Cruel Seas in 1-600 Scale

[fsn]

Erm ... I seem to have ... somehow ... ordered some aircraft to go with the ships.

Beaufighters, Sunderland (flying and landed), JU87s, Arado floatplanes and some bits and bobs.

How DID that happen?

Be careful! They are addictive.

I think you definitely need some Wellingtons to add to that mix, possibly some  Hudsons and even a Bf110 or two?

If you have the Arado, you've got to have the Walrus ... and possibly the cruiser it came from.

Then, of course, if you have downed pilots they could be from say Spitfires, Hurricanes, Bf109s ... or any of those beautiful German bombers - He111, Ju88 or Do17/217.
 


Then there's all those rescues under gunfire from shore batteries ... which would have AA cover which would bring down the planes ....

Or getting an MTB to torpedo a train.

Or a commando raid, Dieppe, Slapton Sands or even, dammit., let's just re-fight D-Day.

Face it, there are just so many possibilities.

[Ithoriel]

Shell splashes - no expense spared .... sorry ... no extra expense involved

[paulr]

 

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Like those Mike

[Ithoriel]

Your target for tonight

The Steam Ship Maria, a small tramp steamer.

From Heroics & Ros, a resin hull with metal masts, cranes, funnel and bridge.

I reckoned that "Maria" was sufficiently neutral that she could serve as either Allied or Axis shipping.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Ave Maria!

[paulr]

 

[Womble67]

Shell splashes - no expense spared .... sorry ... no extra expense involved

They look really good

Take care

Andy

[Ithoriel]

Two Fairmile D "Dog Boats" to beef up the rather motley collection of British ships painted to date.

Something to give the S-100 E-Boats a run for their money!

Beaufighter being painted, as a change from grey things.

Then on to an F-lighter and a small trawler for the Germans, which leaves three Vospers and the Steam Gunboat "Grey Wolf" as the final boats ... of the current batch.

Arado floatplanes, Stukas, more Beaufighters and a Sunderland will keep me busy for a while yet.

[paulr]

 

[FierceKitty]

Ave Maria!

Full of Grease.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Excellent.
Your contribution to the 1:300 scale version get undecoated and base painted today.
Will be trying the rules tomorrow (the amazing Mrs D gave me a pass for Valentines)!

[lowlylowlycook]

Nice!

[Ithoriel]

First of four Beaufighters.

German trawler, F-Lighter and 3 Vospers undercoated.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Very nice chap

[Techno]

Very nice, indeed, Mike. 

Cheers - Phil

[Westmarcher]

Looking good. 

[Womble67]

Very nice indeed

Take care

Andy

[Ithoriel]

SET UP AND TURN 0

Played a five player game of Cruel Seas, one boat each, as an introduction for four guys who hadn't played it before. One of them admitted to never having played a game more complicated than Snakes & Ladders!

Everyone seemed to pick up the rules very quickly so we launched into things.

To track damage I was using a home made tracker with coloured cubes. We picked a cube of each colour and chose one at random from the bag. I found myself commanding one of the two Fairmile "D" MTBs and facing off against two S100 class E-Boats and one S38 class (actually one S26 model and two S38s with the armoured bridge upgrade).

So one moonlit night, somewhere out on the North Sea two patrols sighted each other.

Turn 0 - we realised we were starting too far apart so zoomed everyone 40cm straight forward!

[Ithoriel]

TURN 1

Ships move sequence is determined by drawing coloured dice out of a bag. First dice was British and I let my fellow captain take the first action. Instantly regretting it!

He raced his MTB straight forward at full speed and opened fire with the Dog Boat's not inconsiderable firepower (needing 1s to hit on a D10 - eek!).

He promptly rolled two 1s with his 5 dice and chewed lumps out of the leading S100 E-Boat. Two 6s among the D6s rolled for damage knocked out the E-boat's forward gun and rudder.

Second dice out of the bag was also British so I raced after my companion and opened fire on the other S100. Scoring a single hit with my twin 20mm cannon a further 6 among the damage dice perforated the engine, meaning it would be unable to reach full speed for the rest of the game (slowing it to two-thirds of maximum speed.)

The remaining dice all bing German we didn't bother drawing them out of the bag but let the Germans take their turns as they wanted.

The S100 with the damaged rudder wound up making a involuntary hard left turn. The others sped straight on.

All three E-Boats dropped to Combat Speed during the turn, making it easier to hit with their return fire.

Despite which they managed not a single hit.