Cruel Sea's United States Navy v Regia Marina

Another small series of Cruel Sea's games against Mike, this time with me using my newly painted USN and Mike his Italian Regia Marina.

This time, rather than use the scenarios from the rule books, we used some I found on a Cruel Sea's Facebook group which employed Mission Cards. Basically there were eight mission cards to choose from (Patrol, Convoy, Symbolic Act, Control, Interdiction, Recover the Spy, Lame Duck and Commando Raid) each of which gave you a points total for your fleet and some objectives. As you draw them at random and secretly you don't know what the opposition's mission is other than it isn't the one you have though there may be clues once the game starts!

The first game saw me draw 'Symbolic Act' which gives a 600pt force and requires you to sink one of the enemies biggest ships. It was rapidly apparent Mike had drawn 'Convoy':

The Italian ships are quite weak but the Siebel Ferry leading the escorts is dangerous being very well armed. Initial action saw a bunch of torpedoes being launched by the USN PT boats and a lucky shot from the Italians causing the USN Sub Chaser to catch fire:

The USN engage the Ferry hoping to knock it out quickly. One torpedo looks like it might hit the leading Merchantman but just misses:

The other torpedoes are unlikely to hit either:

The USN PT boats swarm around the Ferry and sink it with the crew being forced into lifeboats! The Sub Chaser is still on fire and taking more damage:

The small Italian MAS boats use their speed to get into close range and manage to knock out one PT boat that had been damaged by the Ferry before it sank. At this point I realised I'd worked out my points wrongly and all my ships would have to be inexperienced!:

The convoy desperately attempts to avoid the torpedoes while the MAS boats repeat their success taking out another PT boat:

The Americans are down to only two boats now, the on-fire Sub Chaser and a sole surviving PT boat. Being Inexperienced crews they find it hard to hit and have to shoot the nearest target so things are not looking good as, in addition, not a single torpedo has hit home:

The USN decides to retire before taking more losses and the Italian convoy gets through unmolested apart from the loss of the Siebel Ferry!:

For the second game I drew 'Interdiction' giving me 1,000pts to stop the enemy completing their mission. Unknown to me at the start but quickly given away by Mike he had 'Lame Duck' where one of my boats will get irreparable engine damage on Turn 4, his mission being to sink it. This time I worked my points out properly and went for a couple of veteran ELCO boats and an experienced one, a Higgins boat and the Sub Chaser again. Mike had a mixed force of MAS boats and heavily armed Lighters: 

The veteran ELCO PT boat shows that it is a very different kettle of fish from the inexperienced ones and quickly blows away one of the MAS boats:

Not to be outdone the other ELCO's put a second MAS boat out of action:

They quickly turn their attention to the dangerous Lighter and with some excellent shooting put that out of action as well:

One of the surviving MAS boats is forced to collide with an ELCO!:

The collision sinks it and with only an inexperienced Lighter left the Italians concede this time:

For the final game I drew 'Patrol' which game me 500pts and the objective of keeping a boat on table for the first five moves. It was hard to budget for this so I ended up with two veteran ELCO's and ( somewhat bizarrely) three LCM:

Mike had a huge force of Italians (more are behind the second island in the distance) supported by a couple of E-Boats. His objective was probably 'Commando Raid':

One ELCO runs up to full speed and attempts to outflank the Italian line. It is travelling so fast the Italian explosive boats stand no chance of hitting it!:

Four MAS boats, doubtless packed with commandos, fly forward on the USN left. Being faced with only two LCN it seems impossible to stop them delivering the men to the beach:

Again the veteran ECLO proves it's worth sinking the first of the Siebel Ferries but taking some damage doing so:

The second Siebel has more luck though and knocks out the ELCO with it's powerful 88mm guns. If they hit they certainly make a mess of the target!:

The remaining Ferry probably won't make it to the beaches on time so that is at least some commandos delayed:

On the other flank the second ELCO has been pounding an E-boat while the LCM engage in a firefight with the MAS boats with little damage on either side. The MAS are certainly going to land enough commandos to achieve their mission:

