Play-by-phone, Indian Ocean Raid
Feb 11, 2021 22:33:35 GMT
grgbobe, Theaetetus, and 2 more like this
Post by boomerbill on Feb 11, 2021 22:33:35 GMT
Firehouse and I have been playing some A&A land, sea and air games by phone.
Today, it was a slice of the Indian Ocean raid of 1942, when the IJN targetted the RN's Eastern Fleet for destruction.
I gave the IJN 12 ships, including two BBs and the Akagi and Shokaku, along with six aircraft. No subs since they were not much of a factor in the actual event.
The RN had just nine ships including the HMS Formidable and HMS Warspite. (Now that I have an HMS Hermes from Squint, I should have fielded it, but I wanted two air units for the RN.)
Because the IJN only lost a couple dozen aircraft in the actual raid, I decided to count double points for any IJN ships sunk by the Allies.
I playtested it, and the Allies came out looking pretty good, with some lucky anti-air rolls that reduced the air attacks and then sinking a brace of destroyers.
For today's game, Firehouse took the IJN.
Turn one was cautiously played, with both sides out of range except for air strikes. All aircraft were turned back by anti-air with no hits.
Turn two, the IJN battlewagons hung back out of range of the Warspite's long shot while the cruisers and destroyers jockeyed for position. A hit was scored on the HMS Formidable (and I forgot to roll to remove the damage at the turn end) and on one RAN destroyer.
Turn three, the IJN moved toward the centre of the board, as did the RN/RAN. This was a bloody turn: multiple torpedo strikes and bomb attacks sank the Formidable, the Albacore was shot down and the Martlet rolled a "1" on its attempt to make it to a land base. The northern group of the HMS Kent and two destroyers was eliminated by an IJN destroyer swarm and air power. The Warspite and its destroyer escorts were sunk and all that remained was the HMAS Australia. But, the Warspite and Australia sank the cruisers Tone and the Chikuma, while the RAN destroyers sank three of the IJN destroyers and crippled another.
The game actually ended with a tactical victory for the RN/RAN: with their "double point" advantage, they scored more than 150 points against the IJN's 138, but with the IJN battlewagons and both carriers unblemished (and there were two undamaged IJN destroyers) against the lone Australia, this was a strategic Japanese victory.
Photo of the bloody and burning tabletop.
Today, it was a slice of the Indian Ocean raid of 1942, when the IJN targetted the RN's Eastern Fleet for destruction.
I gave the IJN 12 ships, including two BBs and the Akagi and Shokaku, along with six aircraft. No subs since they were not much of a factor in the actual event.
The RN had just nine ships including the HMS Formidable and HMS Warspite. (Now that I have an HMS Hermes from Squint, I should have fielded it, but I wanted two air units for the RN.)
Because the IJN only lost a couple dozen aircraft in the actual raid, I decided to count double points for any IJN ships sunk by the Allies.
I playtested it, and the Allies came out looking pretty good, with some lucky anti-air rolls that reduced the air attacks and then sinking a brace of destroyers.
For today's game, Firehouse took the IJN.
Turn one was cautiously played, with both sides out of range except for air strikes. All aircraft were turned back by anti-air with no hits.
Turn two, the IJN battlewagons hung back out of range of the Warspite's long shot while the cruisers and destroyers jockeyed for position. A hit was scored on the HMS Formidable (and I forgot to roll to remove the damage at the turn end) and on one RAN destroyer.
Turn three, the IJN moved toward the centre of the board, as did the RN/RAN. This was a bloody turn: multiple torpedo strikes and bomb attacks sank the Formidable, the Albacore was shot down and the Martlet rolled a "1" on its attempt to make it to a land base. The northern group of the HMS Kent and two destroyers was eliminated by an IJN destroyer swarm and air power. The Warspite and its destroyer escorts were sunk and all that remained was the HMAS Australia. But, the Warspite and Australia sank the cruisers Tone and the Chikuma, while the RAN destroyers sank three of the IJN destroyers and crippled another.
The game actually ended with a tactical victory for the RN/RAN: with their "double point" advantage, they scored more than 150 points against the IJN's 138, but with the IJN battlewagons and both carriers unblemished (and there were two undamaged IJN destroyers) against the lone Australia, this was a strategic Japanese victory.
Photo of the bloody and burning tabletop.
