Wargame Wednesday – SWWAS Eastern Fleet OpScen 1 – Come in, Rangoon!

HMS Warspite – Indian Ocean 1942 (wikipedia)

Situation: The time is early March, 1942 and the Japanese are sweeping through Burma. The British have ordered the evacuation of Rangoon while the Japanese are landing forces along northern Sumatra. Covering the Japanese landing is a powerful cruiser force of five cruisers and four destroyers. The Royal Navy is covering the evacuation with a single carrier (Formidable), the battleship Warspite, two cruisers, two light cruisers, and four destroyers.

Strategy: VPs are accumulated based on landing transports; so the transports are the targets.

Battle Resolution: The RN transports are located by air search the first turn and attacked the next. Lucky hits by the G4M Betty bomber results in sinking of two transports. Not an auspicious start for the allies. The RN surface force fakes north then turns to the south and dashes towards the Japanese landing beach arriving one turn ahead of the covering force. All the Japanese transports are sunk. While the RN surface force slips away the Japanese covering force is harrassed by Swordfish torpedo planes off Formidable. Surface action is avoided. The Japanese covering force starts a high-speed dash towards the Rangoon transports and easily outruns the British. While loading in Rangoon, the transports are savaged by the Japanese cruisers. Both sides retire after losing all transports.

Comments: Ugh. Not a very fun scenario. The victory conditions create an unrealistic situation. The ONLY British focus should be the evacuation of Rangoon. The Japanese need to stop the evacuation. Both transport fleets are bogged down by speed 1 escorts which slow them tremendously.

Suggested Changes: Delete the Japanese 1st Southern Expeditionary Fleet. Start the British transports in Rangoon (historically the evacuation of Rangoon started 6 March) and depart 7 March for Calcutta. The RN covering force starts anywhere north of maprow Z, the Japanese Malaya Force anywhere south of maprow AB. For Victory Conditions change to read “The Allied player receives double the usual number of VPs for transports that unload in Calcutta and the usual number of VP for transports that unload in any other allied port. The Axis player receives double the number of VPs for every transport sunk.”

Wargame Wednesday – Classic Traveller Book 5: High Guard – Raiding Isseydo

Azhanti High Lightning class by Shonner at SCIFI-MESHES

High Guard – Refuelling operations for a task force are another danger point, as forces which are low on fuel and maneuvering in a gravity well are especially vulnerable. The high guard position, so named because the ship or ships involved are higher in the gravity well than their companions, is used to mount protective operations during such maneuvers. (Mongoose Traveller Book 2: High Guard, p. 3)

“Approaching Isseydo Jump Limit,” the Navigator reported.

The Captain looked around his bridge. Battle Condition Red was set aboard Acheron High Lightning, FI-6357, an Azhanti High Lightning-class Fleet Intruder of the Imperial Navy.  As befitted the Fleet Intruder mission, ACH was raiding the small world of Isseydo, to the galactic rimward of the Vegan area. After being at war with the Solomani for 10 years, the Imperial Navy was on the offensive and, though not part of the main battle fleet, raids by the ‘Flints’ were important in keeping the Soli’s off-guard as well as useful for collecting intelligence. Acheron High Lightning had been ordered to enter the Isseydo system and raid shipping. If possible, she was also to land her Marine contingent and copy -then destroy- the starport’s data bank. Opposition was projected to be light; Isseydo had no more than a dozen of the Solomani ‘standard’ 300dton System Defense Boats (SDB). Acheron was running into the planet with a 2-g velocity; not too fast so the ship could maneuver. The Captain had decided to keep the fighters aboard for now; they would be used to cover the Marines landing and deal with shipping nearer the planet.

Sensor called out, “Detecting three targets on an intercept trajectory. Maneuvering together; likely a flight of system defense boats.”

And so the battle begins….

It was still long range, but the SDB’s had changed formation into a spread echelon, a sure sign that a missile launch was to follow. “Target lead boat,” the Captain ordered, “Fire at will.”

As missiles streaked away from the boats, Acheron fired full laser and missile salvos. The spinal Particle Accelerator – PA gun – also fired. The Captain grimaced as it missed. The laser fire from both sides was equally ineffective. It was in the exchange of nuclear missiles that damage was found. Acheron rocked slightly as it was buffeted by nearby nuclear blasts.

“Lead boast has ceased firing, assess probable mission kill based on lack of weapons,” Sensors reported. The Engineering Watch Officer was conferring with Weapons, and after a moment he turned and reported, “Spinal Mount sustained minor damage from nuclear blast. Power degraded, but still operational.” The grimace stayed on the Captain’s face.

The range between Acheron and the flight of SDBs closed. “SDBs are closing to fusion gun range,” Sensors called out. “Lead boat is dropping to reserve position.” Exactly what they needed to do if they wanted to they were going to jury-rig their weapons back on line. “Target next boat,” the Captain ordered.

The exchange of fire went as before for Acheron; the lasers flashed uselessly, the few batteries of fusion guns now able to range missed, the slightly-less-powerful spinal PA gun missed again, and the nuclear missiles struck the SDB which stopped firing. This time though, the rocking of nuclear blasts was also mixed with jarring jolts as enemy fusion guns hit home. Again, the Engineer and Weapons conferred. Weapons shook his head, then turned to report, “Spinal sustained further damage from nuclear blasts. Looks like at least one battery of missiles is also out of action.”

The Captain looked at the holobowl. Ninety minutes remained until orbital insertion. They had come too far to turn back now. “Helm, continue to orbital insertion. Weapons, I want hits! Alert the Marine commander to prepare for combat landing. Remind him we don’t want to stay long. And get the fighters ready!”

Time seemed to slow to a crawl, just like Acheron was slowing to enter orbit. Another exchange of fire, this time against the third SDB as the others moved off to effect repairs. On the visual display, the Captain could see flashes of light as the boat was peppered with lasers, fusion beams, missiles and the particle accelerator. When the massive PA hit, the SDB became a flash and then a small expanding ball of matter.

“SDB 3 vaporized!,” Sensors reported. Weapons was smiling, the PA crew finally had hit and it made a difference. At last, a break in the battle in his favor, the Captain thought. “Helm, shape us a course to get near the reserve SDBs. Weapons, fire as you please!” But even as he ordered the breakthrough attack, Acheron rocked more violently than before. Weapons and Engineer rapidly exchanged information, but the Captain could see for himself on his displays that more weapons were falling off-line. Soon enough, Weapons reported, “Damage to PA gun again. We also lost another missile battery, as well as a battery of lasers, fusion guns, and sand.” What was that old Solomani saying, the Captain thought, “Death by a thousand pin-pricks?”

Acheron flashed by the two remaining SDBs, raking the first one with fire. The particle accelerator connected again; and the SDB disappeared into an expanding ball of gas. The Captain’s grimace almost turned into a smile; that is, until Sensors called out.

“Detecting six SDB reaching for orbit from the planet. Now looks like was also have three more inbound from the outer system. Total of nine additional SDBs tracked.” The Executive Officer now stood next to the Captain and said, “Looks like they are committing everything. Going to be hard to get to the data banks.”

The Captain grunted and nodded his head. “We aren’t designed for a real combat landing. Tell the Marine commander to stand down, as well as the fighters.” Louder he called, “Helm! plot us a single orbital pass then go for the jump limit. Navigation, get that jump plotted. Weapons, as we pass the planet your target priority is merchant shipping, then the SDBs. After we was pass the planet then you need to swat those SDBs so we can jump out.” Acknowledgements came from every position.

In the next three hours, the Captain was a bit disappointed that he didn’t get to take a shot at any shipping. It looked like it had all scattered, but the system defense boats kept harassing him. He made them pay though. By the time Acheron High Lightning jumped out of the Isseydo system, two SDBs were vaporized, five completely wrecked, and another two effectively mission-killed. The spinal mount on Acheron needed some repair work, along with a few batteries and a patch here and there in the fuel tanks. As the crew stood down from Battle Stations and assumed the routine jump space watch, the Captain started composing his report to the Admiralty. Though Acheron had failed to destroy any shipping, nor grab the data bank, the defenses of Isseydo had been weakened significantly. Another raid in a few weeks, maybe by a light carrier, could clean up the shipping.

This battle was fought using the combat rules in Classic Traveller Book 5: High Guard. The ships are taken from QuikLink Interactives Traveller’s Aide #7: Fighting Ships and Traveller’s Aide #9: Fighting Ships of the Solomani Confederation. The number of defending boats was based on stats derived from the Fifth Frontier War game. I had also planned to fight a ground action but after looking at the defenses (120 battalions of troops) against the AHL reinforced company of Marines, landing only a portion of the troops in the gunboat, I elected to pass on that sub-game.

The only HG2 rules modified were I treated flights of ships as separate entities and allowed them to have different ranges. Thus, in Round 7, the planet launched SDBs engaged at short range while the boats arriving from out-system fought at long. Seems more realistic to me.

The AHL-class fleet intruder had three missions: raid shipping, seize the data bank, and weaken system defenses. The intruder started two-hours (six rounds) away from the planet. The game was originally designed for 12 rounds plus however many more over the planet were necessary for the raid. After Round 3, the AHL aborted the raid, made a (relatively) high-speed pass of the planet, and then proceeded outbound to jump. To reflect this, I shortened the game to 11 rounds total (The AHL did not fire in the last round, but jumped away).

I was pleasantly surprised to see a few tactical lessons come through here; lessons that are often discussed in Traveller supplements like Sector Fleet.. In fleet-level engagements, lasers are nearly useless as offensive weapons; better to be used as defenses. Missiles can eat away at ships but not get the “big-hit” against battle class ships. Spinal mounts are DEADLY! In ten rounds of combat, plus one breakthrough, the spinal scored seven hits (7 for 11) that resulted in five wrecked and two vaporized ships. The real damage came from the critical hits scored. The fighters were kept out of the battle because their small computers gave them a significant disadvantage when fighting the decent computer, high-agility SDBs. In hindsight the fighters should of been launched anyway to go after shipping. As it was, the SDBs kept the AHL engaged and there was only one breakthrough (Round 3). Though none of the lessons are “new,” it is good to see them actually reflected in the game results.

Wargame Wednesday – New First Interstellar War 2114-2118 (Imperium)

The war started out in 2114 with a Terran occupation of Procyon. As the Vilani have a world at Nusku, the Terrans went to the galactic east. The landings were without any opposition and administrative in nature. The 5th Rifles Division settled down for occupation duty. Then an Imperial Task Force arrived in system having used a tanker in the Sirius System to pass through that tertiary star. Later intelligence would reveal that the Imperials appealed to the Emperor for additional funding in an effort to quickly end Terra’s expansionist plans. The invading Vilani quickly destroyed the Terran fleet in system, including two valuable transports, and landed two regular troop divisions and another of Jump Troops. The 5th Rifles put up a valiant fight but was overwhelmed by the Imperial ground forces and surrendered. By the end of 2115, the situation looked bleak for the Terrans seeing as they were being hemmed in by the Vilani.

