Post by fannyhil on May 28, 2012 14:56:29 GMT -5
Our group gathered for our weekly miniatures fix. We were going to be missing one of our four players but we were adding in a new player and a son coming home from college for the long weekend wanting to roll dice. I volunteered to put together a Naval Thunder game based on the skirmish at Spartivento (see hyperlink below). That gave us two brand-new players who had never played the game, two players with a half dozen games under their belts in three years and myself.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_Spartivento
Unfortunately when I arrived I found out that one of the two experienced players was home sick. So we put one new player on each side and one experienced player on each side. We put the new players in command and we kibitzed a lot. The game was played on a 9’x6’ table.
I told the British players that the night airstrike on Taranto had just taken place. The airstrike heavily damaged or sank every Italian battleship. Seizing on this success, the British opted to commit themselves to several missions in the Mediterranean including this very important supply mission to Malta. The British were escorting a convoy to Malta when a scout plane from the Ark Royal spotted a task force of five cruisers and five destroyers heading in their direction about three hours ago. The convoy commanders detached Force A (CA Berwick, CL’s Manchester, Sheffield, Newcastle and Southhampton) to intercept the Italian force. In addition he summoned Force D (BB Ramilles, BC Renown and 9 DD’s). Force A would start on table already engaged in a battle with the Italians while Force D would enter in turns 2 (Ramilles, 4 dd’s) and 3 (Renown, 5 DD’s). In addition the British commander could call for an air strike from the Ark Royal and the planes would arrive six turns later.
The Italian commander was a brand new player to miniatures. I hated throwing him into the driver’s seat without at least a test drive but he did very well. The Italians started on table with six heavy cruisers (Fiume, Pola, Trento, Trieste, Goriza, Bolzano) and six destroyers. I know, there should have been a seventh destroyer but it was left behind. In addition the Italian commander also knew that on turn 9 he would receive the brand new battleship Vittorio Veneto, the BB Giulio Cesare and seven destroyers.
I put two sets of dice out indicating the boundaries for each starting position for both sides and the direction they were heading. The dice were about a quarter of the way into the table from the 6’ sides. I didn’t measure it but it was about thirty five inches between the forces. The British set up in a single battle line with the Berwick in the lead. The Italian commander took three heavy cruisers and three destroyers in put them in line opposite the British. I did the same with my three heavy cruisers and my destroyers being tail end Charlie.
We had a couple of house rules in effect for this game:
1. Radar was not allowed to fire through smoke. I don’t believe most commanders at this time appreciated/trusted radar like they would later in the war.
2. Rather than doing the command checks at the end each turn, we opted to go with when a ship reaches 50% damage it has to break off and exit in the direction it came from.
After some introductory/refreshers on movement, firing and critical hits, we started play. We plotted and moved all of the ships and then began firing the cruisers. By chance the light cruisers were at extreme range while the heavies were at long range. Both sides began rolling buckets o’ dice. The British got several tens on their many rolls but couldn’t roll the second ten to get a hit at extreme range. The Italian players rolled buckets o’ dice and only managed one (penetrating) hit on a light cruiser. At the end of the turn I let the Italian player know that there was smoke just off the back corner of the table behind the British line that whatever ships were there would be coming on table on turn 2. The Italians plotted to move straight and continue our advantage. The British commander called for an airstrike. The British didn’t like firing at extreme with most of his ships while the Italians could fire at long-range so he maneuvered to close the range and then turned broadsides. This put the Italian column (already longer due to the number of ships) even further ahead of the British. My tail end destroyers swung out a couple of inches into no-man’s land and began making smoke thereby screening the closest two Italian cruisers from the British battleship. It effectively prevented the Ramilles from firing due to being beyond extreme range while the Renown could only fire at extreme range with its forward guns when it arrived on turn 3. For the rest of the game, large gushers landed near one of my heavy cruisers. I found myself hoping desperately that one of the large shells wouldn’t find a home.
