Game Report: Sand and Fish 22nd October 1904

Aboard the Borodino, 0545 local time

The Admiral had been very clear, no vessels of any sort were to get among the fleet. After being shadowed for days by enemy cruisers, and dodging a minefield just before dusk, it was clear the Japanese were here, and that an attack was inevitable. Even one torpedo could send any ship in the 2nd Pacific Squadron to the bottom of the ocean. The mood on board was tense, the crew surly. Rumours and minor acts of insubordination were running rampant, and the Captain was concerned how he was going to keep morale up for the rest of their journey. 

He was just about to leave the bridge and get a few hours sleep when he saw a signal lamp flashing. "Sir, the Kamchatka is reporting she's being attacked!" the rating manning the signal station shouted. "Torpedo boats!" 

So it had begun.

The Setup

This game saw part of the Russian fleet, 10 warships and 2 supply ships, facing an attack by unknown numbers of Japanese torpedo boats during their long voyage from their bases in the Baltic to join the fight in the Pacific theatre, in the hours before dawn in an area littered with sandbanks and minefields. Their objective was simple, survive until dawn when visibility would improve sufficiently to allow them to drive off the attackers. Sinking any of the enemy would clearly be beneficial too. 

To complicate matters, each Captain had to roll on a table of potential traits, and each vessel had to roll on a quirk table, most of the effects were at least inconvenient, if not outright unhelpful. Each vessel had a panic statistic, high panic levels leading to various unpleasant effects, which was impacted by events on the table, traits of the ship or captain and random event cards that each turn each vessel had to draw. These had various possible effects, from simple shifts in panic levels to rumours on board to malfunctions of various levels of severity. Players also had to plot their movement orders in advance, by a single turn by default, but traits and cards could increase that, just to add further fog of war to the game. 

We used the Perfidious Albion rules from A&A Game Engineering (with some tweaks), and the models used are from Tumbling Dice's Age of Battleships range.

The Russian fleet consisted of:

Borodino - Captain trait: Precise (+10% chance to hit for any turret commanded by captain), Ship trait: "My father shall hear of this" - Noble first officer (increased chance of order misinterpretation)

Imperator Nikolai I - Captain trait: Fine Mustache (No effect), Ship trait: "My father shall hear of this"

Aurora - Captain trait: Heartless (decreased chance of quelling shipboard unrest), Ship trait: Jittery crew (chance of increased panic level increase under any panic circumstance) 

Retvisan - Captain trait: Calm under fire (chance to ignore panic level increases), Ship trait: Doom merchant (Minimum panic level increased by 1)

Sissoi Veliki - Captain trait - Fine mustache, Ship trait: Steering issues (small chance to end up stuck travelling in a particular direction)

Imperator Alexander III - Captain trait - Veteran (need to plot orders a further turn ahead), Ship trait: Doom merchant

Admiral Seniavin - Captain trait: Calm under fire, Ship trait Telegraph Issues (must plot orders an additional turn ahead)

Tsesarevich - Captain trait: Veteran, Ship trait: "My father shall hear of this"

Oslyabya - Captain trait: Calm under fire, Ship trait: Gunnery issues (Chance of turret failing randomly each turn)

Zhemchug - Captain trait: Precise, Ship trait: Unreliable searchlight (Chance of searchlight failing each turn)

SS Mersey - Captain trait: Fine mustache, Ship trait: Doom merchant

San Pablo - Captain trait: Heir to nobility (must plot orders an additional turn in advance), Ship trait: This thing works how? (random modification to any ranging estimates)

The Game

The Russian fleet steaming along as the attack begins

The Russians began in a loose line abreast, with the unarmed merchant vessels, being deemed of least value by the players, forming the flanks. In the first turn the Russians put great efforts into spotting potential incoming threats, soon identifying a minefield in their path. For some of the ships, especially those who needed to plot orders several turns in advance, this caused a degree of consternation. To further complicate matters, the Sissoi Veliki's steering failed, putting her into a slow port turn for the next few turns.

A minefield is sighted ahead, the first sure sign of enemy activity

In the gloom a Japanese torpedo boat was sighted, and every vessel able to do so opened fire on her, but even the concentrated firepower of the fleet was unable to prevent their adversary launching a spread of torpedoes. 

