"My first try of VaS" Topic

I picked up VaS despite my lukewarm feelings for ACtA, mainly on the strength of the fact that it was so simple that my utterly-indifferent-to-history-or-nautical-warfare younger brother would be willing to give it a try.

After nitpicking the rulebook's historical errors and omissions endlessly (to James' intense boredom), we settled in and played Denmark Straight (I was the filthy hun), which ended in a colossal British victory as Bismarck and Prinz Eugen sank beneath the waves; a quick rematch pitted Littorio and Bolzano against K G V and Orion, and the positions were reversed.

My feelings on the game: it's okay. It's not mind-blowing, but it's easy to teach and to learn (I would rate it as much easier for a neophyte than the more faithful Battlestations, Battlestations) and it plays very, very quickly. I have some issues with how torpedoes work, since they don't really have the effect of breaking up formations the way the historical weapons did, and critical hits seem too frequent and too likely to result in engine damage (in both games, battleships were lost shortly after engine criticals left them helplessly drifting), but one at least gains the basic understanding of why crossing the T was important, why plunging fire can be lethal, etc. etc.

Pictures of the battle, using 1/6000 figurehead ships, are here:

link

So, is it worth the $30 USD if you've already got a rules set you're happy with? None of the reviews I've seen make it sound like it offers any real innovations, and the purported historical inaccuracies put me off a bit.

Rich

Hmmm. My feeling is that if you already have a game you like and that you have plenty of players for, then there's not much need for VaS. If you're looking for new players, or you have younger potential players with perhaps moderate interest in the time period, this would be a great tool for getting them started. As it is, I'll probably play VaS with a couple of young cousins of mine who think the ships are neat but who aren't really into learning a lot of rules.

Nice photographs and at least you are not playing on a heavily folded sheet as on their home page. :-)))

Where did you get your OOB from?
Don't remember any hedgehogs being there.

Actually, a little known factor in the Bismarck chase was Admiral Lutjens' intense fear of an avenging hedgehog named Edith which he believed was pursuing him and his ship to the ends of the earth. He listed it as his main reason for not attempting a return to Germany through the Denmark Straight.

Blimey!- any relation to Spiney Norman?

My understanting is that Spiney Norman is a distant cousin of Edith's, but she's very reticent on the subject.

Nice work on the Italian 1/6000 stuff.

It is common knowledge that Hedgehogs were frequently fired at U-boats from escort vessels in the latter half of the Battle of the Atlantic. Since U-556 was the Bismarck's adoptive sister ship, and since Captain Lindemann knew that U-556 would be near the Bismarck in her hour of need, he shaped a course that kept both ships far away from Allied escort vessels that might have a Hedgehog on board. Unfortunately, his course took him too close to Force H, and the rest is history.

We may never know how many of those brave little creatures perished for King and Country. Truly an example of selfless sacrifice, as even with their spiny integuments, they could hardly be expected to pierce a pressure hull.

If I recall correctly, the last sighting of Spiny Norman by Dinsdale involved Norman occupying an entire hangar at Heathrow. Surely a hedgehog weighing over 6000 stone with spines the size of V-1's could pierce a U-boat? At the least a type VII-c.

Due to excessive topweight, most RN frigates and the older "A-I" class destroyers couldn't take the 45-ton HH Projector Mk. II, and had to settle for the far inferior LW Mk. I HH Projector, a stopgap measure initially only capable of firing African Pygmy Hedgehogs. Needless to say, this weapon primarily saw action in the Mediterranean after the liberation of Algeria, from whence most of its ammunition came. The later LW Mk. II could accept standard European hedgehogs, but the natural English reticence to harm these simple creatures when not at the wheel of a car kept usage to a minimum in the fleet.

Don't forget the Japanese Hedgehogs with explosive helmets!

Not until quite late in the war were Japanese hedgehogs deployed against the US submarine fleet. It was considered dishonorable to the warrior spirit of the Northern Asian Hedgehog to deploy them against such unworthy and unmilitary targets as mere submarines and they were held back in reserve until an opportunity for the decisive battle presented itself. Since no Allied force presented itself with the 50 foot radius of a thrown North Asian Hedgehog, we'll never know how efective they may have been.

The late deployment was due to the aggressiveness of the Japanese hedgehog with made it difficult for technicians to persuade them to lower their prickly spines long enough for them to be inserted in the firing mechanism. In the end the conventional barrel was discarded and a spigot mortar used instead. The Hedgehogs were extremely annoyed when the firing pole was inserted in their rear hole, however this made them even more agressive.

Unfortunately the weapon proved to be less useful than expected, being extremely prone to misfires when the little creatures let fly with flatulents powerful enough to project them ahead of the ship.

The great Kobe discharge forced the Navy to apologize when an entire salvo went off in harbour. It seems the little creatures became angry when a US Aircraft flew low over their ship and faaaaaaarted angrilly. Considerable reparations had to be paid to the local bath house which was unfortunately in the curve at the end of their flight path, with painful results for those bathing at the time.

The situation was exacerbated when the port Admiral was bowing deeply in apology to the bath house owner when a second discharge took place. The three that hit him were able to be removed, and their warheads were not armed in port, however it took seven weeks and the ministrations of 17 Geisha for him to be able to sit down again, which made it hard for even a Japanese admiral to keep a stony expression.

After this the weapon was only loaded when the ships were proceeding to sea and the bows pointed away from land. The insertion of the firing stick was similarly delayed for obvious reasons.

Oh and BTW. Admiral Lutjens had every reason to fear the hedgehog code named 'Edith'.

This was a 2,000lb tall boy bomb fired from a torpedo tube, and utilising the Mk XXIIXIVC (d) homing warhead that was set to detect the distinctive smell of Lutjens favourite cabbage and Sausage soup. His attempts to throw off the pursuing bombs by sending his personal chef to the Prinz Eugen, then detaching that ship from the Bismarck, failed as the chef had taken the precaution of leaving a large supply of the soup in the Admirals little fridge. He also left all the ingredients on the Bismarck.

This was also the reason why British admirals were only served potato soup…and as a precaution bacon was excluded from the ingredients, during the Bismarch chase.

Anyone remember that anime schoolgirl figure that came out recently, with the Ham-Hammer 3000 hamster-shooting gun? Maybe it could be rechambered to fire hedgehogs.
TMP link

Women and schoolgirls are banned on Japanese warships and therefore would be an illogical weapons development.
However once the Japanese hedgehog supply was exhausted, it is possible they could use Hamsters with special spiked suits fitted to them.
However it was very disconcerting to be under attack from a real Japanese Hedgehog screaming "Banzai!"….where as one screaming "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkk!" is less scary.