Victory at sea Battle

I set up another battle for Victory at Sea, this time I wanted to try using a battleship. So I made up some forces that came to about 785pts.

The IJN

Furutaka - Furutaka Class Cruiser

Mogami - Mogami Heavy Cruiser 

Kumano - Mogami Heavy Cruiser 

The USN

USS Idaho - New Mexico Class Battleship 

USS Chicago - Northampton Class Cruiser

USS Indianpolis - Portland Class Cruiser 

2 x Fletcher Class  destroyers

I rolled for each fleets mission. Quite impressively the IJN rolled Last Stand meaning they had to fight to the end and take as many ships with them as they could. The USN rolled destroy so were all out to destroy the IJN force. A pitched battle was on the horizon. 

IJN fleet in top left. USN bottom right 

Turn 1

The USN had the initiative and forced the IJN to move first. The japanese forces stayed together as a group, the US ships split with the destroyers and USS Indianpolis pushing forward and the USS Idaho taking a role at the back with its superior weapons. The shooting was opened by the Idaho landing an extreme range hit on the Furutaka causing 1 damage.

USS Idaho's guns move into position 

The Furutaka returned fire but missed the US battleship.

The Furutaka fires off  long range shots to no effect

The USS Chicago got involved  next firing a volley at the Furutaka (This was the closest of the 3 IJN ships so took the first lot of fire) a shell struck home but bounced off the armour.  The Kumano fired its front three turrets at the USS Idaho but missed. The USS Indianpolis also missed its shots. The destroyers were out of range so their guns stayed silent. 

Turn 2

The US still hold the initiative and the fleets get closer apart from the Idaho which remains further away.

The US destroyers push forward. The Idaho stays at range to engage the IJN 

The USS Idaho again opens up the gunnery phase with a full broad side at the Furutaka. 2 Shells smash into the Japanese ship causing 4 damage and a critical hit to the engines. 

The Furutaka now concerned with the closing US Destroyers switches its fire to the immediate threat. Unfortunately it couldn't hit the smaller ships. 

The Furutaka frantically shoots at the closing destroyers

The USS Indianpolis opens fire and lands 3 shells on the Furutaka causing 2 damage. The Kumano sees the Furutaka taking the hits and opens fire at the USS Chicago. 3 shells strike the US ship and cause 3 damage.  The USS Chicago ignores the Kumano for now and aims at the battered Furutaka. 2 shells hit the side of the shop causing 2 damage but one shell travels through the ship and hits the magazine causing a catastrophic explosion destroying the ship in a massive flash and cloud (Exceptional roll on the crit table and vital system table). 

The Mogami crew enraged by the destroyed Furutaka fire their guns at the USS Chicago causing 2 damage. 

Turn 3

The IJN take the initiative and force the US to move first. The US destroyers push forward and close to point blank range with the Kumano hoping that the ship will pass them before they can launch the torpedoes at the destroyer. 

the US destroyers push closer to the IJN force

The Mogami unable to target the destroyers with its main guns opens up with its light guns at the closest destroyer but all the shits go wide. The Mogami's turrets engage the USS Indianpolis causing 3 damage. 

The USS Idaho's guns traverse to point at the Mogami and all its guns fired. 

Another broadside from the Idaho! 

The Idaho's shells rip into the Mogami causing 10 damage, a critical hit to engineering and a critical hit to the weapons. 

The Kumano opens fire at the USS Indianpolis and the shots lands home causing 3 damage. The USS Chicago hits the Kumano for 2 damage. One of the US destroyers hits the kumino with its light guns causing 1 damage. The other destroyer landed hits on the Mogami. Only causing 1 damage but that was enough to push the Japanese ship past its crippled point so now the Mogami was crippled and had only 2 working turrets now. 

The destroyers shells cripple the Mogami 

Turn 4

The IJN hold the initiative. The Mogami crippled can only limp forward, the Kumano sailed onwards determined to keep fighting. The US destroyers closed in on the Mogami like sharks on  injured prey. The USS Indianpolis also closed the distance. The USS Chicago and USS Idaho still kept at a distance watching the Kumano. 

