Libya or Bust - WW2 Naval Campaign - Part 4

The End of the Line for the Great Tripoli Dash

The British Battle line under fire

Welcome back Naval Gamers to the fourth and final part of our journey, if you are new to this set of linked scenarios then you can catch up with the first post HERE. 

The second game write up is HERE and the third game is HERE

Once again I have repeated some of the information below from previous posts to help any newcomers to the games.

We are following the adventures of an Italian Convoy en route from Naples to re supply the Italian and German Armies prior to a major assault on Torbruk. Our first encounter saw the Royal Navy scamper away with a self inflicted bloody nose, the second was slightly more even,whilst the third saw the stakes increased with the arrival of the first Capital Ships, now our final action brings together the opposing fleets in a battle of the big guns.

Umpire Notes

This is a linked scenario from the previous games so if you are following this the damage / lost ships maybe different so the following is only general guidance. Any sunk ship is lost. Any ship with damage I will remove half the recorded damage from the previous game so that it will start the next scenario with a reduced damage value, I do the same with lost speed. Any knocked out features like turrets / torpedoes etc I roll a d6 with a 50:50 chance that the feature was not as badly damaged as first thought and is available for this game. Once this is done you need to make a common sense decision on whether or not a ship would stay at sea, in our first game the Italian destroyer Libbecco had suffered a Fuel Fire and a Rudder hit at the end of the game and was below half damage points, its obvious that she would have sailed for the nearest friendly port.

Golf tees for splash markers.

British Briefing morning 10th Nov 1941

The actions over recent hours have led us to this moment, the planning from the Admiralty has brought together the biggest guns in the Med under your command, use them well. Your mission remains, stop the Italian Convoy from reaching the Libyan coast and Rommel. This will be your last opportunity to prevent these supplies reaching the DAK so make it count. Intel reports suggest a large Italian escort on this final leg of the journey, a force containing a number of Battleships, it may not be easy but England Expects.

Italians under fire

Italian Briefing evening 9th Nov 1941

We are nearly there, the coast of Libya and the Port of Tripoli are close and this is the final leg of the journey, the Head of the Italian Navy has sent you the most powerful force the nation can muster to force the convoy home. Recon aircraft have spotted the smoke of the main Royal Naval Battle Fleet steaming to intercept you from Alexandria, an epic battle awaits.

Set Up (This includes our losses from Game 1,2 and 3 if following along use your losses)

British

Force K - HMS Lookout (DD) (The only British ship left from Game 1)
Force B - HMS Ajax (LC), HMS Kingston (DD), HMS Kimberley (DD), HMS Janus (DD), HMS Jervis (DD)

Force K and Force B deployed as a single screening force.

Force A1, HMS Renown(BC), HMS Norfolk (CA), HMS Sheffield (CA), HMS Greyhound (DD), HMS Glowworm (DD), HMS Nubian (DD), HMS Ashanti (DD).

Force A, HMS Queen Elizabeth (BB), HMS Warspite (BB), HMS Barham (BB) HMS Valiant (BB), HMS Gloucester (CA), HMS Phoebe (CL), HMS Coventry (CL), HMS Vixen (DD), HMS Voyager (DD), HMS Vanity (DD), HMS Venus (DD) HMS Valentine (DD) and HMS Vendetta (DD)

Italian

Convoy Acca - Maestrale (DD), Grecale (DD), Turbine (DD) and 6 merchant ships

Lt Cruiser Division - Bande Nere (LC), Montecuccoli (CL), Attendo (CL)

Heavy Cruiser Division - Trento (CA), Trieste (CA), Alpino (DD), Carabinere (DD)

Heavy Division Duilio - Caio Duilio (BB), Garibaldi (LC), Fuciliere (DD), Vivaldi (DD), Aviere (DD), Geniere (DD), Granatiere (DD)

Italian Battle Line - Littorio (BB), Conte di Cavour (BB), Giulio Cesare (BB), Fiume (CA), Bolzano (CA), Folgore (DD), Lampo (DD), Baleno (DD), Borea (DD), Zeffiro (DD), Nembo (DD)

SET UP

We fought the battle on our regular 12 ft by 6ft table, RN screening force and Convoy Acca both sailing in the same direction (along the 12ft length) just out of range of each other. 1ft in from the short table edge.

Force A1 and Heavy Division Duilio set up 3d6 inches in front of the above sailing in the same direction 6" in from the table edge.

Randomly set up the remaining ships by Division, divide the long table edge into 20 sections and roll 1 d20 to determine location for the lead ship of that group. 1d12 for direction of the lead ship, set up the remainder in line behind (with ships off table moving on behind).

