PT Boats in the Black Sea

    A convoy of 1/300 scale coastal vessels attempts to evade an ambush in the Black Sea during WW II

One of the advantages of having a friend like Keith (here's the link to his blog), who owns figures for virtually every period of warfare, is that you get to PLAY games from virtually every period of warfare! This past Sunday was a perfect example. In all my years of gaming, I don't believe I have ever gamed WW II PT boat actions. Yet there we were, playing out an engagement between Italian, Romanian, and other naval forces as one side was escorting a convoy that the other wanted to sink.

    Keith taught us a new set of rules for small scale coastal actions called, 'Hunters on the Shoreline'

Keith was using a set of free rules he'd downloaded from the internet, Hunters on the Shoreline. They bill themselves as "Fast Rules for 1/600 WW II Coastal Miniatures." Keith's miniatures were 1/300, but I can't imagine that really affected anything. Just bigger and easier-to-see ship models. We had six players, and each of us was given a small force of three ships or so. Mine were two F Lighters -- big (for this type of action) armored ships with a 3" gun and some smaller caliber weapons. Most ships simply had what was called an Autofire Factor to account for their 20mm guns or whatever. My third ship was a heavily-armed Romanian torpedo boat. Our side also had three freighters we were escorting.

    Two of Jenny's torpedo boats veer off to meet the attack of Allen's ambushing flotilla at the top

The enemy decided to spring their ambush early. Allen's four torpedo boats roared out to attack the escorts between him and the freighters. Spotting is a crucial factor in this game, with size, speed, and distance all making it more difficult to see an enemy at night (when most of these types of battles took place). We had two turns of taking this into account before Keith's bigger ship fired off a starshell which illuminated the entire battlefield. 

    Three dark gray freighters surrounded by the defending escort vessels attempt to make it through

Allen's early attack meant he was potentially facing at least half our fleet while his two cohorts were far away, out of range to assist him. True to form, Allen's dice were hot, though. He knocked out the steering of two of Jenny's torpedo boats forcing them to slow to a crawl to avoid running aground. Between Jenny's return fire and my own attacks with the my Romanian vessel, Allen's force of four PT boats was soon either sunk or fleeing the table. My Romanian vessel had also created smoke to keep Allen from attacking our freighters, which I think was a crucial point to our success (if I must say so myself...haha!).

    Mike S's torpedo boats race towards Keith's flotilla, hoping to screen the freighters and launch torps

As Joel and Keith's flotillas closed with our fleet, Mike S had zoomed ahead with his PT Boats to cover our front. When he got near enough, he began the countdown to firing his torpedoes. Strangely, you declare you are firing them and it takes two full turns before they are actually launched. Mike did a great job with timing because as soon as they hit the water, Keith's big warship was within close range. Lots of dice rolled later and Keith's vessel was struck twice by torpedoes and quickly sinking. It did get off a long range hit on one of my lighters, knocking out its 3" gun. 

    My Romanian vessel lays a smoke screen to prevent Allen from launching against the freighters

The rules for firing the 3" guns really annoyed me. To hit, I needed to roll a "12" on 1d12. What's worse, if my target was small like a torpedo boat, I would then need to roll a "6" on an additional 1d6. My autofire factor on the lighters was only a "1", so my secondary weapons were useless at more than 12" range. I realize in these actions the navies are throwing everything that floats into the battle, and some ships are going to be underpowered. However, I would think a 3" gun would be more effective than that. A direct hit would probably not be necessary to cause damage on small vessels like we were fielding.

    The Romanian warship fires its impressive array of auto cannons and sinks one of Allen's MTBs

Then again, I am assuming the author of the rules knows way more about this style and period of warfare than I do. It just seems unsatisfying to roll 1d12 turn after turn and know you have only the slimmest of chance at hitting. I thought the rules for the smaller caliber guns -- the Autofire factor -- worked well. The modifiers made sense and hits were realistically more or less likely depending on the tactical situation. So, kudos to that aspect. I think it would have been fun to play the game without the starshells turning everything to daylight, too. Ships moving slower are hard to spot, but once spotted, are easier to hit. A nice decision-making conundrum for players.

