Historical Battle of Kolombangara

Battle Report, 1st Battle of Kolombangara, sodbuster playing both sides, solitaire.
Turn 1, USN moves east to prevent IJN flanking movement to that direction; USS Boise and a Fletcher Class DD lost to Long Lance Torpedoes, a Gwin type DD was crippled by gunnery. IJN lost the Yukikaze, and had the Isokaze (standing in for the Kiyonami), Hatsukaze, and Fubuki crippled by allied gunnery.

Turn 2, with initiative, USN attempts to maneuver into position to maximize gunnery while minimizing exposure to the Long Lances. Allies still lose the Phoenix and another Fletch DD to the LLs, while the Taylor and another Fletch were crippled by Jap gunnery. The IJN lost the already crippled Isokaze and Hatsukaze, both Troop DD Nagatsukis were crippled, and the Jintsu took damage from allied gunnery.

Turn 3, IJN forces the issue by moving the damaged Jintsu and an accompanying DD close to the main allied body to wipe out the last allied cruiser while the Jintsu's torpedoes were still in full effect. LLs took out the Leander, while gunnery took down the crippled Taylor and one of the Gwins. Another Fletch was also crippled. It came at the cost of the only IJN cruiser to an allied torpedo, while gunnery took down the Fubuki and crippled one of the non-troop Nagatsukis.

Turn 4, IJN continues to win initiative rolls, allowing maneuvers to maximize Long Lance effectiveness at minimum risk to the superior allied gunnery. Long lances sunk the Phelps and a Gwin, and gunnery finished off the crippled Fletch. The Japanese took no damage this turn.

Turn 5, USN uses initiative to maneuver for better position, and the more sparse IJN torpedoes do no damage. One of the Gwins took out the last non-troop Nagatsuki.

Turns 6 & 7 involved evasive maneuvers by both groups of DDs, the allies retreating Southward to remain out of range of the range (3) of the torpedoes until initiative would allow them to get into at least two-space range where they would have a better exchange position; still between troop DDs and anchorages.

Turn 8, USN gets initiative and closes to within two spaces of some of the Japanese ships. One of the Gwins was lost to a LL, and another crippled by gunnery. The allies did manage to sink one of the crippled troop Nagatsukis using gunnery attacks.

Turn 9, with initiative, IJN has a single unsuccessful torpedo attack, while the Americans are not close enough to even fire.

Turn 10, with just two crippled DDs remaining, the USN uses it's initiative to move into position to take one last crack at stopping the IJN landing force, which is now down to a crippled Nagatsuki troop DD, and 2 Harukaze troop DDs. The last Gwin was sunk by gunnery but the remaining Fletcher managed to cripple one of the Harukazes.

Turn 11, with just one crippled DD left, the Americans decide it would be suicide to take on three Jap destroyers and choose to concede the landing and attempt to flee. The crippled Fletcher couldn't get out of range fast enough, and succumbed to a Long Lance. The three remaining Tokyo Express Troop DDs limped into Vila over the next 2-5 turns, fulfilling their mission, but at great cost.

In my original "victory conditions," I wrote that the IJN would be victorious if they either 1) landed at least three troop DDs, or 2) held a 25+ point advantage in destroyed or crippled ships. The Americans were victorious if they prevented the landings OR held any advantage at all in destroyed material. Anything in between would be considered a draw.

The IJN technically won, if those rules were in effect, but I think it's obvious that even though the troop landing happened and Japan held a 114-96 advantage in destroyed/crippled ships, they could never have managed losses at that rate for any sustained period of time.

On the whole, this isn't a very exciting scenario for our game. The main tactical problem is just trying to maneuver to create an advantage for either firing torpedoes or main gunnery - a lot of times, it comes out to just being within two spaces or three. The third armor point on several of the US DDs is actually a pretty big deal in this scenario, where you're losing a point on gunnery roles to night rules. The "Destroyer Hunter" SA on the Gwins is also important. I may play this again a time or two, but like a lot of the point battles, this looks like it will probably always turn into a much bigger blood bath than (at least American) commanders would have accepted - or the actual historical event, for that matter.