We ended up with the two main forces heading towards the ships from the previous games broadside on to each other.

Umpire Notes

This is the last game of the series and we allocated a full days gaming to it.


Air Power should be allocated at random, we have a separate air phase in our game turn and during that part of the turn each side rolls a d20 with the following results. Each flight is 6 planes.

15 - 1 flight of Fighters (VF), 16 - 2 x VF, 17 - 2 x Torpedo Planes (VT) or Dive Bombers (VB), 18 - 2VF, 2VT and 2VB, 19 - 3VT or 3VB, 20 - 3VF, 3VT, 3VB.

Good Italian Air Power

How did we get on

The big finale didn't disappoint, there were a lot of factors coming together in the final game and with 60 ships on the table there was a lot to be going at. Luckily most of us have a grasp of the rules so with everyone able to work out their own gunnery etc we could keep things moving at a relatively quick speed.

The game started badly for HMS Coventry who lost a turret on the first turn but even worse for Fiume who was unlucky with the set up, at that location the British had a spare Battleship and rather than doubling up Warspite decided to pick on Fiume. Cruisers and 15" shells don't mix even when the Cruiser is a heavy one.

All over the table the dice gods were laughing as player after player failed to convert half hits into damage whilst over the table the British Fighters were gaining air superiority over their less able Italian counterparts.

Not sure, did I hit anything !

The first serious damage however was to Renown, continuing her long range duel with Caio Dulio from the previous game, the Italian ship managed a hit, at long range Renowns armour would protect her in most areas however luck or fine shooting put an Italian shell into the Battlecruisers funnel a random roll meant she lost 10 knots of speed. Moving quickly was no longer going to be extra armour for her and Renown was to keep her distance for the rest of the game.

In the same turn the Italians lost the destroyer Nembo who withdrew after a bridge hit but it was the Italians who had the edge.

Comedy driving from the Italians as Littorio narrowly misses a destroyer

The previous turn however seemed to activate a table wide funnel magnet and the British Battleships managed to hit the funnel on both the older Italian Battleships slowing them down to 20 knots and 18 knots, Renown had the luxury of turning away but the Italian ships needed to stay in line to keep the pressure on the British.

Fiume on the other hand never had a chance and relentless hits from Warspite sent her to the bottom of the sea, a hit on her rear turret led to a chain of explosions putting all her turrets out of action, she turned away with less than 5% of her damage points left and fell apart on the open sea.

The next turn saw a major Italian Air attack, 2 flights of Bombers and 2 of Torpedo Bombers, escorted by 2 flights of fighters. But readers of the series will know, Italian air support is not always a blessing.

Bad Pilot, Naughty Pilot !

With a 30% chance of attacking their own ships the Italians excelled with their die rolls and only two flights attacked British ships, against the odds and frustrating for the Italians, hilarious for the British. Even more fun were the attacks, the one the Italians wanted to work, on the already damaged HMS Renown managed to get through the heavy AA fire and launch torpedoes, a slim chance but its a HIT !, roll for damage, .................. its a DUD, again. Cue Italian heads hitting tables.

Clearly unhappy with the Italians the dice gods had not finished, there was still the Italian attack on there own ships to work out, the Light Cruiser Garibaldi was the target. The Italians roll the dice, its their planes attacking their ships. 500lb bomb straight through the roof of B turret, no dud this time !

The Italian Air Attack (before it split up and attacked its own ships)

The Battleship fight was well underway at this point and the Italians had the upper hand, HMS Valiant lost her B Turret to Littorio, the modern Italian ship, the best on the table was showing her class. Cavour on the other hand managed to hit Barham 5 times in one round but only got one; relatively ineffective; penetrating hit.

But the next turn the advantage swung back to the British with a turn we dubbed "The Death Ride of the Italian Destroyers". Both sides simultaneously swung their destroyer escorts out towards the opposing battle lines in an attempt to get into a position to make a torpedo attack, squared off against each other at short range it was always going to be bloody.

It was, Borea and Zeffiro sank quickly from accumulated damage points whilst Baleno blew up following a turret hit, the explosion from that ship set fire to Folgore and Lampo the two remaining Italian Destroyers in that squadron, to make things worse the debris from Baleno took out Lampos bridge and in one turn 5 destroyers were gone or as good as gone.

The game changer happened in the next turn, Littorio was still the best ship on the table and able on her own to cause havoc but she was hit again and this time the British shells took out her Fire Control Systems, its a rare hit but a serious one. All further hits made by her would be halved; the Italians were in trouble.

