A Channel clash

 Today, at my choice, we had a Coastal Forces game at our club (Using my rules LINK ) As ever, we defaulted to a south bound convoy on the English East Coast.

Lawrence was on our right, at the rear of the convoy.

Phil was on the left (The green counters are Observation markers)

The convoy was represented by markers, until the ships were spotted.

Lawrence started at full speed - but slowed down to his electric motors as he got within observation range of the convoy.

Phil's boats spotted an escort, an Algerine class minesweeper, obviously transiting to the south coast. 

My boats were moving slowly, on electric motors again, to reduce the chance of the convoy spotting us before we could attack.

The minesweeper was sailing on obliviously, - of course, she could have spotted us easily with her radar, but she had it off, as our NAXOS gear would have been able to accurately locate it...and thus the convoy. 

My boats got lucky, spotting both a 2000 and a 3000 ton freighter.

Lawrence at the rear spotted a ship too, but only a collier from Newcastle!

Lawrences boats pushed on, struggling to keep up with the convoy without her diesel engines.

I was wondering whether I should loose a fish or two?

Phil hadn't spotted any merchantmen yet, just that escort.

My boats spotted a 1500t freighter and another collier.

Lawrence was turning to parallel the convoy's route.

My boats, with more than enough targets, was ready to attack, though I would have liked to have a tanker to shoot at!

One of Phil's boats was spotted by the Algerine, and dodged as a 3" shell flew over.

Lawrence's boats increased speed, the time for stealth was over!

My right hand boat loosed a torpedo at a 3000 tonner.

Lawrence was closing the distance rapidly.

My boats now both had a fish running.

Phil decided to have a pot shot at the minesweeper!

The alert crew spotted the attack and the ship veered left to comb the torpedo.

The German had aimed well.

One of my targets spotted the Torpedo I had fired at it, and began combing it.

Phil's torpedo exploded near the Algerine, damaging her, but not affecting her maneuverability.

The first torpedo fired somehow managed to slip between the two 3000 tonners!

Lawrence had shot two fish which were chasing the convoy.

My last two torpedoes followed up the first...and were largely unseen by the convoy lookouts.

I would like to see the British escape THIS fish!

Phil had spotted the tanker near the front of the convoy and one boat attacked it, Phil, being Phil, decided to engage the minesweeper with her cannons!

The Tanker looked doomed...

The torpedo I had fired squeezed past the bow of the 2000 tonner.

The second torpedo hit the rear of the other 2000 tonner.

The other torpedo hit a 3000 tonner amidships.

As expected the second hit on the tanker broke her back...

The crew would not have much chance escaping the resultant conflagration.

Lawrence got a hit on the 2000 tonner.

With all our torpedoes shot off, Lawrence an my boats headed back to France.

Lawrence got 2 torpedoes against the 3000 tonner, but both exploded near and only damaged her severely.

Phil's las torpedo, was a second dud for him ( we surmised some French workmen had sabotaged them!!!)

So it ended well for the Scnellbootwaffe, Phil won with the Tanker scoring 6 pts, I was second with 5 (A 3000, and a 2000 tonner) and poor Lawrence only scored 2 with a 2000 tonner. But I think we all had fun, so really, we all won!

Next week Lawrence and me are all of our group available, and Lawrence kindly agreed to have a second playtest of my new Dr Who rules. Phil also very kindly gave me some lovely 3d printed Silurians and Zygons! I look forward to painting these and adding them to my collection!!!

A Dark night in 1943

 With Rhod not with us, we decided to revisit Coastal Forces (using my rules )

We did the usual E-Boat (Schnellboot) attack on a south bound coastal convoy on the English East Coast.

I deployed my 2 S-booten at the rear of the convoy.

Phil was in the centre...

...and Lawrence on the right.

The convoy was in 3 lines, escorts (right) and 2 lines of merchantmen. I had randomised the counters with dummy markers and removed about 1/4 of them so we would not know what we were facing.

My boats spotted an escort in short order, a Hunt type 2 escort destroyer! - obviously transiting to a southern port.

Phil in the centre spotted a 1500 tonner, not a high value target.

My other boat spotted another ship, a small collier aft of the Destroyer.

Phil spotted another 1500 Tonner, a convoy of tiddlers!!!

Lawrence at the front of the convoy spotted another collier, and in addition an armed trawler. As we were all travelling on electric motors and it was night, the British hadn't spotted us yet.

At last, one of my lookouts spotted a 3000 Tonner, a worthy target, if I could get to it with the destroyer nearby.

Lawrence now spotted the main target, a Tanker!

The British were asleep, still no alarm!

Poor Phil had not seen anything beyond the light freighters.

Lawrence accelerated to attack the Tanker, hoping to hit it before the Trawler could react.

It was always a temptation to loose his fish at long range, but wisely, he held fire and closed the range, hopefully giving the tanker no chance to react.

Phil had continued trying to spot more counters, but it turned out there was a big hole in the convoy where he was!

There were still a few more counters to spot, so all was not yet lost for him.

One of my boats had spotted the 3000 Tonner, so shot both his torpedoes in a ripple fire pattern to give a better chance of a hit.

The Freighter crew was on the ball, and rapidly spotted one of the torpedoes, could he turn in time to comb them? The Hunt class activated his radar, and located one of my boats!!!

...He turned to get all his main armament to bear.

My other boat had spotted another 3000 Tonner and shot his torpedoes at it, the first 3000 Tonner began a sharp turn to port.

The Hunt centred his wheel, and shot a broadside...close, but he missed.

Taking advantage of the confusion, both of Phil's boats shot a torpedo at the ships there.

The smaller freighters had the advantage that they could turn more rapidly.

At the front of the convoy, both the Tanker and Collier looked in trouble!

My Boats, under fire, about faced and headed for Cherbourg at speed!

I deployed a smokescreen to hide my ships from the destroyer.

The Destroyer, though he had Radar, couldn't get a clear shot, so ceased fire.

2 Torpedoes were heading for him, so he increased speed.

Phil's Torpedoes both missed, being successfully combed by the light freighters.

Phil is keen on using the Cannon and Machine Guns on his boats, so closed with one of them.

Lawrence's torpedoes both hit!

One scraped the bottom of the collier, but the other struck the Tanker!

My Torpedo hit the 3000 Tonner, which turned out to be full of ammunition...

Phil's boats shot at the freighter, damaging its bow, but not causing a lot of damage.

The following freighter turned in an attempt to ram the E-Boats for their temerity!

The front freighter too began to turn, returning fire with an elderly Lewis gun!!!

My 3000 Tonner was now a cloud of dust!

My last 2 Torpedoes were heading for their targets, the Hunt easily sped past.

Lawrence shot his last two torpedoes at the Tanker, which had been stopped and badly damaged by the first hit.

The 3000 Tonner I was shooting at now spotted the torpedo heading for him and turned desperately, would he escape?

The Torpedoes from Lawrence's boats both hit the easy target...

...the Tanker exploded in a ball of flame!

In a final act, my last torpedo hit the 3000 Tonner, but the damage caused was insufficient to stop her.

So, we got a Tanker, a 3000 Tonner, and damaged two other ships, without loss. It was a fun game!