July 3, 201114 yr Broke out Battle Scenario 1 today - Last Ships Out of Manila, 14 March 1930. The scenario proposes that "the Japanese invasion of Luzon caught the US Asiatic Fleet off guard. With most of the ships lost and the Japanese Army ashore in north and central Luzon, it wouldn't be long before Manila fell. In the early morning hours of 14 March the remnants of the US Fleet set sail for the sothern Philippines to await the arrival of the US relief force. The convoy was intercepted by a small but powerful group of Japanese warships. The end was certain, it was only unclear whether any of the American ships would escape. Time Frame: Night (2 Hex Spotting Range) Starting Weather Condition: 1 (Clear) Japanese Forces: BC04a Kirishima CL03 Kuma CL07 Kiso CL08 Nagara CL09 Isuzu 10x Momi Class Destroyers American Forces CL09USS Richmond (record one hull hit - makes her previously damaged in battle and very fragile in this scenario) 5x Clemson Class Destroyers (Four Stackers) PG-19 USS Sacramento 2x Fast Transports Entry Points for both forces, and the exit point for the US force are rolled randomly. US enters from the South and has to exit to the Southeast...looking good. The Japanese enter from the Northeast. Initiative: Japanese have the initiative. Just Following Orders: US ships must make a beeline for their exit point. Save Yourselves!: Once a Japanses ship is spotted, the US Fleet may separate in order to escape. Once the US does this, the Japanese may also. Victory Conditions: American player win if he exits the board without suffering damage or loss OR by collecting more victory points than the Japanese player. Any other result is a Japanese victory. US tries to push forward a screening force made up of the five Clemson DD's, while the Richmond provides close escort along with the gunboat to the two transports. The Japanese Momi Class DD attempt the same screening mission with the Light Cruisers and the Battle Cruiser attempt to swing around the destroyer screen and engage the juicy transports. As it gamed out the first round saw the destroyer squadrons inflict proportional damage to each other, The US destroyers lost their guns (tertiary gun rating) while one Momi DD loses its gun, and two more are sunk. Round 2 saw four US Destroyers sunk by gunfire, while US torpedoes found targets, sinking two Japanese destroyers. USS Richmond sinks the final two Momi DD's. Round 3 culminated with the Japanese main body arriving within range. The last Clemson DD is sunk. Richmond is sunk after being engaged by two light cruisers, Isuzu and Kiso. During that engagement, Isuzu i sroughly handled losing 2/3 of its Hull Factors (one more hit and its gone). The remaining two light cruisers and the battle cruiser make short work of the transports and gunboat. Victory Points: US earn 10x 5pts (Momi DD's) + 2 hits on the Isuzu = 52pts. Japanese earn 19 pts (Richmond) 5x 8pts (Clemson DD's) = 59 pts for the win.
July 3, 201114 yr Author Some pics I found after gaming: USS Richmond: Clemson Class Destroyers (Four Stackers) PG-19 USS Sacramento IJN Battle Cruiser Kirishima: IJN Kuma Class Light Cruisers IJN Naga Class Light Cruisers IJN Momi Class Destroyers Thanks wikipedia
July 3, 201114 yr Fascinating period, fascinating series of games and fascinating programmated alternative history Thanks for sharing.
July 4, 201114 yr Round 2 saw four US Destroyers sunk by gunfire, while US torpedoes found targets, sinking two Japanese destroyers. Congrats on the torpedo kills. Tough to come by. And thanks for detailing the battle here.
July 4, 201114 yr Author broncepulido, would you perhaps have any insight to stacking on the Tactical Map? If I wanted to push out a screen of the Clemson DD's would I be required by the rules to have all five of them in one hex, since they are more than four but less than the eight in a hex limit? I believe that is the intent of the rules, but I would have liked to establish a multi-hex screen as more of a barrier to the Japanese force. As it turned out, the Japanese DD's engaged the US DD's while the heavier Japanese force slipped around that cat-fight to engage and destroy the transports and their escort.
July 4, 201114 yr Author Round 2 saw four US Destroyers sunk by gunfire, while US torpedoes found targets, sinking two Japanese destroyers. Congrats on the torpedo kills. Tough to come by. And thanks for detailing the battle here. The torpedo shots were there only choice as their tertiary guns were lost in the prvious Japanese salvo. It was nice to see. This game's combat resolution can be critically compared to Yatzee, but overall it is supposed to be a higher level command view. Definitely no rivet counting here.
July 4, 201114 yr broncepulido, would you perhaps have any insight to stacking on the Tactical Map? If I wanted to push out a screen of the Clemson DD's would I be required by the rules to have all five of them in one hex, since they are more than four but less than the eight in a hex limit? I believe that is the intent of the rules, but I would have liked to establish a multi-hex screen as more of a barrier to the Japanese force. As it turned out, the Japanese DD's engaged the US DD's while the heavier Japanese force slipped around that cat-fight to engage and destroy the transports and their escort. I only use the Avalanche Press games as inspiration and for historical research, I never detach the counters, and in particular I don't have any version of War Plan Orange, but I see that can be a common problem: Some links, reflecting the ambiguity of the issue and the Mike Bennighof motivations: http://www.avalanchepress.com/Town-Class.php (only a inspirational link) http://www.avalanchepress.com/Destroyers_preview.php Destroyers had individual counters in that edition, because I wanted the Austrian destroyer flotilla to have named ships The split between "long" and "small" counters was a function of printing costs: The games needed to come in under a production budget, and only had so many counter sheets allocated for them In game play, a "multiple ship counter" doesn't necessarily represent more than one ship, but anywhere from one to three warships (transport pieces can represent up to five in some games). If the piece does represent two or three ships (this is noted by the player on his ship data sheet), then they have to move in lockstep fashion as though they were one ship. Since destroyers and torpedo boats almost always did so in combat, it nicely enforces division discipline without a special rule. There are no special rules for the new pieces: use them just like the old ones. The difference is that they just look a lot better on your game table, particularly so in smaller battle scenarios or actions. http://www.avalanchepress.com/Destroyers_ToyStory.php No special rules are required to use these new pieces; just substitute them for the little ones that came with the game, and carry on as before. But I see some answers in: http://www.kaybee.org/~kirk/sopac/rules.html .31 Stacking Limitations[AP] Capital ships do NOT count double in the "at least 4 ships must be placed in each hex" rule. [Enhancement] For the Bomb Alley game, this section has been changed such that multiple-ship counters count as one light ship. It is up to you which version of the rules you like best. Whithout more interest: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/69951/us-n...an-black-review On the surface, ship stacking limits are 8 to a hex in this game, and this will usually be the ideal for concentrating firepower.
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