U-Boats Off Messina

Based on a recommendation in the 'Torpedoes & Tides' rules I picked up a copy of Pat Hreachmack's 'Clear The Coast', which is a collection of over 30 WW2 small ship action scenarios, many of which are adaptable as scenarios for T&T. At our club the other weeks we'd been discussing how submarines might fit into the game. Given the small time-scale of the actions the answer is really 'they mostly wouldn't', but one of the scenarios in 'Clear The Coast' features them, and I thought I'd have a go at adapting it.

Of course the first thing I needed was a couple of submarines. Theses were made in a hurry, and I want to redo them at some stage although you all know that I will probably never get around to it. 

So it's the night of 12/13th July 1943, and two U-boats are slipping through the Straits of Messina between Sicily and Italy, heading south. They are on the surface, but once they clear the narrows they can submerge.

But with Germans ships slipping through the straits on a regular basis, the British are waiting for possible targets. Three Vosper MTBs are lurking in the darkness.

OK, here's the scenario.

British - three Vosper 73' MTBs. These are MTB 81, MTB 77 and MTB 84 (see rules for stats)
German - Two U-boats (U 375, U 561). I'll post their stats below.

All crews on both sides are Q3.

The board is 60cm x 80cm (if using 50/80/120mm sticks). Short edges are North and South. The east edge is coast. Aside from that there is no terrain or mines. There is a partial moon to the South*.

All vessels start on blinds.

U-561 starts with its rear edge against the northern edge of the board, 1D3 x L from the East edge. U-375 is 1 x M directly in front of it.

One British MTB starts 1D3 x L from the southern edge and 1D3 x L from the eastern edge facing West. The other boats are placed each side of it facing West and 1xS away (so they are in line-abreast).

Roll for initiative.

And that's it. I haven't worked out VPs for it, but obviously the British are trying to sink one or both U-boats, whilst the Germans are trying to get them both off the South edge with no, or minimal, damage. The British mustn't lose any boats. The Germans can only exit via the North or South edges, whilst the British can exit from the North, South or West. However if a boat exists the West edge roll a D6. If it scores equal to or less than the number of hits the boat has taken, then the boat is considered lost to Axis shore defences. Anything hitting the East edge runs aground and is lost. 

Here's how it ended up for me, with the U-Boats heading straight for the British boats. The British got the initiative.

Their line swung around to investigate the contacts, and immediately spotted U-375. 

U-375 fired a starshell at the British blinds ...

... and this enabled U-561 to spot and fire at one of the British boats (MTB 413 in this scenario. My boats have fixed labels and I wasn't changing them). The shot, from an 88mm deck-gun, came close but not close enough. 

MTB 413 swung around and fired torpedoes at the lead U-Boat, but missed.

(After playing my campaign it was exciting to have 73' boats with four torpedoes!)

Distinctly unorchestral manuevers in the dark, as everyone's activation rolls failed dismally.

U-561 fired again, and a shell smashed the bridge of MTB 430. 

The U-boats began to head south as fast as they could go. MTB 413 lined up another shot. It was at the stern of U-375, but at least the target was silhouetted against the moon. That was enough. BOOM! The U-boat began to sink, and not voluntarily. 

MTB 413 now had no torpedoes left but closed with U-561 looking to supress the gun-crews and make it easier for the other two British boats to make their torpedo attacks. MTB 430 was suffering obvious difficulties from its damage, but MTB 414 was now coming up after having lost contact with the action earlier. 

Another near miss as U-561 kept up a steady fire. 

However fire from MTB 430 caused the German crew to dive for cover. MTB 414 made its approach. But the German crews were still fighting hard, and managed to score a hit on the approaching MTB. The British boat caught fire. 

As the fire reached the bridge the captain ordered the torpedoes fired. Through the smoke and flames they were overjoyed to see the second U-boat heel over and start to sink.

So both U-boats were sunk. The British suffered bridge hits and light damage on two boats, with one of them also having fire damage as well. Overall it was a pretty successful attack for the MTBs though.

Here's the stats I used for the U-Boats:

Q3 C3 - Short, Large, Over-Gunned, Large Calibre, Unarmed (Stern), Secondary Armament (C1)

These are boats with a 88mm gun on the front deck. In fact around July 1943 these were being removed in favour of more AA-guns abaft the conning tower. The original scenario states that it's not clear if either of the German boats had had this refit. The author suggests maybe rolling a 50/50 chance for each boat. With the refit the stats would be:

Q3 C3 - Short, Large, Under-Gunned

Note: In theory a sub should also have the Torpedoes trait, but within the context of any scenarios likely to feature one I think they're probably irrelevant. Add them as you wish. 

