Convoy Action 1941 - The Final Act

We fought out the rest of the convoy action last night.  To allow Curt and Sarah the use of their dining room table, we marked the ships' positions with tape and rolled up the sea mat in the interim.  

When we rolled up the mat last week the situation was as follows. 

1. Sylvain had a Kriegsmarine raiding group of the Scheer, Lutzow and Hipper had attacked a convoy.  The raiders operated in a single group against the tail of the convoy, coincidentally attacking from downwind.  This allowed Curt to concentrate the escort and use smoke to shield the convoy, but allowed Sylvain to hit the escort hard.   The raiders were absolutely untouched but out of torpedoes.
2. Curt's convoy  of 8 merchantmenwas almost untouched but able to steam at full speed.  The  fast transport HMS Manxman was long gone on its merry way to Gib.
3. The close escort of 6 destroyers (3 H class and 3 Hunts), 2 C class AA cruisers was on its last legs.  Curt had used up all his chemical smoke and most of the ships were badly damaged.  The attack from the rear also gave them the chance for torpedo attacks, but while he placed these well and had multiple attacks they all missed. 
4. A cruiser squadron from the RN covering force (HMSs Gloucester, Ajax, Arethusa and Euryalus) had arrived on table but been hidden from German eyes by smoke until the range was very close.  Further RN reinforcements were possible.

Sylvain opted to continue to close with the convoy, giving Curt the option of backing off with the cruisers or placing themselves between hunters and prey.  Curt opted for the latter and they steamed for a close encounter of the nasty kind!  Curt focused his fire on the Scheer, while Sylvain split his between all four RN cruisers.  But initially the 11" guns of the raiders hit the light cruisers hard, while initially their heavier CA armour was proof to the 6" replies.  

Then a few key turns changed the entire battle around from a German victory to a British one.  As the range closed, the cruisers 6" guns were able to go through the Germans' armour and opportunities for torpedo attacks got better.  (One problem with attacking from astern is that your opponents fish close at 70kts and yours close at 10kts!)  The Scheer was hit several times and slowed while German fire had an off period and largely missed.  Next turn, the Scheer was torpedoed and clearly in trouble.  Curt split his fire between the two pocket battleships next turn, sinking the Scheer and badly hurting the Lutzow - knocking out both turrets and slowing her.   German fire was very effective in return leaving 3 of the 4 cruisers badly shot up and with rudder hits.

By this time, further British reinforcements had arrived in the form of 3 J class destroyers and 3 flights of Swordfish torpedo bombers.  We abstracted out the denouement.  The swordfish focused on the Hipper and the destroyers on the Lutzow.  The Swordfish attack missed and the Hipper got back to Brest undamaged, but the DDs survived close range fire to torpedo the Lutzow and leave almost dead in the water.  Sylvain opened the sea cocks before the Swordfish returned or the Warspite and Rodney showed up.

Photos are from Curt.   Again the German ships are by Sylvain and the British and merchants are mine.  

The sides close with the Scheer taking fire and on fire, but largely unhurt.  The convoy legs it at 10 kts.

Red post it notes mark torpedo spreads (a very useful game aid).  Despite them, things are still rosy for the raiders as the spread in the foreground is a dummy!

Curt launched two Walrus float planes to distract Sylvain, just before the hanger on one cruiser was wrecked!  We have the Gloucester, Ajax, Arethusa and Euryalus in line.

Scheer on fire, followed by the Lutzow and Hipper.

Torpedoes away!

Close up on the Scheer - a very nice paint job Sylvain!

Three flights of Swordfish escorted by Fulmars, all operating from HMS Eagle.  In the back ground is the Scheer, by this time the fire is the least of her problems!

Another close up of the raiders - like the glaciers you should see them before they go for ever.

All in all this was a good, challenging game.  At one point, Curt's wife Sarah wondered in and asked who was winning.  Sylvain replied that each side thought the they were losing!  For much of the game I worried that I had given Curt an assignment with no chance of victory (when I wasn't worrying that I gave Sylvain no chance) but he pulled off a major coup.  As GM I put the reinforcements on table to try and balance the situation.  In the end the Swordfish and J class in time to mop up the remnants, rather than stem the tide.

One Grain More

This is a goofy and clever video that appeals to me as someone who is both a celiac and has seen live productions of Les Miz several times and on several stages, including London's West End and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.  In fact every time I hear the people sing, I get the urge to don the red braided waistcoat, grab the flag and man the barricades. 

I should point out that several of the products they are using may be wheat free, but are not gluten free.  personally, I go for purchased GF baking mostly as it's quality has greatly improved.  Besides, the last time we tried to bake a loaf of bread we needed to buy a new bread maker after ward.  The dough rose up out of the loaf pan like the Thing looking for victims.  As for the breads and such that my mum baked when I was a kid, well I've tried in vain to suppress those memories.