The defeat at Procyon, coupled with the presence of Vilani at Nusku, led to a unification of effort in the Terran forces. Production of Missile Boats was begun, as well as raising defensive forces. The new Terran Confederation was readying for a defensive war of the homeworlds. That is until the Imperials overstretched themselves.

Intelligence agencies disagree if it was just poor planning or hubris that led to the Imperial invasion of Midway. The planet had no Terran outpost or other forces in system. Maybe the Imperials thought they could seize a forward staging area. Regardless, the Terran Fleet put an end to those plans by pulling together a scratch force and ended the Imperial eastern invasion threat. First, they defeated the Imperial Task Force above Midway, leaving two divisions of Imperial troops stranded on the planets surface. Additionally, a Scout squadron passed through the Procyon system (bypassing a lone Imperial Transport squadron) and jumped to Sirius. There the scouts engaged the Imperial tanker squadron in the system and destroyed it before it could escape. Though a one-way mission (the scout squadron had no way to get home) by controlling the Sirius system, even for just a short time, the Terrans isolated the eastern invasion fleets. Left stranded in Procyon and beyond were two Imperial transport squadrons and three divisions of troops, including the 60th Proxima Centauri Jump Division. By the end of 2117 the transports had been run down and eliminated.

The Vilani Provincial Governor was shocked. In four years of combat on the trailing side of Terran space, the Imperials had lost 2xCL, 4xDD, 2xSC, 3xTR, a tanker, and had three divisions of troops trapped behind enemy lines. Looking over his ledger, the governor was aghast at the 27 RU of losses – as much as the province produced in two years. Production was quickly reorganized with additional transports being built and more troops raised. Acting on intelligence reports the Terrans were building new missile boat attrition units, the governor approved the Navy request to build a carrier with fighters. The Navy also adopted a forward defense posture for Nusku and the spinward side of Terra, gambling the Terrans did not have a tanker in production that would allow them passage through Sirius just yet.

Full Thrust Imperium – Battle of Procyon

FROM TERCONFLT TRAINCOM

TO ALL FLEET

SUBJ BATTLE OF PROCYON TRAINING – EXERCISE FULL THRUST

Following Battle of Procyon, all task force commanders directed to exercise simulated tactical situation in order to discern lessons learned for use in future fleet engagements.

HISTORICAL OOB: Terran Confederation Fleet (TCF) one light cruiser (CL), destroyer (DD), and two scouts (SC) vs Vilani Imperial Fleet (VIF) Task Force of two CL, four DD, and two SC. Meeting engagement.

EXERCISE SIMULATION FT120304 BEGINS

TCF Task Force deployed with CL and DD line astern; 3xSC offset to starboard; speed 4.

VIF Task Force deployed with 2xCL center, 2x SC line astern aft of CLs, 2xDD deployed left/right flanks of CLs; speed 4.

TCF and VIF advance to range of 24+. TCF CL uses Class-2 beams to hit VIF DD3. Minor damage to armor. As forces continue to close VIF CL uses SALVO MSLS to strike CL/DD group. Due to maneuvering TCF DD takes full force of two salvos. Point Defense used but unable to defeat all missiles. TCF DD DESTROYED.

Fleets continue to close. TCF CL focuses fire on VIF CL2 which is severely damaged. Due to acceleration to higher speeds VIF DDs are unable to maximum firepower to bear; launch SUBMUNITION PACKS from less-than-optimal ranges resulting in minor damage to TCF CL. TCF CL and VIF CL2 engage in close range battle with VIF CL2 DESTROYED. VIF CL1 engages TCF CL and scores major damage. TCF CL DESTROYED. TCF SCs attempt to escape but VIF SCs pursue (VIF DDs out of position to pursue). In last exchange of fire, all four SCs mutually destroy each other (2x VIF, 2x TCF SCs DESTROYED).

LOSSES: TCF CL, DD, 2xSC (equals historical); VIF CL, 2x SC (same historical number of ships but different classes).

Courtesy BGG

Comment: Battle was fought using Full Thrust Fleet Book 1 rules. Somewhere along the line I picked up a set of images for the ships in Imperium (sorry, don’t know where I got them!). The TCF CL has 3x Class-2 Beams, 2x Class-1 Beams, and a single Submunition Pack. The TCF DD has a Class-2 beam, 2x Class-1 beam, and a single submunition pack. The VIF CLs have a two-salvo, Salvo Missile Launcher and 2x Class-1 beams. The VIF DD have 2x Class-1 beams, 2x submunition packs, and the only armor of any ship. The TCF scouts have 2x Class-1 beams versus the VIF scouts with a Class-1 beam and submunition pack. In Full Thrust terms, the Vilani Fleet totaled 188 TMF and 650 NPV against a Terran Fleet of 88 TMF and 308 NPV.

The range closed too quickly for the Vilani to get both salvos off from the CLs. This hurt the Vilani since their CLs are not optimized for close-in fighting. The TCF CL was able to dish out more damage thanks to Class-2 beams and its lone submunition pack. Unfortunately, it could not deal damage out fast enough against two opponents and was destroyed, but only after taking one VIF CL out first. The four VIF DD with their submunition packs succeeded where the VIF CL up close could not. The TCF scouts made a slashing attack that added  damage to the second VIF CL but little else.

