Greg Smith
Mongoose
US
Colorado 400
Oregon City 200
Cleveland 100
Gridley class destroyers 2 x 50
Casablana 100
Sangamon 100
7 Helldivers
6 Hellcats
Japanese
Fuso 400
Shoho (Zuiho carrier) 100
Nachi (Myoko class cruiser) 200
Fubuki destroyer 50
7 Zeros on the carrier
10 Judy kamikaze flights 10 x15
5 Toka flights 5x20
To Battle
The small contingent of Long Lances missed.
The Oregon City kept close to the Cleveland and Colorado to ward off the oncoming divine wind. The American carriers couldn’t get planes in the air fast enough to help.
On turn two the kamikazis struck. 2 Toka attacked each destroyer. The remaining 11 flights swarmed the Oregon City. The AA guns took down a Toka and one Judy. All 9 remaining flights hit. 8 did damage. And 8 crew criticals later, the Oregon City was visiting Atlantis. Both destroyers were equally spectacularly despatched.
Turn three was the only turn my Americans won initiative, hampered severely by two ‘civilian’ carriers. So when both the Japanese cruiser and the destroyer manoeuvred for a torpedo strike, the Cleveland got smartly out of the way. The Colorado was to slow to get away, so it had to take a chance on firing first and weathering any hits on its torpedo belt. It got lucky against the Nachi, with a broadside crippling it and damaging all the torpedos that faced the battleship. Unfortunately its seconday guns completely missed the destroyer.
The destroyer unleashed 9 torpedoes, which inflicted 17 damage and three criticals. Weapons 2 was okay. A crew critical score of 4 was bad but and engines score of 5 was, well, critical. A long range broadside from the Fuso only made matters worse by inflicting a weapons crit.
In the end phase damage control teams repaired the engine critical bringing it down to 5. Then escalate took it up again, inflicting more damage and another weapons crit thus crippling it.
My fighters and bombers lost out against the zeros, due to bad luck in dogfights only one bomber got through and was promptly shot down.
The Colorado attempted all hands to deck and managed to repair the engines, only to have them escalate back up to 6 inflicting still more damage and another weapons crit.
And the crew score escalated as well.
The Cleveland finished the Nachi and the Japanese destroyer and began to feel the fully of the Japanese battleship’s guns.
With the Colorado sinking and a single cruiser facing a battleship, it seemed a good point to call it a night.
Conclusion
Kamikaze works just fine. The escalation of crew crits from multiple strikes works very well. Each flight usually inflicts a few points of damage, but the crew crits will ruin anyone’s day. Although I suspect they will just bounce off battleships’ armour.
Torpedoes are NASTY. They don’t have to be type 93s. Destroyers with both speed and size in their favour a really difficult to stop getting at least one shot off. And enough dice mean that even the most difficult shot will hit. And that hit can so easily change the game.
There is a sweet spot where escalating crits cause crits on other tracks which case more crits on the first track and Kablooey!
Civilian Aircraft Carriers muck up your initiative something rotten, especially when the enemy don’t have that penalty. The still launch planes faster than a big carrier though.
Suggestions
Reduce Devastating to inflicting two levels of critical. Or maybe inflicting crits on 6 only.
Any successful damage control on a critical track should stop escalation that turn.
Carriers: my opponent had concerns that if carriers can carry any flights for no cost, then players will always bring the best planes. He also would like to keep carrier loadouts to no more than 50% of one type of plane, eg no more than 50% fighters etc.
Further Questions
Dogfighting: if fighter A is escorting bomber B and the enemy attacks with two flights, the first enemy flight must dogfight Fighter A. Can the second enemy flight attack bomber B? Or must it support the dogfight with Fighter A?
Plane attacks: in the kamikaze rules, the roll to hit specifically says normal modifiers apply, except range. Under the aircraft chapter, it says “To make an attack against a ship, each Flight must first roll to hit, using the table below.” There is no mention of any modifiers except for submarines and MTBs. In fact the standard modifiers are specific to a “ship’s roster”. So do modifiers apply to planes?