So what happened historically? The two sides discovered each other when U-375 almost collided with MTB 81. MTB 81 realised there were two German boats present and got in a torpedo shot at he second, U-561, sinking it. The other two MTB chased after U-375. One had a torpedo misfire and the other simply missed. U-375 submerged and escaped.

*The scenario says a partial moon, but doesn't specify the direction. I used THIS SITE to determine its direction. 

Balloon Busting In 'Spandau & Lewis'

I have been asked a couple of times to write up my ideas for balloon busting in Spandau & Lewis. It's only taken me two years to do it.

 
They are inspired by THIS THREAD on the Wings Of Glory Aerodrome, which whilst set up for a specific set of rules has some great bits and pieces for WW1 air gamers. Anyway, fire up your engines, put on your goggles and check that the rockets are strapped to your wings. We're going balloon busting!

Setup

Position 2-3 balloons within 12” or so of the opposite baseline. There should be about 12” between each balloon.

If the attackers are Allied and will be using Le Prieur rockets then you need to determine the facing of the balloons which is dictated by the wind. The balloons start the game facing the Allied baseline (the west, from which the prevailing wind blows). Then roll 4D6. Each roll of 1 or 2 rotates the balloons 45 degrees anticlockwise. Each 5 or 6 rotates them 45 degrees clockwise. Obviously each roll of 1 or 2 negates a roll of 5 or 6 (and vice versa).

(If the Germans are attacking and you need to know the facing of the Allied balloons then they should start facing the Allied baseline. But the Germans didn’t use rockets.)

Place 4 altitude markers next to each balloon.

Attacking Balloons

Balloons are static and can take 24 hits. They generally have two crew and count as a large target. Test for criticals as normal. Crew hits will affect the observers in the basket. Engine hits will automatically cause the balloon to catch fire.

In addition, after any attack on a balloon roll 2D6. If the hits came from a machine gun firing regular bullets take the highest score. If the hits came from Le Prieur rockets or from a machine gun firing incendiary ammunition take the lowest score. If the score of the selected dice is equal to or lower than the number of hits inflicted by the attack then the balloon catches fire.

As soon as a balloon catches fire and at the start of each subsequent firing phase roll a D6 for each balloon that is on fire. On a 4+ it explodes and is destroyed. Any plane within 2” of an exploding balloon takes a 3D6 attack, with a 6 scoring a hit.

Lowering Balloons

At the end of any turn in which a balloon has an enemy aircraft within 6", the ground-crew will try and pull it down. Roll a D6 on the table below; if the score for the year is achieved then one altitude marker is removed. When all four markers are removed then the balloon has reached the ground and can no longer be attacked. The rolls are:

1914-15 - 6
1916 - 5+
1917 - 4+
1918 - 3+

(The technology for lowering balloons progressed throughout the war, with the balloons being pulled down by hand at first, then teams of horses, then steam-engines and finally by petrol-driven winches. By the end of the war the balloon could be pulled down in minutes)

Anti-Aircraft Fire

If a plane (regardless of nationality) is within 6" of a balloon it is subject to AA fire, which takes place before regular shooting. This consists of a 2 dice attack on the aircraft, with a 6 scoring a hit. Criticals are tested as normal, but structural hits score an additional 1D6 damage. The attack is reduced to a 1 dice shot if the target is within 2” of the balloon or is a friendly aircraft.

Le Prieur Rockets

Certain Allied aircraft carry these weapons on their outer wing struts.

Rockets fire at close range only (up to 3"). They are treated as normal gunnery, and get the regular deflection modifiers for shooting into the balloon's front or rear arc. A plane has two volleys of rockets; you can fire one of them or both. The red dice for a single volley hits on a 5+, whilst that for a double volley hits on a 4+. White dice shoot with a -1. 

Scenario Ideas 

If you just want a simple solo game then you can fly one or two planes against balloons. Make it more challenging by having one or two enemy planes turn up at random. I'd limit their willingness to chase the attackers home though. If the attackers break off from attacking balloons (or shoot them all down) and are flying for home, end the scenario once they have got a certain distance away from the scene of the action.