With their best ship no longer a threat and two of the remaining Battleships below 20 knots the Italians decided to withdraw and abandon the convoy, slipping away whilst the British converged on the convoy the Italian Fleet lived to fight another day. The convoy ships were scuttled and Rommel would have to wait for his vital supplies.

So in the end a British Victory. In our final game the British lost only 2 destroyers (Vixen and Vendetta) sunk however Renown was down to 20kts and the Cruisers Norfolk, Ajax and Coventry had all lost turrets. The Battleships hadn't come out of the action unscathed either, all had some form of damage. Warspite had only been hit once but had lost two turrets, whilst Valiant had lost a turret and half her damage points.

The Italians lost 5 destroyers and a heavy cruiser sunk with a further destroyer withdrawn. Its battle line was similarly damaged. Littorio had suffered as described above whilst the Cesare and Cavour had both lost close to half their damage points. Added to that the Cruisers Garibaldi and Trieste were badly damaged.

Thoughts on the Campaign

Firstly as mentioned in previous posts thanks for all the interest in the Campaign, previously hits on my Naval pages have been quite low compared with other topics on the blog, this set of posts have turned that around with all three posts being in the top 10 of all time reads, so thank you.

This is the second of these linked scenario campaigns I have done and I have to say for me its the way forward. I have tried the all encompassing campaign, plotting individual search patterns etc and they are hard to run and even harder to keep people interested in.

There were moments in the games where the course of the campaign could have swung either way and I would be interested to see how other people got on if they tried the games with their rules. If the Italians had armed their torpedoes and attacked the right ships how different it could have been.

That will be it for a while for WW2 Naval, time to get back on the land for a while. I would think that most of my Naval gaming for the rest of the year will be in the development of the WW1 rules which will be on the blog one day.

I will no doubt do another Campaign next Easter, I haven't thought of an idea yet so any suggestions from the readers of Yarkshire Gamer ?. Let me know what you would like and I will write the scenarios for you, cant say fairer than that.

Fireworks off Malta - WW2 Naval Campaign - Part 3.

Explosive Action on the trail of the Great Tripoli Dash

Lots of things blowing up !

Welcome back Naval Gamers to the third part of our journey, if you are new to this set of linked scenarios then you can catch up with the first post HERE.

I have repeated some of the information below from previous posts to help any newcomers to the games.

We are following the adventures of an Italian Convoy en route from Naples to re supply the Italian and German Armies prior to a major assault on Torbruk. Our first encounter saw the Royal Navy scamper away with a self inflicted bloody nose, the second was slightly more even, today we move onto the third off our linked games, another short (and for us bloody) action, which will build us up very nicely to the Campaign climax in game 4.

Umpire Notes

This is a linked scenario from the previous game so if you are following this the damage / lost ships maybe different so the following is only general guidance. Any sunk ship is lost. Any ship with damage I will remove half the recorded damage from the previous game so that it will start the next scenario with a reduced damage value, I do the same with lost speed. Any knocked out features like turrets / torpedoes etc I roll a d6 with a 50:50 chance that the feature was not as badly damaged as first thought and is available for this game. Once this is done you need to make a common sense decision on whether or not a ship would stay at sea, in our first game the Italian destroyer Libbecco had suffered a Fuel Fire and a Rudder hit at the end of the game and was below half damage points, its obvious that she would have sailed for the nearest friendly port.

Game 3. British Screening Force (the remnants of games 1 and 2)

Force A1, the first big guns arrive.

British Briefing evening 9th Nov 1941

Following the attack this morning; the Admiralty has determined that no stone should be unturned in our effort to stop the Italian convoy. Forces have been dispatched from our main Naval Base at Alexandria, however our slower Battleships will not reach you before nightfall. The C in C has decided to send forward a small but powerful task force which will be able to intercept the convoy and its escorts consisting of the faster Battlecruiser Renown, the cruisers Norfolk and Sheffield and supporting destroyers. You have 10 turns before nightfall. Do as much damage as you can without taking any major losses and then withdraw to a safe distance at nightfall awaiting our main fleets arrival.

Convoy Acca, looking impressive

Italian Light Squadron

Italian Briefing evening 9th Nov 1941

Congratulations Commander you have done the Italian nation proud, you have survived two actions and air attacks Well Done ! Our work however is not done, we find ourselves to the East of Malta on route and on time. Our intelligence agents in Egypt inform us that the British Fleet is at sea and looking for you. Naval HQ is sending you support. The battleship Caio Duilio was nearby on exercise and has come to your aid. Keep the convoy moving towards North Africa whatever the cost.