    Allen & Jenny with a rules question during -- Allen rolled lots of criticals, but Jenny drove him off

Did we enjoy that game? I don't think anyone was ecstatic and champing at the bit for another game. Equally, I don't think anyone felt it was a waste of time or unplayable. That often seems to happen when we first play a game, though. Learning new rules and trying to design a balanced scenario for a rules set you haven't played is difficult. Often it takes just getting one rule wrong or something off in the scenario to prevent you from getting full enjoyment. So, kudos to Keith for taking the risk, as well as time and effort, to let us test out these rules.

    Allen's torpedo boat pierces the smoke screen, but is promptly damaged & driven off by autofire

Keith's 1/300 miniatures looked great, I felt. They were small enough that we could play a naval engagement on a tabletop, yet big enough you could see the details. It was easy for me to tell my torpedo-armed Romanian ship from its sister ship that didn't have torpedoes. 

    Mike W wasn't there, but his cat Jack (who Keith was watching) was & made himself a nuisance!

Keith did make some slight changes in the sequence of play. Those of you who read my blog regularly are probably thinking, "Did Keith bolt on the Wiley Games' card play mechanic for sequence?" Why, yes! You would be right! And I honestly feel Keith made the correct call. The rules say movement in simultaneous, but we all know how that works out when two sides are moving at the same time. One side watches the other and reacts to their movement. With no "plotting" mechanic, there's no way of avoiding this situation once the ships are within range and shooting at each other. So, I felt it was a solid modification and I'm not really sure if there was a downside to it.

 

    Screen shot of the 'Hunters on the Shoreline' rules, which Keith downloaded for free of the internet

We declared our side the victors since we sank Keith's big warship and scattered or sank Allen's fleet. Our losses were small -- a damaged lighter and three ships with their steering temporarily knocked out. Most of the ships on the table were undamaged, including our freighters. So, it seemed like a win for the defenders. All in all, a good time and a chance to play something new and different. Thanks, Keith!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 67

Civil War Ironclads? We're Playing Ironclads??

    A river naval action during the American Civil War with Keith's big scale ships

The American Civil War is not one of our Sunday night group's major gaming periods. I just did a scan of the more than 10 years I've been updating this blog and there are no ACW entries. Well, I guess there's a first time for everything! My friend Keith -- He Who Collects Everything -- had some really cool ACW naval ships in a really large scale. I didn't ask which, but you can tell from the pictures they're pretty big.

    Our gaming group gathers on another Sunday evening for something different -- ACW ironclads!

Keith offered to run a naval engagement for us this past Sunday evening. No one had anything they were all-fired up to do, so we accepted. Each of us would control one ship, with the ostensible idea that the Confederates were trying to break through a Union blockade on a deep section of river. Mike S, Allen, and I were the Confederates, while Joel, Mike twoW, and Keith each captained a Union ship. Keith had assembled a variety of vessels -- probably more to see how they all performed rather than to follow any actual historical engagement. None of us had any problem with that, though I would see that the ships were definitely not balanced in firepower or effectiveness.

    Allen's ship, the CSS Arkansas, that would fire the fatal shot that turned the tide

Of course, Keith couldn't be blamed -- it was his first time running the rules. He was trying out a set that was a mix between simple (my type) and "crunchy" (our friend Andy's preferance, who alas, could not make it). He was using Beer and Pretzels Ironclads, written by John R. "Buck" Surdu and Michael Miller back in 2000. As the name suggests, these are intended to be a easy set to play with the emphasis on a fun, quick game rather than detailed simulation. Keith had printed out the Quick Reference Sheets and turning arc templates. It took us a few minutes of looking at the chart to get the gist of how everything worked. Once we had the basics, Keith had us deploy our ships and set sail...er, steam!