The Battle of Junin

I threw together this silly scenario from the South American Wars of Liberation for 'Dominion of Napoleon Bonaparte'.

Junin (6th August 1824)

By 1824, the independence movement in South America was nearing its climax. After years of fighting, Royalist forces still held much of the Peruvian highlands. Simón Bolívar, having secured victories in the north, now aimed to liberate Peru entirely. He gathered a mixed Patriot army - including troops from Colombia, Peru, Argentina, and Chile - and marched into the central highlands to confront the royalist army under General José de Canterac.

Bolívar’s campaign was bold but risky. His army had to cross harsh, mountainous terrain and maintain morale and supply lines at high altitude. The Royalists, though suffering from desertion and logistical problems, still posed a serious threat. On 6 August, near Lake Junín, both armies spotted each other and prepared for a confrontation.

Interestingly, Bolívar was not present at the actual battle, having moved ahead with an advance guard. He left command to General José de La Mar and trusted his cavalry to hold the line if contact was made. The Patriot cavalry numbered around 1,000 and it faced 1,300 Royalist horse. What followed would be a purely cavalry engagement, fought at over 4,000 meters above sea level, with no infantry or artillery involved. 

Royalists: 6 x Light Cavalry

Patriots: 2 x unreliable Light Cavalry (Surprised), 2 x Light Cavalry, 2 x Elite Light Cavalry (Surprise Attacks)

Royalists (Attackers)

Light Cavalry, Light Cavalry, Light Cavalry
Light Cavalry	Light Cavalry	Light Cavalry
Light Cavalry (U)	Light Cavalry	Light Cavalry (U)
Light Cavalry, Light Cavalry (E), Light Cavalry (E)

Patriots (Defenders)

The battle began with a surprise Royalist cavalry charge, which initially routed the Patriot vanguard. Royalist horsemen pushed deep into the Patriot lines, seeming close to victory. However, the tide turned when a Patriot squadron under Lieutenant Colonel Isidoro Suárez, acting without orders, wheeled around and hit the Royalist cavalry from the rear.

Caught off guard and exhausted by the altitude and long pursuit the Royalists collapsed in confusion. The Patriot cavalry regrouped and counterattacked, driving the Spanish horsemen from the field. The entire engagement lasted less than an hour. Not a shot was fired.

Though not a massive battle, Junín was a vital morale boost. It crippled Royalist cavalry strength and paved the way for the decisive Battle of Ayacucho four months later.

(I gave this a quick run through and it was as wild and silly as you might expect)

How To Be A Pirate

My new Renaissance galleys will see a proper outing later this week, I hope. But having rebased all of my ships I thought I should get a few of them on the table as soon as possible. I was going to just set up a simple fight between a couple of ships, but I was also feeling inspired by this blog post from Small But Perfectly Formed.

Now Elenderil's post took an article on randomising threats in land-battles and adapted it for WW1 air-combat. I shall try them out for my own 'Spandau and Lewis' rules at some stage. But I wondered if I could apply a similar idea to Galleys & Galleons.

My idea was to run a pirate ship on a cruise. Other ships might appear, either merchant ships ripe for the taking, or warships looking to protect the merchants or rid the seas of a pirate. And this is how I thought I could run it:

(i) I worked out some simple ship designs, trying to keep the points about equal for each type (with one exception). These would be for the Pirate, Merchant Ships (small and large) and Warships (small and large). I then set up a table of possible encounters:

1 - Small Merchant
2 - 2 x Small Merchant
3 - Large Merchant
4 - Small Warship + Merchant (1-3 Small, 4-6 Large)
5 - Small Warship
6 - Large Warship

(I have Small Merchants at half the points cost of the other ships)

Obviously you can set this up to suit your own collection.

(ii) Set up a table with a few bits of terrain. Place the Pirate in a random corner, and three differently coloured counters in each of the three other corners.

(iii) The Pirate chooses the wind direction.

(iv) Take three more counters, each corresponding to the colours of the counters in the corners, and place them in the centre of the board. Roll a red and a white D6 for each counter. It is moves in the same direction as a line running from where the white dice falls to where the the red dice falls. The distance it moves is based on the die rolls:

White Dice - 1-2 Short 3-4 medium 5-6 Long
Red Dice - 1-2 1x 3-4 2x 5-6 3x

eg The dice fall so a line from the white to the red runs roughly NE. So the counter is moved in that direction. The white dice is a 3, so use a Medium stick, and the score on the red dice is a 4 so it is moved 2x Medium.