HMS Renown heading into action

Set Up (This includes our losses from Game 1 and 2, if following along use your losses)

British

Force K - HMS Orion (LC), HMS Lookout (DD)
Force B - HMS Ajax (LC), HMS Kingston (DD), HMS Kimberley (DD)
14th Destroyer Flotilla - HMS Nubian (DD), HMS Ashanti (DD), HMS Janus, HMS Jervis

Force K/B and 14th Dest Flot deployed as a single screening force.

Force A1, HMS Renown(BC), HMS Norfolk (CA), HMS Sheffield (CA), HMS Kelvin (DD), HMS Kandahar (DD), HMS Greyhound (DD), HMS Glowworm (DD)

Italian

Convoy Acca - Maestrale (DD), Grecale (DD), Oriani (DD), Cavaletta(DE) and 9 merchant ships

Lt Cruiser Division - Bande Nere (LC), Montecuccoli (CL), Attendo (CL)
7th Destroyer Flotilla - Turbine (DD), Alpino (DD), Carabinere (DD) with Luigi Cardona (LC)
Heavy Division Duilio - Caio Duilio (BB), Garibaldi (LC), Fuciliere (DD), Vivaldi (DD), Aviere (DD), Geniere (DD), Granatiere (DD)

Set up the RN screening force and Convoy Acca both sailing in the same direction just out of range of each other, divide the remainder of the long table edges and roll at random for where the remaining forces enter the table.

Must be Wednesday its HMS Sheffield

Umpire Notes

As with the last game this encounter should last 10 turns or an evening gaming session, at the end of that time night falls and the game ends.

Air Power should be allocated at random, we have a separate air phase in our game turn and during that part of the turn each side rolls a d20 with the following results. Each flight is 6 planes.

15 - 1 flight of Fighters (VF), 16 - 2 x VF, 17 - 2 x Torpedo Planes (VT) or Dive Bombers (VB), 18 - 2VF, 2VT and 2VB, 19 - 3VT or 3VB, 20 - 3VF, 3VT, 3VB.

How did we get on

Another fun game this week, during our set up Force A1 entered the table as far away from the screening force as it could. The Italians all set up with the convoy apart from the 7th Destroyer Flotilla and its supporting LC unfortunately for it set up opposite Force A1 and a long way from the support of the convoy.

Turn two started with a bang and the fireworks kept going off all game. HMS Renown in the absence of any large target decided to pick on the Italian LC Cardona, after one ranging shot she got lucky and put two 15" shells into the Light Cruiser, now 15" shells and Light Cruisers rarely mix well especially when one lands in the magazine and the other in the fuel tank !

Explosion No 1, Luigi Cardona goes down with 15" shells adding to her displacement

The same turn the British screening force managed to set fires alight on the Italian Destroyer Oriani and one of the Convoy ships. Concentrated fire from the screening force led to the second explosion of the evening this time on one of the Merchants.

Explosion No 2 - A Merchant lights up the evening sky

The next turn the pendulum swing well and truly back towards the Italians (I think that's what I love about our Naval Games the next hit can always change the game). A destroyer action on the edge of the table between the supports of Force A1 and the remainder of the 7th Destroyer Flottila perked up when Carabinere put a shell into the Magazine of HMS Kelvin, she rolled for effect and BOOM another explosion as her ammunition went up. The splinters from Kelvin ripped into HMS Kandahar bizarrely penetrating the magazine of that ship, thankfully for the Brits she didn't explode but with limited ammo and a damaged rudder Kandahar was retiring off the table. To add to the British misery Duilio managed to put 2 of her 12" shells into HMS Orion.

Explosion No 3 - HMS Kelvins magazine explodes also taking HMS Kandahar out of the game

There was still time for some more action as the Italians received an air strike. Now that is not always a good thing being Italian. Research done by the Italians showed that their aircraft over the course of the war attacked their own ships 30% of the time, a fact I couldn't ignore when it came to writing rules, so every time an Italian aircraft performs an air attack it rolls a d10, 1-3 and it attacks it's own side. The attack consisted of 2 flights of dive bombers and two torpedo planes, the die were rolled and two of the flights decided that an Italian Destroyer looked particularly dangerous and attacked that instead. The remaining two flights attacked HMS Orion.

The good side of Italian air power

And the bad !

The attack managed to put a torpedo into HMS Orion, she survived but with her previous damage she was heading for port. Thankfully the own goal attack missed and there was lots of fist shaking from the crew of the Turbine as the attacking planes flew away.


