More on the convoy scenario - with report and pics

[gazman]

I played two rather enjoyable games last night with my pal Evan (EgstonVonBrick). We messed about with the convoy ships scenario to see if we could get a better balanced game than the scenario as written.

First thing we did was limit the fleets to Patrol only.

Evan got four U boats (we thought three might be too little..)
I got five points of escorts - four Flowers and a J class destroyer.

We used 12 points of civilian ships for the convoy. Three liberties and six tramps. (Scenario suggests on ly four)


The game was reasonably balanced, but the Flowers are very nasty against subs... I'll post a report with pics in a minute, but the end result was that the KM was destroyed for the loss of two tramp freighters and three liberty ships.

We swapped sides and played again, this time with three U-boats and only eight tramps. The game again seemed well balanced but the KM lost once more, whilst killing off five tramps.

I think the ideal for this scenario is to use Patrol level ships only - four points for attacker and five for defender. Team this with eight points of civilian (although two liners might be a different picture).

We used Flowers and they were very nasty against U-boats, I think Loch class ships would have been devastating....

All in all a much better game to play, even though the KM lost both games, it was in with a chance almost all the way - certainly it meant you had to think over your wolf pack tactics a lot to decide on a good plan of action. We played both games in about an hour and a half each.

I'll sift though some pics and place a battle report up later.

Regards
Si

 

[gazman]

Quick pics to show game - will annotate later.


Turn 1 - convoy moves up 2 inches, that's all.

Turn 2 and four KM U-boats surface right next to it!
Convoy is lead by three liberty ships with six tramps bringing up the rear.

KM has initiative on this go and releases torpedos from front and rear of lead subs at liberty ships one and three. trailing U-boats release rear tubes only at tramp number two.

Flowers turn in and pop hedgehogs on to subs - lead Flower moves ahead - not sure why!

J class Javelin moves up from rear station.

It's party time - U-boats leave three wrecks and the two rear Flowers sink the two rear U-boats. The starboard side leading Flower fails to detect and lets the front U-boat off the hook.

Close up of that carnage!

Convoy moves on two inches and subs move on one.
Flowers jockey for position and the J class moves up further.

The U-boats both attack liberty ship number one and sink it.
Then - next turn, Kerchow, that's the end of the KM! The Royal Navy wins initiative and Flowers dump depth charges on the remaining U-boats. They are both destroyed before loosing any torpedos this turn.

Second game - only a couple of pics as it was quite a good game and we got stuck in..


Ev deploys the convoy in a tight square. There are eight tramps in that formation. This is turn one where a U-boat surfaces menacingly off the port side...
The

Turn four I think; three tramps sunk and the Flowers then head off out to attack. Another sub apears in the same area, popping torpedoes off at both escorts - notice the plumes.
The two Flowers on the left are heading for another U-boat that has surfaced just out of shot - the J class rode straight over it and sunk it with depth charges.
The result of this turn was another tramp gets sunk - see the torpedo marker off the back corner of the convoy fired form the far right sub (on the surface)
The Flower caught by the front torpedo tubes sinks and the other is safe.
The surfaces sub gets pummeled by secondaries from every where as they ships close in; losing front tubes and secondaries when it gets crippled.

Once again the KM are defeated.

I think these games really show the Flowers in a good light - if they detect a U-boat then you've had it!

Si