(v) There should now be three different coloured counters scattered across the board, each corresponding to a corner. If one is placed in impassable terrain then roll its position again.

(vi) Start the game as normal, except at the moment there's no opposing side. The Pirate moves first in each turn, however.

(vii) Whenever the Pirate passes within Short of a counter, it is resolved. Roll a D6:

1-3 - Nothing. The counter is removed, and so is the counter in the corresponding corner
4-6 - Sail Ho! Roll on the Encounter Table in Step (i). The ship or ships are placed within Long of the corner corresponding to the counter's colour and start moving on the opposing player's next turn.

Each encounter table roll can only appear once. If you roll a duplicate then roll again. If the first two counters are Nothing, then the third must be Sail Ho!, but randomly determine which corner the encounter appears in.

(viii) All opposing ships are treated as the same player, so if one fails two activations it ends that side's turn.

What do the opposing ships do? Merchant ships will always attempt to sail to the opposite corner than the one they entered from. Warships I would play with common-sense and some random decision-making. Their aim is to protect Merchant ships, but can also take the fight to the Pirate

And the objective? As the Pirate you certainly win if you can capture a Merchant ship and sail it off the board (or simply be in control of it if there are no opposing ships on the board after all counters are resolved). If you only get Warships, then a win is simply escaping them, by exiting from the same corner you started in. If you can sink or capture one, then that's really good. The Pirate loses if it is sunk or captured.

Obviously you should adapt the Encounter table to your own ship collection and how challenging you want to make the game. I am still considering how to add third-party forces - natives, other pirates or similar.

Let's try it for real ...

I will use the following ship profiles (nice and simple for a first game).

Pirate - Q2 C2 - 48pts - Square Rig, Razee, Swashbucklers
Small Merchant - Q3 C3 - 24pts - Square Rig, Merchant, Pilot
Large Merchant - Q3 C4 - 40pts - Square Rig, Merchant, Pilot, High Castles
Small Warship - Q2 C2 - 43pts - Lateen Rig, Drilled Soldiers, Master Gunner
Large Warship - Q3 C3 - 44pts - Lateen Rig, Drilled Soldiers, Master Gunner

I set up this terrain - the entrance to a bay, so two peninsulas and some shallows off the end of each. I started my ship - the Tortuga - in the bay, and set the wind. In each corner you can see a coloured counter, and each has a corresponding counter in the centre of the board.

I rolled for the blue counter. The line from white to red determined the direction, the roll of the white dice told me I was using a medium stick and that of the red dice dictated that it would be two medium stick distances.

I did the yellow counter next. The direction is towards the top left of the image, the white die showed that I should use the short stick and the red that, again, I should use two of them.

Finally the purple counter. The direction was bottom left, stick was medium and distance two sticks.

The encounter trigger counters in position.

I sent the Tortuga straight down the middle, aiming for the purple counter. With hindsight I should have gone for the yellow one first, as any ship that generated would have to come straight down into the confines of the bay to reach the opposite corner.

The roll. A 4 on the white dice indicated that it was a ship, whilst the 3 told me that it was a single large merchantman.

And here it is - the Pride of Bristol.

I headed toward the entrance to the bay, aiming to cut across the course of the Pride of Bristol. Although a merchantman, I felt a few shots, with the chance of a critical, would be in order before attempting to board.

I cut across the bow, but failed to score any damage. The Pride of Bristol failed to fire a shot in return.

We passed, and I fired another shot with no effect.

However a third broadside damaged the merchant's tiller. This forced it to expend most of its limited actions trying to turn to safety, as a shift in the wind saw it veering dangerously close to the shallows.

The Pride of Bristol set a course for safety, whilst I turned the Tortuga in pursuit.

The Tortuga had lost ground, but with the razee trait would soon make it up.

However the Pride of Bristol was now set on a course for safety, so the crew could concentrate on defending the ship rather than sailing it. They ran out their guns, and their first broadside damaged the Tortuga.

The Tortuga proceeded more cautiously, but managed to position itself for another rake which did no significant damage. The Pride of Bristol was now set to escape, and I let it go. There were two more counters and maybe they would provide easier prey.

