Post by fannyhil on Mar 4, 2012 9:18:38 GMT -5
It had been a while since we played NT, so I pulled out this variant of Torch that I thought looked interesting. While it was supposed to be a night battle, we turned it into a day battle because we were rusty with the rules. We opted to play with the following additional rules:
1. Destroyers were a base 10 to hit
2. Evasive maneuvers would cost 3” of movement and all ships were capable of evasive movement.
While the Americans held a quantitative edge with the number of ships (9:5), the Germans definitely held the qualitative edge in guns and armor. With the exception of the Massachusetts, all of the American ships were completely outclassed and outranged.
Both forces advanced towards each other. The Germans angled to drive past Task Force 34.8 while Task Force 34.8 angled the opposite way to get full broadsides. Task Force 34.1 angled to in the same direction as the Germans knowing that at a speed of 5, the battle was slowly running away from the Texas. Savannah moved evasively to keep station and make herself harder to hit. At this range she was just soaking off shots meant for the Texas.
The battleships opened up at long/extreme range. The Texas and the Savannah squared off against the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau, the Massachusetts against the Tirpitz and the Prinz Eugen and the Hipper against the Tuscaloosa and Wichita.
With their greater ranges and the modifier for firing at long range, the Germans were able to score a number of non-penetrating hits on the Massachusetts. The dice on the German side were very hot while the Americans suffered from their long trans-Atlantic voyage.
Things really started happening when the three groups closed to medium range for the battleships/battle cruisers. The Savannah disappeared under a hail of shells from the Scharnhorst. The Texas was taking many non-penetrating hits while dishing out mostly non-penetrating hits on the Scharnhorst.
The Massachusetts was trading blow for blow with the Tirpitz. The Wichita landed consecutive rounds of multiple penetrating hits on the Prinz Eugen knocking out five turrets. In turn the Wichita was barely afloat. The Tuscaloosa and the Hipper had their own slug fest going on.
When we had closed to medium range, the American destroyers raced forward to launch torpedoes. As they came forward the Germans opened up with their secondary guns. With base 10 to hit (plus the Germans forgot to apply the under 20" rule) it seemed to help the destroyers survivability. It really helped that the German ship main guns were occupied firing at larger targets.
The Tirpitz was nearing 50% damage so she turned away. The Prinz Eugen and the Hipper also turned away due to heavy damage. The Americans weren't communicating their battleship damage to each other. Both thought the other was above the 50% level. This would cost them dearly in the end.
The destroyer Wainright let go with a quadruple mount torpedo launch at the Gneisenau at long range and managed to score a hit which the Gneisenau's belt mostly absorbed.
The next turn the Prinz Eugen took damage from the Wichita and blew up on her critical roll. The Rhind disappeared under a hail of 11" shells from the Scharnhorst at short range while trying to make a torpedo run. Her sacrifice allowed the Jenkins to close to medium range and fire two quad torpedoes mounts at medium range the Gneisenau, which missed.
Meanwhile the Massachusetts had closed to short range with the Scharnhorst and scored six penetrating hits doing 66 points of damage plus six critical rolls. Between the damage the Texas caused and this hail of lead, the Scharnhorst went down.
It being late, I ruled that with their speed advantage, the Germans could easily get away. When we stopped to compare damage levels, the Texas was down eighty percent of her hull points with a fire still burning while the Massachusetts was down about seventy percent as well. Technically a tactical American victory but I called it a draw given the heavy damage to the American battleships and the risk to their mission.
1. Destroyers were a base 10 to hit
2. Evasive maneuvers would cost 3” of movement and all ships were capable of evasive movement.
While the Americans held a quantitative edge with the number of ships (9:5), the Germans definitely held the qualitative edge in guns and armor. With the exception of the Massachusetts, all of the American ships were completely outclassed and outranged.
Both forces advanced towards each other. The Germans angled to drive past Task Force 34.8 while Task Force 34.8 angled the opposite way to get full broadsides. Task Force 34.1 angled to in the same direction as the Germans knowing that at a speed of 5, the battle was slowly running away from the Texas. Savannah moved evasively to keep station and make herself harder to hit. At this range she was just soaking off shots meant for the Texas.
The battleships opened up at long/extreme range. The Texas and the Savannah squared off against the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau, the Massachusetts against the Tirpitz and the Prinz Eugen and the Hipper against the Tuscaloosa and Wichita.
With their greater ranges and the modifier for firing at long range, the Germans were able to score a number of non-penetrating hits on the Massachusetts. The dice on the German side were very hot while the Americans suffered from their long trans-Atlantic voyage.
Things really started happening when the three groups closed to medium range for the battleships/battle cruisers. The Savannah disappeared under a hail of shells from the Scharnhorst. The Texas was taking many non-penetrating hits while dishing out mostly non-penetrating hits on the Scharnhorst.
The Massachusetts was trading blow for blow with the Tirpitz. The Wichita landed consecutive rounds of multiple penetrating hits on the Prinz Eugen knocking out five turrets. In turn the Wichita was barely afloat. The Tuscaloosa and the Hipper had their own slug fest going on.
When we had closed to medium range, the American destroyers raced forward to launch torpedoes. As they came forward the Germans opened up with their secondary guns. With base 10 to hit (plus the Germans forgot to apply the under 20" rule) it seemed to help the destroyers survivability. It really helped that the German ship main guns were occupied firing at larger targets.
The Tirpitz was nearing 50% damage so she turned away. The Prinz Eugen and the Hipper also turned away due to heavy damage. The Americans weren't communicating their battleship damage to each other. Both thought the other was above the 50% level. This would cost them dearly in the end.
The destroyer Wainright let go with a quadruple mount torpedo launch at the Gneisenau at long range and managed to score a hit which the Gneisenau's belt mostly absorbed.
The next turn the Prinz Eugen took damage from the Wichita and blew up on her critical roll. The Rhind disappeared under a hail of 11" shells from the Scharnhorst at short range while trying to make a torpedo run. Her sacrifice allowed the Jenkins to close to medium range and fire two quad torpedoes mounts at medium range the Gneisenau, which missed.
Meanwhile the Massachusetts had closed to short range with the Scharnhorst and scored six penetrating hits doing 66 points of damage plus six critical rolls. Between the damage the Texas caused and this hail of lead, the Scharnhorst went down.
It being late, I ruled that with their speed advantage, the Germans could easily get away. When we stopped to compare damage levels, the Texas was down eighty percent of her hull points with a fire still burning while the Massachusetts was down about seventy percent as well. Technically a tactical American victory but I called it a draw given the heavy damage to the American battleships and the risk to their mission.
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