Rescue Mission

I made a couple of new coastal forces ships the other day and wanted to try one of them out, so I set up a quick game yesterday. I ran the Rescue scenario, with the suggested forces (three MLs attempting a rescue with two KFK and an R-boat in opposition), but added a medium Verpostenboot with an 88mm gun to the German force, balanced by my new Round Table class trawler for the British. 

Here's the trawler (currently unnamed). After I built it I realised I'd measured hat base incorrectly and it's actually a few mm too short, but I'm not making it again. It looks right and that's all that matters. 

What I wanted to try was having vessels with the Large Calibre trait on both sides, and to see how the big guns worked against vessels that weren't small and hard to hit. 

The downed airmen were in the open sea, with no fog, terrain or possibility of minefields. The British boats set up along the western edge. The partial moon was in the west. 

The first marker wasn't the life-raft. Just some wreckage.

Vessels approached from the north. The motor launches continued east to check the other possible contacts. the trawler (on its blind) turned to investigate the approaching enemy. 

An R-boat raced out of the darkness, and the trawler opened fire, but missed. 

It came under fire from the Verpostenboot Kobold. And then collided with the R-boat. Both the British and German vessels were badly damaged. Not a great debut for the trawler. 

Two more German vessels moved through the darkness to the east as the lead ML checked the second contact. 

The second contact was also just wreckage. As teh ML approached what was no definitely the life-raft a KFK came in, guns blazing. 

And then a second. The ML doggedly rescued airmen (the dice represent how many actions were needed for the rescue. It started at 6). 

The other two MLs came up in an attempt to take the pressure off the lead boat, that was now starting to take damage. In the background you can see the Kobold and the R-boat moving up as well. The British trawler was further back, also turning towards the fight. 

The lead ML had almost completed the rescue, but was close to being battered as he KFKs persisted in their attack. They were taking damage as well, however. 

The trawler caught up with the Kobold and its first shot from the 3" gun damaged the German vessel. 

The battered ML had completed the rescue and prepared to roar off into the darkness and escape the Germans. This activation roll helped!

One of the other MLs sank a KFK.

And the trawler managed to score another hit on the Verpostenboot. The German vessel activated badly and didn't get to shoot back. 

It did get to the point where it managed a single shot against one of teh MLs, but it missed. 

The battered ML hadn't quite made it to safety yet, and the other MLs were still trying to fend off the surviving KFK. However a long-range shot from teh little German armed trawler sank the escaping ML. The airmen would have to be rescued again!

And what of the damaged R-boat? It too was heading into the main fight as fast as it could. However its first action was to open up on the Verpostenboot. This was the final straw for the big German vessel, which turned for home.

I used the optional sinking rules for the destroyed ML, and the crew managed to stabilise it. A second ML came up to perform the rescue and got a lucky roll, only requiring two actions to complete it. I like to think that it was down to efficiency and not that there weren't may men left to rescue on the other boat. 

Short as teh rescue was it was complicated by  the surviving KFK and now the R-boat, who kept up a steady fire. 

But it wasn't enough. The ML escaped with both the rescued airmen and the surviving crew of the lead ML. 

The final ML shot up the second KFK, leaving it battered. 

(The white counter shows that this is the moon edge).

Final positions. At the top the Verpostenboot is heading for home. The trawler had also decided enough was enough. The R-boat and the KFK were both badly damaged. But the third British ML was undamaged.

So the British completed the rescue - twice - and escaped. Both sides lost a vessel and had others badly shot up (or damaged in the collision). Stars of the game were the lead ML, that doggedly stuck to the rescue under heavy fire, and nearly made it to safety, the KFKs for sheer persistence and the British trawler that, after a terrible start, inflicted enough damage on the Verpostenboot to cause it to break off from the action before it became a real threat. 

This was a fun game, and took less than an hour to set up and play. 

Ten Years Ago - April 2016

I really enjoyed the game Battlesworn back in the day. However it's rather clever system didn't really seem to catch on and after one supplement it's pretty much dropped out of circulation. A shame, as I think with a proper second editon it could be a great small-scale fantasy skirmish game. 

Anyway, this month's ten year time-machine post covers a Battlesworn scenario I put together that uses old Citadel horror RPG figures along with some of GW's old dungeon/horror floorplans. 

Can the heroic agents of SAVE foil the machinations of the evil Doctor Fu Manchu?