Meanwhile the bloodbath crossfire continued. While outnumbered, and outgunned, the sheer volume of British 6” tubes meant a lot of hits on the Italian heavy cruisers. Three light cruisers concentrated fire on the Trieste hitting many times, more than they statistically should have, penetrating about half the time. I lost several gun mounts and picked up a ship board fire. Meanwhile the Italian gunners must have been drinking too much vino. Our rolls were below average most of the night while the British were above average. This set a bad precedent.
At the end of turn 4 the Italian commander figured out that if we moved in a couple inches closer we could fire at medium range while the British were firing at long range. This worked out and again we had the advantage. Unfortunately, rather than maintaining a parallel course, our ships continued to angle in and we lost the advantage after a couple of turns. The British light cruisers continued to concentrate all of their fire on one Italian heavy cruiser while the Italians spread their fire across the British battle line to avoid the over concentration penalty. The two British battleships raced ahead slowly closing the range due to our slight angling towards the British cruiser line. One of the British light cruisers had reached the fifty percent mark and fell out of line. The turn after the Trieste too fell out of line battling three fires and a flooding problem as she left. She would succumb to the fires/flooding before she reached the edge of the board; the first casualty of the game. We were luring the British cruisers and battleships closer to our battleships.
Turn 5 the Italian commander began making smoke with his destroyers masking three of our remaining five heavy cruisers. The two Italian heavy cruisers and one destroyer were able to swing around the front of the British column to bring full broadsides against the British column. The British heavy cruiser was able to fire its full broadsides but the three light cruisers could only fire their forward guns. At a range of less than 20”, the Italian heavy cruisers fired full broadsides and all shots missed while the British continued their above average luck.
Turn six the British column turned to parallel the Italian column. The lead Italian destroyers stopped making smoke and four of the five Italian heavy cruisers were able to get their guns to bear at less than 20”. Both sides took heavy damage. The Pola was forced out of line after taking eight penetrating hits and seven non-penetrating hits. The advantage of the British concentrating their 6” guns with no penalties for over concentration (of secondary guns) was paying huge dividends.
Turn 7 the Bolzano sank due to concentrated firepower from the British heavy cruiser and three light cruisers. The Berwick finally succumbed after taking twenty one points from four penetrating hits and six none penetrating hits. While the British lights were taking some hits, it was scattered enough that they hadn’t reached the fifty percent mark yet.
Turn 8 fifteen swordfish appeared overhead. I told the British commander that they could attack turn 8 or hover for turn 8 and attack turn 9. He thought "why wait and take extra damage turn 8 if I don't have to?". The British were especially lucky and Gordiza went down to three out of nine torpedo hits while the Trento was missed five times. One swordfish was shot down (again, poor Italian luck).
Turn 9 the Italian battleships arrived. The Italians sent their remaining destroyers in to try to torpedo the damaged British light cruisers but the British lights turned to put some distance between themselves and the unexpected Italian battleships. This allowed them to turn their 6” guns broadsides to the approaching Italian destroyers. Three Italian destroyers went down before they could get off their torpedoes.
The Renown came under long-range fire from the Vittorio Venito. The British commander realized he was out ranged. The British destroyers began making smoke and while the British battleships concentrated their fire on the slightly damaged Trento and Fiume. The last two Italian heavy cruisers lived a charmed life. They were fired at for four turns broadsides from the British battleships at long and medium range and missed all but twice on the fourth turn. They kept the British battleships occupied while the Italian battleships continued to close the distance on the British battleships.
Finally the Vittorio landed a penetrating hit on the Renown. While it only did ten points and a critical, it was a wake-up call for the British that they could be hit and penetrated (the Italian heavy cruisers could hit but couldn’t penetrate either British capital ship at long-range).
The battle effectively ended when the British destroyers laid smoke between the forces and both sides broke off. The final tally: Three Italian heavy cruisers sunk, one severely damaged, two with moderate damage. Four Italian destroyers sunk while two more were heavily damaged. One British heavy cruiser sunk, one destroyer sunk, four light cruisers heavily damaged and minor damage to the Renown and the Ramilles.