 

 

Wargame Wednesday – Imperium Take Two

In preparation for my Second Interstellar War using GDW’s Imperium, I was doing my customary rules review when I noticed a few rule nuances concerning Maintenance, Planetary Defensive Fire, and Surface Combat that I missed in my first go-around last year. The rules are important enough that I decided not to go to the Second Interstellar War but restart from the beginning.

Maintenance

This time I really paid attention to the Economic Rules, given my somewhat recent attention to the IMTU Arden background I am developing. Specifically, I was trying to see what lessons/inspiration I could draw from the RU (Resource Unit) approach to economics that is used here in Imperium as latter in T5. The budget system in Imperium with RUs is different than Traveller Adventure 5: Trillion Credit Squadron and Power Projection: Fleet which uses Credits as their currency.

I discovered I played Maintenance totally wrong. Maintenance represents “expenditures…necessary on a recurring basis to ensure that ships remain functional and in fighting trim” (Rule Book, 12). Basically, Maintenance is paid by turn (each turn representing two years) in one of two ways:

• Civilized Maintenance is paid if a ship is in a primary system with a friendly world marker; the player expends RUs equal to the maintenance number for the ship
• Frontier Maintenance applies in all other situations; the player rolls 1d6 and must be equal to or higher than the maintenance number to be successful – unless there is no friendly outpost present in which case a +1 modifier is added to the die roll; missing the maintenance roll results in a disrupted ship.

Players really want to avoid disrupted ships. A disrupted ship must roll its maintenance number or higher to move and it subtracts one from any attack die rolls or when defending against planetary defenses. To become undisrupted, at a friendly world the players pays RUs equal to the maintenance number plus 1 or in all other conditions the player must roll higher than the maintenance number.

Maintenance has a tremendous impact on fleet budgets and deployments. If a player keeps all his ships in a primary system world, he pays directly from his budget for maintenance. Far better to keep your ships at outposts and pay nothing, right? The catch here is that ships using Frontier Maintenance have a better chance of breaking down .

Take for instance the lowly Scout. With a maintenance number of 1, it is always ready if at a friendly outpost and even if in unfriendly space it only has a 1 in 6 chance of disruption. A Heavy Cruiser (CR) with a maintenance number of 4 has a 50% chance (3 in 6) of being ready if at a friendly outpost, but only a 1 in 3 chance if in unfriendly space. The worst is the Dreadnought (Imperial B1/Terran B) with a maintenance number of 6! If at a friendly outpost there is only a 1 in 6 chance to avoid disruption, and if in unfriendly space there is no way at all to avoid being disrupted. Remember that to undisrupt a Dreadnought it will take 7 RU at a friendly world; there is no way to undisrupt it elsewhere since you have to roll higher than the maintenance number of 6 – impossible on 1d6. If you really need this ship, better to station it at a Primary System World, but that means paying 6 RU per turn (Civilized Maintenance) to have it standing by.

So the player has to chose between having ships at the ready, but paying directly from the budget, or paying less maintenance but risking disrupted ships. The practical impact is that larger ships will tend to be based at at primary worlds to be “at the ready” whereas smaller ships will depend on Frontier Maintenance at friendly outposts.

HALO ODST Drop Pod (Megabloks)

Planetary Defensive Fire

I totally missed the difference between Jump Troops and Regular Troops when it comes to Planetary Defensive Fire (Rule Book, 8). Since a Jump Troop can be inserted from space, the Jump Troop is subject to planetary defensive fire but the transport is not! The obvious impact is that the useful Transport can be protected.

Surface Combat

Two aspects of Surface Combat (Rule Book, 8-9) also caught my eye. First, I totally missed that starships can participate in Surface Combat! This is because when terminating space combat (Rule Book, 7) there are some ships that could be left behind:

“Ships which cannot perform hyperspace jumps (monitors, fighters, reaction forces which have already jumped three times, and disrupted starships unable to make the required die roll) are left behind to carry on the battle alone.”

The attacker then gets to conduct Planetary Bombardment using World, Outpost, and Planetary Defense markers for Planetary Defensive Fire. This is followed by Surface Combat.

I guess I got caught up in thinking of Surface Combat as just that; troops versus troops. But in reality it goes beyond that simple view. As stated in the rules, “If the defender has fewer troops than the attacker, the defender must now move forward non-troop counters (planetary defense markers, ship counters, and lastly world or outpost markers), each to be matched by an attacking troop counter.” There is an implied priority here; first used to defend are planetary defense markers or ships (monitors, fighters, and disrupted ships) and secondly outpost or world markers. The rules even specify that planetary defenses defend at a factor of 2 but all others (including starships) defend with a factor of 1.

The second nuance I missed is Defensive Fire (Rule Book, 9). Given that Jump Troops are “lightly equipped,” they are at a disadvantage against Regular Troops which include heavy artillery (Rule Book, 11). Regular Troops get a defensive firing that could destroy the Jump Troop before it even gets a chance to fight! Really makes for an interesting budget and strategy decision; pay 3 RU for Regular Troops (1-4 combat factors and Transport risked) or 2 RU for Jump Troops (4-6 combat factors but less risk to transport yet vulnerable to defensive fire).

Conclusions

Every time I play Imperium I get a greater appreciation of the depth of economics as well as strategy and tactics that are in this seemingly simple game. Simple it that the rules are really uncomplicated (I just have to read them better) but represent a very complex set of interactions making for a fun and thoughtful gaming experience.

