"Convoy to Freetown" Topic

My group had a very hectic and interesting play test last night. Baldric drove me down to Big Trev's place. Not having seen Trev for some time we had to take some social time first. A shared curry meal, and good chat catching up, meant that it was already kind of late before we even started game play. But none the less it all rattled along really fast and we were able to complete a convoy run from the game I am preparing for publication.

We chose the route for Freetown deliberately as we hadn't tested that. I controlled the submarines, Trev ran the rules, and Baldric controlled the escorts….with some help from Trev.

There were three submarine sunk during the game, which still seems high for 1941. Two Italian and one German. The old destroyer Ludlow got a good pattern on her and that was it. Two patterns, one sub. I will need to analyse the cause of loss for the three and see it this was a fluke or needs to be correct.

The first Italian boat attacked by daylight and was able to fire before being detected. It had hit two ships with torpedoes, but neither sank, and the sub was quickly counter attacked by escorts. She could not control flooding, sank down under the convoy, and eventually surrendered to the crushing weight of the depths.

The second attacker was a German U Boat running on the surface at night. That one also managed to seriously damage a merchant ship. But it was sighted visually between columns and illuminated with Snowflake. It was immediately engaged by some armed merchant ships, suffering an engineering damage which prevented it diving. Despite this the U Boat managed to slip out the rear of the convoy and escape. In doing so it was very lucky, it passed by two escorts unseen. One didn't have radar, the other only had AW radar.

The next attack was carried out by another Italian boat. This one was much more fortunate. It sank 3merchant ships outright and caused another to become a straggler due to damage. However at that point its luck ran out. It was forced to dive, depth charged by two escorts, and after five patterns, was sunk. Another attack was underway at the same time, this one being a U Boat, and this one sank three ships before slipping away undamaged.

During the daylight a Condor attacked form astern, but a Black Swan class sloop stationed at the rear, brought it down before it could even drop its bombs.

A submerged attack late in the third day sank another merchant ship and the U Boat concerned was sunk with an accurate pattern from the destroyer Ludlow. One of the flower class escorts suffered an equipment breakdown and lost the use of its Asdic.

A German VIIc U Boat came in on the surface on the fourth night and sank one ship that had been damaged by the Italian sub during the first attack. The straggler was sunk by another boat, raising the total merchants sunk to 9, out of the 36 forming the convoy. However the last of the German boats caused chaos. The escorts were steaming back up the convoy columns in a 'Buttercup' operation, when Ludlow and Geranium detected a surfaced contact headed back down the columns toward them. The U Boat dived, and the two escorts closed to attack. They had the complication of a sinking ship, darkness, and no radar. The Ludlow, speeding to get away from a pattern it had just dropped, buried its bows into Geranium. The corvette was left immobile, although its flooding was controlled. Ludlow suffered much less damage and was able to continue, although its Asdic dome was lost.

At this point the convoy was about to exit the map, and the next roll on the events boxes produced no contacts. Therefore the convoy had lost 9 merchant ships sunk, one escort with serious damage, one with lesser damage but no Asdic, and one with its Asdic U/S. Two Allied Escorts had also expended all depth charges. The final patter from Ludlow, being her last. The Axis had suffered the loss of three submarines sunk, and one badly damaged.

Time taken to play was three hours despite the inevitable catch up socialising that continued into the game, coffee breaks etc.

Ships used were 1:6000. We usually use 1:3000 scale but with the others available, decided to test it out. Certainly the smaller ships did make things more compact. Despite the tiny size of the escorts, the names were large enough to see, so the small size was not a problem. If anything, it was a big advantage. They took up less room. Looked more correct in formation, and were easier to move other ships around. My opinion is that while I personally use 1:3000 scale, the 6,000 scale stuff is excellent for what we were doing.

Baldric took two cigarette breaks during the game. This indicates he was interested and mostly remained at the tabletop. Had he taken none we would consider it to have been 'riveting.' But at two smokes, it was certainly 'exciting' on our Baldricometer.

Mal Wright
Non-torsii subligarium
(Don't get your knickers in a knot)

Rules used????

You need to cross the really big pond and put one of these games on at a Historicon/Fall-In or Cold Wars. I think you'd get more than your fair share of riveted responses.

Hi Mal,

Sounds like fun.

Please let us know when they will be available for sale, or if you need playtesters.

I'm very interested in your rules, both personally, and in carrying them for sale here in North America.

Best regards,

Rob
Topgun Marketing LLC
topgunace111 AT yahoo DOT com

Rules used for actual combat are GQIII. But others could be used.
The rest are a series of rules I'm writing. At the moment there are two in play test.

The game mechanics are unfortunately not able to be released at this time. The game is very fast and puts lots of pressure on the players. But how
it does this is quite unique. According to testers it has proved to them,
that convoy battles of the Battle of the Atlantic are not only able to be
played, but can be very exciting naval games. In the past they have always
been seen as too complicated, slow and boring. My system is quite the
opposite and presents players with a series of combat problems they must
resolve, as well as dealing with the day to day problems involved with
running a convoy.