You can see US destroyer moving in hoping to finish the Mogami off

The Mogami had to open the gunnery phase first as it was crippled and easy pickings. It  fired its working torpedoes at the closing destroyer but they missed.  The light guns raked the same destroyer causing 3 damage and its turrets unable to hit the destroyers fired at the USS Indianpolis but the crew were disheartened to see their shells bounce off the ships armour.  Time for the US to strike. The destroyer virtually next to the Mogami launched all of its torpedoes (US torpedoes not known for reliability) and managed 1 live torpedo which struck the Mogami a mid ships, ripping a hole in the shop and caused 11 damage. The Mogami was destroyed and started to sink. 

US destroyer slams a torpedo into the Mogami 

The Kumano was now surrounded!! 

Refusing to surrender the Kumano landed 5 shells on the USS Indianpolis causing 4 damage and a critical hit to the engines.  It's light guns missed the destroyer that had sunk the Mogami. A long shot the crew knew but they unleashed all their starboard torpedoes at the USS Indianpolis and managed to get 3 torpedo hits. Massive damage (38!) sank the US ship.  The USS Idaho fired a broadside at the Kumano causing 8 damage and a critical hit to the weapon systems. The USS Chicago struck the Kumano causing 1 damage and another critical hit. The Kumanos crew frantically tried to repair some of the critical damage but failed to do so. 

Turn 5

The Kumano being circled fighting till the last

The US had the initiative and the USS Idaho opened fire with its guns. 7 shekss ripping into the Kumano causing 16 damage and a critical hit again to the engines. The Kumano desperately fired at the USS Idaho, its shells bouncing off the battleships massive armour. The Kumano also unleashedits port torpedoes and managed to land one torpedo into the side of the USS Idaho. The torpedo caused 10 damage to the US ship. The USS Chicago fired at the Kumano causing 2 damage and a critical hit. A shell managed to destroy the Kumanos bridge! The destroyers peppered the Kumano with their light guns and managed to add a bit more damage but again that was enough to cripple the Kumano. Leaving it with only 2 working turrets. 

Turn 6 

things are not looking good for the kumano

The IJN (well the Kumano really) won the initiative and fired at the USS Idaho, the shells hit but damage. The USS Idaho sailed closer to the Kumano who stubbornly refused to strike its colours so the USS Idaho fired a broadside at point blank range into the Kumano. The 14 inch guns boomed and struck the Kumano causing 30 damage and 3 critical hits. 2 more to the engines and 1 shell struck the already destroyed bridge. The Kumano was destroyed and slipped beneath the waves. 

US Victory points - 785

IJN Victory points - 140

Us Major Win 

Great game, I thought the forces were a bit mis matched but I should have fired the IJN cruisers torpedoes more and used their supreme long range to get hits in on the US early. Really like this game!! 

Stay safe all

Victory at Sea Run Through Battle

 

Decided to have a quick run through battle with a small Victory at Sea force. Downloaded Battle Scribe to save me Navy lists to. I'm really liking the potential apps have in the wargaming world. The Fallout Wasteland Warfare app is brilliant and many games could benefit from apps. Simple as army lists or a bit more complicated battle trackers, allowing you to keep track of unit wounds and victory points etc. Some games it wouldn't be easy or feasible but others it would be ideal. Victory at Sea would be great with an app that you could keep track of your ships, their damage and the progress of the critical hits etc but I digress!

Right back to the matter at hand, I gathered up a small force of 380pts. The Imperial Japanese Navy brought a Mogami Heavy Cruiser (The Mogami) and 2 Fubuki Class Destroyers. The US Navy brought 2 Northampton Class Heavy Cruisers (USS Chicago and the USS Northampton) and 2 Fletcher Class destroyers. I then aimed to play a simple battle no fancy missions just last force standing!

The US Force and there ship cards

IJN Force and ship cards

The battle  would be over 8 turns. I put the fleets at opposite corners to each other and rolled fir the initiative,  Now disclaimer this is my first ever game so mistakes were made and the pictures aren't great so my apologies. 

The fleets face off

The fleets headed towards each other, the US fleets decided to spilt to try and attack both flanks of the IJN. The IJN headed straight towards the USN.

The USN starts to manoeuvre

 

The Mogami started hostilities by firing on the USS Chicago but with both fleets moving and facing each other the shots went wide. The Chicago returned fire causing 1 point of damage on the Japanese heavy cruiser. All other forces were out of range.

USS Chicago fires upon the Mogami

Turn 2 

 The 2 forces manoeuvred a bit more now with the IJN trying to counter the flanking moves by the USN.

Destroyers head to counter each other while the cruisers head towards each other.