Plug for Naval Warfare

One of the blogs I follow, Naval Warfare, has a post that may appeal to many of my followers - or any one interested in either warships or Victoriana.  This month's post is on HMS Black Prince (the iron clad frigate, not the Armoured Cruiser that died spectacularly at Jutland)

Ah the 1880s when ships were ships....

Photos from Naval Game Pt 1

These are courtsesy of Curt.  The ships are GHQ 1:2400, the Germans are by Sylvain.  I provided the convoy, Royal Navy and Polish ship (one Hunt class DE).  Curt supplied the table, sea mat and fire markers.

HMS Hero on fire (the markers are very effective).  

The Admiral Scheer and Lutzow 

The convoy runs, trailing black smoke while the escorts cover their tails with white chemical smoke.  The Lutzow is in the upper left and the Royal Navy cruisers are marked by the yellow triangle.  The RN cruisers are still only a blip on the Kriegsmarine's Dete sets.

The cavalry has arrived, or at least the cruisers.  We have HMSs Gloucester, Ajax, Arethusa and Euryalus from nose to tail.  Meanwhile, three escorts run for safety.

A longer range shot at the same game point.  I can't recall if that is still the Hero on fire, or another escort.

The same group of cruisers.

Sylvain's model of the Admiral Hiiper.  Very nicely done - I especially like the aircraft identification markings.

Convoy Action AAR Pt1

Well after a week's delay we went to sea and fought it out over the convoy last night.  Forces on table at the start were as follows.

Germans (Sylvain) 
Admiral Scheer and Lutzow -  CAs with 6*11" guns 26kts speed)
Admiral Hipper - CAs with 8*8" guns 32kts

Royal Navy (Curt)
Cairo and Carlisle - Anti-Aircraft CLs with 8*4" guns, 28kts speed
Manxman - Abdiel class minelayer - 6*4" guns, 36 kts, acting as fast transport.
Hasty, Hero and Hotspur - H class DDs with 4*4.7" guns, 4 torpedo tubes, 35kts
Dulverton, Beaufort and Krakowiak (Polish) - Hunt class DEs with 6*4" guns, 28kts
Convoy of 8 merchantmen 10 kts speed 

I was non-player Gm and handled the Ship forms, damage rolls, random acts of fate etc.

The initial set up was as follows.  Visibility was 20,00yds, or 1m at 1cm=200yds.  The escorts were arranged around the convoy to provide cover for air or U-boat attacks, and the convoy was steaming south at 10kts.    I gave Sylvain the option to split his force into two groups with the first group at limit of visibility at A and the second at B. I figured that he would split his force and move them as indicated by the dotted lines.  The RN had reinforcements that would arrive at some  time and I as GM would place them at X on arrival. 

To me splitting the force would force the escorts to split up and give twice as many opportunities for a break through.  Moving south and then east would head off the convoy, allow the Germans to use their entire broadsides, and clear the smoke more favourably given the wind was blowing to the northwest.

Lesson 1 - Never Assume That Your Players Will Do What You Expect Them To.

Maybe it's a Quebecois vs rest of Canada thing, but anyway Sylvain had other ideas.  He kept his ships in a single group and moved them due east.  To be fair he didn't know where the reinforcements were to arrive, nor did he know exactly where his second group would appear.  And he figured that he could take on one half the escort group while the others worked their way round the convoy.   To my mind he made his own task more difficult, but his call.

This also made my life more difficult as I had to figure out how to juggle the reinforcements given the unexpected tack taken.  I had a variable arrival time for a squadron of 4 British light cruisers (D12 < game turn number) with the arrival point at X.  There was the possibility of heavier units and an air strike for the British, and a possible air strike for the Germans.  However, the timing and appearance of anything beyond the cruisers was to be a judgement call based on how the balance was running.  

Since Curt didn't know what his reinforcements were, or where or when they would arrive I just made a quick change and when the cruisers appeared the arrival point had shifter south to Y 26,000 yds from the Hipper - outside visual range and show a "blip" on the Dete screen as shown below.

Lesson Two A Lot of Diddly Squat Still Requires a Lot of Concentration!
Curt's escort group was essentially running on charm and good looks - he didn't have a gun that could hurt the Germans outside of point blank range and only 4 of his ships had torpedoes.  However, a second player on the RN side would have helped a lot and he had a lot to juggle.

Sylvain asked on turn 1 what the standard escort tactic was, and Curt showed him a masterful display.  Place yourself between the enemy and your charges, occupy space, make your self a tough target to hit, use a lot of smoke and try for a torpedo attack.  I have to give Curt a lot of credit for enjoying a game that set him up basically as a sitting target with little chance to fight back.  But he did seem to take to the challenge.

