themattcurtis
03-13-2008, 02:51 PM
We played a small scenario last night to introduce one of the local gamers to the rules (there are four of us now who have a game scheduled every other Sunday).
It was a pure hypothetical where Italy joined the Central Powers in 1914 and saw four of its Armored Cruisers -- Pisa, Amalfi, San Giorgio and San Marco tangle with Minotaur, Duke of Edinburgh, Black Prince and Warrior.
My friend's a full blown Anglophile and was convinced he was going to beat the hell out of me. But I figured that if I kept the range outside 7,000 yards or so (read 14"), then the British would be hard-pressed to get through my vertical armor. Where my main guns stood a reasonable chance of hurting them at ranges approaching 10,000 yards. Neither of us had DCT and my ships were smaller. With the heavier British firepower ratings and torpedoes, I wanted to maintain a healthy distance.
And the battle bore me out.:)
We started with the two lines running along roughly parallel courses, east to west along the long edge of the table, with the Italians north of the British. He was aware I had a range advantage, so we made a rule that I couldn't try to widen the distance until I had identified the exact type of the armored cruisers coming my way. Sadly for him, my crew made its ID rolls from the start.
Pisa and Amalfi displayed NICE shooting from the start. Once we were about 10,000 yards (VL range for my guns), they opened up and hit with their second salvoes. The modifier was –3 (-1 for size, -2 for fire control, -1 for speed at 23 knots but +1 for not being under fire). Base rolls of "14" and a "13" saw me inflict penetrating hits after all the modifiers were applied. And while we weren't inflicting terrible damage, (Minotaur, for example, took 1.6 Float and 1.1 Structural), every little bit started to help.
In fact, Pisa landed hits over the next two turns as the British player tried to close the gap. I kept compensating. And by the time he had come within a range where he could feasibly hurt me, Minotaur had lost a main turret and seen its top speed reduced to 17 knots. The British player couldn't close with us as long as Minotaur stayed in line. But now I switched fire from Amalfi to Minotaur as well, and even though overconcentration had to be applied to our rolls, the weight of two ships firing over the next couple of turns made all the difference.
Minotaur eventually died -- by now, even at medium range it was losing 4+ Float points a turn. And while Amalfi paid for switching from Duke of Edinburgh, it lived through the scenario. No one else was close to dying, although a fire had broken out on San Marco.
Fun time had by all.:D Just wanted to share.
Matt
It was a pure hypothetical where Italy joined the Central Powers in 1914 and saw four of its Armored Cruisers -- Pisa, Amalfi, San Giorgio and San Marco tangle with Minotaur, Duke of Edinburgh, Black Prince and Warrior.
My friend's a full blown Anglophile and was convinced he was going to beat the hell out of me. But I figured that if I kept the range outside 7,000 yards or so (read 14"), then the British would be hard-pressed to get through my vertical armor. Where my main guns stood a reasonable chance of hurting them at ranges approaching 10,000 yards. Neither of us had DCT and my ships were smaller. With the heavier British firepower ratings and torpedoes, I wanted to maintain a healthy distance.
And the battle bore me out.:)
We started with the two lines running along roughly parallel courses, east to west along the long edge of the table, with the Italians north of the British. He was aware I had a range advantage, so we made a rule that I couldn't try to widen the distance until I had identified the exact type of the armored cruisers coming my way. Sadly for him, my crew made its ID rolls from the start.
Pisa and Amalfi displayed NICE shooting from the start. Once we were about 10,000 yards (VL range for my guns), they opened up and hit with their second salvoes. The modifier was –3 (-1 for size, -2 for fire control, -1 for speed at 23 knots but +1 for not being under fire). Base rolls of "14" and a "13" saw me inflict penetrating hits after all the modifiers were applied. And while we weren't inflicting terrible damage, (Minotaur, for example, took 1.6 Float and 1.1 Structural), every little bit started to help.
In fact, Pisa landed hits over the next two turns as the British player tried to close the gap. I kept compensating. And by the time he had come within a range where he could feasibly hurt me, Minotaur had lost a main turret and seen its top speed reduced to 17 knots. The British player couldn't close with us as long as Minotaur stayed in line. But now I switched fire from Amalfi to Minotaur as well, and even though overconcentration had to be applied to our rolls, the weight of two ships firing over the next couple of turns made all the difference.
Minotaur eventually died -- by now, even at medium range it was losing 4+ Float points a turn. And while Amalfi paid for switching from Duke of Edinburgh, it lived through the scenario. No one else was close to dying, although a fire had broken out on San Marco.
Fun time had by all.:D Just wanted to share.
Matt