Club meeting today and I participated in a naval game run by Jeremy M and others using Ship Wreck rules.
The setting was 1991 with three naval squadrons each of three ships, of the Black Sea Fleet operating on said sea area under the overall Command of an Admiral (Charlie).
Each Squadron had a Commander and two other players commanding individual ships (to simplify matters no aircraft or submarines were available)
My ship (chosen randomly) was a Sovremenny Class Guided Missile Destroyer accompanied by another Sovremenny (Ian) and with our Commander (Ross) using an upgraded but vintage Nanuchta (I think) cruiser type.
Note my knowledge of Soviet ship names/classes from period/game is ropey at best
Here is the information sheet for my craft (note showing damage and weapon system losses)
The rub for each squadron was that each ship additionally had a note to the effect that the crews loyalty was either pro-Moscow or pro-Kiev (Ukraine having just recently separated from Soviet Bloc) but no players was initially aware of where any other ships loyalties lay.
Overall scenario was that the Kuznetzov Aircraft Carrier had set sail from Sevastopol on a 'special mission' and it was then revealed via fleet wide radio transmission that the crew of the carrier had mutinied and orders were to intercept and return the vessel to Sevastopol or for those of a Muscovite proclivity to assist its escape from Black Sea via Bosphorus Straits.
Plotting board for operational area with note of my Ukrainian loyalty at top, table area was 4' x '4' (or a 'fight in a phone box' as Ross termed it).
It should be noted that the three separate squadrons were set up on separate tables initially (although all part of same 4 x 4 operational area meaning no squadron had an exact location for the others until radar detection (Passive or active including some ship-borne helicopter activity) revealed locations.
Once the location of Kuznetzov was revealed all squadrons would transfer to a single table for shenanigans to proceed in full
Once the message re the mutiny by Russian scum was revealed then searching began by each squadron and individual ships.
In our squadron I was lead ship followed by commander with Ians to rear (both he and I had scouting Ka-25 helos) but not knowing the loyalty of my squadron pals I broke formation early trying to put some nautical miles between us.
My ship leads the Squadron with helos being launched (Black chips denote radars set to passive, Red was for active), I then headed to 12 o'clock as they continued towards 2 o'clock but only for 2 turns before the big target appeared in close proximity to my 11 o'clock and all went to master table.
After a couple of turns of movement and radar detection the Kuznetzov was soon revealed to be in the company (ie it was using them as a screen) of several merchant ships or tankers from various nationalities (Turkish, Iranian, Indian and Italian).
This lead to all ships being transferred to the master table and as it turned out my ship was almost on top of the traitorous carrier !
It seemed no-one was wanting to declare their loyalty too soon (ie no shooting) but I decided to instantly raise my flag by shooting a warning shot across the bow of the carrier hoping to divert its course or stop its progress, this was of course ignored and then suddenly several ships in the vicinity launched missiles and blasted away with guns after seeing my action.
Indeed one fellow Ukrainian crew (Dave P) managed to send a missile my way (diverted by a target decoy) which thankfully missed.
The fleet Admiral sent out urgent and vehement messages (from Kiev) to all ships to stop all firing upon the carrier or indeed each other despite firing of a few salvoes of his own.
I dutifully did so only using my ordnance defensively but not so other traitorous crews and commanders with my squadron mates showing their Commie credentials by hurling waves of missiles and guns rounds at my ship.
I soon took a ton of hits despite shooting down several SSMs and lost several weapon systems before damage was enough to send my heroic crew to the depths with their ship, Slavs Ukraine !
Things then heated up for as players revealed (well mostly) their true colours with more exchanges of weaponry.
Several ships were hit with some damaged including critically whilst the Carrier and Merchants steamed south (before having to turn SSW toward straits).
Dave T (hero) did mange to impede the Kuznetzov forcing it to stop for one turn but at cost of his ship as pummeled by various traitors.
Fleet flagship (Charlie) was then set upon by his other Squadron mate (Mr B) whom he thought was Kiev friendly.
As these exchanges of fire occurred time had to be called and with Ukrainian losses (3 of 4 ?) and Carriers progress (still well short of Straits but unlikely to be thwarted) it was declared a Russian success.
Just what the rest of world would think of this was a matter of much debate.
A lot of work put into setting up and running the game (10 players involved) and was good fun with an interesting scenario and period.
Rules being new to most of us Jeremy had a lot of queries to sort but it seemed to go well overall.
I found the sorting of available weapon systems and firing arcs, ammo usage the most confusing to comprehend initially.
It is a D10 system with missiles firing first which can be intercepted or decoyed then guns/cannons open up in 6 possible sub-phases so a lot of shells can be fired depending on gun types, ranges and arcs.
Not a lot of pics as not much to see initially and busy playing.
The initial maneuvering tables the wall being North for plotting purposes
Also at club (usual proviso I know not what occurred)
A 6mm WW2 game set in Normandy 1944 with British vs Germans run by Mike and co (4 players ?) using Combat HQ rules.
A 28mm Sharps Practice game run by Jeremy D set (I think) during America Revolution (again 4 players ?)
No comments:
Post a Comment