    Capt. Mike W adroitly maneuvers his ship to bring his loaded broadsides to bear using the template

Of course, Keith decided to bolt on the Wiley Games card rules for determining which ships moved in which order. Joel did him one better and dealt two cards out per player, rather than one per ship. He said this would give us some tactical choice or decisions to make, and I applauded his improvisation. I was in charge of a cotton bale ram -- or something like that! Civil War has never been my interest, and ACW naval probably even less so. It turned out to be far and away the weakest ship of the six. It had "Light" armor (everyone else had Heavy or Very Heavy for the ironclads) and had only a single, forward firing gun. The Union's Essex, by contrast, had two guns firing forward, two astern, and four guns on each port and starboard. I was outgunned by 10-to-1 by that ship alone!

    Our Confederate ironclad, which we renamed the CSS Molasses (instead of Manassas)

My ship's chief weapon was supposed to be my ram. In fact, it turned out to be my only weapon as the first long-range shot by Keith's ship took out my only gun. The problem was that I had to close the distance sailing a max of 9" of turn when guns had a range of 30" or more. I urged my fellow captains to stay relatively abreast of each other so that no one got too far ahead and pounded individually before the others arrived. We advanced at the speed of our slowest ship, at first. However, once I lost my gun, I went full steam ahead so that I could hopefully strike home before I was pounded to matchsticks, cotton balls, and dog-paddling Billy-Ray Bobs!

    My own CSS Cottonball paddling furiously to get into ramming range before being sunk

Keith's ship and Mike W's Essex were doing a masterful job of reducing me to floating puffs of cotton, dealing out solid damage with every shot. Mike proved himself a commendable captain, adeptly turning to present his loaded broadsides while the other was reloading. As I crunchily marked off my hull boxes (and somewhere Andy was doubtless smiling), I began to doubt that I would make it there to ram. Finally, I steamed to within one move of Keith's ship which was showing me its broadside (the only viable target for my ram). Now, all I need would be to move before him on the card pulls. Nope! Keith's card was one higher, squeaked out of my range, and I would have to endure another turn of pounding before trying again. Fortunately, both Mike's monitor and Allen's ironclad were closing in, as well, and drawing some fire. 

    "Almost there, Captain...!" The CSS Cottonball, holed and battered, nearing its target

I survived all they threw at me that turn and got another chance of getting to hit Keith broadside. This time, my card was one higher than his, and the CSS Cottonball struck home. I had a 50-50 chance of hitting him and rolled an 11 (I needed an 11-20 on 1d20). Yee-haw!! I rolled 4d6 and did 13 damage -- a tad under average, but Keith seemed impressed as it was his turn to crunchily mark off hull boxes. My ship was down to less than 10% of its hull boxes -- not much more than a slowly moving bales of cotton being pushed by a shattered paddle wheel. The next good hit would sink her.

    Boom! The Cottonball's ram strikes home and does 13 hull damage to the Union ironclad

Meanwhile, Mike W's Essex was enjoying the flurry of broadsides he unleashed upon us hapless Confederates. Allen finally got a decent shot at him, though, and rolled his dice, getting one hit. He rolled the d20 for damage and rolled a 20 -- critical hit! That pounded the Essex for 5 hull boxes, a gun, and crew (I think) and, most importantly, a roll on the critical hit chart. Allen rolled a "17." We scanned down the unfamiliar chart and laughed. "Magazine hit - ship explodes and sinks immediately"!!! The game turned in that moment. The Union's toughest ship had been erased with one roll of the dice. The Essex's captain seemed quite crestfallen. He had been pounding away and winning the game for his side with each turn.

    The USS Essex explodes due to a magazine hit as Allen's run of luck continues in our games

We gamed out another turn (which saw the CSS Cottonball sinking, too), but decided to spitball the rest of the game. Keith felt that Mike S's monitor would doubtless sink his own once-rammed and battered ship. He contended that Joel would sink Allen's damaged ship, though I wasn't so sure. Most of the damage Allen had suffered was at the hands of the Essex -- not Joel's monitor. And there was that "Don't kill your brother" admonishment from Allen's wife before they departed for gaming to contend with, as well. Still, Keith called it a draw and he was GM. What do I really know about ironclad warfare, anyway? 

