Jun 9, 2016

Sea Battle


The playtest of my naval wargames rules and the trial by fire of the 1/600 models happened at the same time. A rather unlikely group of IJN Mikasa and USS St Louis engaged the SMS Brandenburg and SMS Novara. 



We played on the 2x1,5m table, which sort of made range finding easy. The Novara charged forward at full speed, preparing its torpedoes, and missing the St Louis.


At close range, the St Louis could fire all of her guns on a flat trajectory, hitting the Novara's boiler, which exploded.


Here's one of the targets we shot at with a BB gun.


The Brandenburg continued to fight. First the Mikasa shot up the superstructure, which was quite in vain as the shells were not incendiary, then the St Louis did the same as with the Novara, three short range hits to the boiler, and the Brandenburg was gone.

The biggest observation is that range finding requires a larger space to be more interesting. In the heat of the battle many rounds fell too short or long, even following successful salvoes. The small table also meant that secondary armament could engage the enemy very soon, increasing the risk of critical damage. 

6 comments: