The forces were:
KoB
1 Dreadnought (1 shield)1 Battleship (1 shield replacing 1 turret)
2 Cruisers (no shields)
3 Vanguard Submarines
4 Frigates
2 Hawks
2 Escorts
My strategy was to throw the vanguards forward to intercept the Prussian force – or deter them from getting too close – while the Hawks exercised a some battlefield denial deploying mines, and the Dreadnought and Battleship and cruisers (shielded by the guardian generator) would act as a powerful battlegroup to smash the Prussian capital ships.
The Prussians took:
1 Dreadnought (no shields as I recall)1 Battleship (1 Shield)
3 Frigates
3 Frigates
3 Pflicht Scout Ships
4 Escorts
2 Cruisers
Firstly, on the new fleet selection rules, my Prussian
opponent grumbled about being forced to take cruisers, although I think he
actually likes the miniatures – just not the stats. For my part, I realised that the Vanguards
would actually have filled the medium ship requirements, so I did not need to
take the Tribal Cruisers, but I did want to try grouping them with the
battleship and using the generator, and I figured in such close proximity I
might be glad of the AP to fend off Prussian boarding.
Next we rolled for terrain, using the new table. Only one roll was made over 5+ which resulted
in a single sandbank (I had to use an old Man’O’War template as I have not yet
got around to making some). The look on
the Prussian players face was priceless as he realised there would be no cover
at all. That didn’t seem like it would
be much fun for me, so we added another 4 islands. Perhaps 5+ is a little high for terrain (even
with both players rolling)? In any event
we’ll try it again next time and see if it provides a more balanced result.
Then we deployed (both electing to use our tiny flyer wings
as CAP for large capital ships), completely forgetting about the field orders
until all the squadrons were placed (oops!) so we rolled after deployment. I got the one that required me to sink the
large capital ships (in this case I had to destroy both the Dreadnought and
Battleship to win) while DK rolled the Capture the Commodore result, meaning he
had to either sink or prize my Dreadnought.
Hmm, this seemed a little unbalanced, but as it was a KoB dreadnought I
figured we’d play on. (Note, we don’t play with STAR cards because we find the
hull repair cards entirely too powerful when played on Dreadnoughts)
As the game began the Prussians scrambled to redeploy,
sending their battleship toward where our dreadnoughts slowly advanced toward
one another. The Pflichts also hurried
to move toward this side of the battle, flying obscured, and using the island
as cover. Meanwhile the Prussian
cruisers boldly advanced on the other flank, while a frigate squadron huddled
nearby behainf the cover of an island.
The Vanguards moved forward, while on the far flank the
british cruisers and Hawks moved toward the Prussian crusiers, supported by squadron
of frigates. My intention was for them
to deliver a slavo, fire some torpedoes, and swing around to join the
Dreadnought. My frigates also moved only
the minimum move, wary of falling early prey to the Prussian cruisers. There were a few indirect shots fired, but
little in the way of actual damage.
On the second turn the British Dreadnought unloaded on the
Prussian Dreadnought but was only able to score 1 HP, the return fire, however,
resulted in a critical hit on the British ship, and the loss of 4HP in a hard
pounding (we generally find that in a dreadnought vs dreadnought fight, he who
scores the first crit is most likely to win the exchange). Now I was starting to get a little concerned,
the Prussian dreadnought had turned broadside to fire, and I was fairly
confident it wouldn’t be able to swing
back around and get within boarding range, before I could turn and use the
island to escape, but the Prussian battleship was also bearing down on me,
shadowed by a frigate squadron and the Pflichts, and these were more likely to cause
me trouble. As the Pflichts continued to
use cover, I had no real chance to weaken them before they arrived – still I
had an elite crew, an escort and CAP, so I was hopeful that I’d be able to
weather the storm.
Meanwhile on the other flank the Prussian cruisers moved
closer, opening up on the Hawks. Two
Crticials were inflicted, but both Hawks remained airborne, if somewhat the
worse for wear. The british cruisers
returned fire and inflicted a crit in return, then the frigate squadron moved
forward, and unleashed a devastating salvo, sinking the damaged cruiser, and
putting a critical on the second.
The Prussian battleship then advanced closer, moving near
the Prussian dreadnought, putting more hull damage on the British Dreadnought,
while the frigate squadron shot forward, inflicting yet more damage on the
Dreadnought. My battleship returned
fire, but with little effect.
I won the crucial third turn initiative and activated the
Vanguards. The subs had a great turn,
sinking a Prussian escort and frigate, while shooting a second and sinking it
(very lucky dice) while the vanguard on the other flank rammed the remaining Prussian
cruiser, sinking it in exchange for 1HP.
I must say it was the most effective I’ve ever seen the Vanguards be –
accounting for 3 small and 1 medium ship – but for all that they never used the
hull ripper as there was no need. We did
the math and realised I’d have to roll really well to be able to trigger a hull
ripping attack against the large Prussian ships, and even the would almost
certainly take a crit in return.
The Prussian dreadnought and battleship inflicted a little
more damage on the british dreadnought (some unlucky rolls) but very nearly
collided with one another, and came to the sobering conclusion that the
battleship would not be able to prevent colliding with the sandbank next turn
due to the minimum move. Then the
Prussian player enacted his plan, he broke cover with the Pflicht and raced
forward to reach boarding range with the British dreadnought. The Pflicht AA easily dispatched the CAP
(although they did take 1HP in return), then boarded. I had 8AA (thanks to my escort), and killed 4
AP, but all of my elite marines were killed in return for another 5 or 6
Prussian AP. The dreadnought had been
prized!
Now we had to consult the new rules as it wasn’t clear if
the game ended immediately, or we should play out the rest of the turn (the
field order says immediately, but the turn sequence suggests victory is
determined in the end phase). We decided
to play on, but there was really only one action which might change the outcome
of the game – the British battleship was in range to launch counter boarding,
and did do – but alas the Prussian retained control of the Dreadnought with
only 2-3 marines remaining, and the surviving royal marines were forced to
return to the battleship in defeat. The
Prussians had won the game through Field orders.
So, regarding the new rules – in summary:
1.
Fleet composition was not universally loved, but
I do like to see cruisers back on the table again.
2.
The improvements to the British fleet seemed
good – the increased AP to the battleship was particularly welcome – although ultimately
was not enough to save me thanks to the new boarding rules.
3.
The improvements to the Hawks were not huge, but
I have seen what a mine can do to a tightly pack group of small ships, so I
think they still have some use. Ultimately
the changes to Obscured seemed sensible,
and made medium flyers more reasonable (although I still struggle with the idea
flyers can hide behind terrain!)
4.
Several times the redoubtable Telsa rule added
an AD where it normally would not have, so I think it’s actually a good change.
5.
The Vanguards were great! Prussians are perhaps much more likely to
close to range then other factions, and provide probably less of an air threat
than some other factions (the real vulnerability of the Vanguard) but sinking 4
ships in 1 turn was great – I’d definitely use them again.
6.
Overall the torpedoes accounted for not one HP –
this is likely a factor of the game finishing in turn 3, before the capital
ships were significantly damaged, but then when playing with field orders this
seems a real possibility.
7.
Field orders are powerful – admittedly had I known
the fleet orders before I deployed I might have done things differently, but I
would still probably would have backed a KoB Dreadnought with escort and CAP to
mix it up with the enemy rather than cowering in the corner to deny enemy
borders. Ultimately the Hard Pounding
critical result, combined with a well executed boarding manoeuvre won the game,
and that’s not a bad thing. It might be
fairer if both players were to have the same field order – but one game isn’t
enough to know for sure yet.