Waterspouts from falling shells surround the enemy vessel, as the ominous trails of torpedoes are sighted

Having launched its deadly payload, the torpedo boat slunk back into the fog bank, unfortunately for her, the prying eyes of Russian searchlights soon found her, even as vessels frantically maneuvered to avoid the incoming torpedoes. Their efforts were rewarded as no hits were achieved.

The enemy slinks away as the Russian vessels struggle to escape the spread of fish heading toward them

With the torpedo boat once again sighted, the Russian fleet again opened fire. Unfortunately, the Borodino's range finder had malfunctioned (thanks to an unlucky card draw), and instead of bracketing the torpedo boat, the guns of one of the most powerful Russian vessels in the game instead found themselves aiming at the Oslyabya, which rapidly lost one of her funnels, one of her turrets and a couple of minor guns, narrowly avoiding a catastrophic magazine explosion, while a small fire broke out on board.

The Borodino's mighty armament smashes into her sister at point blank range

As this drama played out, another torpedo boat was sighted, and took fire from several warships at point blank range, with several hits being claimed. Again, however, the vessel was able to discharge its torpedo tubes. 

The spread, however, proved poorly judged and missed all the Russian vessels in the area as the torpedo boat slunk away. In the next turn, Russian crews sighted several small areas of mines and at least one more spread of torpedoes heading their way, with vessels criss-crossing one another's wakes, collision being only narrowly avoided in some cases. To compound their difficulties, many vessels were struck with additional malfunctions, or rumours spreading onboard, ranging from torpedo strikes to Japanese boarding parties. Several vessels also faced crew strikes or outbreaks of revolutionary fervour, the Captain of the Aurora in particular making a particularly brutal example of the would be revolutionaries.

Mines and torpedoes from unseen assailants dog the Russian fleet, as confusion abounds.

Once again, the torpedo spreads proved unable to hit their targets, whether through frantic Russian maneuvering or poor dice rolls, and Russian persistence in sweeping the seas for targets was rewarded when another vessel was spotted, and moments after she launched her torpedoes she received the attention of all Russian vessels able to see her, virtually vanishing behind a wall of shell splashes.

The Japanese vessel is pummeled with fire, the Russian fleet determined to survive the night giving everything they have

Once again the Japanese torpedoes appeared cursed, but the presence of the weapons, the proximity of the enemy and some unlucky card draws led the crew of the Retvisan to panic, opening fire at random in all directions, hitting the Borodino, the SS Mersey and the enemy torpedo boat, which was also under fire from other Russian ships. 

As the Retvisan fires at anything it can sight, the majority of the Russian fleet concentrates on the Japanese torpedo boat

In the last turn, the Japanese vessels managed to slink out of sight, and the game was drawn to an end with dawn. The Russians were left to lick their wounds, and wonder how effective their attacks on the Japanese had been, but overall they were clearly pleased to have not lost a single vessel, with only a handful damaged, and only one to any serious degree.

It was at this point, that the players were informed that their efforts had resulted in the deaths of at least 2 fishermen, and wounding several more, which caused perhaps the greatest level of confusion of the game. For the reality was, there were no foes, no minefields and no torpedoes, all game the Russians had been firing at British fishing vessels, sinking one, crippling another and damaging a third. 

This game was inspired by the Dogger Bank Incident where the Russian fleet sailing to the Pacific opened fire on British fishing vessels. While less dramatic in reality (and killing only two Russians rather than the 20-35 who died in this game), the confusion levels and chaos felt true to reality. I did have to promise the players that the next game would include two sides consisting of actual combatants. Perhaps I'll even actually deliver.

Action of the 22nd of December, 1942

Action of the 22nd of December, 1942

Flora II MTB Base, Invergordon, UK

Lieutenant R. Hansen RN headed toward the Flotilla Office for the morning briefing. For some reason, he had a nagging feeling this was not going to be a normal day. Two Royal Marines were guarding the office, an unusual precaution. The other boat commanders were already there, waiting impatiently for the Squadron Officer to brief them.

When the SO strode in, he placed in front of the assembled officers a piece of paper.

Well, that confirmed that this would be a dangerous mission. This was the first time the Admiralty had sent orders directly to the squadron, and such a deliberate targeting of a single convoy was unusual. Still, there was no option but to head to the boat and the sea.