“The Traveller game in all forms is owned by Far Future Enterprises. Copyright 1977 – 2012 Far Future
Enterprises.”

Newsflash Earth (Imperium)

Earth, 2114

Forces of the Terran Navy have moved in force to occupy Agidda and Procyon. Confederation Navy spokesmen talk about preemptive moves to forestall Imperial aggression.

Procyon, 2115

Refugees from Procyon tell of a terrible campaign and defeat. Imperial forces invaded the Procyon system and defeated a Terran Confederation task force. Losses are said to include a light cruiser, destroyer, several scouts and transports. The Procyon outpost and 5th Rifles Division were also defeated. Inside the Navy, anonymous sources are calling the strategic situation “grave.”

RPG Thursday – Trade in Mongoose Traveller

Courtesy Toucan Virtual Museum

As much as I have played Classic Traveller and now Mongoose Traveller over the years I have never really tried the trade rules. So today I changed that. Looking at the online forums, there are many voices in the internet wilderness that proclaim the trade rules are broken. The rules are a bit clunky but with the help of a simple spreadsheet it actually makes the accounting easy. For my sample, I created a random map using SignalGK and had a Far Trader (Pocket Rulebook p. 117-118) commanded by the sample character, Jamison who is found on page 40 of the core rulebook. I also made the assumption that Jamison and his crew had pooled their money for initial start-up costs (unlimited bank account).

Looking over the subsector, I started out at what was the obvious capital. Leaving from this A-Starport, Low Population, Non-Industrial but High Tech world Jamison and his crew took on a cargo of Machine Parts, Manufactured Goods, and Textiles. The destination world was a A-Starport, Non-Agricultural, Non-Industrial, Vacuum world.  After all the trading was done, Jamison looked at a profit on only Cr158,200; barely half of his ship’s mortgage payment alone. Worried already about meeting his financial obligations, Jamison worked harder to find a broker and get a more profitable cargo for his next run.

Working his way down a Jump-1 line, the next world was a B-Starport, Low Population, Non-Industrial planet. Fortunately for Jamison, there was a load of Biochemicals needing to be shipped.  Buying low (85% of value) and selling very high (175% of value) netted a profit for this run of Cr1,840,000. After paying the monthly dues, Jamison’s net profit for the month was a very healthy Cr1,702,210.

Feeling like he was getting the hang of things, Jamison decided to take a bit of a risk and chose a C-Starport, Low Population, Non-Industrial world as his next port. Apparently, there was some sort of a medical crisis at hand because there were 30 tons of medical supplies needing to be shipped. The medicine and textiles brought in Cr546,000 for the trip.

Jamison now had a choice to make. He was at the end of a communications route and could go back the way he came. So far, all his trips had been Jump-1 travel. Jamison resolved to take advantage of his Jump-2 Far Trader and so he left the communications route and struck out for a B-Starport, Asteroid, High Tech, Industrial, Non-Agricultural, Vacuum world. Gambling, he took on a cargo of Raw Materials and Radioactives. Amazingly, he was able to turn a hefty profit on the Radioactives. He also took on a full load of High Passage passengers. Total profit for his gamble – Cr1,932,000. This brought his second months profit to Cr2,182,010.

In two months Jamison and his crew made a total of Cr3,884,221. Assuming Jamison splits the profits into 19 shares, his crew would get the following:

• Captain (Jamison) – 6 Shares or Cr1,226,596
• Navigator – 5 Shares or Cr1,022,163
• Engineer – 4 Shares or Cr817,730
• Steward and Gunner – 2 Shares each or Cr408,865

At this point, even the Gunner and Steward could retire to a very comfortable life. They could live a Luxuriously Rich life for almost 2-years, or have a High standard of living for the next 20 years.

So, do I think the trade rules are broken? Well, after two months Jamison has certainly made a hefty profit. Looking back, I probably should have limited the start-up costs to something like Cr250,000. This would have limited Jamison and not allowed him to buy the large Biochemical shipment or the Medical Supplies or Radioactives that made the greatest profit. I think Jamison would have eventually got to this level, but not as fast.

All told, a very interesting experiment!

Session Report – GWAS Pacific Crossroads 25 Jun 2011

Operational Situation

US convoys enroute to Guam are being escorted by two battleships. The Japanese fleet leaves Saipan and Truk simultaneously while US battle cruisers from Guam race to support. In the early afternoon of the second day, the two fleets come together. For the Japanese they must sink the valuable American merchants; the Americans realize the best chance they have is to engage the Japanese quickly and keep them at bay while the merchants run for safety.

Note – The GWAS Dreadnoughts tactical rules were used for the following battle.

SPECIAL TO NY TIMES FROM REPORTER X

DATELINE: April 2, 1919, Somewhere in the Mid-Pacific, Aboard USS Alaska, Flagship Navy Escort Force

The day began clear and the ship’s captain at breakfast told us that he expected the day to remain the same. Late last night we rendezvoused with a large convoy of ships carrying vital cargo to our troops in the Philippines. The Captain warned us to keep our combat gear close as he was in wireless contact with our battle cruisers which should join us later in the day. This was important since we had also received reports from other neutral ships that the Japanese fleet was on the move.

At around 10am two ships hove into sight. After a few tense minutes signals were exchanged revealing the battle cruisers Intrepid and Bonhomme Richard. The also brought news that the Japanese fleet was just over the horizon. No sooner had the battle cruisers falling into formation then masts were sighted coming up over the horizon.

