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Thread: of ships and submarines

  1. #1

    Default of ships and submarines

    Baxter (Gary) and I get together on Monday nights to 'play'. Each night the host sets up the scenario but a couple of Mondays back Gary came up with a bottler!

    A British convoy at anchor waiting for an escort. A German seaplane (Hansa) has spotted the convoy and has whistled up a submarine. The British intercept the message and dispatch 2 aircraft, a Shorts float-plane to bomb the submarine, and a Sopwith float-plane to defend the bomber.

    We cobbled together a set of rules and cards from other games and had a real blast. We both came away determined to give a bit more balance to the scenario and to producing some cards more in keeping with Wings of War/Glory.

    This is very much a work in progress with the aim of making the resources we have developed available to fellow gamers.

    Here are Gary's briefing notes for that first attempt:

    MISSION BRIEFING

    I say Bigglesworth
    One of our recce planes has spotted a U-Boat about 50 miles south of the Scilly Islands. It is heading for a convoy that is at anchor waiting for a pilot ship to guide it into Port.
    The U-Boat is showing no sign of submerging and seems to think our Recce planes are unarmed.
    The artificers at our base have managed to arm a Short Seaplane with some bombs and it has taken off to have a go at the U-Boat.
    Your job is to escort the bomber. We believe the Huns probably have a seaplane in the area and that it got a signal out to the U-Boat about our convoy.
    If you can, give the Hun a spray or two to keep their heads down while our bomber makes its run. And watch out for that Hun Seaplane.
    Good luck.

    Rules
    • Submarine takes 20 points to sink.
    • Machine gun hits on the armored submarine are counted as 0.5 effective (halve the B card score). Accumulatively they may incapacitate the crew
    • One roll of the dice per bomb drop. 3 or less is no damage. Bomb load is 3 bombs.
    • Submarine movement is made with XC cards. Submarine has a deck machine gun (B damage).
    • When submarine gets within one ruler distance of the convoy he can open fire with torpedoes. He has 6 bow tubes and one stern tube.
    • Each merchant ship needs 4 points to sink (use torpedo damage card deck).


    Mission Briefing

    One of our float planes has spotted a small convoy of 10 merchant ships at anchor close to the Scilly Islands.
    We believe you have 7 torpedoes left from your patrol. 6 in the forward tubes and 1 left in the stern tube.
    Proceed on the surface at full speed to engage the enemy.
    If you can sink 4 of the ships your mission will be counted as a success.
    There is a small Royal Navy airbase nearby but we believe the planes there are early reconnaissance types and pose little threat.
    Our seaplane will loiter in the area and provide you with spotting and air support if needed.
    The ships are believed to have US army reinforcements onboard so every ship you sink will mean less hardship for our soldiers.
    Good luck.

    Rules
    • Submarine takes 20 points to sink.
    • Machine gun hits on the armored submarine are counted as 0.5 effective (halve the B card score). Accumulatively they may incapacitate the crew
    • One roll of the dice per bomb drop. 3 or less is no damage. Bomb load is 3 bombs.
    • Submarine movement is made with XC cards. Submarine has a deck machine gun (B damage).
    • When submarine gets within one ruler distance of the convoy he can open fire with torpedoes. He has 6 bow tubes and one stern tube.
    • Each merchant ship needs 4 points to sink (use torpedo damage card deck).

  2. #2

    Default

    Now, I am not an artist and so I resorted to downloading existing files from the files section and carrying out lots of Google image searching then altering them in Photoshop to suit our purposes. So, I owe a lot to those who created the files and images I used as a starting point.

    The first card I decided to have a crack at was a submarine. This is, like everything else associated with this scenario, a work-in-progress. Please treat everything as a draft!

    Click image for larger version. 

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  3. #3

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    Of course any self-respecting U-boat has torpedoes to fire at targets.

    We decided to try using a D deck scale of damages:

    Click image for larger version. 