Sailing to Norway took the night and most of the next day, although with the winter darkness it was difficult to distinguish between the two. The boats hid up in a fjord for the few hours to wait for the enemy convoy.

The force consisted of two Fairmile MTBs (656 and 660), each armed with a 2 pounder, 6 pounder, a twin 20mm cannon and two twin LMG mounts in addition to 2 18" torpedoes, and 4 MTBs, 22 and 29 armed with two twin HMG turrets and 2 21" torpedoes and 527 and 531 armed with a 6 pounder, twin 20mm cannon and two twin LMG turrets, plus two 21" torpedoes.

Working as two small forces, 656, 22 and 527 as one group, 660, 29 and 531 as the other, the boats took up a position on the convoy's expected route. At 2212, Lt Hansen heard the growl of approaching diesel engines. The boats began to crawl towards the noises, preparing to hit their prey. A fog bank provided cover for 660, 22 and 527 as they moved forward.

The boats close in on the sounds of a convoy

 Taking advantage of surprise, the British boats swept in, picking out two E-boats and two merchants. One E-boat found itself the centre of attention of three of the MTBs. 

Contact! Contact!

Tracer rounds began to fly back and forth, with 660 and the German boat both taking hits. A small fire broke out on 660, while the German boat was hit by 531's 6 pounder, taking serious structural damage, before catching fire, losing the use of its twin 20mm cannon mount and her engines cut out, leaving the boat adrift.

Under a hail of fire, the German boat is left in a serious state.

Additional fire from other boats hit a second German E-boat, damaging the steering gear and caused a small fire on the lead merchant ship, the SS Lina Fisser, allowing the MBTs to launch a barrage of torpedoes cutting across the convoy's route. 

The merchant crews fail to react to the suspicious trails in the water as the firefight rages around them.

With their torpedoes in the water, the British boats swept further into the convoy, using their guns to rake the German E-boats and merchants. The two lead E-boats were left without any useful weapons, while the Lina Fisser manage to extinguish the fire, another broke out almost immediately, as did one on the right hand merchant, the SS Laknes. Two more S-boats came roaring forward from the rear of the convoy, opening fire on the MTBs. 531 took fire and a small fire broke out, while the left flank S-boat took heavy fire, which kept the German crew's heads down as a small fire broke out.

The two forces close in on each other under a hail of fire, with the Germans generally getting to worst of the engagement.

Then the torpedoes struck. The one torpedo launched by 656 missed the Lina Fisser, passing beyond her to hit the Laknes, tearing her stern off, bringing her to a complete stop. Two further torpedoes from 22 struck the wreck moments later near the bow.

The two torpedoes launched by 660 struck the Lina Fisser amidships, leaving her wrecked with the crew hastily abandoning the ship.

Torpedoes devastate the convoy.

29 was able to launch a further pair of fish towards the third German merchant, the SS Maudie. To further confuse the situation, from the south a star shell was launched, illuminating most of the boats in the fighting.

In the next moments, one German E-boat tried to ram 22, but skilled maneuvering by the crew managed to keep them out of harms way, while they battered the German craft with machine gun fire leaving the crew stunned and the boat burning.

A crazed German mariner scrapes the paint clean off MTB22

Being the only remaining merchant, the Maudie suffered horrifically at the hands of the British, raked by machine gun and cannon fire from at least three boats. Seven separate fires broke out along the length of the ship, with bridge hits reducing the crew's ability to respond, but not before she managed to turn head on into the oncoming torpedoes.

Battered from all sides, the SS Maudie rapidly turns into an inferno

To add the the misery of the crew, one of the torpedoes from 29 struck home, causing massive flooding and ripping open the hull, leaving the Maudie barely afloat.

With the Maudie having just 6 Hull Points remaining, Lt "Why is it always me?" Arvinda got 2d6 bonus flooding damage. Oh well.

While the Maudie was in her death throes, MTB 531 was torn apart by close range fire from an S-boat, while on of the first S-boats attacked was finally sunk by 660. From the gloom to the south, more German vessels, a destroyer and two R-boats emerged, rushing to intervene and save what little could be saved of the convoy. 660 suffered a near miss from the destroyer's 105mm heavy guns, causing minimal damage but convincing the British it was time to clear out.

A German patrol rushes into the chaos, with the Elbing class torpedo boat blasting away.