Quite a bit of action for one night but there was more to come, the British conjured up an air attack themselves on the final turn, unlike in the second game it headed straight for the convoy and managed to sink two merchants just as the sun was going down. The pendants amongst you may notice Defiants in the attack it was all we had !

Explosions 4 and 5, two more merchants explode

So in this evening session the British lost HMS Kelvin sunk following a magazine explosion and the withdrawal of HMS Kandahar and HMS Orion. The Italians lost the Light Cruiser Cardona to the fire of HMS Renown, 3 merchants were sunk, the DE Cavaletta and DD Oriani withdrew due to damage.

So we are set up nicely for our final game which is scheduled for the end of August, it will be a big one and with 6 merchants left the thing is nicely balanced, don't forget to tune into Yarkshire TV for the final episode.

X Wing - The Campaign - Game 16 - Ground Attack

Ground Attack

This is a continuation of the X Wing Campaign, full explanation and details of Campaign rules are here.

Mission Briefing

"Gentlemen,

Our base on the planet Radix has been destroyed in an Imperial attack and we are going all out to save all those resources yet to be captured.

The base was home to a group of scientists who are working on a counter to the Empires cloaking technology. They have made a break for it in a group of speeders and are heading for a rendezvous with a ship to enable them to escape the planet with their equipment.

Protect the speeders until they are safe. Remember you will be flying within the planets atmosphere and close to the surface, which I hear is quite unforgiving.

To your ships, May the Force be with you"

Pilot Upgrades - (from the ongoing Campaign)

Crank Case purchased a Kalidor Crescent (adds pilot skill slot to ship)
Spike Sharpie had to pay a compulsory insurance excess on his E-Wing after it was lost last game.

N.B. Regular readers will know that a pilot who loses his ship (and survives) gets a new ship the next game, they loose any ship upgrades but receive a pot of Galactic Credits up to the value of a basic B Wing. This was the first time we had lost a ship which had been purchased rather than one which came from the basic rookie list (A,B,X,Y & HWK), so we had to invent some new rules. It was decided that the player would have to pay an excess to regain the ship and this would be half rounded up of the number of points above the maximum rookie ship of 22. So a base E-Wing is 27, 5 above our base, half of the difference rounded up is 3 credits.

Set Up

3 x 3 limited edition Battle of Hoth game mat.

Rebel players set up on the top of the map within range 1 of the table edge, place one Speeder per 2 Rebel players plus 1 range 2 from the rebel table edge.

Empire Set up is 1 Tie per Rebel player (with 1 in 3 a named pilot, chosen as usual at random we had 1 PS1, 1 PS3 and 2PS4 with "Night Beast" PS5), then add a Tie Bomber for every two Rebels each armed with 4 missiles and a proton bomb. Finally add 1 Imperial Walker for each Rebel player, these set up within range 2 of the Imperial Edge

Lay out a random series of major features and minor features (see below for special rules)

Game lasts 10 turns or until the Rebel Scientists exit the Imperial Table edge or are killed.

Can you guess the well known auction site ?

Special Rules

Speeders - Have the following stats Attack 1, Agility 2, Hull 2, Armour 2. Fire Arc 360. Can use any 1 or 2 movement template. Add 1 Agility Dice if fired at from the air.

Jump to Hyperspace  - To leave the table you need to declare your attempt and then try and gain 2 critical hits, hits from previous rolls carry forward. You cannot attempt to jump until after turn 4.

Turn 1. Roll 3 attack die

Turn 2. Roll 3 attack die + Pilot Skill / 2 (round up)

Turn 3. Automatically jump

Imperial Walkers - Attack 1, Agility 2, Hull 2, Fire arc 360. They use any 1 movement template. Add 1 agility die if shot at from the air.

Terrain - Defined as either major or minor. All give 1 extra agility dice if fired through, if a ship base ends up on a terrain piece it loses its action for that turn, if the terrain piece is major it also looses its ability to fire.

Atmospheric Flying - Ships were designed to fly in space not an atmosphere so they will be effected by the additional resistance of the planetary air. To see if a ship is effected roll one hit die after selecting movement die but before moving the ship. For a Tie Fighter a hit or crit will effect the ship, for any other ship only a crit will effect. If rolled the following occurs,

A tight turn becomes banked turn, banked turn becomes straight and straight becomes straight at 1 slower speed. K turn becomes straight.

Whatever the new move is becomes that ships move for that turn when determining stress, green moves etc.

Victory Conditions

Rebel Victory -  Get more scientists to safety than you lose.