Lesson Three - As Curt Says GQ Gives Not Just a Game But a Good Simulation
Here's short summary of events. We played 9 turns in the evening (about 3 hours of play and an hour of game time).

1. The raiders had a hard time hitting the escorts, but when they hit them they hit them hard.
2. Regardless, battered destroyers can take a lot of kicking and none of the escorts sank.  Curt had some really good damage control work and Sylvain's gunners kept hitting the same damaged weapon systems.
3. Curt managed beautiful torpedo plots, getting 6 possible chances of hits out of 4 spreads of fish.  However, his dice sucked and all of them missed!  The tail chase tactics of the raiders helped Curt here - with the Germans on a collision course with the fish.
4. HMS Manxman shifted into turbo mode and sprinted off at 36kts once she was out of sight from the raiders.
5. The Hipper did get clear of the smoke to eventually fire at the convoy.  Another lucky damage control roll saved an engineering hit that would have left one merchant DIW and DOA.
6. The smoke screens intended to cover the convoy also nicely covered the RNs cruisers and Sylvain couldn't identify the blip until they were very close.

All in all, the results seemed pretty darn realistic especially compared to what happened at the Barent's Sea.

In the end we called it a night, but not the end of the game.  We marked the ship positions on Curt's sea mat with tape and we're planning to finish it up next week.  The reinforcements cruisers are as follows
HMS Gloucester CA armour, 12*6"
HMS Ajax CL 8*6"
HMS Arethusa CL 6*6"
HMS Euryalus CL 10*5.25"
All good for 32kts.  They have the speed to keep up with the raiders, and add much needed fire power. However, River Plate showed that the raiders still have the gunnery edge and the RN needs to keep a mind of the convoy missions.   We'll  see how it plays out.

Convoy 1941 - Reboot the Mission

After a week's delay it looks like we're good to go with the WW2 naval game this week at Curt's , domestic gods and goddesses allowing. 

I was going to try and find an exact time to suit the forces at hand and had some fun researching the Kriegsmarine and Royal Navy histories using online sources.  However, in the end I gave it up as a bad job and decided that the ships on hand might not have all been in the right spot and any one given time, but that they or their sister ships could have been.  Close enough for Government Work in my eyes.  

One thing that I hadn't realized is how small the windows of opportunity for the Germans.  It seems that no sooner had they repaired a ship, then it got banged up and needed to go back in the shop again.  The Brits kept up the pressure with bombers, mines and submarines.  The Jerries did them selves in by running into each other, or running aground.  And then to cap it off, several ships got damaged in storms.  I guess there's something to be said for building ships for ocean work and keeping the crews up to snuff to handle basic navigation tasks.

To recap, here's the situation.

• It's the dark days of early 1941 when plucky Britain is fighting the Hun on its own.  Churchill sends a bunch of much needed kit (Matildas, Spitfires, troops etc) in a convoy bound for the Med.

• German forces based in Brest will try and intercept if off of Spain.  Forces can include the Scharnhorst, Hipper and Deutschland classes (except for ships already sunk).  Sorry Sylvain, no Bismarck (either working up, sinking the Hood or sunk), Tirpitz (still being completed) or Graf Zeppelin (in its permanent state of needing another 18 months to be completed).  Their Light Cruisers and destroyers are too light for long range ocean work.

• The RN has a close escort group of DDs and other escorts which are great against U Boats and planes, but lousy vs. heavy ships.

• The RN also has units of the Med (and or Home) fleets in the area.

• No U-boats are available to avoid the danger of friendly fire.  

• Land based are is unlikely but possible (long range) for both sides.  Carrier based air may be available.

• Seriously disabled ships will likely be sunk by U-boats (if RN) or air and surface forces (if KM).

Kreigsmarine Victory Condition Priorities

1. Avoid damage to the heavy ships (CAs and above).
2. Stop the convoy from getting through.
3. Sink enough RN ships to give it a bloody nose and gain bragging rights.

Royal Navy Victory Condition Priorities

1. Get the convoy through (mostly) intact.
2. Sink the KM heavy ships.
3. Avoid losses to RN ships.

To encourage aggression, if both sides achieve their #1 priority (i.e. the KM runs away) the RN wins a major victory.  Naval Armageddon leading to no ships afloat on either side leads to a draw - the Germans win short term by preventing the convoy from getting through but the Brits win long term as they can have less German surface units to worry about and can reallocate forces.

Naval Ops 1941 - Convoy Delayed

The plan had been for Sylvain and I to get our naval kit on table at Curt's this week, but this has been delayed by an outbreak of real life....

So next week at the same bat time, same bat place, same bat channel....