While the British Admiralty wouldn't be happy that they didn't engage the last two Italian battlehships, it was enough of a British victory plus the Malta convoy getting through to please the high command.
Overall a well played game. Everyone had fun and said they would gladly play again!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_Spartivento
Unfortunately when I arrived I found out that one of the two experienced players was home sick. So we put one new player on each side and one experienced player on each side. We put the new players in command and we kibitzed a lot. The game was played on a 9’x6’ table.
I told the British players that the night airstrike on Taranto had just taken place. The airstrike heavily damaged or sank every Italian battleship. Seizing on this success, the British opted to commit themselves to several missions in the Mediterranean including this very important supply mission to Malta. The British were escorting a convoy to Malta when a scout plane from the Ark Royal spotted a task force of five cruisers and five destroyers heading in their direction about three hours ago. The convoy commanders detached Force A (CA Berwick, CL’s Manchester, Sheffield, Newcastle and Southhampton) to intercept the Italian force. In addition he summoned Force D (BB Ramilles, BC Renown and 9 DD’s). Force A would start on table already engaged in a battle with the Italians while Force D would enter in turns 2 (Ramilles, 4 dd’s) and 3 (Renown, 5 DD’s). In addition the British commander could call for an air strike from the Ark Royal and the planes would arrive six turns later.
The Italian commander was a brand new player to miniatures. I hated throwing him into the driver’s seat without at least a test drive but he did very well. The Italians started on table with six heavy cruisers (Fiume, Pola, Trento, Trieste, Goriza, Bolzano) and six destroyers. I know, there should have been a seventh destroyer but it was left behind. In addition the Italian commander also knew that on turn 9 he would receive the brand new battleship Vittorio Veneto, the BB Giulio Cesare and seven destroyers.
I put two sets of dice out indicating the boundaries for each starting position for both sides and the direction they were heading. The dice were about a quarter of the way into the table from the 6’ sides. I didn’t measure it but it was about thirty five inches between the forces. The British set up in a single battle line with the Berwick in the lead. The Italian commander took three heavy cruisers and three destroyers in put them in line opposite the British. I did the same with my three heavy cruisers and my destroyers being tail end Charlie.
We had a couple of house rules in effect for this game:
1. Radar was not allowed to fire through smoke. I don’t believe most commanders at this time appreciated/trusted radar like they would later in the war.
2. Rather than doing the command checks at the end each turn, we opted to go with when a ship reaches 50% damage it has to break off and exit in the direction it came from.
After some introductory/refreshers on movement, firing and critical hits, we started play. We plotted and moved all of the ships and then began firing the cruisers. By chance the light cruisers were at extreme range while the heavies were at long range. Both sides began rolling buckets o’ dice. The British got several tens on their many rolls but couldn’t roll the second ten to get a hit at extreme range. The Italian players rolled buckets o’ dice and only managed one (penetrating) hit on a light cruiser. At the end of the turn I let the Italian player know that there was smoke just off the back corner of the table behind the British line that whatever ships were there would be coming on table on turn 2. The Italians plotted to move straight and continue our advantage. The British commander called for an airstrike. The British didn’t like firing at extreme with most of his ships while the Italians could fire at long-range so he maneuvered to close the range and then turned broadsides. This put the Italian column (already longer due to the number of ships) even further ahead of the British. My tail end destroyers swung out a couple of inches into no-man’s land and began making smoke thereby screening the closest two Italian cruisers from the British battleship. It effectively prevented the Ramilles from firing due to being beyond extreme range while the Renown could only fire at extreme range with its forward guns when it arrived on turn 3. For the rest of the game, large gushers landed near one of my heavy cruisers. I found myself hoping desperately that one of the large shells wouldn’t find a home.
Meanwhile the bloodbath crossfire continued. While outnumbered, and outgunned, the sheer volume of British 6” tubes meant a lot of hits on the Italian heavy cruisers. Three light cruisers concentrated fire on the Trieste hitting many times, more than they statistically should have, penetrating about half the time. I lost several gun mounts and picked up a ship board fire. Meanwhile the Italian gunners must have been drinking too much vino. Our rolls were below average most of the night while the British were above average. This set a bad precedent.
