The Solomons Campaign 2017

[paulr]

They were Myoko, Haguro and Kinugasa.

The GQ2 torpedo system is the most elegant one I have used in a set of C20 naval rules. The Japanese torpedoes have long range (90cm over two turns) but the launching player has to guess the correct arc that the target ship will be in each turn at the time the torpedoes are launched. Roy, our Japanese player, seems to have mastered this skill well     

I also really like the torpedo system, a good balance of skill and luck. It also forces the commander fired at to make some tough decisions on how to react to the torpedoes

It was definitely a very impressive bit of second guessing my course changes by Roy. He managed to guess two lots of my course changes seven times

Fortunately with only four torpedoes per spread he couldn't manage to roll the 1 he needed to get a hit (at long range and my battleships doing 28 knots). Unfortunately the last spread was 8 torpedoes which improved his odds and a roll of 2 was good enough to get the two hits

[Ace of Spades]

So you didn't get it for free but a damaged BB against those three IJN CA's is a very good deal strategically! IJN fuel supplies are so minimal at this point in history that it will be hard for them to ge their BB's into action while the much more economic CA's are being sunk. Hats off to the USN again...

Cheers,
Rob

[pierre the shy]

So you didn't get it for free but a damaged BB against those three IJN CA's is a very good deal strategically! IJN fuel supplies are so minimal at this point in history that it will be hard for them to ge their BB's into action while the much more economic CA's are being sunk. Hats off to the USN again...

Cheers,
Rob

Quite correct Rob about the fuel, TSC campaign book limits the number of Japanese capital ships that can sortie to 5 or 6 each monthly turn. If Yamato sorties it counts as 3 sorties!! She has not been sighted by the Americans.......so far 

Points wise the loss of the Washington is about equal to the 3 CA's.

[paulr]

She's not lost, only resting

Not even damaged enough to count half towards Victory Points... or so I'll tell the other American commander when I see him next

[Ace of Spades]

Interesting with the fuel points and all that! Don't worry about the Yamato too much; Henderson wasn't bombed this month apparently so should be able to get some good air cover back up and running. If she comes at night on a bombing mission I would avoid surface action and take the losses on the Cactus AF. She won't be back soon with that amount of fuel consumption. Then again; if she uses up that much fuel there won't be many escorts... maybe you should oppose her?

Cheers,
Rob

[paulr]

You've nicely captured just one of the many dilemmas this campaign throws up

It manages to do so with very little book keeping and generates a wide array of battles all with different challenges

All of which is why I am enjoying it so much

I wonder who is winning

[Poggle]

I'm enjoying these campaign accounts a lot. Thanks for sharing. 

[paulr]

The rest of the November turn was less eventful

• USN bombarded Japanese positions west of Henderson field
• some supplies may have arrived for the hard pressed Marines (can't say too much, loose lips and all that)
• Reconnaissance aircraft from Henderson spotted withdrawing Japanese supply ships, the strike by the Cactus air force could not locate them due to bad weather

Then, on Thursday Pierre the Shy, our umpire, asked if Vandegrift was feeling confident

Before our Dunkirk themed game last night Pierre and the Japanese players spent some time in a huddle



The Japanese did indeed launch a major assault on the Marine positions around Henderson Field 



The Marines held 

The land part of the campaign is resolved by dice rolls, the odds are impacted by the value of the Tactical Index

The Tactical Index is influenced by the arrival (or not) of supplies and bombardments (results of which are known only by the recipient and umpire)
Neither side knows what the index is unless they use one of their limited 'missions' to launch a 'reconnaissance in force'

[lowlylowlycook]

This whole thing sounds very interesting and very fun.

Jelly.

[paulr]

Yes and yes

But you missed out a few:

• nerve wracking
• surprising
• frustrating  
• fascinating
• tense

But most of a whole lot of fun

We are using Old Dominion GameWorks, "The Solomons Campaign" and I would highly recommend it to any group with an interest in WW II naval
We are using General Quarters I/II for the battles rather than GQ III

[pierre the shy]

On to turn 5  - December 1942 and another potential night surface action in off Cape Esperance is first up this month - we will play this next out next Saturday.

Certain conditions need to be met for it to count as an engagement - visual sighting and 3 turns of combat or damage inflicted.

I know whats out there but you'll have to wait till next week to find out what happens   

 

[Dr Dave]

I'm wary of gaming WW2 Pacific naval due to the carrier dominance, but I find all of these reports gripping!

Thanks for keeping us informed.

[paulr]

The carrier actions can end up very one sided and don't make for the best games

There were plenty of surface actions, particularly at night, and these give very good games

[pierre the shy]

Did all the Turn 5 (December 1942) actions tonight:

Firstly we played out a very brief surface action, the USN patrol force with only one operational battleship took a cautious approach and retired without attempting to engage a Japanese supply mission after they sighted two Japanese Kongo class battlecruisers at long range. The Japanese fired once and attempted to close but the Americans turned away under cover of smoke and the action ended there.  

As Henderson Field was not bombarded however SBD's of the Cactus Air Force were able to launch attacks against the retiring Japanese transports, sinking the Kinryu Maru, two converted old destroyer transports and a escorting destroyer, much to the disgust of the Japanese commanders who question if the older GQ1/2 air rules really make the grade - we need to discuss this further as the TSC campaign we are using is actually written for the newer GQ3 rules which have a completely different set of air rules.

Despite the USN being able to deliver significant supplies to the Marines holding Guadacanal the Japanese final ground attack against the airfield was successful (they rolled a 1!!)



So Henderson Field has been retaken by the Japanese on the penultimate turn of the campaign.

that should make the last turn interesting          

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Last turn, throw in the Yamato!