Turn 1 – The American fleet is in line astern with scout cruisers Manila, Davao, and Cebu in the lead followed by battle cruisers Intrepid and Bonhomme Richard. Astern of battle cruisers are battleships Alaska and Hawai’i along with the old armored cruiser Seattle. To starboard of the main battle line are four divisions of destroyers; to port are the gunboats Galveston and Tacoma with colliers Neptune and Orion followed by the fast transports and slow transports.

The Japanese fleet is to the south. The main battle line is lead by the battle cruisers Hiei, Haruna, Kirishima and Yoshun followed astern by the light cruisers Chikuma, Yahagi, and Hirado. To the starboard side are the gunboats Yodo and Mogami.

The scout and battle cruisers as well as our destroyers dashed ahead and met the enemy head-on. Meanwhile, the slower battleships moved to support while the valuable merchants turned south to avoid becoming entangled in the battle. Our gallant destroyers certainly earned their keep this day; we could see the plumes from torpedo strikes against the enemy hulls. Immediately, one ship stopped dead in the water and another quickly plunged beneath the waves. We listened in awe to reports of small Japanese gunboats running right up our ships and fearlessly firing torpedoes. Fortunately they all missed.

Turn 2 – The US destroyers lead the charge and pass down the port-to-port down the Japanese battle line. The first and second division fire torpedoes from around 4000 yards and score several hits on the lead Japanese battle cruisers. Hiei in the van goes DIW while the next in line, Haruna, suffers a catastrophic hit and rapidly disappears beneath the waves. The US battle cruisers are unable to fire since the scout cruisers are blocking their line of sight. The Japanese battle cruisers try vainly to swat away the smaller destroyers but only succeed in sinking a lone ship. Meanwhile, the two fearless Japanese gunboats pass starboard-to-starboard down the US battle line miraculously avoiding getting hit and loosen their torpedoes against the battle cruisers. All the torpedoes, fired from hull mounts, miss.

We stood in awe on the bridge wing and watched the seemingly fearless Japanese press on with their attack. They too turned to the south and our battle cruisers followed. We also watched the two Japanese gunboats continue right past us and drive on towards our nearly defenseless merchantmen. I could hear the wireless calling out for the scout cruisers to turn and go to defend the merchants. We took some shots at the Japanese gunboats as they passed us but the little ships proved to be too hard to hit. Fortunately, our own gunboats engaged the oncoming Japanese ships and one quickly went under in a hail of small shells. Meanwhile, our battle cruisers continued to duke it out with the two remaining Japanese battle cruisers. Our fire must have been good since we saw a fire erupt on the new Japanese leader. Our little destroyers scored yet another victory by sinking the hapless Japanese battle cruiser that had first been halted by our gallant torpedomen.

Turn 3 – The American third and fourth destroyer divisions finish off the stationary Haruna. Yoshun is hit and a fire started. Intrepid suffers damage to her tertiary battery but no other damage. Yodo and Mogami motor past the American battle line and make haste towards the merchants but fire from Galveston and Tacoma sinks Yodo.

After seeing the punishment taken, we were amazed when the Japanese fleet refused to turn away. Obviously sensing that the real prize were the merchant loaded with men and equipment, the Japanese commander moved to close the distance with the vulnerable tubs. Fortunately for the merchant seamen, Alaska and Hawai’i stood in the way!

Turn 4 – Gunboat Mogami gets in amongst the convoy but her gunnery proves poor as she is unable to sink any ships. Galveston and Tacoma try to get close to sink her while the scout cruisers continue to race back from the main battle line to lend support. The scout cruisers are still unable to engage due to the short range of their tertiary battery. Meanwhile, the two remaining Japanese battle cruisers, Yoshun and Teibo, try to slip past the American battle line but the two American battleships and two battle cruisers steam an mere 4000yds to the port side and exchange fire. Unbeknownst to the Americans, a fire aboard Yoshun threatens her magazines and her captain is forced to flood his magazines effectively rendering his ship impotent and unable to fire. Seeing the hopeless situation, and noting his light cruisers are still unengaged, he orders a turn to the south in order to disengage.

At only a few thousand yards we watched our shells slam into the enemy ship. Obviously having enough and realizing the futility of continuing against four American dreadnoughts, the Japanese captain turned away. Once we were sure the enemy light cruisers were not going to make a final charge, we also turned towards our merchant convoy to dispatch the last pesky Japanese gunboat that was racing amongst our vital ships. What a glorious day for the US Navy! The Japanese fleet has two less battle cruisers and most assuredly a new appreciation for American firepower!

Turn 5 – The two remaining Japanese battle cruisers turn away with the American ships taking a few parting shots but scoring no hits of significance. The American commander declines to pursue, noting the Japanese light cruisers with their torpedoes coming up and feeling the pressure to protect the convoy. The American scout cruisers with the assistance of the gunboats dispatch the lone Japanese gunboat after a melee amongst the merchants.

Post Battle Analysis

The American attack with the destroyers was far more effective than it should have been. In the first attack, three of 12 factors struck (25%) which is far above historic expected rates. In part this was because so many extra factors were used given the Dreadnoughts tactical rules being played. The American commander initially used the scout cruisers incorrectly; given the lack of firepower (tertiary batteries only) he should of held the scout cruisers back to protect the merchantmen. It was really only poor shooting on the part of the gunboat Mogami that saved the merchants as the Japanese wolf raced through the merchant columns. It is also interesting to note that Yoshun was rendered combat ineffective by fires and not hits by the enemy; she lost her ammunition before all her primary guns were destroyed but still had five of eight hull left (though she also suffered flooding). If the slug fest had continued for another turn, it is likely Yoshun would have been sunk. As it was, the special rule Better Part of Valor saved that ship.