Imperial Victory - Kill more scientists than those who leave the table.

Draw - Any other result.

How did we get on

Just the four rebel scum this evening, with holidays etc so we had a relatively small game.

Another close scenario which could have gone either way, initially there was some long range skirmishing between the forces. The rebels chose to mass the Speeders and push them all down the board in one tight formation. The Empire retaliated by drawing all its walkers into one spot to counter this. Hard to hit from the air (basic 2 agility die plus 1 for air to ground and 1 for cover) the ground troops did quite well.

The Empire troops managed to blow up one of the speeders before it reached the table edge but it was hard work and as a result the Imperial Ships suffered, 3 being shot down. It all came down to the last two turns, the Rebels managed to get both of their remaining Speeders off both with just one Hull point left grabbing the win but only just.

Rebel Pilot results below,

Pilot Rick O'Shea (4) - B Wing, survived, 1 kills, 8GC - Totals, Missions 16, 15 GC, 18 kills

Pilot Spike Sharpie - E Wing (4), survived, 0 kills, 4 GC - Totals, Missions 16, 6 GC, 13 kills

Pilot Crank Case - Y Wing (3) survived, 2 kills, 9GC - Totals, Missions 11, 11 GC 9 kills

Pilot Pop Cicle - A Wing (3) survived, 0 kills, 3 GC - Totals, Missions 9, 6 GC, 2 kills

Not Present

Pilot Captain Tangent - A Wing (3), not present, 2GC  - Totals, Missions 8, 3 GC, 0 kills
Pilot Ensign WK Jnr (1) - HWK-290, not present, 0 GC - Totals Missions 2, 1 GC, 1 kills
Pilot Baby Brian - A Wing (1) not present - Totals Missions 1, 0 GC, 0 kills

Pilot Oi M'Groin - Y Wing (2) not present - Totals, Missions 4, 3 GC 0 kills

Pilot Sir Jeremy Dodger - X Wing (2), Not Present - Totals Missions 3, 7 GC, 2 kills

Pilot Twiki Bond - A Wing (1), Not Present - Totals Missions 1, 6 GC, 0 kills

Roll of Honour

Pilot Brian RIP

Pilot Commander Wayne Kerr veteran of 7 Missions, RIP

Jim head mechanic in the Rebel Garage was asleep

Result (2 pts for a win, 1 for a draw)

Rebel Win

Campaign overall score is, Empire 12 pts, Rebels 20 pts

X Wing madness will return with game 17 in late August. A battle as the scientists try and escape the planet.

South East of Syracuse - WW2 Naval Campaign - Game 2

Daylight Breaks on The Great Tripoli Dash

Welcome back Naval Gamers to the second part of our journey, if you are new to this set of linked scenarios then you can catch up with the first post HERE.

We are following the adventures of an Italian Convoy en route from Naples to re supply the Italian and German Armies prior to a major assault on Torbruk. Our first encounter saw the Royal Navy scamper away with a self inflicted bloody nose. The captain of the light cruiser HMS Calcutta saved himself from a court martial by going down with his ship. Force K was not so much a force anymore losing half its ships. There is honour at stake for the R.N. here, let battle commence.

Umpire Notes

This is a linked scenario from the previous game so if you are following this the damage / lost ships maybe different so the following is only general guidance. Any sunk ship is lost. Any ship with damage I will remove half the recorded damage from the previous game so that it will start the next scenario with a reduced damage value, I do the same with lost speed. Any knocked out features like turrets / torpedoes etc I roll a d6 with a 50:50 chance that the feature was not as badly damaged as first thought and is available for this game. Once this is done you need to make a common sense decision on whether or not a ship would stay at sea, in our first game the Italian destroyer Libbecco had suffered a Fuel Fire and a Rudder hit at the end of the game and was below half damage points, its obvious that she would have sailed for the nearest friendly port.

Game 2 R.N. Fleet (shows our losses from Game 1)

British Briefing 10.30 am 9th Nov 1941

Following your night attack on the Italian Convoy and the information obtained from that sortie the Admiralty have classed this action as priority one. Ships are en route from Alexandria but for now we have rushed the nearest forces to your location. Rendezvous with the new ships and continue your attacks on the Italian ships. The location of the forces means that you will be attacking in daylight. You will have the possibility of air support from either HMS Ark Royal or the island of Malta.

Italian Convoy Acca, Game 1 remnants at the top, Light Cruiser squadron below and air cover.

