April 1938: the Bottom of the Sea

[MengJiao]

  After Dr. Salazar's Buick left his chauffeur deaf in the aftermath of a bomb attack, the multiply-titulary head of Portugals world empire, ordered an armored Chrysler Imperial -- the first car tested in a wind tunnel -- and it fell on him during unloading since in the wind tunnel it had not been tested hanging from a crane and took him to the bottom of Lisbon harbor.  So anyway, Portugal fragments into waring factions just as Leon Blum breifly starts supporting the Loyalist government in Spain (for which he was tried for treason by the Vichy regime).  The Azores are up for grabs and some miraculous events have drawn 700 tons of gold bullion to shrines on the Islands.  France (off the gold standard, but still stockpiling the gold) and Germany (in need of cash) send forces to the Azores with orders to shoot to kill.  At dawn, on April 18, 1938, the task forces collide off a secret base in the Azores.

In 30% visibility, the Secret Base heavy shore battery (between C and H) spots the German task force (near K) at 23 hexes or about 12 thousand yards:

[MengJiao]

In 30% visibility, the Secret Base heavy shore battery (between C and H) spots the German task force (near K) at 23 hexes or about 12 thousand yards:

Three minutes later, the Germans are in a patch of glare, but the flagships spot each other and get off reaction shots (damage is halved).  At medium range both sides can penetrate the other's belt armor.  Dunkerque hits Deutschland with 8 13-inch guns  (all forward) and inflicts 45 hit points and an engineering critical (fire in an engine room, speed reduced).  Deutschland hits Dunkerque with her 3 forward 11-inch guns and causes 13 bits of damage.  There's another pocket battleship behind Deutschland, so maybe a turn in succession will bring more firepower to bear on the French should they close.  I'll roll and see what each side does with their options.  Staying on the present course being among those options since three minutes isn't much time to come up with a new plan.

[MengJiao]

In 30% visibility, the Secret Base heavy shore battery (between C and H) spots the German task force (near K) at 23 hexes or about 12 thousand yards:

Three minutes later, the Germans are in a patch of glare, but the flagships spot each other and get off reaction shots (damage is halved).  At medium range both sides can penetrate the other's belt armor.  Dunkerque hits Deutschland with 8 13-inch guns  (all forward) and inflicts 45 hit points and an engineering critical (fire in an engine room, speed reduced).  Deutschland hits Dunkerque with her 3 forward 11-inch guns and causes 13 bits of damage.  There's another pocket battleship behind Deutschland, so maybe a turn in succession will bring more firepower to bear on the French should they close.  I'll roll and see what each side does with their options.  Staying on the present course being among those options since three minutes isn't much time to come up with a new plan.

Yikes.  Well I thought since Dunkerque was designed to kill pocket battleships at long range, a close-range, more cruiser-oriented battle might be better for the pocket battleships.
This might not have turned out as I expected.  6 minutes into the battle, the range is down below 10,000 yds and everybody misses except the French heavy cruiser and she pretty much finishes off Deutschland, which after 6 minutes is now 50% shot-to-bits and has a massive fire in the engine rooms.  At 8,000 yds the 203/55 guns on the cruiser easily penetrate the belt armor on Deutschland.

[Staggerwing]

What game is that? Does the scenario you are playing come with it or is it home-brewed?

[MengJiao]

What game is that? Does the scenario you are playing come with it or is it home-brewed?

This is Command at sea (the 4th ed "universal" rules).  The scenario is home-brewed with some echoes of reality ( Dr. Salazar really did replace his Buick with an armored
Chrysler Imperial, the French Atlantic fleet really did have an obsession with blocking pocket battleships in the Azores and they did do it in April 1939).

I traditionally play Command at sea on the Flying colors maps.

[Staggerwing]

If it's this game then it looks like there are a lot of modules to purchase. Which are best to get started?

[MengJiao]

If it's this game then it looks like there are a lot of modules to purchase. Which are best to get started?

  That's it.  You can play with just the rules, a ship data book and some miniatures so, depending on your interest, I would get Atlantic Navies (the boxed set has rules, counters and 3 volumes of data).  I've been buying the Command at Sea stuff since the 1990s.  It evolved from three separate sources:  Harpoon, Command at Sea and Fear God and Dread nought.  Supposedly those all were adjusted in the latest editions into the "Admiralty Trilogy"...so you could shoot an antiship missile at an armored cruiser if you wanted to.  I've shifted to using CMANO for post WWII stuff and haven't done much WWI stuff so that leaves the original (now 4th ed) Command at Sea for WWII.

  I'm not sure how actively the system is in terms of production and development.  Supposedly it never sold well and the components are pretty scrappy or even downright crappy.  I think CMANO put an end to the expansion of the system into more "Persian Incursion" directions and WWII and WWI just aren't as popular for gamey things as they were for some reason.

[MengJiao]

In 30% visibility, the Secret Base heavy shore battery (between C and H) spots the German task force (near K) at 23 hexes or about 12 thousand yards:

Three minutes later, the Germans are in a patch of glare, but the flagships spot each other and get off reaction shots (damage is halved).  At medium range both sides can penetrate the other's belt armor.  Dunkerque hits Deutschland with 8 13-inch guns  (all forward) and inflicts 45 hit points and an engineering critical (fire in an engine room, speed reduced).  Deutschland hits Dunkerque with her 3 forward 11-inch guns and causes 13 bits of damage.  There's another pocket battleship behind Deutschland, so maybe a turn in succession will bring more firepower to bear on the French should they close.  I'll roll and see what each side does with their options.  Staying on the present course being among those options since three minutes isn't much time to come up with a new plan.

Yikes.  Well I thought since Dunkerque was designed to kill pocket battleships at long range, a close-range, more cruiser-oriented battle might be better for the pocket battleships.
This might not have turned out as I expected.  6 minutes into the battle, the range is down below 10,000 yds and everybody misses except the French heavy cruiser and she pretty much finishes off Deutschland, which after 6 minutes is now 50% shot-to-bits and has a massive fire in the engine rooms.  At 8,000 yds the 203/55 guns on the cruiser easily penetrate the belt armor on Deutschland.

And of course it just got worse.  Nine minutes into the battle, at about 7000 yds, Admiral Scheer's rudder is shot off, Nurneburg can't see anything and Deutschland is going 14 knots and is very much on fire.  Dunkerque absorbs 90 more in damage, but this has no immediate effect.  Now that I'm looking at the exact numbers, I see that Dunkerque is more than twice the size of a pocket battleship as well as being faster and having bigger guns and more armor.  Though at 7000 yds all the main armaments are punching right through everything.  I guess the moral of the story is that battleships have major advantages over pocket battleships even at close range.  Not quite what I was expecting.