"GQ III Night Acton " Topic

Frank and I met in a savage naval night action that left both fleets battered and licking their wounds. The rule set used was General Quartes III link

Excellent game, thanks for sharing

Nice. What did you think of the rapid fire rules given the presence of those Brooklyn's? We've had a few IJN players argue that it was a bit too powerful.

We have had that problem from Italian Navy players vs Royal Navy. Just tell them to get over it ;-)

It is hard to sympathize with any IJN player in a night game with those darn Long lances.

@McKintry-- we used no special rules but when your rolling 7 dice you gets lots of hits.

Also your right about those Damnd Long Lance Torpedoes

That was what these ships were meant to do.

@JcFrog indeed it is and they did it well.

IJN/USN night actions are always savage. All depends on who gets the drop first. Had one game (very similar to Adamc1776's) that went completely to the IJN. The USN had abysmal search/acquisition rolls; the first inkling that the IJN was out there was when a 40+ spread of torpedoes hit the US line. With one CA and two DDs sunk, one CA, one CL and two DDs crippled, things proceeded to go downhill rapidly! Not a good night for the USN….

Pretty much what happened, all or nothing. Most of the time. The only hard thing for games: hindsight. But as it works for both sides it might even up somehow. At least we need smaller tables! ;))

Excellent game. Thank you. My thought. If Japanese ships are crippled in speed, they will likely get an unwelcome visit from the Cactus Air Force the next day. Japanese aircraft visiting US cripples happened far less often. That should be a consideration when deciding who won.

Indeed CampyF we speculated the same way but on the flip side US ships have to run past the INJ submarines at Torpedo Junction

I'm not saying this was so in this game, but speaking from personal experience, it's VERY easy for players to miss all of the bad mods for the US in a night action.

First, if US ships don't have Radar Fire Control (RFC), they're always going to be up one row (up is bad if you're not familiar with the GQ tables) on the Gunfire CRT. Admittedly, this doesn't effect the additional hit chances for using Rapid Fire (i.e. 11 = 1 hit, 12 = 2 hits).*

Second, if they do have RFC, then you need to be sure to apply from 1.5.6 GUNFIRE CRT Adjustments: "When engaging a target with RFC at night, however, adjust UP one row for EACH additional ship engaging the target to simulate the increased confusion in the radar returns." This is in addition to the up one row for multiple batteries engaging same target – e.g. if you shoot the same Brooklyn's 5" guns at the same target at which they're shooting their 6" guns.

Third, strict adherence to the Detection/Acquisition rules is critical, from squalls and land shadow effects on radar, to this little tidbit from 1.12.6 Gunnery Combat: "When a division flagship acquires a target formation, all ships in her division automatically acquire the CLOSEST target vessel." To shift fire to a different target, whether more preferable in general or just to get away from the multiple batteries/ships penalties, requires a successful roll on the Dark Acquisition Table – and the US values on the Dark Acquisition Table are not nearly as good as the IJN's. If unsuccessful, they continue to engage the previous target.

Fourth, while not effecting the fire from the US ships, Optional Rule 1.12.10 Flashless Power should be used, which will make the US ships easier to see/hit up until well into 1943.

* I never noticed before, but rule 1.5.8 Rapid Fire says "Die Roll Rapid Fire D12 attack probabilities on the GUNFIRE CRT are increased to include "11" = one hit and "12" = two hits (for 1+ – 2 and 1+ – 3 probabilities), as noted in the dialog box to the right of the EQUIVALENT DAMAGE ROLLS table." That seems to indicate you don't always hit on 11 and 12 using Rapid Fire, that for example a US DD with 5" guns using Rapid Fire would only hit on 11 starting at 9000 yards, and 12 at 6000 yards, instead of all the way out to 12000 yards… Need to look into that!