Wargaming 21 Jun 2011: Pacific Crossroads Part I

Courtesy BGG

Set up on the table today is Avalanche Press Great War at Sea Pacific Crossroads.

Setting up for Operational Scenario One: To Guam and Beyond (April 1919). The situation is laid out in the Developer’s Preview:

The Mariana and Caroline Islands lay across the sea route from Hawai’i to the Philippines; any American attempt to relieve its Far Eastern colony would have to pass near these islands. The American War Plan Orange did not envision reducing the Japanese bases along the way: once the fleet had passed on its way to the Philippines, follow-up convoys would still be at risk from the Japanese bases in the former German colonies of the Central Pacific.

The American fleet must move a convoy of 12 fast transports and 15 slow transports from the eastern edge of the map to either Guam or off the west edge (convoy en route to the Philippines). The convoy is escorted by an old armored cruiser and two gunboats with two slow battleships as a far escort. At Guam in support there are two battle cruisers and three scout cruisers along with 12 destroyers. To oppose the passage the Japanese have two battle cruisers at Saipan and a more sizable fleet of two battle cruisers and three light cruisers at Truk. The American convoys literally have to pass through the middle of the Japanese fleet to achieve their objective.

As the Developer’s Commentary in the Preview notes:

The American transports don’t have the fuel capacity to make it all the way from Hawaii to Guam, and the one collier that Mike had assigned to the American convoy couldn’t refuel a whole convoy that size by itself. So I went with the aforementioned idea that the Americans had constructed a coaling station on Wake Island in anticipation of war with Japan. That would get the convoy onto the map with just two fuel boxes expended, and the remaining fuel aboard the small transports would get them to Guam but not to Philippines (any ship needs three fuel boxes to get there from Guam). Then I went with victory conditions that reward the Americans for unloading transports at Guam but reward them better for getting transports off the west edge that have at least three fuel boxes remaining. This adds an extra level of strategy to the scenario since the Americans will have to refuel their transports either at Guam or by collier if they wish to get any transports off the west edge. To help with that, I added AX11 Orion at Guam and let her have a supply mission if the American player wishes.

Of particular interest is the mix of ships used in Pacific Crossroads. The two US battleships in this scenario, Alaska and Hawaii, are actually the Argentine dreadnoughts Rivadavia and Moreno. As related in Ships of Pacific Crossroads:

American naval officers studied the ships, built in private American yards, and made plans to take them over in case they were seized for American wartime use or if Argentina defaulted on payments and the U.S. Navy was forced to purchase them to bail out the builders. . . .The names are purely speculative; if purchased/seized they would have taken the next names in the “state” sequence, probably Idaho and Mississippi, but using those (or any other “state” names) would have been very confusing for players.

The two American battlecruisers are based on the (never built) 1910 battle cruiser:

There are also two battle cruisers present, the 1910 design. . . .These carry the names of two famous American warships, Intrepid and Bonhomme Richard. They’re fast and much better-protected than the battle cruisers of other nations, but at the cost of firepower (similar to the trade-off made by German designers, and in contrast to British and Japanese thinking). . . .There’s one older armored cruiser present: Seattle was a mainstay of the U.S. Pacific Fleet for decades. There are also three new scout cruisers, examples of the 1910 scout cruiser designed alongside the 1910 battle cruiser. This ship never made it to the keel-laying stage, despite the Navy’s desperate need for new cruisers. The three examples provided in the game all bear the names of cities in the Philippines.

The Japanese also get some speculative units:

American intelligence analysts insisted that Britain had agreed to transfer eight capital ships to the Japanese at the war’s end in return for Japanese support during the war. This does not seem to have been actually contemplated, but if the Americans had gone to war in 1919 they would have expected to encounter former British warships flying the Rising Sun. And so the game includes two Inflexible-class ships in Japanese colors. . . .There are but three cruisers, those of the Chikuma class, based closely on the British Dartmouth. None of them survived into the Second World War, but they were the backbone of the modern Japanese cruiser force in the years just after the First World War.

Savage Aeronef – Dawn Patrol

My first Aeronef battle featuring the Savage Worlds character of ‘Ace’ Woodley….

Dawn Patrol

Flight Lieutenant James ‘Ace” Woodley entered the bridge just as the phone-talker repeated the look-out’s call.

“Four Aerostats. Bearing 000 relative. Range maybe 15,000 meters. Constant bearing, decreasing range!”

Ace spoke up, “Could be that German aerostat flotilla that was poking around last week. Four Heildelberg-class if I remember correctly.”

[Heildelberg/Class 5(DM)/Hull 3/Gun 1/Bomb 3/Speed 12/Turn 3]

The First Lieutenant, Mr. Card, spoke in a dismissive tone, “The Germans use the Heildelbergs as reconnaissance ‘stats. They are gunboats like us but with smaller hulls and only half the weight of fire. We are faster by a factor of half. Even though they outnumber us four to three we outgun them three to two. Should be no problem.”

[Achilles/Class 5(M)/Hull 4/Gun 2/Bomb 0/Speed 18/Turn 4]

“Ever the statistician, Mr. Card,” said the Captain. “Mr. Woodley, it seems your gunners will get some practice today,” the last comment was direct to Ace.

