Cruel Seas Battle Report - Scenario two - Torpedo Run

This afternoon we (me and Paul D) decided to try out one of the starter scenarios from Cruel Seas as Asgard Wargames in Middlesbrough (purveyors of the finest toy soldiers and models). Coincidentally Ste who runs the place does a nice cup of tea, which is most welcome. If you are in or around Middlesbrough or need some stuff online I would heartily recommend you look them up (plug over).

Scenario 2 is a simple 1v1 mission set in the English Channel, with the defender trying to get a tanker across the table, the attacker is trying to sink it. The recommended forces are an S Boat vs a Vosper MTB, dicing to see which is the attacker. As I ended up as the defender and had just finished painting some Soviet boats we decided to mix that up a bit by swapping the scene from the Channel to the Baltic, and replacing the Vosper with a BMO.

The BMO is a small armoured patrol boat \ submarine chaser used extensively by the Soviets in WW2. It gets several mentions in the "fluff" section of the Cruel Seas rules, but in one of the many "omissions" doesn't appear in the stat lists. Even so it is not exactly a challenge to make up something close. The BMO is about the same size as a PT boat, so we used the hull points from that. Weaponry consisted of an automatic 37mm in the bow, a 45mm on the stern and a couple of AA HMGs amidships, plus depth charges, but no torpedoes. Cruel Seas doesn't list the 45mm as a weapon, so we decided to class it as a 57mm for this game. They have some armour so we classed it as having an armoured wheelhouse like a late S Boat. They're a useful little boat but a bit slow, with a top speed of about 21 knots. Perfect for an escort scenario. Warlord don't make a BMO, or at least there are none listed in their release plans, but Heroics and Ros do for £4, and it is a quite nice model. The only thing missing is gun crew, but I think I may try getting some suitable figures from H&R.

The real one - this one has replaced the rear 45mm with another AA gun

My Heroics and Ros version - sorry for the blurry pic 

We're using the paper map from the CS starter set - it's a bit shiny but will do for now, until we can get a better replacement.

Junior Lieutenant Dolguruki was pacing his very small bridge. Slightly to starboard was his ward for the day, the coastal transport P P Ledbedev, carrying a month's supply of Vodka for the troops on the Front. (Model is Warlords Tanker - £18) Both were cruising along.

 Unbeknown to the Soviets, there is an S Boat lying in wait, Commanded by Lt Prum (model Warlord S100 class late S Boat from the Starter Set)

 Turn 1 and the Soviets spotted the lurking S Boat. The BMO immediately turned to close the range, also attempting to put themselves between the transport and the S Boat. The S Boat, realising it had been spotted, opened the throttles and tried to bring it's guns to bear.

 Turn 2, and initiative went to the Soviets. The BMO continued to close and opened fire with her two bigger gins - both missed. The S Boat accelerated and returned fire on the BMO. A lucky long range shot from the 37mm hit the BMO but did little damage.

 Turn 3 and Prum has the initiative. He continued to engage the BMO with little effect, and launched his "Fish" at the transport from a range of around 50 cm.

The Soviets landed a hit with their bow mounted 37mm, which did limited damage, and the 45mm missed.

Turn 4 and the Germans held the initiative. Their torpedoes were running hot, straight and true. It was looking a bit scary for the Ledbedev. 

Luckily the crafty old Captain had been biding his time, and at the last moment swung the wheel so the torpedo ran harmlessly past the bow. Sadly that brought her closer to the S Boat and it's heavy weaponry started to chew up the vulnerable old ship. A 20mm hit to the engine room slowed the top speed. The crew looked worriedly at their Captain. Back on the S Boat Prum ordered his torpedo tubes reloaded but the crew looked at him blankly - the torpedo reloading rules are one of the things mentioned in the rules book but actually missing. Ah well.

Dolguruki had a bit of a brain fade at this point, forgetting he could turn 45 degrees for each move segment, he hauled his ship around rather slowly and continued to engage the German, but with no effect.

Turn 5 and Prum accelerated and turned to put the transport between him and the closing Soviet boat. Ok he couldnt reload his torpedoes due to poor editing, but he still had a lot of firepower with his 37mm and 20mm cannons. He raked the transport with all his guns, hitting again and again. The Soviet return fire was again ineffective.

Turn 6 and Prum held his turn, putting the tanker between his boat and the BMO, and continued to pour fire into the damaged transport. The BMO tried to put some hurt on the S Boat, but accuracy was now suffering as the Soviets were at full throttle and the target was partly obscured by the transport. They missed with everything except a HMG which caused minimum damage.

Turn 8. The two warships continued to circle the stricken transport. German fire proved fatal, and the transport stopped dead an the water and started to sink. Those S Boats can really dish out damage. Which raised another issue, as we could find no explanation as to what happens when a ship sinks. Does it go down straight away or sink over time? There is a mention of sinking ships blocking line of sight, but no rules about what actually happens when you start to sink. We decided to leave the marker in place for a turn or two.

Turn 9. All that was needed now was for Prum to make good his escape. He opened the throttle and his ship surged forward. For a moment it looked like he would get away scot free, but then a 45mm shell hit him in the stern, damaging his engines and taking out his aft 37mm. Dolguruki may well have lost the precious vodka, but this must have galvanised his gunners who were hitting the fleeing S Boat hard.

Turn 10. Prums luck ran out. Another series of hits ripped through his boat, hitting him again in the engine room and wrecking the bridge, and she started to sink. Prum ordered his crew to abandon ship, but some of them were caught as the Soviets raked his ship from stem to stern.

So a phyrric victory to the Germans.

It was a good game and we had quite a bit of fun. The rules work, but the problems of omissions and editing are annoying. Warlord are currently getting quite a lot of flak for the problems with the CS rules, deservedly so, but I would not let that put buyers off - this is a good little game. Hopefully they will learn the lesson and get future rules sets properly proof read and play tested. Even so I'm sure we will be playing again soon.

I'm planning a couple more posts on Cruel Seas. If you would like to get notified of any new blog posts just hit the "follow" button up there on the right.

Cheers