Post by Bluebear on Oct 18, 2013 4:25:37 GMT -5
Fellow Admirals,
Yes, battleships blasting away at each other is fun . . . but it tends to make most smaller ships semi-irrelevant. It is one of the reasons that I like cruiser actions.
But there aren't all that many historical ones recorded so I have come up with a scenario that I hope to run later this year . . . after I've finished painting and basing all of the ships potentially involved.
Of course YOU can run it using the ships I list below or others from your own collection. I call it the "River Escape Scenario" and you are free to use it as written or to modify it to fit your own collections.
The basic concept is for a 4-player (two per side) game . . . but it could just as easily be a two-player game (although I think that a single controlling mind on each side loses some of the fun).
Two 3-ship squadrons of one navy have been up a river causing much havoc . . . and now they are trying to escape to the open waters of the ocean before enemy battleships arrive to blow them out of the water. In the interim a pair of enemy 3-ship squadrons are trying to stop them.
Played along the long axis of the table, one end is where the river opens into the river mouth. The other end of the table marks the open ocean. The long sides are considered to still be land or to be too shallow to escape. Place a number of islands (use terrained hills if you have them) variously around the table.
After the sides have been determined, have the senior admiral on each side roll a die. High roll gets to either (1) pick the navy for their side first OR (2) choose to be either the escaping navy or the blocking navy. The low roll gets the remaining option.
Senior admiral on each side gets to divvy up the ships as he wishes. Most forces are composed of 3 Armored Cruisers and 3 Protected Cruisers (one is 2 & 4). He may keep them divided along those lines or split them more evenly; he might want to use speed as a factor or gun size or whatever just as long as each squadron contains three of the ships.
Take ace through six of one suit from a deck of cards and split it up into two piles (one has A,3,5; and the other 2,4,6) and shuffle each of them. Have the Junior admiral on each side roll a die. High roll gets to pick one of the stacks (not knowing which is which). The other side gets the other stack. Each of the four admirals draws a card from their stack. This is the turn in which their force will arrive on table . . . but they are not to let anyone (including their fellow admiral) when that will be.
The blocking force admirals will each arrive (in line ahead) from the opposite "corners" of the open ocean. The escaping force admirals may arrive (in line ahead) from anywhere on the river mouth end.
It should be remembered that for most of the Pre-Dread period ships did not have wireless so the only communication between admirals of the same side should be when they are close enough (and in line of sight -- remember those islands) to signal. Deside what this should be but keep it fairly limited . . . it will be more fun if they can't plan together but are acting on their own.
Start the scenario by calling for the Ace to arrive on table on turn one; then move to Two for arrival on turn two; then Three for turn three, etc. (realizing that two cards were not drawn so there may be turns without new arrivals but for the actions of forces already on table).
For my scenario, I have selected three (presumably balanced) Pre-Dread forces. The Japanese and Russian forces each have three Armored Cruisers and three Protected Cruisers; while the American force has two Armored Cruisers and four Protected Cruisers . . . but it has a lot more "big guns" (i.e., 8" and above) than the others even though it is slower with less armor and hull strength.
Here are my forces (note that yours may vary). Point and other totals are from the "Naval Thunder Rise of the Battleship" and "Rise of the Battleship 2":
RUSSIAN FORCES: 289 pts hull = 208 armor 40 8 big guns 80 other guns
Rossiya 84
Rurik 69
Bayan 47
Variag 31
Askold 30
Diana 28
AMERICAN FORCES: 288 pts hull = 139 armor 36 24 big guns 58 other guns
Brooklyn 82
New York 70
Olympia 51
Atlanta 31
Baltimore 30
San Francisco 24
JAPANESE FORCES: 287 pts hull = 162 armor 42 16 big guns 74 other guns
Asama 69
Iwate 68
Kasuga 61
Kasagi 31
Chitose 31
Matsushima 27
Figure out what time everyone needs to leave and set the game to end at a clock time a bit earlier than this. All escaping ships that have not exited by this time are then "boxed in" by arriving battleships and the scenario is over. If the escaping fleet has managed to have a total of 5 or more between escaped ships and enemies sunk (with at least two escapees), I'd rate it as a draw or a marginal win for the escaping force . . . but you can judge that differently if you like.
Please remember that I have not yet had a chance to play this scenario out so I don't know how well it will work . . . but it sure sounds like fun.
