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Author Topic: Hunting the Hunter: Cruel Seas AAR  (Read 1290 times)

Offline Freelancer

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Hunting the Hunter: Cruel Seas AAR
« on: November 20, 2019, 11:48:23 PM »
Tried a slightly larger battle for Cruel Seas. It was a 1000pt game with the scenario being a British MTB attack on a German Destroyer. The Destroyer was sheltering near the coast when a floatilla of Vospers and a Fairmile DD sprang a suprise attack with the aim of torpedoing their target while it was trapped near the coast. Unfortunately for the Allies, they were spotted by a nearby coastal battery, whose alarm allowed the Destroyer and a small group of S-boats to begin maneuvering for action.
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<a target='_blank' href='https://imgbb.com/'>image upload[/url]


The S-boats headed out to disrupt the formation of the large Vosper flotilla, most of their fire went wide, but a single 37m shot detonated the lead Vosper's ammo store and the catastophic damage blasted it into driftwood. The Vospers concentrated their fire on the lead S-boat. The bullet ridden boat eventually sank, but not before an overzealous Vosper ran into its hulk, sinking both boats.
The Destroyer had been maneuvering to get its guns sighted between the small islands. Four 150mm guns fired at the MTBs, only 1 hit, but it sank its target immediately. The Allies had lost half of their Vospers and had yet to launch any torpedos at the target, but finally one MTB cleared the islands and launched torpedoes. Unfortunately the Destroyer had already begun to get underway and the torpedoes swept by where their target had been.
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The Destroyer crippled another MTB, before they finally managed to launch 4 more torpedoes at it. It came down to initiative. The Germans drew the first action of the new turn and the Destroyer plowed ahead at full speed, swinging ints bearing to try and avoid the torpedoes. It avoided all but 1, which had been launched by a veteran crewed MTB. The Destroyer crew braced for action..... only to hear a "thunk" of the dud torpedo hitting its hull. The crew had rolled a 1 on their torpedo arming! The Destroyer and 2 surviving Sboats headed for the relative safety of open sea, while the British flotilla survivors mad a run to avoid the coastal battery guns. Clear victory to the Germans.

Offline Mad Lord Snapcase

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Re: Hunting the Hunter: Cruel Seas AAR
« Reply #1 on: November 21, 2019, 06:13:48 AM »
A very interesting game and looks great fun. Was the destroyer one of the Trumpeter 1/350 models?


Offline Freelancer

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Re: Hunting the Hunter: Cruel Seas AAR
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2019, 10:56:12 PM »
Yes, it was the Z-25 kit.... and a fiddlier SOB you couldn't have asked for  ;) (A scale model hobbiest I am not). It looks nice when finished, but may not be robust enough for wargaming (the radio mast has snapped twice already). Zvezda do a German Destroyer in the same scale, and scale modellers complain the parts are a bit overscale and lacking in fine details, so it sounds ideal for 1/300 gaming purposes  :)

Offline skirmisher

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Re: Hunting the Hunter: Cruel Seas AAR
« Reply #3 on: November 28, 2019, 08:53:43 AM »
I enjoyed that very exciting AAR, dramatic and deadly.

Offline Mad Lord Snapcase

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Re: Hunting the Hunter: Cruel Seas AAR
« Reply #4 on: November 28, 2019, 10:26:24 AM »
Yes, it was the Z-25 kit.... and a fiddlier SOB you couldn't have asked for  ;) (A scale model hobbiest I am not). It looks nice when finished, but may not be robust enough for wargaming (the radio mast has snapped twice already). Zvezda do a German Destroyer in the same scale, and scale modellers complain the parts are a bit overscale and lacking in fine details, so it sounds ideal for 1/300 gaming purposes  :)

Thanks for that info. I have ordered the Zvezda one to see what it is like. Cheers!   :)

Offline Freelancer

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Re: Hunting the Hunter: Cruel Seas AAR
« Reply #5 on: December 02, 2019, 06:10:14 AM »
Let me know your thoughts on it when you get it.  ;)

Offline Baron von Wreckedoften

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Re: Hunting the Hunter: Cruel Seas AAR
« Reply #6 on: December 02, 2019, 10:18:45 AM »
What size table do you play on in order to be able to bring a destroyer into the mix?  I use the Too Fat Lardy rules Coastal Patrol, but have been thinking about moving the model size up to 1/300 for smaller games with just a few small boats per side, and keeping to 1/600 for the Flower Class etc sized vessels.
No plan survives first contact with the dice.

Offline Freelancer

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Re: Hunting the Hunter: Cruel Seas AAR
« Reply #7 on: December 03, 2019, 05:38:22 AM »
This game was on a 6'x 4' board

Offline Baron von Wreckedoften

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Re: Hunting the Hunter: Cruel Seas AAR
« Reply #8 on: December 04, 2019, 06:46:34 PM »
Thanks - our club boards go up to 8' x 5' so plenty of room, I would have thought.

I'm currently working on a Slapton Sands scenario for a future Lardy Games Day, but that will have to be at 1/600, to fit on the 9 LSTs, 9 E-Boats and a Flower Class Corvette!