    Keith checks the rules to see if it is worth it for the Cottonball's crew to board his ship...NOPE!

Well, I DO know one thing. Next time we do it, if we do, I am NOT going to command a cotton bale ram! Thanks to Keith for setting up the game and letting us play with his very cool, big ships. And thank you, Allen, for saving us with another of your fantastic die rolls -- yee-haw!! The South will rise again, but alas, I think the Cottonball is a goner!

    Joel's Union monitor which alternated every turn firing one of its two guns, but did little damage

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 57

Battle of Valcour Island, 1776

    Joel and Allen, the British naval commanders on Lake Champlain in the Battle of Valcour Island

My friend Keith had an itch to do some Age of Sail miniatures with his big 15mm scale models the other day. His first thought was to go way back and play using the Limeys & Slimeys rules from about three decades ago. After moving some of his ships around on the table and testing out the mechanics, he was turned off by its fiddly nature. Too much counting up figures and guns, he said. Instead, he decided to go with a much more streamlined system, Galleys & Galleons, from Ganesha Games. These use the Song of Blades and Heroes "activation" system and abstract many of those things that older rules may force you to do with counting and laborious, multiple, math steps and die rolls.

    My brigantine and gunboat bravely sail and row towards the two largest ships in the British fleet

This is actually an ongoing rules debate in our Sunday evening gaming group. I am much more in favor of  modern streamlined systems. Others, like my friend Andy, prefer the "chewy" (his word) nature of counting things up, rolling for numerous hits on charts, and checking off boxes. Our respective viewpoints clashed most recently when we played one of the Star Fleet Battles clones (Federation Commander, perhaps?) recently. To me, the process was borderline painful. When one devastating hit was done to a player's ship (actually, one of their THREE ships), we had to sit there twiddling our thumbs while they rolled for and checked off 30-40 internal hits. This includes marking off such useful things like "science labs" and other systems that had nothing to do with a standard fleet game. Really? This is fun??

    Each player received a gunboat carrying one cannon in its bow, along with their larger ship

Anyway, I think miniature rules writing has evolved away from a codex full of charts which you flip between and ship profiles with dozens or hundreds of boxes to check off. Other players have fun doing this (apparently), as the clear divide between the younger and older gamers in our Star Fleet game showed the other night. Guess who likes to check off boxes? The younger guys! Those of us who lived through 1970s & 1980s rules -- to be fair, Limeys and Slimeys was the '90s -- apparently prefer not to go through that again. Nostalgia might be behind some wanting to resurrect old gaming systems. Like when one of our founding club members, Allen (who I have been gaming with for 40+ years), wanted to play the boardgame "Talisman." He would not be deterred with a simple question: "Why would you want to do that?!" He needed to experience once again the painful process of endlessly waiting your turn while the other players took theirs, then waiting twice that time again when you got a Lose a turn" result. The sheer randomness of, "Oh look! I found a suit of magic armor on my turn!" Meanwhile, you flip over a Demon Lord and lose another life. Sheer awfulness, in my opinion. Not fun to play, and no strategy. Just roll dice and flip cards!

    My brigantine suffering damage (see pink dice) from the heavier broadside of Allen's frigate

Yes, that was quite the digression, I realize. Apparently, I still had some more internal hits to roll off from the experience! Keith chose Galleys & Galleons, which we had played a few years back because he remembered it seemed to flow well and do a better job simulating naval warfare than you might expect from rules that grew out of a fantasy skirmish engine. The key component is that hits suffered replace one of your three potential dice you can roll to activate with a colored "damaged" die. You can choose to roll fewer dice, thus not risking rolling that colored die, until all three of your dice have been replaced. If you ever roll an activation and score a "1" on a colored die, bad things can happen, including striking your colors if you are nearer an enemy than any friends. Similarly, once you exceed three colored dice (three is the max dice you can roll to activate in the "Song of..." engine), bad things can happen then, too. 

