Today, I decided to do somethign different and play a solo game to playtest Naval War, a new WW2 ruleset currently in development by Hendrik Jan Seijmonsbergen.
Visit http://navalwar.boards.net/ to learn more about the game and become a playtester.
Since this would be my first game with the system, I decided on a pretty simple scenario: an encounter battle during daytime, on open seas without any terrain or weather.
My collection of ships is a bit eclectic, since I got started with a bunch of random Axis and Allies Naval boosters, but mostly focuses on the Battle of the Java Sea. Since there isn't an order of battle for that yet in the playtest, I'll be using the Coral Sea forces (which have a lot of the same ships, especially on the IJN side) with a bunch of proxies.
The fleets in play:
Naval War uses a list-building mechanic similar to Flames of War: you select a force, which includes a level of commander (restricting number of squadrons and command quality), core fleet assets (at least 50% of your points must be spent on these), close cover elements (arrive from reserve quickly) and distant cover elements (which arrive later and often includes land-based air cover).In this case, I want for simple cruiser/destroyer forces.
US Cruiser Attack Force
Officer: Commander
5 points
Core Fleet:
TG 17.2 Attack Group:
2 New Orleans-Class Heavy Cruisers (USS Minneapolis, USS New Orleans), 2 Farragut-Class Destroyers (USS Dewey, USS Farragut)
144 points
Close Cover:
Task Force 44:
USS Chicago, HMAS Hobart (both cruisers)
95 points
Distant Cover:
None
Total: 244 points
The US force was divided into three squadrons: Minneapolis and New Orleans would form one squadron, with New Orleans as the fleet flagship.
Dewey and Farragut would form another squadron, with the pair of cruisers that would arrive later as close cover in a third squadron.
IJN Carrier Striking Force (without carriers here, representing a detached force)
Officer: Chu-sa
5 points
Core Fleet:
Destroyer Escort:
1 Shiratsuyu-Class Destroyer (Shiratsuyu), 2 Fubuki-Class Destroyers (Ushio, Sazanami)
74 points
Cruiser Escort:
2 Myoko-Class Heavy Cruisers (Myoko, Haguro)
128 points
Close Cover:
Light Cruiser Squadron:
Tenryu
36 points
Distant Cover:
None
Total: 243 points
The Japanese force would also consist of three squadrons, with the Myoko as the fleet flagship. The IJN force would have less of their strength arriving late since only the Tenryu was part of their close cover.
Gameplay overview:
The gameplay uses alternating activations, in which squadrons can decide to move, shoot with their guns, launch torpedoes, et cetera. These direct activations can be supplemented by special actions from your fleet's command station board, similar to SAGA boards without the pre-planning. However, all direct activations and special orders require you to spend order tokens, of which you have only a limited amount determined by your fleet size.Once both players have made all the direct activations they want, they alternate indirect activations to move squadrons that haven't moved yet straight ahead, repeat fire with ranged-in or rapid-fire guns that hadn't shot yet this turn and perform damage control. If you have more orders, you can spend them for command station actions to supplement your activations here as well.
In the end phase, launched torpedoes are resolved before fire and flooding damage is applied.
The command station actions are quite useful, often providing more movement, re-rolls or other bonuses, but if you try to use one, your opponent can spend op to three of their disruption tokens to try to prevent the command station action. For some powerful actions, failing because of this even has detrimental effects, so it pays to keep this in mind.
The battle begins:
My apologies for the bad pictures; I couldn't get them any better since I only had my phone camera available. At least it means you can´t really spot the proxies.
Here's the deployment.
IJN loses the deployment
roll, destroyers set up first on both sides.
IJN support will arrive from the western board edge, USN support from the eastern edge.
These support elements will arrive on turn 2 if their controller rolls a 4+ or turn 3 otherwise.
Turn 1
USN: 4 order, 4
disrupt tokens.
IJN: 5 order, 3
disrupt tokens.
IJN win initiative, they choose to go second.
US gain
radar-assisted firing solution, one of their unlockable abilities, by spending all four disruption tokens.
Then, their Cruisers advance straight ahead at flank speed.
IJN DDs advance at
flank speed, moving to head off the US force.
US Cruisers open
fire at the DDs, using their new radar-assisted firing solution so Minneapolis doesn't need to range in. The IJN side spends 3 disruption tokens to try and stop this, but the attempt fails. Minneapolis fires at
Sazanami, which takes evasive action, but none of the 9 shots (needing sixes) hit even
before the re-rolls forced through evasive action.
Note the fire and splash markers next to the two ships showing the ranged-in status which means the ship can fire at full effect.
IJN Cruisers advance
at flank speed.
Indirect
activations: US DDs advance automatically.
Turn 2
IJN close support
arrives, USN CS does not.
USN: 4 order, 4
disrupt tokens.
