An incident in the Gulf of Tonkin...

Today was a quiet day at the HRGG.  Of course with Christmas coming up soon, many had other places to be on a Saturday morning... but that did not stop a few of us to make it down to the library and game out a fictional clash between the French and the Japanese.

A one-on-one duel between HMS Canada (far end) and SMS König (near end)

Whilst waiting for the others to arrive, Andy and I decide to play a quick one-on-one duel between HMS Canada (Andy) and SMS König using my Figurehead 1/6000 scale minis.  The two ships steamed towards each other with Canada opening fire first thanks to it's larger 14 inch guns. At long range the Canada hit an unlikely number of critical hits, including a heavy flooding and and engine room hit.  Needless to say, with superior range and speed, the Canada was able to quickly open the range and pound the König to the bottom the the sea. Despite being of the loosing end, it was a fun mini-game and it shows the importance that range and speed can play in a one on one game.

Now, with that out of the way, it was time for the baptism of fire for my brand new GHQ French light ships.  Since for obvious reasons France did not build ships from 1940 to 1945, it was decided that the battle would feature exclusively Treaty ships.  (* denotes ships built after 1940, but was used for the battle due to limited number of suitable models.)

Glenn looks over his SSDs whilst pondering a strategy.

 

Order of battle: 

1. French
1. Task-force Andy
1. CA Algérie 
2. DD Fantasque
3. DD Terrible (Fantasque class)
2. Task-force Martin
1. CA Foch (Suffren Class)
2. DD Épée (Hardi Class)
3. DD Fleuret (Hardi Class)
4. DD Lansequenet(Hardi Class)
2. Japanese
1. Task-force Bear
1. CA Myoko (Nachi Class)
2. DD Akizuki*
3. DD Teruzuki* (Akizuki Class)
2. Task-force Glenn
1. CA Kako (Furutaka Class)
2. DD Asashio 
3. DD Kagero 
4. DD Shiranui (Kagero Class)

The Japanese steam towards the enemy...

with Bear unaware that his lead destroyer is in reverse :-)

Both sides started the game my steaming directly for the enemy with Andy squaring off against Bear and me squaring off against Glenn. 

French turn to present their broadsides to the enemy... and they need to roll 14+

As the ships close, the Japanese are surprised that the French out-ranged them.  Prior to the game, all players were able to inspect the SSDs of the opposition, however since they saw the Japanese out-range the US, they thought that it would be the same case with the French. The French players rubbed their hands in glee as they saw the enemy ships enter extreme gun range of the heavy cruisers... until we do the math and realize that we would need to roll 14s. The system goes up to 13, and so the shot is impossible.   

Andy plotting his movement and Bear looks on smugly assured in the invincibility of his ships

As the ships close, Andy and Glenn are frustrated by their inability to hit the enemy ships, while me and Bear hit the enemy with some regularity.  (A quick note, Andy and I were sharing the same dice)

My destroyers get ready to split the Japanese line...

And the aftermath at the end of the turn.  No more Japanese on this side of the board.

  

As we continue to close, I see an opportunity to split the Japanese line and take it.  By the end of the turn all of Glenn's ships are sinking to the bottom of the sea. 

Bear moving his ship in the unenviable position of facing 2 heavy cruisers

Since my cruiser was in better shape than Andy's, I go to trade broadside to broadside with Bear and Andy crosses the T.  Unfortunately, Bear rolls a lucky salvo and ends up sinking my cruiser, and Andy has an unlucky salvo since none of his dice is higher than a 5.  On the other hand, my three wounded destroyers finish off Bear's final destroyer. 

Start of the final turn's Gunnery phase.  4 French ships to 1 Japanese Ship.

With the ships damaged and bloodied, Andy and Bear go broadside to broadside, and simultaneously sink each other.  (When did  I write that before...)

So the end result is the French have 1 undamaged destroyer and 2 damaged destroyers.  On the other hand, the Japanese have no ships afloat.  This was a good game, but this game goes to show how vulnerable Treaty cruisers are when facing each other.  I can't wait to get more games of this system next year.