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  4. #4

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    And of course any self-respecting torpedo needs some targets:
    Attachment 110890Attachment 110891Attachment 110893Attachment 110892Attachment 110889
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Ship-card-front-Munitions.jpg   Ship-card-front-Troops.jpg   Ship-card-front-Tramp.jpg   Ship-card-front-Hospital.jpg  
    Last edited by Biggles downunder; 09-25-2013 at 21:45. Reason: Replaced one card

  5. #5

    Default

    As you can see we still have lots of loose ends to tie up but we thought some of you might be interested in what we have come up with so far.

    Some of the loose ends are:
    1. Damage values for the various ship cards.
    2. Decision on how/if to deal with ships on the move (a convoy)
    3. How to deal with an exploding munitions ship (collateral damage) - hm - must check the spelling of 'collateral' on my card!!
    4. Do ships have any AA capabilities?

    And so on...
    Last edited by Biggles downunder; 09-25-2013 at 23:01. Reason: Added some further notes

  6. #6

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    Here is my first try at a back for the ship cards:
    Click image for larger version. 

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  7. #7

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    I'd say hitting a Hospital Ship should be NEGATIVE Victory Points, as such ships are specifically protected by the Geneva and other Conventions.

    Let's put it this way: if you're one of MY subordinates and you waste a hospital ship, you ain't gotta worry about a court-martial, 'cuz I'd cap your trash right there...

  8. #8

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Diamondback View Post
    I'd say hitting a Hospital Ship should be NEGATIVE Victory Points, as such ships are specifically protected by the Geneva and other Conventions.

    Let's put it this way: if you're one of MY subordinates and you waste a hospital ship, you ain't gotta worry about a court-martial, 'cuz I'd cap your trash right there...
    Funny you should bring that up as Gary and I were exchanging emails on that very issue today

  9. #9

    Default

    Great I need a few cards for my Malta convoys.
    That Hospital ship is a great idea.
    Rob.

  10. #10

    Default

    Great stuff here Wayne - a tanker and some kind of escort, armed merchie perhaps, to round out your fleet ?!

  11. #11

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    Hm, not sure what is going on here - some of my subsequent posts seem to have disappeared!

    Not a 'deal-breaker' as I hadn't got to putting up any of my modified cards and rules yet - still whipping those into shape after our evening of planning and tossing around ideas and strategies.

  12. #12

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Biggles downunder View Post
    Hm, not sure what is going on here - some of my subsequent posts seem to have disappeared!

    Not a 'deal-breaker' as I hadn't got to putting up any of my modified cards and rules yet - still whipping those into shape after our evening of planning and tossing around ideas and strategies.
    For the answer to your missing posts look here Wayne.

    http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sho...issing-threads

    Rob.

  13. #13

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    I came across this whilst doing some further research for our scenario and just had to pass it on...

    'Depth charges, mines, disguised boats etc were all valuable means of defeating U-boats. Some ideas were not so good. One idea that remained on paper only was to train seagulls to land on periscopes at sea thus giving away the position of a submarine! The Admiralty did, however, train sea lions to locate an underwater submarine and surface to give its position away. When the training was taken one step further - to lochs in Scotland - the sea lions escaped, presumably to the rich fishing grounds of the Atlantic. Such was the plight of Britain due to the success of U-boats, that the Admiralty even used a psychic lady to try to locate them in the North Sea.* The plan failed.'

    My imagination is now in over-drive as I try to dream up cards for seagulls, sea lions and psychic ladies!

    Here is the link to the original article:
    http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk...velopments.htm
    Last edited by Biggles downunder; 10-15-2013 at 03:49. Reason: Added link

  14. #14

    Default

    Gary's (Baxter's) response:

    'Right THEN,

    We have to factor in Sea Lions, Seagulls and Psychics into our scenario. What do you think the damage factors should be for them. Sea Gull poo could be a game winner if it lands on the periscope lens!'

    Hilarious

  15. #15

    Default

    I'm putting my faith more in Walruses,Martlets, and Psychos to get a result.
    Rob.

  16. #16

    Default

    And yet another piece of hilarity/desperation that I came across in Gray's book 'The U-boat War, 1914-1918:

    'And at one time, in desperation, picket boats were even issued with hammers so that their crews could smash the lenses of enemy periscopes and force the U-boats to the surface for attack by gunfire and ramming!'

    Should be pretty easy to whip up cards for picket boats and hammers!



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