The first E-boat goes down and the Italian's will not be able to destroy the remaining ELCO before it completes it's five moves of patrolling. With both sides having achieved their objectives the final score is one win for the Italians, one for the USN and a draw!:

A close up of the heavily armed Siebel Ferry. It has 2 x 88mm guns, 1 x 37mm and a 20mm gun. If you could put a veteran crew on it I think it would be utterly deadly with a very long range and heavy hitting power. Even with an average crew it is certainly something to be wary of:

Very enjoyable games and the ability to choose your own force really helps though the points system is perhaps not the greatest and for the USN at least the lack of availability of cheaper ships (other than LCM!) is a bit limiting, it can be hard to make up the points with no filler. Having said that maybe that is one way the fleets balance better for the nations that only have poorer ships.

The scenarios worked well I think, it is a bit odd not knowing what your opponent is meant to do (though often it isn't hard to guess) but I reckon that, taken as a small part of a bigger picture, it does sort of make sense though.

For example, in the last one where I was trying to Patrol and Mike was trying to carry out a Commando Raid given the points difference (I had 500 while Mike had 1000) I was never going to stop him landing the commandos. However, that wasn't really my objective which was to find out what the Italians were up to which I was able to achieve. 

It might even be possible to link the games, so the next game after that one would be where the Italians having successfully landed them attempt to extract the commandos while the USN, having been warned by the patrolling boats, try to destroy them on the way home.

I also found another set of scenarios which were more traditional and had some interesting rules for weather, time of day and so on which we will take a look at. 

I've actually become quite keen to play Cruel Sea's now, it is an interesting game with a bit of variety and potentially different ways of doing things, the ships are easy to make and paint and there are a few people interested in playing it so I'm sure my fleets will see more action soon!

ADLG Justinian Byzantine v African Vandal

A 25mm game of ADLG this week using my truly ancient Early Byzantine (or as ADLG has it, Justinian Byzantine) against Gordon's slightly smaller 20mm African Vandals.

My Early Byzantines are the oldest figures I still possess, a large army of Hinchcliffe figures painted in the 70's when I was at school! Over the years they campaigned frequently in WRG 5th and 6th Edition, ignored 7th Edition, made a few appearances with DBM (by which time 25mm figures were dinosaurs and 15mm was all the rage), ignored FoG ancients and have had a couple of outings in ADLG where 25/28mm figures seem to be having a bit of a revival.

Rather like myself they are a bit tattered around the edges and brittle in places but, considering how old they are, are in a remarkably good condition overall. They, and my Napoleonic Austrians some of whom are a similar vintage, are by far my favourite armies and I still love using them now and then

Partly to try to give Gordon a better game and partly as I wanted to give the army a chance I put a bit more effort than I have done usually with ADLG into choosing the army list taking into account the opposition and gave it more thought than usual to the extent of getting the figures out and seeing what it looked like and how I'd deploy it!

I ended up as the defender and had a bit of luck with the terrain despite Gordon attempting to move three bits of it which mostly failed. The Byzantines deployed with infantry on their left and right, cavalry in the centre and more cavalry in reserve. The Vandals had two strong groups of impact cavalry, some impetuous heavy swordsmen and a Moorish allied command mainly of medium foot:

With excellent command dice in the first turn the Moors rush towards the apparently undefended Byzantine left flank. The Vandal foot warriors also dash forward seeing a juicy target in the Byzantine infantry on the left. The Vandal Nobles however are more circumspect advancing cautiously:

The Infantry on the Byzantine left wheel to face the Vandal infantry while the centre and right advance:

Vandal Moorish cavalry discover an ambush placed by the Byzantines in the plantation on the left, it isn't defenceless after all! Four bases of Isaurian javelin skirmishers appear. This is a surprise to the Vandals I think as I never usually bother ambushing:

The Vandal Moorish lackies seem unimpressed with the Isaurian's and the whole mob rushes forward to attack the plantation:

Meanwhile (with worse command dice this turn) the Vandal Nobles decide perhaps they should support the rest of the army!:

Such is the confidence of the Byzantines that a single Isaurian is sent forward to hold back the Moorish horde. Another interpretation is that he is a sacrificial speed bump to slow them down at least:

