Friday, 26 July 2013

Naval Thunder - Malta Convoy

After a long hiatus, we decided to kick start another WW2 naval campaign based on 1942 expedition - Malta Convoy - conducted under the Naval Thunder rules.

Some information on the real thing (copied from Wikipedia):
"The Malta Convoys were a series of Allied supply convoys that sustained the besieged island of Malta during the Mediterranean Theatre of the Second World War. Malta required military reinforcements, food for its military garrison and civilian population, and fuel for air and naval forces. The convoys bringing these men and supplies were strongly opposed by Italian and German naval and air forces during the Battle of the Mediterranean"

For this campaign, it is expected to be wrapped up in a couple of weeks time, and if not possible, couple of months time, with our very first briefing run coming this Saturday.

With the combatants confirming their factions and unlike the real campaign, the trash talk among the opposing forces already begun more than a week ago. 

The combatants as follows:
Kriegsmarine    - Hyiktsay
Regia Marina    - Dave
Royal Navy       - YS Oon and Eric Lew

Picture 1: Courtesy of YS Oon
Picture above: Part of the fleet of ships to be fielded in the upcoming Malta Convoy mini campaign. From top to bottom : Scharnhorst, Rodney, Zara, Bolzano, Duca D'Aosta, and Montecuccoli.

For this campaign purpose and keeping to the naval tradition of the respective factions, we will do our best to simulate the actual combat formation and tactics. The warships are divided to the according to their squadron and order of battles are in place.

Apart from warship formation and order of battle, each combatant must also take into account of their air assets available and submarine deployment as this campaign is designed to generate a series of interlocked engagements, representing the constant attack of the convoy by Axis air and sea power. Each engagement represents the action that takes place in a three hour slice of time, except for night turns, which represent eight hours.

Special thanks to YS Oon for once again drafting the campaign details and gathering us all for our next naval miniature adventure~~!! 

To add some spice into the campaign, and from YS Oon own words - 
"I have added some additional creative liberties to provide a ‘what-if’ scenario. Supposedly the Kriegsmarine decided that the Mediterranean Sea was worth to invest some effort in and to bring some of their heavier vessels into play, would it had turn out differently? 

The question remained though as the refusal of the Germans to cooperate in joint-operations with the Italians were infamous and it would be interesting to see how it would have panned out. This precipitated my decision to include in the most-feared ship in the German Navy, the Scharnhorst into this mini-campaign."


Saturday, 15 June 2013

NT Mini League - Wrap Up!!



So end our mini league, just as it started 1.5 months ago......
Game Day 1 - YS Oon vs Dave
What begun with a 'cheesy' USN fleet of Dave, which depended on its air strikes finding their marks, lasted only 30 minutes against YS Oon's RN forces. 
Game Day 3 - Liongvei vs YS Oon
And how the RN fought an uphill battle and managed to force a draw against Liongvei's USN fleet despite suffering 3 ammo rack shots.
Game Day 7 - Liongvei vs Eric Lew
Along with the lack of maneuverability took away USN numerous gun advantage and allowing Eric Lew's IJN warships to tear apart any opposing forces.
Game Day 2 - Hyiktsay vs Eric Lew
To the complete destruction of IJN forces at the hands of Hyiktsay's Kreigsmarine, trading shots for shots.
Game Day 10 - Dave vs Hyiktsay
Concluding it with a bombing run that contributed to the sinking of 3 Kreigsmarine heavy cruisers at the hands of Dave's USN fleet all within the safety of landmass cover.

Roll of Honours
1st place            YS Oon            13 points
2nd place           Liongvei            10 points
3rd place            Hyiktsay            9 points

Top Shot – Highest number of ship kills with gun fire.
Eric Lew

Torpedo Master – Highest number of ships kills by torpedo fire. A minimum of 5 ships must be amassed to qualify.
Eric Lew

Survivalist - The player that lost the least amount of ships (calculated based on VP).
YS Oon

Sunday, 26 May 2013

Mini League: Game Day 10 - Dave vs Hyiktsay



2nd battle of the day and final game of the mini league witness the Hyiktsay's KM taking on the Dave' USN fleet.

Dice roll off concluded into "kill the flagship" scenario with USN as the attacking force. 

Apologies for the messy table as we were discussing and assembling some of the  Micro Armor which arrived couple of days back.

Combatant: USN – Dave
CA Portland
DD O’Brien
DD Anderson
DD Hughes
Combatant: German
CA Prinz Eugen - Flagship
CA Admiral Hipper
CA Blucher
CA Lutzow
CL Koln
DD 5 - Z31, Z32, Z33, Z34 and Z37

Deployment, Air Strike & Submarine Attack
Kriegsmarine deployment
With its initiative towards this battle, USN placed 2 landmasses at each end of the battle area.

With the submarine attacks underway, KM fleet managed to intercept 2 USN's submarines. The remaining USN submarines only saw a non-penetration hit recorded on CA Lutzow.
USN deployment
Over at the USN side, the fleet managed to intercept 3 KM's submarines. Resulting attack saw the destruction of DD Hughes.

Having 6 torpedo bombers intercepted, USN air forces still managed to hit and causing flooding towards CA Lutzow.

Subsequent to the dive bombers strike witnessed the sinking of Z37 and causing fire on-board CA Hipper; contained on check.

Turn 1
Kriegsmarine (bottom) moving towards USN (top)
Being the defender in this battle, KM have to plot its way towards the USN forces at the other end of the battle area, a long and disastrous journey.  

Both fleet called in their 2nd submarine strike, having KM's submarines missing all their targets.

USN's submarine, however, found their mark and caused flooding and fire onto CA Blutcher and CA Admiral Hipper respectively. 

Turn 2 to Turn 4
KM warships spent 3 turns plotting and maneuvering towards USN's warships location; situated nicely behind the safety of landmass. 

As the KM warship approaches, CA Portland managed to deal several hits and causing superstructure damages along the way. 

Turn 5

This turn saw the sinking of CA Lutzow to the abyss from CA Portland gun fire; all the time remaining behind landmass.

Turn 6
Kriegsmarine warships split into 2 flanks
Destruction to KM fleet continues with CA Admiral Hipper knocked out of commission, coming yet again from CA Portland.

Turn 7
USN coming out of landmass cover
With KM lighter warships approaching USN's left flank, they moved out of the landmass and engaged with KM's heavy cruisers at their right flank.

Resulting gun battle saw DD O'Brien meeting it's end. 

USN warships were able to launch 2 torpedoes during this turn; however, none met their marks.

Turn 8
Albeit being close to KM's flagship, USN continued its hunt on CA Blutcher
With USN warships moved out of cover, KM's lighter warship group forced to make a U-turn.

Despite being in close proximity with KM flagship, USN commander ordered its warships to hunt CA Blutcher instead. 

At this range, DD Anderson stood no chance of survival as CA Prinz Eugen's main guns tore it apart. 

A total of 8 torpedoes were launched during this turn, 7 coming from KM warships, none made it to their targets. 

Turn 9
Surrounded finale
With its flagship surrounded by KM warships, USN continued its bombardment towards CA Blutcher and ultimately sinking it.

Having already sustained numerous damages, CA Portland met it demise.

With the last shot fired, comes the end of the mini league.

As it only seems fit - the 1st battle of the league lasted only 30 minutes and ended with an epic battle - both involving Dave's fleet.

Stay tune for Season 2.