We just had WWII Tuesday last week and decided to play another naval game using Victory at Sea. Our original plan was to do a game around Savo Island, but due to some mix ups, we did not have the ship cards. So, I decided we would just do something in the Atlantic. I have five players, so I needed enough for each player to do, had to have a game that we could finish before closing time at our FLGS and it had to fit the ships we had with us. Well, the last item was the issue. As such, I decided to to a what if scenario based on what we had at hand.
Looking though my buddy’s collection, I saw he had a few German light Cruisers and the Admiral Scheer. I figured that would make a good start. I added a squadron of German Z class destroyers and had a brea out force.
For the British, I figured two covering forces would be good. The first would be based on two country class light cruisers and a a squadron of b class destroyers. The other would be built around a South Hampton heavy cruiser with some J class destroyers in escort.
The scenario would be based on the German fleet having to leave the upper corner of the table, opposite from their set up side. The British would be split into the two forces, with the light cruisers in the way of the breakout and the heavy cruiser rushing to help out.
The game had limited visibility. Each side would have to roll to spot the other, before they could target an enemy ship, with maximum visibility being the normal thirty inches.
Victory would be based on the number of cruisers the Germans could exit off the table (the destroyers did not count). If all three ships got off, the Germans would have a strategic victory, two would be a major victory and one would be a minor victory. The British would win if no cruisers escaped.
The forces were set up and we got to battling. The Germans made a bee line with their cruisers towards the objective, but broke off a pair of destroyers to try to slow down the German main force got within medium range of the British, pretty much everyone had been spotted.
Fire combat commenced with the German force engaging the British light cruisers. As expected, the uneven fight favored the Germans, with the Scheer dishing out some heavy damage. With the releasing British still out of range, things looked good for the Germans.
The British destroyers decided to go forward to protect the light cruisers, while the German light cruisers hung back. All hope was to get those torpedoes off on the Scheer while she was exposed. The entire destroyer flotilla fell to the German guns as they closed. However, one destroyer make it through with heavy damage. Taking its shot, with only one torpedo mount functioning, the shots were true. The out of four torpedoes hit their mark (considering they needed sixes, that was amazing luck). Not only did they stay true, they managed to hit critical areas (forty damage out of nine D6!). With that, the Scheer went down.
All the sudden, things seemed to turn in the British fleets favor. They had gotten rid of the Scheer and their own heavy cruiser was in firing range. One British light cruiser had been lost to the Scheer and the other damaged. However, with the heavy cruiser engaged, the firepower proved too much for the remaining German light cruisers. It had cost the British dearly, but they managed to thwart the last German cruiser only six inches from getting off the table.
In the end, it was a very close game, but the British fleet had pulled it off!
- Manteuffel