Italian Convoy Zeta and air cover

Italian Briefing 10.30 am 9th Nov 1941

Following last nights attacks day breaks and you continue your route ready for attack from the air or the sea at any time. Realising the vulnerability of the convoy re enforcements have arrived to help ease your passage. The Italian Air Force will provide cover over the convoy. Be aware that a smaller convoy operating in the area is sailing towards you to join your convoy. Keep pushing on for Tripoli these supplies are vital to the war effort, you must get through.

Italian Air

British Air Cover

Set Up (This includes our losses from Game 1, if following along use your losses)

British

Force K - HMS Orion (LC), HMS Lookout (DD)
Force B - HMS Ajax (LC), HMAS Perth (LC), HMS Kingston (DD), HMS Kimberley (DD)
14th Destroyer Flotilla - HMS Nubian (DD), HMS Ashanti (DD), HMS Janus, HMS Jervis

Italian

Convoy Acca - Maestrale (DD), Grecale (DD), Oriani (DD) and 7 merchant ships
Convoy Zeta - Grillo (DE), Cavaletta (DE) and 2 merchant ships
Cruiser Division Parona - Giuseppe Garibaldi (LC), Luigi Cardona (LC)
7th Destroyer Flotilla - Turbine (DD), Alpino (DD), Carabinere (DD), Corazziere (DD)

Each convoy will be supported by 1 flight of 6 CR-42 Fighters.

Set up at maximum destroyer gun range both sailing in the same direction, Convoy Zeta should set up about 10,000 yards ahead of Convoy Acca.

Umpire Notes

As with the last game this encounter should last about 10-12 turns or an evening gaming session, at the end of that time the R.N. ships should receive a recall message to disengage and shadow the convoy at distance awaiting re enforcements.

Air Power should be allocated at random, we have a separate air phase in our game turn and during that part of the turn each side rolls a d20 with the following results. Each flight is 6 planes.

15 - 1 flight of Fighters (VF), 16 - 2 x VF, 17 - 2 x Torpedo Planes (VT) or Dive Bombers (VB), 18 - 2VF, 2VT and 2VB, 19 - 3VT or 3VB, 20 - 3VF, 3VT, 3VB.

HMS Kimberley under attack.

How did we get on

The R.N managed to avoid colliding with each other in the first few turns which was a great improvement on game 1. However things went badly in the first few moves, turn one, a long range ranging shot hits HMS Kimberley causing a fire on her deck, luckily her crew were able to extinguish it before it did any real damage.

As the fleets closed the range there was little action for the first few turns until turn five when some quality dice rolling by the Italians obtained 6 hits on the Ajax in one turn, location was rolled and two turrets were knocked out (British turret armour really is pants). Two turns later it got worse as HMAS Perth was hit, the shell causing secondary explosions and extra damage.

The tide turned quickly on the next turn with Garibaldi being hit in the funnel causing it to lose 7 knots of speed. Two Italian Destroyers Grillo and Coraziere where then sunk which led us nicely to a final turn climax.

Torpedoes away

The British had got their destroyers in a decent spot to lauch a torpedo attack towards the convoy and with a couple of decent air power rolls the British had enough planes to mount a powerful strike. Much to the relief of the Italians who were expecting a Convoy Splat, the attack went in on the Light Cruiser Squadron.

Dice, Dice, Dice dontcha just luv em ! The CAP phase of the air combat was short with the Brits well on top, the attacking planes pick their target, the Italians roll their AA defence, very poor, 3 Swordfish abort, its not looking good. 4 attacking flights go in 2 Bombers and 2 Torpedoes most have at least a 50:50 chance of a hit, NOTHING ! No Hits, Nadda.

Queue massive sigh of relief from the Italian player, just the torpedo attack to work out now, again joy for the Italians the torps were released just too soon allowing the ships to turn away. Apart from the Garibaldi who clips one torpedo track as she turns away. Its fine though the Brits need 8 on a d8 for the chance of half a hit, 8 is rolled followed by a 6 for the half hit and a torpedo slams through the belt armour of the Italian Cruiser, another 5 knots of speed and a big chunk of damage gone from Garibaldi.

Air Attack

The tide turned slightly back in favour of the British at the end of the second game, the Italians lost two destroyers sunk, one Da Noll retired due to damage whilst the Light Cruiser Perth was the major loss for the British, down to 1/4 of her damage points and with only one functioning turret it was back to port for her. The convoy however remains very much intact.

The British were starting to withdraw naturally as the game came to a close, ordered by the Admiralty to shadow the Convoy and await re enforcements. As we approach dusk some big funnels are visible in both directions, just time for some big ship action before the sun goes down. Tune in for part 3 soon.