    Keith's sloop at top right sails to add its broadside to the weight of our cannon fire on Allen's frigate

The game abstracts much of the damage and critical hits on specific components of your sailing ship. It worked fairly well in our game, we felt. Allen had a 22-gun frigate (I believe), the largest on Lake Champlain. He was able to shrug off much of cannon fire that we peppered him with throughout the game. His brother Joel could not do the same with his 18-gun sloop, though, and ended up striking his colors to Jenny's American sloop and being captured. Keith warned us that he'd made the British better at gunnery and that we would need to close the range to hope to do significant damage. That proved true. All in all, the system worked well. Each player controlled one larger ship and one oared gun boat with a single, bow chaser. The gun boats did little damage to the bigger ships, as you might expect with only one cannon. The marine sharpshooters did even less. 

Took more than half the battle, but Keith's gunboat finally sinks Allen's - mainly due to catching on fire

We did have one boarding action, but it was inconclusive. On the next turn, Keith's larger sloop disabled the grapples which Joel's gunboat had snagged it with. He didn't want to leave to a die roll the ignominy of being boarded and taken by a smaller gunboat! I can't say I blame him. My own gunboat was on the way to rescue him, but we never closed before the two ships parted ways. My own brigantine bravely sailed between Joel's sloop and Allen's frigate, blazing away with furious ineffectiveness nearly the entire game. We score one hit on Joel's sloop, but after that, suffered a series of bad die rolls (as is often my nature in games...see Joel -- I said it!). 

    Pounded by two ships, Joel's sloop strikes its colors as it approaches Jenny's 'Royal Savage'

In Galleys & Galleons, if you beat an enemy with an even roll on your die you replace one of their three activation dice with a colored "damage" die. If you beat them with an odd score, you do nothing (unless you doubled them). Weirdly, the first six-plus shooting rolls that hit in the game were all even. We weren't irked by the rule then. Once, the rolls evened out, it felt a little "wrong" to hit someone and do nothing, over and over. 

    American cannon balls seem to bounce off Allen's frigate, whether from gunboat or brigantine

Still, with Joel's sloop captured and Allen's gunboat sunk (fire on board, then explosion), we called it a victory for the Americans. Historically, the British battered Benedict Arnold's American fleet, which later withdrew under cover of darkness. They were eventually run aground by the American commanders to prevent them from falling into the hands of the British. The naval battle delayed the British advance enough to give solace to the American defeat in the first naval battle of the American Revolution. 

It was fun getting the large 15mm ships out and sailing them around on the tabletop. We picked up the mechanics quickly, and the colored dice mechanic gave some risk vs. reward decision making for the players. Keith, as has been his wont of late, tossed in the Wiley Games card activation system on top of the Galleys & Galleons system. The effect was that there was no danger in "crapping out," or turning over your activation. So, we typically always rolled 3 dice for activation until we had one or more colored, damage dice. The fleets closed relatively quickly, and we were soon blasting away at each other and having a good time on Lake Champlain. I can see us playing with Keith's ships again, and using G&G again for more naval fun.

    It was fun to get the big ships (and little ones) out on the tabletop - first time in years!

Otherwise, you may have noticed the LONG pause between updates. I caught a nasty cold just over two weeks ago. It was the worst I'd felt since having Covid, and I didn't not have the energy to paint or game. I think the two weekends of missing Sunday evening gaming are the most that I have in a long time. I didn't want to get the other guys sick, and besides I was feeling awful. Today is actually the first day that I have woken up and not felt congested or tired and drained. So, hopefully, I'm back in the groove and you will see more updates on here, again!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures purchased in 2024: 15
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 26

Inglorious action for British in Sails of Glory

 

My sloop leads the British line into action -- or would have, if my co-commanders had their way (I was much to clever and deferred that role to the larger frigates!)