“That would be a first,” came the taunt from Lieutenant Card. Ace looked the First Lieutenant with a slightly bemused expression. He really wanted to strangle the pompous fool but knew that would be bad manners in front of the Captain. Instead he replied to the Captain, “My gunners will do their duty, sir.” Ace turned to leave the bridge.

“Speaking of duty,” Card said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, “Your white scarf may have been acceptable in the Aeroplane Corps but I remind you that you are now a ‘Nef officer. In the future, I am sure you will dress for duty in an appropriate manner, yes Flight Lieutenant Woodley?”

Ace’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Card. Noticing the Captain looking his direction, he threw a sharp salute to the Old Man and dismissed himself with a “By your leave, sir!” As he exited the bridge, Ace was sure Card was smiling at his ability to needle the younger officer.

As the Assistant Gunnery Officer, Ace’s battlestation was in the gunnery plotting room. As he entered, another Lieutenant, Wilson, looked up from the plotting table. “This constant bearing is playing havoc with the plot! Getting a range is really hard!”

“I expect the Captain to turn soon. He has to in order to bring the guns to bear,” Ace spoke. No sooner had he spoken than Ace felt the ship bank into a port turn. To Ace, a former aeroplane pilot, banking into a turn felt natural. To many an Aeronef officer who had come from the wet navy and expected a ship to heel over, the maneuver felt foreign.

Wilson was listening intently to the soundphones over his ears. “Looks like Odysseus is staying astern of us as we swing north, but Theseus is still going due east. Captain isn’t too happy.”

Ace grunted. The Old Man was the Senior Captain of this small squadron, not enough to rank being called Commodore but still, he was in charge….

The call from the bridge came over the ship-wide speakers, “Starboard gunners, stand by!” Ace quickly plugged his soundphones into the speakerbox. The starboard guns were his. The phones were silent except for the occasional order from the Leading Petty Officer in each casement.

“Hey boys,” Ace called out, “we ready for some fun?” The cheers he got back brought a smile to his face and a grimace to Wilson’s. Being a former pilot meant Ace was a lot friendlier with the enlisted men. He may be popular with his men, but many of his fellow ‘nef officers frowned upon his actions. None so more than First Lieutenant Card.

“Range 8,000 meters!” Wilson announced.

“Open fire!” The order came from the bridge. Quickly Achilles started spitting out fire from its light, quick-fire guns. By order of the Captain, Ace relayed to his gunners to concentrate on the lead ship. As the two squadrons approached one another, the Germans had shifted to a line abreast formation. The lead ship was actually the second ship from the right.

Ace could hear the cheers from the gunners as solid hits were scored. With all three ships concentrating their fire, it was a short few minutes before the first enemy aerostat plunged to the sea a burning wreck.

The first 10 minutes of the battle and the downing of the enemy aerostat was certainly joyous, but the next 15 minutes were full of frustration for Ace and his gunners. The remaining three aerostats split into two groups, two swinging to the north and one going to the south. Achilles and Odysseus swung behind then alongside the lone southern aerostat and raked its hull several times but it refused to go down. Meanwhile, Theseus took on the two other aerostats by herself. Not long after, Theseus was visibly trailing smoke and slowing down.

“Mr. Woodley!” Ace had not noticed the arrival of the First Lieutenant in his spaces. “The Captain is most disappointed in your gun crews. Because they seem unable to finish this lone aerostat, you are to cease fire while we move to protect Theseus. If it were up to me, I would throw you and the lot at the enemy because even that has a better chance of hitting them than your guns apparently do!”

Ace passed the orders to his gunners and wiped the sweat from his brow. He didn’t even look at Lieutenant Card who glared at Ace for a short time then left for the bridge. It took only a few minutes for Achilles and Odysseus to near Theseus, given how damaged that ship was already. Seeing the British squadron together once again, the German aerostats turned to the east and retreated. At least two of the three were trailing a good deal of smoke.

The loundpeaker boomed, “Mr. Woodley to the bridge!” Wilson looked at Ace and shook his head.

As Ace moved to the bridge he realized that Achilles had not been unhurt in the battle. The damage was noticeable as he entered the bridge. The Captain sat in his chair with his head wrapped in a bandage. Lieutenant Card was pacing the bridge like a tempest.

“Mr. Woodley,” the Lieutenant practically spat out the name, “your extremely poor performance today is a disgrace to the service! I should have you cashiered out for such a poor showing!”

The adrenalin was still coursing through Ace’s veins and this was one fight he was not ready to back away from. “My gunners did as well as could be expected under the circumstances! We need good stable optics to take ranges and a faster way of making calculations so the gun crews can do the real dirty work!”

Card shot back. “So we all need one of those new Babbage machines, yes? To hear that from you of all people; yourself that abhores technology. Well, I don’t need a difference engine to tell me this; the German ‘stats got five good sets of hits on the squadron. One against Achilles, and two against Odysseus and Theseus each. The look-outs tell me that at best we got eight hits on the Germans. Three took down the leader but we only got one hit in the second and maybe two hits each on the other two. That is unacceptable, Mr. Woodley! We outgunned them three to two! We should have at least downed a second aerostat! Your incompetent gunnery crews will force us to land this ‘nef for repairs. Time wasted, Mr. Woodley, time wasted!”

The two men glared at each other. Card glanced down at Ace’s belt and smiled. “Fingering your dead uncles Radium Gun, eh? Admiralty regulations on mutiny are quite clear. Just what are you thinking, Flight Lieutenant Woodley?”

Ace took a deep breathe and slowly moved his hand away from his holster. Someday, Card would pay. Someday, but not today.