The Adventures Of Harvey Knight - 7

I was asked when Harvey Knight was coming back. I said that he would if I could find the paperwork for the campaign.

I found it.

So today I played the next mission in the campaign.

Whilst heading off on patrol Harvey's squadron received a call about some downed airmen off the French coast. They were ordered to rush to their assistance with all speed, but be wary of enemy boats in the area.

Harvey was in MTB 413 as usual. With him were. Brian Porter in MTB 418 and Lennox Dean in MGB 91.

(Setup was a standard Rescue Mission. Terrain was a patch of fog, some shallows and two rocks. Harvey's squadron approached from the south with a partial moon to the east. The Germans had three vessels, whose nature would be determined when their blinds were revealed. One was automatically small and I would draw cards and then dice for the others as per this set of rules)

Luck was with the British as the first marker checked was the airmen. MGB 91 started the job of taking them on board. With only six actions required there was a good chance they could do the rescue and be away before teh Germans knew what was happening. 

The two MTBs, on blinds, moved up to cover MGB91. The Germans were approaching rapidly from the north. 

Very rapidly. They first vessel to loom up out of the darkness was a KFK that took MGB 91 under fire.

Porter's MTB 418 surprised the second German vessel, an S-boat. 

The third vessel was quickly revealed as an R-boat. So no really nasty surprises in the opposition (a destroyer was a remote and worrying possibility). MTB 418 laid a smokescreen to confound the Germans. 

The Germans were not confounded and pushed through the screen, guns blazing. 

In this picture you can see Harvey Knight's MTB 413 lurking in the patch of mist. He'd gone off on a sweep around the German flank in case the third escort turned out to be something nasty. It wasn't, but now he was badly out of position. 

The German attack was fast and aggressive. They seemed unable to fail activation rolls and hammered MGB 91 with gunfire. Just as it completed the rescue it was battered ...

... and then sunk by close range fire from the KFK.

The other two British boats had a choice. Run for it or try and rescue the airmen and Dean's crew. They opted for the latter. Dean had stabilised MGB 91, which was not going to sink for now. Porter amd Knight closed with the Germans and fired some shots hoping to inflict some hits and drive off teh opposition.

The KFK was damaged, but otherwise the British fire had no effect. Harvey made fast alongside the stricken MGB 91 and started the evacuation. The Germans shot at both boats, damaging them. Things were looking grim for the British. One bright spot was that they'd only need four actions to do the transfer of teh airmen and Dean's crew to Harvey's boat. 

Brian Porter's boat shot up the KFK some more, but it doggedly kept fighting. 

The R-boat came in and inflicted catastrophic damage on MTB 418. It too began to sink. Harvey Knight had to decide whether to rescue his crew as well, but saw Porter wave him away. As the only boat left, and with plenty of rescued individuals on board already, it was better for Knight to cut his losses and escape. 

But a shot from the KFK inflicted more damage. Including the engines on MTB 413. 

Knight coaxed his boat away from the action with all of the speed he could muster. The R-boat and S-boat would need to come about in order to pursue, but the badly damaged KFK was already on Knight's tail. 

Harvey Knight almost hade it. But some accurate fire from the pursuing KFK smashed his boat to pieces. 

The end. All three British boats were sunk. The Germans took some damage, but only the KFK was significantly shot up. 

The British survivors were all rescued and taken prisoner. All three commanders survived uninjured.

I ran the aftermath of the mission, despite none of the boats coming back, and as expected Harvey Knight's reputation went down. 

At this point I could have ended the campaign, with Knight as a POW. But I ran the Hollywood Heroics section of the campaign for him, and he escaped. Picked up by the Resistance he can return to duty if the remains of his flotilla can pick him up from the French coat. That will be the next mission. 

The Germans were outstanding in the scenario. I made a mistake with the British in sending Harvey Knight wide to intercept them instead of supporting teh rescue boat more closely. But all three German boats got two or three actions every turn, and used them to sit close up to the British boats and send in a hail of deliberate aimed fire. A few early shots rolled a 6 (and were therefore subject to the Hard To Hit rule), but eventually they just scored damage and more damage. And nearly every critical they got scored extra hits. 

Maybe a better tactic would have been to have engaged the Germans first to damage them and drive them off, then perform the rescue afterwards. 

Postscript: I diced for the other two commander, Brian Porter and Lennox dean. On a 1-2 they would have been killed, otherwise they were considered to be POWs. They were both taken prisoner. I then ran the Heroics test for them, counting all three of their attributes as 4s. Amazingly both escaped but would need rescuing, so it appears that the next mission will see an attempt to bring back all three boat commanders. 

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 the 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 the 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 the 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 the 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 the 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 many men left to rescue on the other boat. 

Short as the 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.