At the end of turn 4 the Italian commander figured out that if we moved in a couple inches closer we could fire at medium range while the British were firing at long range. This worked out and again we had the advantage. Unfortunately, rather than maintaining a parallel course, our ships continued to angle in and we lost the advantage after a couple of turns. The British light cruisers continued to concentrate all of their fire on one Italian heavy cruiser while the Italians spread their fire across the British battle line to avoid the over concentration penalty. The two British battleships raced ahead slowly closing the range due to our slight angling towards the British cruiser line. One of the British light cruisers had reached the fifty percent mark and fell out of line. The turn after the Trieste too fell out of line battling three fires and a flooding problem as she left. She would succumb to the fires/flooding before she reached the edge of the board; the first casualty of the game. We were luring the British cruisers and battleships closer to our battleships.
Turn 5 the Italian commander began making smoke with his destroyers masking three of our remaining five heavy cruisers. The two Italian heavy cruisers and one destroyer were able to swing around the front of the British column to bring full broadsides against the British column. The British heavy cruiser was able to fire its full broadsides but the three light cruisers could only fire their forward guns. At a range of less than 20”, the Italian heavy cruisers fired full broadsides and all shots missed while the British continued their above average luck.
Turn six the British column turned to parallel the Italian column. The lead Italian destroyers stopped making smoke and four of the five Italian heavy cruisers were able to get their guns to bear at less than 20”. Both sides took heavy damage. The Pola was forced out of line after taking eight penetrating hits and seven non-penetrating hits. The advantage of the British concentrating their 6” guns with no penalties for over concentration (of secondary guns) was paying huge dividends.
Turn 7 the Bolzano sank due to concentrated firepower from the British heavy cruiser and three light cruisers. The Berwick finally succumbed after taking twenty one points from four penetrating hits and six none penetrating hits. While the British lights were taking some hits, it was scattered enough that they hadn’t reached the fifty percent mark yet.
Turn 8 fifteen swordfish appeared overhead. I told the British commander that they could attack turn 8 or hover for turn 8 and attack turn 9. He thought "why wait and take extra damage turn 8 if I don't have to?". The British were especially lucky and Gordiza went down to three out of nine torpedo hits while the Trento was missed five times. One swordfish was shot down (again, poor Italian luck).
Turn 9 the Italian battleships arrived. The Italians sent their remaining destroyers in to try to torpedo the damaged British light cruisers but the British lights turned to put some distance between themselves and the unexpected Italian battleships. This allowed them to turn their 6” guns broadsides to the approaching Italian destroyers. Three Italian destroyers went down before they could get off their torpedoes.
The Renown came under long-range fire from the Vittorio Venito. The British commander realized he was out ranged. The British destroyers began making smoke and while the British battleships concentrated their fire on the slightly damaged Trento and Fiume. The last two Italian heavy cruisers lived a charmed life. They were fired at for four turns broadsides from the British battleships at long and medium range and missed all but twice on the fourth turn. They kept the British battleships occupied while the Italian battleships continued to close the distance on the British battleships.
Finally the Vittorio landed a penetrating hit on the Renown. While it only did ten points and a critical, it was a wake-up call for the British that they could be hit and penetrated (the Italian heavy cruisers could hit but couldn’t penetrate either British capital ship at long-range).
The battle effectively ended when the British destroyers laid smoke between the forces and both sides broke off. The final tally: Three Italian heavy cruisers sunk, one severely damaged, two with moderate damage. Four Italian destroyers sunk while two more were heavily damaged. One British heavy cruiser sunk, one destroyer sunk, four light cruisers heavily damaged and minor damage to the Renown and the Ramilles.
While the British Admiralty wouldn't be happy that they didn't engage the last two Italian battlehships, it was enough of a British victory plus the Malta convoy getting through to please the high command.
Overall a well played game. Everyone had fun and said they would gladly play again!