Fu Manchu's Halls Of Horror

Random Convoy Escorts for 'Torpedoes & Tides'

A couple of people liked the random convoy escort table I used in my recent convoy scenario for Torpedoes & Tides. So I thought I'd expand it for use with solo games. It assumes that the player knows what's in their attacking force, knows which blinds are the transports (because they are set up in a particular way) but wants to be kept in the dark about what's escorting them. It does mean that the convoy escorts may send out their own blinds without knowing what they are, and if you're using decision rolls they may reveal things not knowing what they are either. Basically I'm saying that it's flawed, but it does create some fun hidden information. And we all love hidden information.  

I'd use the same card-draw system as before but instead of assigning ships to the cards, I simply assign a size. So make a deck of all of the cards from one suit*. Each time you try to spot a blind, or if one is revealed, draw a card to determine the size:

Ace - 7 = Small
8 - Q = Medium
K = Large

If the blind is revealed for any reason then roll a D6 to see what it is:

SMALL

1-2 - Kriegsfischkutter (KFK)
3-5 - Raumboot (R-boat)
6 - Disgruntled S-boat

MEDIUM

1-3 - Small Verpostenboot
4-5 Medium Verpostenboot (On a second roll of 5+ it has an 88mm gun)
6 - Sibelfahre (On a second roll of 5+ it's the 88mm gun version)

LARGE

1-4 - Minensuchboot 1935 Klasse
5-6 - Raubvogel  (Flottentorpedoboot)

OK, this is just for the Germans, basically covers the North Sea/Channel and is obviously geared to my collection of ships. But I'm assuming you're all bright enough to spot the core mechanism and gear your own tables to other nationalities and theatres of war. 

I'd love to see your own tables and to hear any thought you may have on similar mechanisms. 

* You could go wild and just draw from a deck, but it will increase the chance of large escorts. Up to you. 

Convoy Attack

Daniel and I played Torpedoes & Tides last night. Once again it was an attack on a convoy. Daniel took the German convoy, consisting of three freighters and a trio of escorts.

To make things interesting, I drew up a table of potential escorts and assigned playing cards to them. Daniel drew 3 cards at the start of the game, keeping them secret, then assigned each one to a blind.

Ace	Kriegsfischkutter (KFK)
2	Kriegsfischkutter (KFK)
3	Raumboot (R-Boat)
4	Raumboot (R-Boat)
5	Raumboot (R-Boat)
6	Raumboot (R-Boat)
7	Siebelfahre
8	Small Vorpostenboot
9	Small Vorpostenboot
10	Small Vorpostenboot
J	Medium Vorpostenboot (On a 5-6 it has an 88mm gun)
Q	S-Boat
K	Minensuchboot 1935 Klasse

In this way I had no idea what escorts I'd be up against, although when spotting blinds you get to know if the target is small, medium or large (because it affects the roll).

I had four attacking vessels: two Vosper MTBs and a pair of BPB gunboats to provide cover. The moon was full and over the coast, so I lurked out at sea down-moon of the convoy and waited.

My first moves were to send in the gunboats to identify the freighters and draw off the escorts. In the darkness MGB 91 bumped into a Kriegsfischkutter and came under fire. 

A small Vorpostenboot was quickly revealed as well. The third escort stayed on its blind and started to work around the convoy aiming for the British rear. I ignored it. 

The British attack was sluggish, with both MGBs moving cautiously and the MTBs waiting in the darkness for a suitable gap. MGB 91 continued to come under fire from the escorts.

Daniel was actively moving the transports away from the action, and with two of them still on blinds they were going quickly. So I had to act. I sent in my lead MTB and launched a torpedo at the revealed freighter. It missed. 

A lot of vessels were now revealed and the British were ready to pile on the speed, outrun the escorts and take on the transports. On the right of the picture the third escort lurked in a patch of fog. 

But the fickle hand of fate intervened. I cheered when, as I passed by the escorts, Daniel rolled activation failures and spared me from running a gauntlet of fire. I cheered with delight. 

I then proceeded to roll three ones for the activation of my lead boat, leaving my whole force floundering. In addition, because of their close proximity and the fact that even inactive vessels still move, three of my boats were involved in collisions; two with each other and one with the KFK. Nothing escaped undamaged. 

Daniel is never going to let me forget it. 

