"Victory at Sea skirmish" Topic

After finialy taking time to paint GHQs IJN and RN fleets, and getting a handle on the rules, myself and a friend sat down and fought a series of battles between the British cruiser Norfolk and the Jap Heavy cruiser Mogami.

The Mogami had a extra turret, but the Norfolk has a wee bit more hull thickness.

Game 1

This game was a slow one, with the Mogami getting a number of minor hits and wearing away the Norfolks damage points, and in return the british fire teams had major problems spotting the Mogami's hull on the horizon (ie. bad dice). The Norfolk, although a tough cruiser could'nt keep missing and taking hit after hit, despite constant course and speed changes, and after 10 turns despite a few quality hits to her engine room and brigde, the British captain ordered the ship scuttled. The battered Mogami although victorious, still had to deal with several fires in her crew cabins.

Result:- Mogami wins 14-7

Game 2

This game was total different, 4 turns long. The Norfolk gunnery had finialy come to grips with the Mogami's Hull outline on the horizon and unleashed a series of blows to her crew quarters and engine room. In return the Mogami started a few minor fires on the Norfolk, but 20 mins into the fight a huge explosion occured in her mid ships and she left the water in an instant, with 2 lucky 6's and another 6 on her vital systems. Norfolk was is good enough shape to collect surivors.

Result : Norfolk wins 14-5

Game 3

This was a late rematch to see who would win 2 of 3 matches, and it was BOORRRING, espicaly for the Japs(until the end)

The Norfolk seemed to have an easy time in the beinging as the Mogami's crew failed to hit the Norfolk for am amazing 5 straight turns. After a good thrashing by the senior officers, the japs turned it around and in the next ten minutes pounded the suprised British who had started to close the range with several hits to critical systems, leaving the Norfolk crippled but still in action. The Norfolk who responded with a few hits of there own I think knew the battle was lost, and the nimble Mogami manouvered around her rear, and brought all her guns to bear on the limping British ship. A thunderous roar broke out as her A turret lifted right of and back taking out her Bridge. Even as the ship started to sink the rear turrets let off one last volley striking the Mogami before another deadly Jap volley finished off the courageous Norfolk.

Result :- Mogami wins 15-9

Even though the Norfolk lost 2 game to 1, I was impressed with the ease of play. More beer and pretzels. Now to try my dive bombers…….

I just picked up the rules at Cold Wars and was very impressed with the simplicity of play.

Other things I liked are that aircraft are part of the game. The planes are part of the game, but do not overwhelm the play.

Counters that come with the package. I don't have any W.W. II naval miniatures. It would cost me well over $100 USD bucks just to get my feet wet in naval games (pun intended).

I can play several games with the counters of ships included with the rules to see how I like the period before I lay down a few "C" notes.

From what I have seen, I'm impressed with the product.

I received my copy of VaS last week – i love them. It is the simplicity i like about the rules, along with the ease of play.
About the only thing i would have liked to have seen was some more ship stats in the book.

If you want the complexity of Harpoon, then this game isnt for you. If you want an easy and fun game to play (including campaign play) then give VaS a go.

If you use the special actions and put some thought to tactics the game goes a bit higher than a beer and pretzel type game – a sherry and hors d'oeuvres game :-)

After reading the VaS forums we will see a new book totally dedicated to ship stats in the near future. I want to get my hands on that.

The new book will also include new aircraft load for aircraft carriers so your USS Enterprise can be upgraded to carry late war US fighters and fighter bombers instead of the likes of the Douglas Davestator… 8)

:-) great news RoT and CJ – i hope they will include smaller ships like frigates too.

I recommend you guys take a look at David Manley'a mods for these rules. They make VaS much more naval and much less a scifi adaption. There are also a number of misprints and errors in the ship data notes. Refer to a Conway tome for correct info.

What is a Conway tome and how do we find it (them)?

I know the Mongoose has fixed a misprint with the J/K/N class, but have any other misprints been pointed out and fixed?

You can download the FAQ from the Mongoose site. It helps clarify a few area's.

Conway is a publisher with a series of naval books. The Blue book covers ships from 1860-1905, the Green covers 1905-l922 and Orange covers covers l922-1945. Think Janes with accurate info and short class histories. Very useful books for the naval gamer. Sadly they are out of print but still pop up on e-bay I'm told.