Watery Matters off the Crimea....

Summer 1942. Things are looking grim for Stalin as the Nazi hordes threaten Eastern Ukraine and the Crimea. The naval port of Sevastopol is holding out but desperately needs supplies of men, ammunition and food. With Luftwaffe dominance in the air the Red Navy has the task of slipping ships along the coast to the port.

Last night saw a Fugas-class minesweeper with two G5 MTBs as close escort try to reach the protection of the coastal defence Bronekaters.

The Germans surged onto the table from the south-east, with Phil and Malcolm acting in tandem and Tony...well.... being Tony.

German torpedos hit the water as the Fugas turned its powerful guns on the EBoats.

The Bronekaters moved to intercept but were painfully slow, and Rob’s inexperienced crew proved virtually useless.

The G5s sped around at high speed hoping to distract the E-Boats, but to no avail. Dave manoeuvred the Fugas to avoid two torpedos but eventually one hit below the bridge. Carnage resulted, and a critical hit resulted in a sinking Fugas.

All was not going well on the German side.  Phil list temporary control and his E-Boat careered towards the blazing minesweeper.

A second torpedo hit the Fugas just as Chris’ Bronekater arrived on the scene. However, raked by Tony’s gunfire Chris’ vessel was itself soon ablaze and abandoned.

A German victory.

Dave was awarded a posthumous order of Lenin. Chris was swiftly despatched. Some think he went to the salt mines. Others say it was cheaper just to expend one 9mm round from a Makarov pistol into the nape of his neck.

Next week sees us go back 3000 years to the chaos of the Sea Peoples in the Eastern Mediterranean. Can the Hittites save their city?

Simon

D-Day plus one....Somewhere off the coast of Blighty

D-Day plus one. The largest amphibious landing in history. What could the Kriegsmarine do? The answer; send Kapitan Buchanan and his fellow E-Boat officers to ravage the supply shipping lanes....

Jerry came on very tactically. Malcolm headed towards the rear of the allied convoy, Dave to the head of it. Tony did the usual. “Charge!!!!!”

The allies moved the intercept, with Phil and Chris in their flimsy Vosper and Rob in the powerful Fairmile.

Tony quickly launched a brace of torpedos at the merchantmen but took damage from the heavily-armed Fairmile.....aided in no small part by the “veteran” crew rating. German shooting was erratic due to the speed and size of the Vospers.

Malcolm manoeuvred to the rear of the convoy but was taking heavy damage from Phil.

Dave swung North of the convoy engaging the inexperienced Vosper as he went.

Tony’s torpedos either missed or proved a dud. Bummer!

Tony’s E-Boat then exploded. With Malcolm heavily damaged things looked bad for the Nazi fanatics.

Malcolm’s torpedos also proved ineffective and heavily damaged he passed the stern of the freighter and limped off the table.

However, all the RN ships bar the inexperienced and lightly armed Vosper were to the south of the merchantmen. Rob turned his Fairmile aggressively straight into the freighter. Poor seamanship, especially from such a veteran crew!

Chris’ 2nd Vosper tried to ram Dave’s E-Boat, but Dave manouevered deftly out of the way whilst raking the freighter with gunfire. He then unleashed a spread of torpedos. Boom. One hit the freighter amidships which blew up also damaging Rob’s adjacent Fairmile.

A bad outing for the RN and a Knights Cross for Dave!

Simon

Cruel Seas with added fog of war

So, once again the intrepid gamers of Stevenage, Hitchin and several points North forgot about Coronavirus to blow each other to bits in the North Sea.

The game was a bit of an experiment. Would Warlord’s “Cruel Seas” work over Zoom? We were to find out.

The scenario was simple.

A German merchantman was carrying  a consignment of “heavy water” with its close protection  E-Boat Escort off the coast of Norway. A British MTB flotilla had slipped through the outer German naval force and was closing in on its prey.

The Germans entered the table with an E-Boat leading , the merchantman literally following in its wake and the second boat holding station to starboard.

The over-officered British came on with Rob’s Fairmile D sweeping round to attack from the side whilst Dave and Chris’ Vospers started a head-on attack.....or that’s what Rob’s plan seemed to be.

It all started to go wrong for the RN when the Fairmile sustained catastrophic damage from Greg’s E-Boat. It sank soon after.

Malcolm’s E-Boat miraculously survived a barrage of gunfire but was taking heavy damage from Dave and Chris. Dave manoeuvred and launched two torpedoes but Phil’s merchantmen got within the minimum arming range and also avoided them.

Malcolm’s boat sank, and then Dave’s Vosper fell to Greg’s avenging gunfire.

That left Chris....

He tried hard to run pursued by a merchantman and Greg. At last the dice fell Greg’s way and he was able to “cross the T” and rake Chris’ Vosper with everything he had.

The resultant explosion lit up the darkening skies.

Victory for the 3rd Reich and more vital resources for their nuclear bomb programme.

So, a seemingly successful outing for Cruel Seas. I only used the most basic rules. Next time I will add some more of the advanced rules.

Simon