So most of my boats were damaged, I was taking fire (and more damage) and I'd failed to damage anything in return. My second torpedo boat (that hadn't collided with anything) sped forward and had launched a spread of torpedoes at the revealed freighter. They also missed. 

I closed up and resorted to gunfire. Even that didn't hit. One freighter had almost escaped and another was still on its blind. One of my MGBs was shot up by the Verpostenboot and battered. It turned for home. 

On the plus side I'd managed to break away from the escorts for now, and could focus on the freighter. It remained undamaged, despite the fire I poured into it. 

The escorts closed up and an MTB took a hit from the Verpostenboot which damaged its engines. 

My SO's boat still had one torpedo left. It closed up on one of the other freighters, revealing it and launched the last torpedo in my force. 

It hit! But whilst it scored heavy damage it didn't sink the freighter. An MTB closed up and two British boats began to rake the freighter with gunfire. 

It took a lot of firing, but eventually the freighter heeled over and sank. 

Unfortunately in the confusion the SO's boat mistook the MGB for an escort and fired on that as well!

In the foreground the other MTB was limping for home, under fire from three German escorts (for the final escort had revealed itself as a R-boat).

With all vessels damaged, no torpedoes left and the escorts closing fast the British headed for home.

The British got all four boats home and didn't bring back any torpedoes. They sank one freighter. They were all damaged, one seriously. 

The Germans got two freighters off the table. One escort had taken light damage from the collision. 

So Daniel had a convincing win. 

I did realise this morning that, as a last resort, I could have resorted to using depth charges on one of the other freighters, but I'm not sure how successful I'd have been. Lady Luck was not with me last night. 

The hidden escorts rule worked out well, and I'm looking at creating something similar for solo games where you randomly determine the size of a vessel on a blind as an attempt is made to spot it, then determine what it actually is once it's revealed. 

Grey Christmas

For our regular Wednesday evening game Mrs Kobold and I played Torpedoes & Tides. I wanted to try one of the new scenarios in the book, and she was happy to give it a go because it features the naturalist Peter Scott.

It's an action from 1943 in which two steam gunboats from Scott's flotilla encountered a couple of German S-boats .  In order to play it I had to make a couple of steam gunboats. So here's HMS Grey Owl and HMS Grey Wolf. 

The action was fought on a moonless night and the only terrain is a patch of fog. It's a simple 'shoot up the enemy' mission. Catherine took the British, whilst I took the Germans. We both had one regular and one veteran vessel. Here we are at the 'Still On Blinds' stage. 

I hid one S-boat in the fog, but the other was soon spotted. In return I located Grey Wolf. 

With gunfire starting it was time to stop hiding and get stuck in. Initial fire from one S-boat caused the crew of Grey Wolf to take cover. The other S-boat swung round in a wide arc ...

... and running a hail of fire from both gunboats launched a pair of torpedoes at Grey Wolf. 

A hit! The British were now down one ship. 

The first S-boat veered off to reload its torpedoes. It had taken some light damage and lost a gun as well. The second S-boat came in and fired its torpedoes, but Scott's Grey Owl was a harder target thanks to its veteran crew, and they missed. 

I tried to line up some gunnery on Grey Owl, but Catherine kept up a hail of gire from it. The gunboats have heavy guns and a couple of hits soon showed that a straight gunfight wasn't going to end well for the Germans. 

One S-boat caught fire, but it was quickly extinguished. However damage is damage. 

I kept trying to get in a shot on Grey Owl. but couldn't. However my veteran S-boat had reloaded its torpedoes and was looking to make another attack. I couldn't get a good line on Grey Owl, though. 

With both of my boats taking hits from the 3" gun on Grey Owl I decided to cut my losses and ran for home.

The Germans won the scenario, sinking one British vessel, and only taking damage in return. It would have been nice to have sunk Grey Owl as well, but I didn't think I could get into a good torpedo run position without being sunk, so it wasn't worth it. I quit whilst I was ahead.

I reckon for this scenario that the Germans need to get in fast, fire off a salvo of torpedoes at the lower quality British vessel, then scarper. If they don't sink it then they stay at long range, reload and then have another go. And then scarper for sure. I reckon the British need to evade and keep their bow/stern to the Germans as much as possible to throw off the torpedo attack, and then use their longer range guns to fire as many shots as possible at the Germans, regardless of odds. They only have to get lucky a couple of times. The Germans aren't going to win a straight gunfight.