Byzantine shooting has proven rather ineffective with just a couple of hits scored. This is unfortunate as, while the Vandals can't shoot back, they fight in close combat better so need to be weakened before contact:

The battle lines formed, they will clash soon:

On the Byzantine right the Vandals charge forward. The Byzantines are well placed to lure the Vandals into a trap by evading. The Byzantine bodyguard evade successfully but the mercenary Moorish light horse on the Byzantine side have a small chance of being caught while evading. Inevitably they are. Oh dear:

In the centre another trap has been prepared by the devious Byzantines. The Byzantine cavalry evade as planned, so far so good, but unfortunately the Vandal cavalry roll short and don't fall fully into the trap:

One Moorish mercenary is killed, the other damaged. On to Plan B for the right flank:

Plan B involves charging a spearman unit into the exposed flank of a Vandal Noble. Despite hitting him in the flank and being supported by some archers the Vandal takes no damage. the Byzantines are starting to have that it's-not-our-day feeling:

On the left the brave Isaurian holding back the horde has been despatched. Despite Gordon kindly telling me it was a bad idea (which it was) I decide to send a spearman into the flank of the Moorish swordsman that had killed the Isaurian's. He needs to win in the first round but fails and is damaged itself:

The Moorish swordsman turns to face the damaged spearman with the odds very much in the Moor's favour now. The Byzantine commander consoles himself with the thought that the spearmen would have been run over by the impetuous Vandal swordsmen soon anyway:

The remaining Vandal Nobles in the centre charge home, if they break through quickly they will be okay but if not there are a few Byzantine cavalry who can intervene to good effect perhaps:

Ouch! The Moors attack another Isaurian while the Vandal foot, on whom the archers have had no effect, crash into the cowering Byzantine archers and spearmen. this looks bad, very bad:

Before the Byzantine Bodyguard can intervene the Vandals on the right manage to charge into some archers frontally and the flank of a spearman unit. This merely looks bad compared to the left, if the Byzantine foot can hold on for a turn or two it will be the Vandals getting charged in the flank:

Somewhat surprisingly the Isaurian's and the spearmen in the wood manage to inflict some damage on the Moors they are facing. Even the Byzantine archers and spearmen facing the Vandal swordsmen don't disintegrate on contact and survive to fight on!:

The Vandal Nobles who charged into the centre also don't do that well and the Byzantine archer on the right holds off the Noble facing him. Things may be looking up a bit:

On the left morale is positively skyrocketing! The Isaurian's, perhaps enraged by the loss of their comrades, begin to demolish the Moorish swordsmen rapidly cutting them down with ease: 

Also on the left the Byzantine infantry facing the Vandal swordsmen hang on. In another burst of furious fighting FOUR Vandal Noble bases fall to the Hunnic and Byzantine mounted. Gordon is now looking rather worried and my confidence has soared!:

Both armies have taken heavy losses now, the Vandal army being slightly larger (26 elements to 24 Byzantine) has more staying power as more elements are lost on each side:

The fight in the plantation is almost over. In these combats the Isaurian's cut down the last of the Moorish swordsmen and claim the ground for their own. A remarkable achievement for them and they have certainly earned their pay and the Emperor's gratitude:

Sadly as losses continue to mount on both sides the Byzantine army breaks first! The Vandals are only a couple of elements from breaking themselves in a very close game:

I must admit I much prefer ADLG in 25mm it seems more of a battle than the slightly-bigger-than-DBA 15mm version. This was a great game I really enjoyed with swings of luck on both sides and (I think) better game play from me, partly because I love the army so much and therefore take it more seriously than I perhaps normally do, putting more thought into the army list and how I'd use it. 

As ever Gordon was very patient with my lack of rules knowledge (not improved by the 2nd edition coming out), advising me when the way I wanted to do something was not allowed in the rules and then showing me how, if possible, I could do what I wanted!

I had thought of using an almost all cavalry version of the army which would have been much smaller but also much more powerful and relied on manoeuvre to isolate the Vandal commands and deal with them one at a time. Perhaps next time we play ADLG I'll suggest a rematch and see how that does!