With the final German merchant rapidly succumbing to fire and flooding and enemy heavy forces closing in, the British boats began to make a break for the open sea. 29 bravely chose to halt to pick up the survivors from 531 just as she slipped beneath the waves. 

660 made a break to the west, while 656 broke east with 527. 22 headed north while exchanging fire with a German S-boat. With the R-boats in a half-hearted pursuit of the MTBs, the German destroyer charged into 29 while she was stationary. A last second burst from 29's engines allowed them to escape without serious harm, but left her at point blank range for the German close range armament. Raked by the Flakvierling and a single 20mm cannon mount, 29 was cut apart and foundered.

The action winds down as smoke and darkness make picking out targets impossible. The last German boats concentrate on rescuing survivors

To further compound British woes, 660 was still illuminated and visible to the German destroyer, and with no better target, the German vessel opened fire with her 105mm guns. A solitary hit smashed 660's flank in and she sank, leaving her crew adrift. With all other targets receding into the night and survivors to be rescued, the Germans left the remaining British boats to make their way home. 

In the post game clean-up, it was determined that 660's crew were rescued by another British boat, but the captured crews of 29 and 531 broke under interrogation and admitted they were tasked to attack the convoy specifically. Fortunately, German counter-intelligence failed to link this to the Enigma messages sent concerning the convoy and blamed local resistance movements. While several innocent Norwegians would doubtless be arrested or killed, the ULTRA secret would remain safe.

Lt Hansen shivered uncontrollably for nearly an hour after being hauled out of the freezing ocean. The remaining boats made good time back across the North Sea. 'Whatever was on that convoy had better be worth a whole damn lot.' he mused. With two crews missing, not to mention the wounded and dead among the other boats, this had been a painful day for the MTBs.

With all three merchants, and their cargo of heavy water for the German atomic bomb project, sunk the game was an Allied victory, even with the loss of 50% of the attacking force. Even better, all the players and myself had a blast, even if there were persistent complaints about the heaviest armaments on most of the boats not being able to fire forwards.

We used A & A Game Engineering's Action Stations rules for the game, which performed very well, giving a good feel and a briskly paced game, even with none of the players having played them before. The only major rules mistake I have since spotted was me missing a bonus to hit large vessels, but that was due to my idiocy rather than any fault of the rules or the handy QRS A & A provide. The models come from the Skytrex (now Heroic and Ros) 1/600th Coastal forces range.

Wooden Hulls, Iron Men

Somewhere in the Caribbean, 1586

This little clash was played out at the latest of our monthly wargames evenings at the office. It was a straight up fight between an English fleet and a Spanish fleet somewhere in the Caribbean. Outside of the battle, the theme of the evening seemed to be the dismasting of various models, exclusively by the Spanish players, which led to me making various remarks about the relative sailing skills of the Spanish and English admirals.

The English fleet consisted of one 'heavy' squadron with two large race built galleons (the Ark Royal and the Royal Sceptre) with two small race built galleons in attendance (the Hawk and the Viceroy) on their left flank, and two 'light' squadrons with a medium race built galleons plus two small race built galleons each. The centre squadron was led by the Revenge, escorted by the Endeavour and the Prince Hal, and the right hand squadron of the Golden Lion escorted by the Alfred and the Fortune. The English had excellent crews and squadron commanders, and in the pre-game set up the vast majority of the English vessels with variable ability crews rolled very well. The only fly in the ointment was the reduction of one of the squadron commanders (from the right hand squadron) from Brilliant to Average.

The Spanish had a larger fleet, with their most powerful squadron again on their left flank. This consisted of the flagship, Nuestra Senora de Rosario, a large galleon, with two medium galleons, the Santa Catalina and the Aguila and a small galleon, the Magdalena, as her escorts. The centre of the Spanish line was formed of the weakest squadron with a medium galleon, the Senora de Valencia, with 4 medium hulks as escorts, the Explorador, the Leon de Bronce, the Reina del Ecuador and the Princesa de Ibiza. The final squadron consisted of a large galleon, the Santa Maria, escorted by two medium galleons, the Intrepido and the Gloria. The Spaniards rolled poorly on the pre-game organising, with many of their crews dropping in morale grades. One of their admirals did at least rise from Dull to Brilliant, giving them a fighting chance of siezing the initiative from the English.