We had a guest GM for this evening's gaming, Ferkin, who wanted to introduce us to Sails of Glory. This is age of sail version of the popular Wings of War card game, with plastic ships and large wooden ship templates, but much of the basic mechanics being very similar. It was a small ship battle for 7 players. The French had 3 frigates, while our British side had two frigates and two sloops. I trust that Ferkin balanced the engagement, but I know my sloop was vastly inferior in its ability to take damage compared to the larger frigates. For example, it took only 1 hit counter to eliminate one of my ship's hull/gunnery boxes, yet the Frenchie that I was tangling with took 4 hits per box.

 

Age of Sail action on a Sunday evening using Sails of Glory

No surprise that Allen and I, controlling the sloops, hung on the edges of the battle plinking away at the enemy. Well, I hung on the edge and Allen -- after taking a couple splintering attacks from French frigates -- just hung out on the edges and did little else. The result was the French did a good job of ganging up on the two British frigates, particularly the one belonging to Mike S. He stayed in the center and mixed it up with Steve and Keith's ships, while our other British frigate, captained by Joel, helped me against Mike W's Frenchie frigate.

 

My British sloop gets a bow rake ("What? Rakes are an advanced rule...?") on Mike W's French frigate

In the end, we lost both our frigates, but both sloops would have gotten away. We did force Mike W's frigate to strike its colors due to crew loss. However, there would be no way for us to take its ship as a prize, as we had to flee the scene to save our smaller ships.

 

The brave British frigates try to pierce the French line, while my sloop at bottom turns away to stay on the edges of the fray and avoid slugging it out with the larger enemy

We played just the basic game, and it was a good time. Ferkin says he'll add in some of the advanced rules next time. It was a nice change of pace, and the "Wings of War" systems translates well to age of sail combat, I felt.

Ferkin (in purple cap) shows us how it's done in Sails of Glory

Another view of the brave, but ill-fated attack by the two British frigates on the French line

Ramming our way through Galleys & Galleons

    Our opponents, Tom, Joel, and Allen, bickered and laughed their way through the game that ended with a hard-fought victory for them

It is always seemed to me that there were two types of ancient naval rules sets. One is overly simplistic and provides unrealistic results. The other is too detailed, and takes too much time to learn the nuances for a game we don't play all that often. So, when Galleys & Galleons came out earlier this year, I immediately lumped it in my mind in the former category. We had played many of the "Song of Blades" engine games, and I didn't see how its activation system would adapt.

    Our side's fleet rows towards the enemy

Our group of six were pleasantly surprised by the feel that G&G gave us. We were playing an Ancient naval game (Greeks vs. Persians? There were no historical specifics in our scenario. Suffice to say, there would be three four types of weapons in our game: Ramming, catapults, "chaser guns" -- lighter catapults, and archery. Nothing really rang wrong, except maybe how archery could cause so much damage when ships got really close. G&G does not differentiate between physical damage to a ship and casualties to a ship's crew.

    Two of my quadiremes use Colossus Island to lie in wait for a larger enemy quinquireme and trireme

Those familiar with the activation mechanic of "Song of" games will be interested to see how it is handled in this game. The smaller, faster and more nimble ships have the better quality, while the larger, slower galleys will find it a little harder to activate. Flagships give a +1 like leaders do in other iterations of Ganesha rules. All in all, we weren't overly bothered by the rolling to activate ships, and the possibility of "crapping out" and losing your turn -- which I managed to do several times over a crucial span.

    The battle becomes a mess of rammed and entangled ships

One of the more clever mechanics is how damage is handled. Each ship can take damage to a certain level, then become crippled. Once crippled, there is a chance that they will sink or surrender if fighting a boarding action. There is even more elegance and depth to the damage a ship takes -- particular when it attempts to activate on subsequent turns. We all thought it was a clever effect.