I triggered the yellow counter ....

... and got a large warship, the Nimrod.

With one hit on my vessel already I didn't feel secure in engaging a warship, and triggering the final counter could just add to my woes, so I decided to run. The razee trait gave me an edge, but I had to risk sailing close to land to make a clean getaway; the wind direction meant that heading further out would involve tacking, and the Nimrod was coming up fast with its fore-and-aft rig.

A close shave ...

... but I made it, and escaped.

Not a great first outing - I ended up damaged with nothing to show for it. I moved the terrain a little and set the game up again.

Looking at the counters I decided that the blue one offered the best possibilities. but I had to take a roundabout route to get there, as heading straight towards it would take me too close to either the yellow or purple counters.

The blue counter was a dud.

I went for the yellow counter next, and sighted the sails of a small merchant vessel, the Pamela.

The wind was such that I had the weather-gauge. The Pamela either had to come straight up to where I was, or take a risky detour through the shallows. It chose the latter option.

I headed it off, firing a broadside as I did so.

The Pamela veered away, and I fired again. It started a fire.

The fire spread. Amazingly the Pamela didn't explode, and the crew efficiently extinguished both fires.

The Pamela was damaged now, so at risk of striking off a bad activation roll. I stayed close, but she was taking to make a run back to the main channel, and I had to tack to follow her.

I fired again, hoping to inflict some more damage and increase the chances of the Pamela striking, or cause enough hits to make taking her by boarding a foregone conclusion.

I rolled rather too well, inflicting enough hits to cripple the Pamela, but also a critical, which saw her holed below the waterline. Her crew took to the boats as she rapidly sank.

I made the long trip upwind to round the shallows, and bear down on the purple counter. It was nothing.

So both of my cruises were failures. I shall try again another day, maybe with some changes to the Tortuga's configuration.

The random generation of encounters worked fairly well, I thought, although it's relatively easy to trigger only one at a time. However the idea was that with ships mostly having to cross the centre of the board, I'd be forced to run past other counters in pursuit. I shall see if this is what actually happens in later games.

And maybe that title (chosen before I played either game) should be 'How Not To Be A Pirate'.

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

I tried a variant of the 'Release The Kraken' scenario for 'Galleys and Galleons' the other day, with the attackers having to deal with a moving target before the creature appears.

So, a steam-warship heads across the ocean, bound for home.

But danger lurks in the form of the notorious Captain Nemo in the Nautilus.

The ship cruises on unaware, until a lookout spots something below the surface off the starboard bow.

The Nautilus surfaces and fires, and its first shot rips a massive hole below the warship's waterline, crippling it.

The ship is finished off with a ram. It sinks in minutes, with all hands lost.

The action has disturbed a creature from the deep, however - a giant octopus. It immediately grapples the Nautilus in its powerful tentacles.

Nemo charges his ship's hull with electricity, and injures the massive mollusc, but not before it damages his submersible. He pulls away and attempts to escape.

But the octopus swiftly pursues, and grabs the ship again.

This time there is no escape - Nemo and his ship are dragged to the depths of the ocean, never to be seen again.

The stats for the vessels are as follows:

Nautilus - Q3 C3 - 94pts - Steam Engine, Ramming, Submersible, Reinforced Hull, Chasers, Razee, Marksmen, Unarmed

Warship - Q4 C2 - 23pts - Steam Engine, Bow Chaser

Octopus - Q4 C4 - 72pts - Submersible, Creature, Swashbucklers, Intimidating

The Warship is the equivalent of the Bastion in the original scenario. It starts in one corner heading directly for the opposite corner with its initial speed set at S. May not roll for activations until Nautilus fires on, rams or grapples it, or ends its turn on the surface within L or submerged within M. Until then, the Warship gets one free activation per turn, which can be used to make the minimum course or speed changes necessary to avoid terrain.

The Octopus appears as per rules for damaging the fort in the ‘Release The Kraken’ scenario.

Victory conditions are the same as the original scenario.

The models are from a mix of sources. The Warship is the USS Harriet Lane from my Navwar ACW collection. The Nautilus is a Thales class corvette from Dystopian Wars - I picked up a pack of these for $5 at Cancon. And the Octopus is a 3D print from this collection.

Here's some pictures and details of a similar scenario which I played ten years ago, using a different set of rules. And a Lego Nautilus.