The Great Tripoli Dash - WW2 Naval Campaign - Game 1

Date: November 1941 Location: The Straight of Messina

Ranging Shots

Well this is something we have had planned for a while. Last year we did a WW2 Naval Campaign based in the Far East in 1941 (read it here), the game went down well so I decided to do a similar idea but this time based in the Med using my British and Italian Fleets.

The initial idea came from the wonderful, if rarely updated Naval Wargame Society Website and the Malta Strike Force Campaign which is listed there. It didn't seem to fit exactly what I was after and following a good old ponder I came up with a few modifications and off we went.

This is not a campaign in the true sense of the word but more of a set of linked scenarios with damage and losses carried forward to the next battle. Our game will feature a number of linked games following an Italian Convoy on its journey from Naples to either Tripoli or the bottom of the Sea. If you are interested in playing along I would suggest that only the Umpire reads on from this point.

It takes SO long to set up a Naval game

Briefing Document Italian Navy 22.30 hours 8th Nov 1941

You are in command of a vital convoy carrying supplies to North Africa in preparation for the planned major offensive on Torbruk, on your ships you have hundreds of vehicles and thousands of tons of supplies and fuel. Having departed Naples in the late afternoon you have assembled your convoy and been directed to sail to the East of Malta and have just cleared the Straights of Messina.

The convoy is preceding at 20 knots (quick but it works for our rules !) and it is a dark moonless night, you are planning for air attacks from Malta the next day when you suddenly and unexpectedly come under fire from ships off your starboard, you put the convoy to Battle Stations and get ready to defend the precious cargo.

Star shells fall around the convoy illuminating the ships

British Naval Commander Force K briefing 22.30 hours 8th Nov 1941

Having arrived in Malta on 21st October 1941, Force K despite a number of attempts had failed to get to grips with an Italian Convoy. You have been alerted to the presence of another convoy heading south towards North Africa and you have been detailed to intercept it.

Its late evening and you have closed to 10,000 yards off the convoy and as yet you are undetected, you pass the order to fire and Star Shells streak out into the night, its time for battle.

Convoy

Set Up

British Force K consists of the Destroyers HMS Lance and HMS Lookout along with the light cruisers HMS Calcutta and HMS Orion (I know its not the exact ships but its the closest I had), set up using blanks just shy of 10,000 yards of the convoy.

Italians Use 8 convoys ships set up in two lines of 4 and surround them with 6 Italian Destroyers. Use Maestrale, Euro, Fulmine, Grecale, Libeccio and Oriani (see the second photo above for set up)

Umpire Notes

Its not straight forward to give umpire guidance when I don't know you're rules and how quickly they move but these are my thoughts. I planned this initial game to last one of our evening sessions which is usually about 7.30 pm to 10 pm. I had decided that a superior Italian force of two eight inch gun Heavy Cruisers and four destroyers would turn up at about 9.30 pm or before if the Italians were in real trouble. This would send Force K packing and limit the scenario. Regardless of positions you should draw a line under this scenario at the end of one short gaming session.

Fuel Fire someone in trouble

How did we get on

We do always seem to have a good game when we do WW2 Naval and tonight was no exception, tonight it was all about Royal Naval incompetence. The Brits managed to get involved in two collisions and it didn't end well.

As the forces converged there was plenty of manoeuvring and it just went wrong for the Brits, the first collision saw the Light Cruiser Calcutta plough into the back of the destroyer Lance leaving both ships stationary and Lance with critical damage, Lance sank next round and the slow moving Calcutta got hit badly as she regained her speed. The look on the RN Admirals face at his subordinates boat driving was a picture.

Collision No 1

The Brits where quite aggressive and managed to get a torpedo attack off on the convoy, only one hit but it was enough to sink one of the convoy ships.

The various play aids on view, Torpedo Tracks (new wooden ones especially commissioned, golf tee hit markers, yellow dots for searchlights and star shells.

Things weren't looking too bad for the British at that stage until collision two, the Italian Destroyer Fulimne at full speed hit the mid ships of the already damaged HMS Calcutta, both ships sank but the Italians where much happier with losing a destroyer than the Brits were with a Light Cruiser.

Collision No 2

There was a moment in the last move when the Brits thought they had got some revenge with a torpedo hit on the Italian destroyer Libecco. Sadly for them they rolled for damage and it was a dud.

So at the end of the first game Force K had literally been cut in two losing one destroyer and one light cruiser, the Italians had lost one Freighter to a torpedo, the destroyer Fulmine in the collision with Calcutta and Euro to sustained gunfire. Tune in for part 2 soon.