Ships break down, catch fire, have cargo shifts. They straggle, make too
much smoke, get out of their station, or try to rush ahead. Then the enemy
add further annoyance!

Condor's circle, or occasionally attack. Even Ju88's and other aircraft can
appear in some circumstances. Unknown ships are sighted, neutrals and
blockade runners can blunder across the path of the convoy, to say nothing
of the occasional German raider. Then of course there is the ever
threatening presence of U Boats that send sighting signals, trail the convoy
and home others in for a wolf pack attack.

Single submarine attacks by Italian and German subs can whittle away your
resources as you make your way from one point to another. And by night can
come the dreaded wolf pack attacks, where several U Boats may attack at the
same time. This creates havoc among the merchant ships, and a chaos the
escort commanders must deal with.
Navigation can sometimes prove rather 'hairy' if the commanders are not
careful. There is always the danger of collision for the unwary and even the
more experienced players need to be on their guard. Last Saturday evening
two experienced wargamers ended up in collision while in night time pursuit
of a surfaced U Boat.

Each convoy run is a mini-campaign. Until selection die are rolled, the
Allied players are not sure how many ships they must escort, and how many
escorts they actually have. The various routes can produce different
challenges as the convoy proceeds day by day, night by night from its point
of departure to its destination. Some days and nights may pass with few or
no problems. If so these entree serves pass very quickly. The game always
heads for the main course, which is the real meat and vegetables of the
passage. Some merchant ships can be downright troublesome. Others can prove
very helpful in helping to deal with attacks.

The Axis player has forces allocated to him and makes choices of what to
commit when. Too many losses can result in not having enough resources in
some later contact, so there is everything to be gained by getting some
quick kills, getting clear, and surviving for anther episode.

I can very confidently say, that in many months of play testing, we have
never had a single convoy that seemed like a previous one! Each has been
very individual and exciting in its own way. That is indeed, one of the
major things I aimed for in designing the game. I did not want something
that was always much the same as before. I did not want something that was
slow and boring. I did want, lots of situations to be thrown at the
participants, and for which they would have to make decisions and deal with
the situations presented.

We've had some convoys where German Fw200 Condors were a continually nagging
presence and others where they failed to appear at all. Games where Wolf
packs slashed into the convoy, and others where there were few submarine
attacks at all. During one test game we even had a German major surface unit
appear and present the escort players with the problem of how to fend it off
It could be that the commander rolls and gains an escort group with very
strong anti submarine forces, but ends up needing anti aircraft help, and
vice versa. He can find himself with some powerful destroyers of the Fleet
with him, but is more in need of purpose built escorts with lots of depth
charges. Or not have the powerful destroyers, and wishes to heck he did as
his threats are more in their line.

The game can easily be played solo, although it is always more fun to have
real life opponents. The game is one that presents the player with real life
problems and requires him to deal with them. Do you leave behind that old
smokey merchantship that is always straggling? Or do you detach someone and
tell it to catch up. Tell it to stop making smoke? Yes or no can have its
good and bad points. Smoke gives away a convoy position. But a straggler is
vulnerable to attack. Do you chase after and put down, the U Boat that is
following you/ Do you launch a catapult fighter and chase off the Condor
that is sending off your position? If you do there can be repercussions as
well as the obvious benefits. If you don't that Condor or U Boat tailing you
might call in more forces to attack you. But chasing off the submarine may
result in an escort being out of the screen just when you need it, or
perhaps an air attack developing and you've already expended your catapult
fighter!

These convoy games require the players to really think out their situation.
In most one off wargames there are no later repercussions if you leave a
ship to get sunk. But as the convoy can run for several days, the presence
of every ship can be important until you finally reach port. In my convoy
games you do not just fight a single action. You might find yourself
fighting a couple per day and several per night….or then again….none at
all. You just never know, so wasting your resources is just not an option.
You can choose to leave an escort behind to pursue a U Boat contact to
destruction. But then again, what if you need the escort before it can catch
up again? What if it returns with no depth charges, and you are under attack
by a wolf pack? Was it worth it to sink a U Boat that was already damaged,
but as a result, loose several merchant ships due to the gap in your escort
screen? So you sent off your only fast destroyer to chase down an unknown
ship, found out it was a blockade runner and sank it….but what if while it
was away the convoy was attacked by a raider and you badly needed that
destroyer?

By making each 'game' last several days, players have to hoard their
resources, rather that waste them. They are continually presented with
problems to solve, as well as lots of action to fight out.

Mal Wright
Non-torsii subligarium
(Don't get your knickers in a knot)

Mal,
I know it's potentially dangerous, but would you like to make a forecast for the publication date ?
Cheers

The best forcast I can offer is……….

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……………..well……errrrrrrr……ummmmmmmmmmmm………

They are pretty much finished and in full play test by several distinguished naval gamers in various countries. Most of who are returning favourable reports.