Colorado 400
Oregon City 200
Cleveland 100
Gridley class destroyers 2 x 50
Casablana 100
Sangamon 100
7 Helldivers
6 Hellcats
Japanese
Fuso 400
Shoho (Zuiho carrier) 100
Nachi (Myoko class cruiser) 200
Fubuki destroyer 50
7 Zeros on the carrier
10 Judy kamikaze flights 10 x15
5 Toka flights 5x20
To Battle
The small contingent of Long Lances missed.
The Oregon City kept close to the Cleveland and Colorado to ward off the oncoming divine wind. The American carriers couldn’t get planes in the air fast enough to help.
On turn two the kamikazis struck. 2 Toka attacked each destroyer. The remaining 11 flights swarmed the Oregon City. The AA guns took down a Toka and one Judy. All 9 remaining flights hit. 8 did damage. And 8 crew criticals later, the Oregon City was visiting Atlantis. Both destroyers were equally spectacularly despatched.
Turn three was the only turn my Americans won initiative, hampered severely by two ‘civilian’ carriers. So when both the Japanese cruiser and the destroyer manoeuvred for a torpedo strike, the Cleveland got smartly out of the way. The Colorado was to slow to get away, so it had to take a chance on firing first and weathering any hits on its torpedo belt. It got lucky against the Nachi, with a broadside crippling it and damaging all the torpedos that faced the battleship. Unfortunately its seconday guns completely missed the destroyer.
The destroyer unleashed 9 torpedoes, which inflicted 17 damage and three criticals. Weapons 2 was okay. A crew critical score of 4 was bad but and engines score of 5 was, well, critical. A long range broadside from the Fuso only made matters worse by inflicting a weapons crit.
In the end phase damage control teams repaired the engine critical bringing it down to 5. Then escalate took it up again, inflicting more damage and another weapons crit thus crippling it.
My fighters and bombers lost out against the zeros, due to bad luck in dogfights only one bomber got through and was promptly shot down.
The Colorado attempted all hands to deck and managed to repair the engines, only to have them escalate back up to 6 inflicting still more damage and another weapons crit.
And the crew score escalated as well.
The Cleveland finished the Nachi and the Japanese destroyer and began to feel the fully of the Japanese battleship’s guns.
With the Colorado sinking and a single cruiser facing a battleship, it seemed a good point to call it a night.
Conclusion
Kamikaze works just fine. The escalation of crew crits from multiple strikes works very well. Each flight usually inflicts a few points of damage, but the crew crits will ruin anyone’s day. Although I suspect they will just bounce off battleships’ armour.
Torpedoes are NASTY. They don’t have to be type 93s. Destroyers with both speed and size in their favour a really difficult to stop getting at least one shot off. And enough dice mean that even the most difficult shot will hit. And that hit can so easily change the game.
There is a sweet spot where escalating crits cause crits on other tracks which case more crits on the first track and Kablooey!
Civilian Aircraft Carriers muck up your initiative something rotten, especially when the enemy don’t have that penalty. The still launch planes faster than a big carrier though.
Suggestions
Reduce Devastating to inflicting two levels of critical. Or maybe inflicting crits on 6 only.
Any successful damage control on a critical track should stop escalation that turn.
Carriers: my opponent had concerns that if carriers can carry any flights for no cost, then players will always bring the best planes. He also would like to keep carrier loadouts to no more than 50% of one type of plane, eg no more than 50% fighters etc.
Further Questions
Dogfighting: if fighter A is escorting bomber B and the enemy attacks with two flights, the first enemy flight must dogfight Fighter A. Can the second enemy flight attack bomber B? Or must it support the dogfight with Fighter A?
Plane attacks: in the kamikaze rules, the roll to hit specifically says normal modifiers apply, except range. Under the aircraft chapter, it says “To make an attack against a ship, each Flight must first roll to hit, using the table below.” There is no mention of any modifiers except for submarines and MTBs. In fact the standard modifiers are specific to a “ship’s roster”. So do modifiers apply to planes?