The US destroyer (Who shall be named Fletcher A for the purposes of this blog post) and the Fubuki (Fubuki A) exchanged fire and the Fletcher A caused 1 point of damage while Fubuki A missed. The USS Chicago opened fire on the Mogami once again hitting with 4 shells causing 3 damage. The Mogami returns fire hitting 5 times and causing 5 damage.

The Mogami fires a broad side at Chicago

The Mogami also launched several torpedoes, one of which struck Fletcher A and destroyed it (Torpedo's in Victory at Sea are absolutely devastating when they hit but are really hard to hit unless you are super close). The USS Northampton opened fire splitting its fire between the Mogami and  Fubuki A. 2 damage was inflicted on the Mogami but the Fubuki A was missed. Fubuki B  fired at the Fletcher B and Fubuki B  exchanged fire casuing 1 damage on each other.

Turn 3

The ships are starting to get close now so torpedoes will be a lot more dangerous now

Its turning into a knife fight now!

The IJN took the intuitive which crucially means they get to fire first. The Fubuki A's light guns caused one damage on the Chicago. The Chicago ignored the destroyer and fired on the Mogami again causing  4 damage. The Mogami had 2 US heavy cruisers closing in, It fired on  both cruisers, 2 damage was caused to Chicago and 3 damage plus a critical hit to the Northamptons weapon systems, The Mogami also fired off 6 torpedoes but they all missed. 

The cruisers all exchange fire at close range

The Northampton returned fire and hit the Mogami for 3 damage. Its other guns missed the Fubuki B. The Fubuki B returned fire causing 1 damage to the Northampton followed by releasing a spread of torpedoes at the Northampton. 2 Torpedoes struck  the side of the Northampton and exploded causing massive damage (27!!!) sinking the Northampton there and then.

The Fletcher B  seeing the sinking broken hull of the Northampton sailed close to the Mogami unleashing a broadside (of light guns so not super impressive) causing 1 damage but crucially the destroyer also let loose 3 torpedoes. Now American navy torpedoes pre 1943 (I learnt this from the rulebook) were terrible it seemed. To reflect this you have to roll to hit as normal then roll a 5 or 6 to see if the torpedo actually detonates . Thankfully for the US  2 out of 3 torpedoes detonated causing a whopping (Not used that word for a while) 21 damage sinking the Mogami.

Fletcher B sails past the Mogami at great risk and torpedoes the Japanese cruiser

Turn 4

The IJN held the initiative again but with the loss of their heavy cruiser the 2 destroyers had to be a lot more careful now, They had torpedoes so were in no way outgunned but needed to watch out.

The IJN destroyers are still in the fight 

The Fubuki B manged to send 1 torpedo into the side of the Chicago causing a huge 12 damage crippling the ship. The Chicago was horribly damaged and now only has one working turret. That turret fired at the Fubuki B but missed the crew obviously shook up from the torpedo hit. The Fletcher B is at extreme range but managed to cause 1 damage to the Fubuki B.

Turn 5

The Chicago's Captain ordered and emergency  90 degree turn and fired whatever guns they had left at the Fubuki B. 2 damage was caused but this was enough to cripple the destroyer, The Fubuki B returned fire causing 1 damage but missed with torpedoes

The destroyers circle the US Cruiser

Turn 6

The IJN again had the initiative, the Fubuki B fired its sole gun causing 1 damage on the Chicago. The US ship returns fire and destroyers the Fubuki B with its remaining turret and its light guns scored 1 damage to the Fubuki A

The USS Chicago's remaining turret tracks and strikes the Japanese destroyer sinking it

The Fubuki A out of torpedoes is making a desperate last stand. Its guns hit the Chicago but no damage. The US Fletcher B  scores 3 hits which result in 1 damage on the Fubuki A

Turn 6

The Fubuki A went for a last ditch attack but missed the Fletcher B from point blank range. The Chicago fired at the Fubuki A causing 1 damage and a critical hit to the ships guns. The Fubuki A was now crippled. The Fletcher B sailed in and finshed the Fubuki A off with a broadside

The Fletcher class destroyer sails close and fires its weapons sinking the Fubuki A

That was it the, USS Chicago and a Fletcher class destroyer were left but the Chicago was on 1 HP so was super damaged. 