IJN: 5 order, 3
disrupt tokens.
USN win initiative, they choose to go second.
IJN Cruisers
maneuver forward towards the US strike force.
USN cruisers
advance, turning to engage the IJN force.
IJN DDs advance into
torpedo range.
US Cruisers fire at the enemy DDs before they can launch. Minneapolis misses Sazanami because of her evasive maneuvers. New Orleans deals 1 damage to Ushio and starts a
fire by hitting a fuel line.
IJN DDs launch all
of their torpedoes at the US cruisers. That's a grand total of 36 launched, 12 from each ship.
USN research adapted
tactics, then move their DDs so they aren't in the torpedo firing lanes. Looks like USS Minneapolis will have to face the torpedoes alone.
IJN Cruisers open
fire on New Orleans. Both range in, dealing 5 damage, starting a fire
and damaging the AA guns. She passes her disruption check, staying in the fight.
Indirect
activations:
IJN DDs open fire on the US DDs with their rapid-fire guns since they're within range. Dewey takes damage from Ushio and
loses some functionality on its rear main battery.
USN DDs return fire.
Dewey deals 2 damage to Sazanami and damages her engines.
Tenryuu advances
onto the battlefield, staying out of things for now.
Ushio manages to get
the fire under control. Sazanami's engine damage isn't repaired yet.
New Orleans fails to
control the fire. Dewey repairs the damaged turret.
End phase:
Minneapolis is
struck by two torpedoes out of the 36 fired at her. Both piece her
armour, dealing a total of 8 damage and 6 flooding markers. She
passes her disruption check, but is left with two damage points out of a starting ten.
Fire continues to
burn on New Orleans, dealing minor damage, while Minneapolis sinks from the massive
flooding damage.
Turn 3.
USN Close Support
arrives.
USN: 4 order, 4
disrupt tokens. The newly arrived support compensates for the loss of one of their heavy cruisers last turn.
IJN: 5 order, 3
disrupt tokens.
USN win initiative, decide to go first.
New Orleans fires on
Ushio, but evasive maneuvering causes the shots to miss.
Tenryuu opens fire
at Farragut but misses.
Dewey and Farragut
let loose their arsenal of torpedoes in the general direction of the
IJN force.
IJN DDs advance at
flank speed to avoid the torpedoes, but Sazanami is still in the line
of fire because of her engine damage.
USN passes on any more
direct activations; they want to save the two remaining orders for other things.
Tenryuu launches her
torps at the US DDs.
Indirect
activations:
USN DDs open fire at
IJN DDs. Dewey deals some damage to Sazanami, reducing the effect of
her AA guns. She fails her command check initially, but passes it with the fleet's commanding officer's one-per-game re-roll.
IJN DDs return fire,
but only Sazanami hits Dewey and her fire causes no damage.
The US DDs, Tenryuu,
New Orleans and IJN Cruisers all advance straight ahead.
New Orleans fires
her secondaries at Ushio, damaging her propulsion.
The IJN cruisers
open fire at New Orleans. She attempts evasive maneuvers, which
succeed despite Japanese disruption. Still, the combined fire from
both ships easily finishes her off, robbing the US fleet of their flagship.
USN researches
proximity fuses (they have no other use for the Disruption tokens anyway since the IJN side isn't using their command abilities much) and
orders the reinforcements to advance at flank speed.
Ushio and Sazanami
both repair their engine damage.
HMAS Hobart attempts
to hit Ushio with her secondaries, but misses.
End Phase:
Sazanami somehow manages to get clear of the 7 torpedoes heading her
way.
Dewey also manages
to dodge the torpedoes fired by Tenryuu, but Farragut is not so fortunate: the one torp hit she takes is enough to sink her.
The US side have now
lost exacly half their VP. Any further loss might cause a general
retreat.
But with only 1
order per turn for the rest of the game and facing off against mostly
undamaged Japanese assets, I decided to call the game.
My opinion on the game so far:
This game is pretty solid and plays a lot more quickly than I expected. This game took about two hours, including both note-taking for the report and looking up a few things in the (fairly thin) rulebook.
Both movement and damage mechanics seem to work quite well and the limited effect of fire until you range in really adds to the game feeling like a WW2 naval battle.
The mechanic I like best is the direct-indirect order system. It means you need to focus your command decisions on critucal situations like picking new targets for big guns, launching torpedoes, changing course or firing those shots before the enemy can shoot back.
All other actions (including the firing of lighter guns, repeating ranged-in barrages, damage control and continuing on your course) basically runs on auto-pilot for your forces through the indirect orders.
This really forces you to consider your priorities.
The option to spend orders via your command console for bonus effects is also interesting, as well as the option for the enemy to disrupt these.
All in all, this game looks pretty promising and I hope to play some more soon.
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