Romanian MTB Viforul *Done*

Your version is fine; its just the original to me gives a little distinction between AUX's and PT's,
  both definitely had their own uses.

 Yea Tulagi comes to mind you can add some Sea Basing to that;;

  Don't know what took so long but i finally read Neptune's Inferno love that era of the Pacific;
Showed how poor USN Admiral's really understood Night Fighting and how to use their Tech advantage;
 was surprised to see how much lead and fast something like the Helena could throw out.

Im sure you read it, but if not good book

Yes weeds to Neptune's Inferno.

I like the version that can't be attacked unless it attacks first. It works like the Atlantis trap then. Gives the MTB some real survivability as well, but it is initiative dependent. You could add can't be attacked during the surface attack phase so it is still super vulnerable to air attack though.

OK, so what about the following:

---------------------------------------
Viforul Class MTB
Ship - Torpedo Boat
Year: 1940
Cost: 6
Speed: 3
MG: 1/1
AA: 2
ASW: 3
TT: 3/2/1
A/VA/HP: 1/2/1

NO SEA CONTROL: This unit can't claim objectives.
SHALLOW DRAFT: This unit can enter sectors that contain islands or shoals.
HIGH-SPEED EVASION: Whenever this unit is attacked by an enemy Ship, roll a die. On a 5 or higher, this unit takes no damage from that attack.
MTB MUFFLERS: Once per game, if it's turn 4 or later, this unit may reroll any one attack.
----------------------------------------------

My thought process was that giving it MTB Mufflers is almost like giving it Night Fighter, with the exception of not just limiting it to a Gunnery attack. By default the primary attacks of this unit (ASW/TT) are already unaffected by darkness, so giving it Night Fighter seemed pointless. The MTB would also still be affected by Darkness for AA, which is as it should be (historically and game balance).

I kept it at 6, as I didn't think the OPG SA would amount to a full point increase in the unit (it has the same stat lines as a Vospers MTB currently).

Thoughts?

I would suggest calling it "Muffle Engines" just so it is more universal for possible future use. Otherwise, it seems okay to me. I wouldn't mind adding "or in Darkness" since there is no way to officially clarify it later.

MTB's suffer the "glass cannon" effect for costing IMO. Used correctly they can be very effective. I think this should have the same cost as the Brit Vosper. It may be a point overcost, but it is pretty hard to tell at this level. If we add the Darkness clause that helps its value a bit as well.

Odds that it survives 4 turns are low

K, so what version should we playtest?

I playtested this last night with a mixed 200 point Romanian/German fleet against the Russians. We played on Map 1 of the 2010 rule book and it was daytime.

The Russians had some limited air, but the Germans took a GrafZ with 2 BF-109s to fly cover for the Romanian MTBs. This actually worked out well enabling the MTBs to get to the center islands and deny the Russians the ability to take the top and middle objectives. As Long as the MTBs were in the Islands the only thing to fear were other MTBs (which Russia didn't take) and Aircraft which the 2 BF-109s were able to cover against. It is important to note that the Russians did manage to take out 2 over the course of 3 turns.

In turn 4, the Germans were swarming the Top/Middle objective and the remaining 2 MTBs came out to play. They let loose with the torps, and both MTBs had 0 hits, but with the reroll they combined to have a total of three hits causing 6 points of damage. This sank a Cruiser and crippled another. Without the reroll, they would have been a complete waste of points (with the exception of affected the Russian tactics). Because they came out to play, they did not survive the turn. However they fully served their purpose. I could have had them continue to safely contest, but needed to bring them out to ensure that I could take one of the objectives.

MTB's are very situational and their use is greatly dependent on the map. The ability to grant a unit throwing three torpedo dice a reroll, is pretty powerful, which is why it's a OPG SA, though as pointed out against an air build or without islands keeping them alive will be difficult. But that goes for any MTB.

As it is, I think the point cost is fine, I saw the complaint about calling the SA Muffled... but giving it any more 'stealth' makes these units even harder to destroy.

I think the unit is actually pretty balanced with other MTB's at 6 points.


EDIT: By the way, the Germans won the game.