunboats were revealed. Commander Scott extinguished the fire on HMS Grey Owl, but decided the damage was too great and headed for home.
The S-boats and the other British gunboat (HMS Grey Wolf) hid in the mist. And that's where they collided. HMS Grey Wolf was undamaged but the elite S-boat took a hit.
Owing to my inability to roll a 5 or 6 I was now a few turns into the game with no reinforcements. Since Grey Owl had buggered off, this left Grey Wolf facing four German vessels alone. HMS Grey Wolf is marked with a red dice.
The German minesweeper chased after HMS Grey Wolf, which wisely dodged and hid as much as possible, looking for a chance to torpedo one of the larger ships.
As the German minesweeper turned past the mist the first British reinforcement arrived - the minesweeper HMS Parthenope. It lasted one turn. It spotted the German vessel who, in turn, shot at it and set it on fire. On the next turn the Parthenope's crew decided to head home.
It did manage a wild parting shot that damaged the German minesweeper, though.
HMS Grey Wolf managed to shoot up the flak boat Thor, knocking out some guns.
But now the sneaky elite S-boat captain saw his chance and launched torpedoes at the Grey Wolf. They missed. The S-boat disappeared into the darkness to reload.
The other British reinforcement finally turned up - HMT Sir Mordred. It immediately engaged the Thor, damaging it.
The second S-boat fired torpedoes, but it was a bow shot and teh plodding trawler easily evaded them.
The trawler took a shot at the S-boat, but couldn't hit the fast-moving German vessel.
A big aerial view of the action. Some ships have returned to blinds because they were out of sight of enemy ships. Top right you can see HMS Parthenope heading home.
The Thor fired starshells (the yellow counter) to try and help the the S-boat's gunnery, and the trawler was damaged.
HMT Sir Mordred kept up the fight, damaging the Thor again.
Meanwhile on the other side of the board a long-range (at least as far as the darkness allowed) shot from the German minesweeper hit the Grey Wolf and - you've guessed it - set it on fire. Fortunately the British crew extinguished it fairly rapidly.
Thor and Sir Mordred continued their fight.
HMS Grey Wolf came up on the Thor and fired torpedoes. Naturally they missed.
Grey Wolf shot up the Thor some more, knocking out its guns, and the German flak boat broke off the action.
Meanwhile the German minesweeper had had a strange time of it. It had to roll on the All At Sea table three times in three turns and each time got a turn to either port or to starboard, so had weaved a strange random course across the board. The Sir Mordred came up and put a shot into its bridge, battering it. The minesweeper returned the favour, damaging the trawler's engines.
The trawler was no battered and it too was steering wildly. It veered across the course of the S-boat, there was a collision and the trawler was sunk. The S-boat escaped without damage.
And that was it. A final shot from HMS Grey Wolf failed to finish of the Thor and we called the game.
The Germans had a crippled minesweeper, a badly damaged flak boat and a lightly damaged S-boat (the elite one that had, after firing off all its torpedoes and missed with every one, simply given up and gone home). The second S-boat was undamaged and even had a torpedo left.
The British had had
Grey Owl lightly damaged,
Grey Wolf damaged, HMS
Parthenope damaged and HMT
Sir Mordred sunk. We decided that it was nominally a draw but that the sunk British vessel gave the Germans a marginal edge.
All in all it was a splendid and chaotic game, and a perfect way to celebrate International Naval Wargames Day for 2026.
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