Enjoy.
-- Jeff
Yes, battleships blasting away at each other is fun . . . but it tends to make most smaller ships semi-irrelevant. It is one of the reasons that I like cruiser actions.
But there aren't all that many historical ones recorded so I have come up with a scenario that I hope to run later this year . . . after I've finished painting and basing all of the ships potentially involved.
Of course YOU can run it using the ships I list below or others from your own collection. I call it the "River Escape Scenario" and you are free to use it as written or to modify it to fit your own collections.
The basic concept is for a 4-player (two per side) game . . . but it could just as easily be a two-player game (although I think that a single controlling mind on each side loses some of the fun).
Two 3-ship squadrons of one navy have been up a river causing much havoc . . . and now they are trying to escape to the open waters of the ocean before enemy battleships arrive to blow them out of the water. In the interim a pair of enemy 3-ship squadrons are trying to stop them.
Played along the long axis of the table, one end is where the river opens into the river mouth. The other end of the table marks the open ocean. The long sides are considered to still be land or to be too shallow to escape. Place a number of islands (use terrained hills if you have them) variously around the table.
After the sides have been determined, have the senior admiral on each side roll a die. High roll gets to either (1) pick the navy for their side first OR (2) choose to be either the escaping navy or the blocking navy. The low roll gets the remaining option.
Senior admiral on each side gets to divvy up the ships as he wishes. Most forces are composed of 3 Armored Cruisers and 3 Protected Cruisers (one is 2 & 4). He may keep them divided along those lines or split them more evenly; he might want to use speed as a factor or gun size or whatever just as long as each squadron contains three of the ships.
Take ace through six of one suit from a deck of cards and split it up into two piles (one has A,3,5; and the other 2,4,6) and shuffle each of them. Have the Junior admiral on each side roll a die. High roll gets to pick one of the stacks (not knowing which is which). The other side gets the other stack. Each of the four admirals draws a card from their stack. This is the turn in which their force will arrive on table . . . but they are not to let anyone (including their fellow admiral) when that will be.
The blocking force admirals will each arrive (in line ahead) from the opposite "corners" of the open ocean. The escaping force admirals may arrive (in line ahead) from anywhere on the river mouth end.
It should be remembered that for most of the Pre-Dread period ships did not have wireless so the only communication between admirals of the same side should be when they are close enough (and in line of sight -- remember those islands) to signal. Deside what this should be but keep it fairly limited . . . it will be more fun if they can't plan together but are acting on their own.
Start the scenario by calling for the Ace to arrive on table on turn one; then move to Two for arrival on turn two; then Three for turn three, etc. (realizing that two cards were not drawn so there may be turns without new arrivals but for the actions of forces already on table).
For my scenario, I have selected three (presumably balanced) Pre-Dread forces. The Japanese and Russian forces each have three Armored Cruisers and three Protected Cruisers; while the American force has two Armored Cruisers and four Protected Cruisers . . . but it has a lot more "big guns" (i.e., 8" and above) than the others even though it is slower with less armor and hull strength.
Here are my forces (note that yours may vary). Point and other totals are from the "Naval Thunder Rise of the Battleship" and "Rise of the Battleship 2":
RUSSIAN FORCES: 289 pts hull = 208 armor 40 8 big guns 80 other guns
Rossiya 84
Rurik 69
Bayan 47
Variag 31
Askold 30
Diana 28
AMERICAN FORCES: 288 pts hull = 139 armor 36 24 big guns 58 other guns
Brooklyn 82
New York 70
Olympia 51
Atlanta 31
Baltimore 30
San Francisco 24
JAPANESE FORCES: 287 pts hull = 162 armor 42 16 big guns 74 other guns
Asama 69
Iwate 68
Kasuga 61
Kasagi 31
Chitose 31
Matsushima 27
Figure out what time everyone needs to leave and set the game to end at a clock time a bit earlier than this. All escaping ships that have not exited by this time are then "boxed in" by arriving battleships and the scenario is over. If the escaping fleet has managed to have a total of 5 or more between escaped ships and enemies sunk (with at least two escapees), I'd rate it as a draw or a marginal win for the escaping force . . . but you can judge that differently if you like.
Please remember that I have not yet had a chance to play this scenario out so I don't know how well it will work . . . but it sure sounds like fun.
Enjoy.
-- Jeff
