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.