I was very excited when Cruel Seas came out but became disappointed very quiuckly when I read the rules. I just did not like a number of their mechanisms. The models are great and at 1/300th scale are an ideal gaming size, but all are still in their cellophane where they are likely to remain.
Some time ago I had written a set of naval rules “They were Expendable” for small ship actions in the English Channel and surrounds.
I shelved it as a number of concepts that sounded good in theory just didn’t work in practice. After discussion last night in our Zoom meeting I decided to get them out and give them another try to see what needed changing.
I have a large collection of British and German 1/700th scale ships and this 1/700th dockyard and 2mm vehicles that has been in hiding for a long time.
A small naval dockyard on a Danish Estuary
A minelayer in drydock
An administrative building with 2mm vehicles out the front.
The Koln and and U boat in dry dock.
Another administrative building with AA gun impacements on the roof.
The Koln with crane in the foreground.
One of the numerous Naval Guns protecting the port.
U Boat in dry dock (I think it is actually Japanese)
U Boat pens
An unsuspecting tug about to be in the middle of things.
Readying for Operation Sea Lion
The Vospers arrive on Turn 1
Vospers close in.
Despite rolling well the Naval guns fail to see or hear the Vospers moving in slowly with the tide.
Turn two and the Vospers creep slowly towards the Koln.
The third Naval Gun sees a Vosper right in front of it and despite the difficulty in lowering its sights the plywood boat explodes.
The lead Vosper is lost.
The new leading Vosper fires its torpedo at the Koln but it doesn’t explode on impact!
Turn three sees the leading Vosper fire its torpedoes towards the Koln but despite being on target fails to explode on impact. Speeding off it was hit by a Naval Gun and exploded.
The second and third Vosper fire, with one torpedo exploding prematurely, and the other inflicting minor damage below the forward deck.
Another Vosper is hit, after firing its torpedo, by the Naval Gun on the “Koln” wharf.
Another torpedo hits the Koln amidships doing major damage but in reply the German naval guns take out yet another Vosper.
The lone Vosper escapes with two others burning in the distance.
The end result was four Vospers lost for some minor and major damage on the Koln – probably a break even.
The game was fun, except for my opponent.
The rules don’t need changing they just need throwing out and starting again!
I think I will bring them forward on the project list. Probably the name is all I will end up keeping!
Oh, I love this! 🙂 Impressive set-up! I’m just building myself up to having a trial game with my own coastal forces, so you’ve now added more pressure on me to get a move on! 🙂
What rules do you use?
No surprises, Dave, I use my own! I did try two old commercial sets (can’t remember what they’re called now – they’re kicking round somewhere) but after a long break I wrote my own. As with anything to do with ships, I generally base the rules around the Full Thrust starship combat rules to accrue damage. The hardest parts are torpedoes and working out how much damage ships could take form various calibre weapons. I’ve written a simple rule sheet and a turning circle diagram and am busy setting up ship record sheets, with my WW2 British, German, Italian and Russian coastal forces done so far (no Russian ships painted yet though). The one thing I haven’t done yet is try them out though – I’d like them to be quick and simple really, and am planning on trying them out as soon as I can. I should have the rules summary sheet, ship records and turning circle diagrams on my other computer so I can send you them if you want. They really are a work in progress though and I don’t know how they’ll work!
John please send them. Maybe between we will both come up with a set that works! Two minds?
Looked good Guru Pig. However, the Koln will never truly die, so there’s your next game when the zombie undead crew of the Koln take revenge on the allied swine!
Hmm and you call me crazy!
Fabulous, just fabulous
Thanks Mark, hopefully we will work out some ruules that work.
Hi Dave, not sure if you saw my recent WW2 coastal forces post (https://justneedsvarnish.wordpress.com/2021/11/11/torpedoes-away/) but I’ve now had the chance to try my rules out and they seemed to be OK! I’d have dropped you a line with more detail but I just have no idea where your e-mail address has gone! Good job I remembered about the game you described above!
Hi John left a comment on your website with the email address.
Got that, thanks Dave! 🙂 I’ll try and get some notes written up on the game sent to you.