Overall a great game and the rules were quite simple to get a grasp off. I forgot a few things like orders I could have used them more and I wasn't entirely sure of what torpedoes I had fired. Things I aim to do to make the games easier, laminate the ship cards so I can use an easy wipe marker to keep track of damage and torpedo use etc. The cardboard sliders to track damage are cool but just wont last at all so I want to laminate them so I can write on the card. I'm also thinking of using cocktail sticks with little flags that have the ship names on for when I do a blog battle report, in my head this will make it easier for you guys to see what ship is what. 

 Can't wait to try a bigger game. Stay safe all!

Fallout Wasteland Warfare

 

I got Fallout Wasteland Warfare for my birthday but wanted to do a blog post when I had painted the miniatures, so I have been busily painting away and now I have finished the minis. So let see inside the box

First of is 2 paper mats that go next to each other. They are quite nice with a post apocalyptic theme (as you would imagine), they are on glossy paper folded up so the folds when you lay out the mats will be annoying at the start but I'll get used to it and they give you a great starting point. 

Next up is a load of bags in preparation for the amount of tokens you get! Always worried that if a police officer came to my house, saw the flock and random bags like this around the House he would be quite concerned! 😂😂

Next up is the tokens. Two sheets of many many many tokens! The game is token heavy but after watching play through videos, some tokens can be ignored and some tokens only apply to certain scenarios so you wouldn't be using them all at once most of the time.  There are tokens for activating models, movement rulers (the game uses several different coloured  length rulers for different ranges of weapons or movements), damage counters, investigation markers etc. Nice quality cardboard tokens with very Fallout style artwork. 

The dice look quite foreboding when you open the box and I would definatly reccomend watching some play through videos first but the dice help add the Fallout video game effects. Things like helping lowering the dice score so you are more likely to hit, extra damage, armour breaks and special effects (laser rifle can set people on fire).

The rule books. You get three books and an erata of the rules. They all have great artwork and I love the Fallout style to them all.  First off is a short intro booklet to give you the basics of tabletop warfare. Most gaming veterans won't need this but it's a nice touch for new players.  The rulebook is a nice thick book and explains everything quite well and uses examples which I particularly  like. The other book add rules for expanding the game with settlements, quests and exploring the wasteland etc.  The settlement rules give your band of survivors a chance to form a home where you can add buildings which give you bonuses, just like Fallout 4. The rules also cover an AI section which allows for single or Co op games. This is a big thing for me especially with the on going pandemic it means I can get some games in by myself. There is a linked set of missions in the book to introduce the rule. I also found Guerrilla Miniatures Games on YouTube and they do a great couple of  Fallout games. Click  here to see one of the videos. He does a great set of battles which are linked by the RPG and settlement rules.  There is also an RPG book for Fallout which allows for a Dungeons and Dragons style game. I have this on order also (Yes I'm a fallout fan boy).

Here be the cards. There are unit cards for each unit in the starter set, AI cards which are used to decide actions for models when using AI play. Then we have faction cards, there only 2 in this set but obvisouly there will be more with the different sets. Ghouls, Brotherhood of Steel etc. I believe these are free to download  but can be bought in a physical set also.  Last are lots of smaller cards that cover lots of things Fallout. Perks, quests, in game events plus items that can be found in game or equipped to characters. 

Last of all is the models! 

First up are the survivors. You get our heroine the vault dweller sole survivor, obviously  no fallout game would be complete without Dog meat! There are 2 settlers and an enslaved / freed tech depending on which faction he is in. Last is Aspirant Goddard a Brotherhood of Steel member in power armour. 

Above is the sole survivor in X-01 power armour and armoured Dog meat. These were an extra set bought as another present for me so don't come in the starter set. I painted the power armour in the Nuka Quantum colour scheme. 

Next up is the super mutants, you get 3 super mutants and 2 mutant hounds. 

The biggest model of the set is the fearsome deathclaw! I was quite intimidated by painting this model but I am happy with the paint job I did. 

Last of all is the free Zetan alien you get with the starter set. 

The models are plastic pvc I believe, you can buy a starter set with resin models for a higher price I'm sure.  The models have decent detail on most of them. Dogmeat could have done with a bit more fur detailing. That would have helped the painting as I found it hard to get the fur to pop out as there aren't any real details for wash to sink in but other than that I am happy with all the other models. 

I forgot to mention so this is an update to the blog, the game is accompanied by a free  fantastic app which runs all manner of game mechanics for you. It has a battle tracker and settlement tracker plus many more things. You do have to purchase any new card sets on the app if you want those in the app just to make you aware. 

That's the set, really can't wait to play this game.