The Spanish (left) and English fleets face off as battle begins, while in the distance the mysterious Prawn Cracker cloud billows.

In the opening turns the Spanish used the following wind to sweep towards the English at speed, while the English fleet proceeded ahead and to the right. First blood went to the English as their left-most squadrons opened fire on the flagship of the right-hand Spanish squadron. Combined fire from the Royal Sceptre, Hawk and Viceroy inflicted a devastating hit on the Santa Maria, wounding the squadron commander.

Heavy English fire rips through the Santa Maria, toppling a mast and wounding the Spanish commander.

The next turns saw the Spaniards close in on the English. The Santa Maria and her squadron became intermingled with the English ships opposite them, taking more damage. The injury to the squadron commander limited the actions available to subordinate vessels as the low quality crews floundered. The central Spanish squadron managed to envelop the English squadron opposite them, managing to rake the Revenge from fore and aft. Unfortunately for the Spaniards, these were their worst vessels, and although some heavy damage was inflicted, it was not a knockout blow. English return fire was, at first, ineffectual. Finally, the most powerful Spanish squadron closed in on the Golden Lion and her escorts.

Fighting erupts down the entire line.

The next turn saw the Spanish sieze the initiative, which allowed the Nuestra Senora de Rosario and the Magdalena to board the Golden Lion. In each round of the boarding action the Spanish got the minimum roll required to win the round, grinding the English crew down. Eventually, with most of her crew killed or captured, the Golden Lion fell, demoralising her squadron and causing the Alfred and Fortune to abandon the action. Celebrations abounded among the Spanish admirals, and the English began to wonder how they could extricate themselves from their situation.

After a brutal fight, the Spanish ensign is hoisted on the Golden Lion.

The next turn, the Revenge and her escorts broke away from the central Spanish squadron, pushing to rescue the Golden Lion from the enemy. At the far end of the line, the Ark Royal and Royal Sceptre inflicted another punishing hit on the Santa Maria dismasting her, which caused her to strike her colours, putting the Spanish squadron completely out of command. As the Spanish crews were not of high quality and therefore were unlikely to take action independently, this effectively eliminated the squadron from the action. The Spaniards took this as a sign that it was time to make a hasty exit and began to break off the engagement. Unfortunately for the Spaniards, the Nuestra Senora de Rosario became fouled with the Golden Lion, leaving both vessels stuck fast as the Revenge closed in.

The Spanish flagship and her prize become fouled as the cavalry arrives for the English.

To further compound Spanish woes, two of their vessels collided and fouled, further stringing out their forces. This was followed by a devastating round of fire hitting the Senora de Valencia, killing the squadron commander and demoralising the central Spanish squadron. In the final turn of the game, the Nuestra Senora de Rosario managed to extricate herself from the Golden Lion and fled under fire from the Revenge and her squadron, while the Revenge boarded the Golden Lion whose Spanish prize crew surrendered without a fight. With kicking out time approaching, we called the game. Many of the Spanish vessels were probably far enough away from the English to escape, but the Santa Maria, dismasted and struck, would almost certainly be taken as a prize. The Nuestra Senora de Rosario was well behind the rest of the Spanish fleet, and had taken some damage which had slowed her, and two more Spanish vessels were badly fouled and unlikely to be able to separate. Depending on what the English chose to do they could probably either take the Spanish flagship or both the fouled vessels, or sink them with cannon fire.

Overall the battle was a decisive English victory, albeit a painful one for the Golden Lion's crew. The Spanish plan to withdraw while they were ahead was probably wise, but the implementation was flawed. By failing to ensure their prize could escape before withdrawing the combat vessels, the Spanish left her exposed to falling back into English hands. Furthermore, each vessel was sent away from the fight at its' best speed, which strung out the fleet, allowing the English to isolate and concentrate fire on key vessels as they moved towards the Golden Lion. In contrast, the English fleet was concentrating thoughout the game, allowing them to apply maximum pressure when it mattered.

According to the rules, given the scale of the Spanish defeat, the admiral in charge would be shot "pour encourager les autres" which left the Spanish fleet with no squadron commanders, with one being a "guest" of the English, one shot for their failure and one killed in action. It was decided that the Spanish man of the match would be the commander of the central squadron, who at least met an end worthy of a soldier.