    We kept track of damage with dark red dice and pretzels (oars that have been sheared away)...the black dice indicate grappled ships...pink dice a crew that has been boarded and has surrendered

We will definitely give G&G another try. Some of the players expressed the opinion that we may have found a simple system that provides realistic results. Either way, it was a fun way to spend several hours, ramming our way through a new rules set.

Battle of Yalu River, 1894

    Joel measures the range as Allen and Keith open fire on each other in late 19th century naval action

Last Sunday, Joel ran a naval battle from a fairly obscure period -- the Sino-Japanese War at the end of the 19th century. Joel does this from time to time, he'll root around Keith's basement, find miniatures that fit for "something completely different," and then research and set up a game. We may never play the period or scenario, again. Or it may be part of an occasional and recurring gaming period -- like his Vietnam War using Crossfire rules (though those are his own miniatures). Joel discovered and decided upon the Battle of Yalu River, 1894, completely under the group's radar -- other than Keith, of course. That's part of Joel's charm -- he definitely marches to the beat of his own drum, game-wise and life-wise. And seeing how we all just spent New Year's Eve at his place, it is also timely to reflect that I've known him now for about 36 years!

Anyway, either he or Keith had found a free set of rules online covering the period called "Quickfire Rules." We began with Joel explaining how we they work, in particular the firing section. Once we'd wrapped our head around the concepts, Quickfire was easy to pick up. We were all calculating what we needed to roll and easily adjudicating our ships' firing by the second turn of shooting. In that respect, the rules were a success. Simple and easy-to-learn!

    The Chinese squadron sails onto the board in line abreast formation (or was it line a-quarter?)

The scenario had Keith and Mike S sailing two squadrons of Japanese ships onto the board in column, while across the table, Allen and I sailed our Chinese fleet in line abreast to meet them. I am not certain what scale Keith's miniatures were, but the ships are fairly tiny. Joel added a blob of putty with toothpick and flag to label each ship properly for this scenario. I'm assuming Keith's labels he'd created when he based them up must not have fit 100% for the Battle of Yalu River.

The scenario consisted of lobbing long-range gunnery shots at each other. In general, we concentrated our fire on the closest enemy ship. Only one ship was sunk -- Allen's battleship -- but a number of others were damaged. If my ships are any indication, each ship takes a half dozen or more primary and secondary gunnery, and also hull hits. With each hit marked off, either the offensive capability or speed is reduced. My part of the fleet suffered only a total of two boxes marked off the entire game. Allen was closer to the Japanese and was absorbing the brunt of the punishment.

    My own squadron in the Battle of Yalu River. Joel added toothpicks holding the ship names and attached it with a blob of putty to Keith's bases.

Afterwards, the consensus was the rules reflected the period of warfare fairly well (for those who knew anything about it -- me not included). However, we felt to produce a more satisfying game with a more decisive result, the ships would either have to begin closer together or move faster (so they can close to that more-decisive range). Joel wasn't too sure, but most of us felt the game -- although fun -- would be improved even more by amping up the death and destruction. I mean, what gamer doesn't like more death and destruction? Seriously, this was one of the times where I was reminded of a maxim I've learned through decades of gaming. The most historically accurate game does not always produce the most enjoyable one. Sometimes things need to be changed or abstracted to provide a fun game. The best example I can think of is this is the reason you don't see too many World War I miniatures games out there. Normal battles of the period were not all that decisive or even tactically interesting. Joel's Sino-Japanese wargame shows potential to produce in both the tactically interesting and decisive categories, it just needs some minor adjustments. At least that was my take on it...!

    A close up of one of my ships taking fire (note the Litko splash marker...Keith LOVES Litko markers!)

I am late in getting this report written and posted, this week, as well. I did this intentionally, though, to not steal the limelight at the top of my blog from the "Indiana Jones" Rope Bridge. This coming weekend we will be doing board games at Allen's house. So, hopefully, I will be more timely in posting an account of that!