Situation:
Just like history the Japanese have
successfully attacked Pearl Harbor and inflicted significant damage on the US
Pacific Fleet and facilities at Pearl Harbor. Unlike the actual history in
addition to the missing carriers on the morning of December 7th 1941 three USN
Battleships and their escorts were not at Pearl Harbor. In this alternate
history Admiral Kimmel chose to continue to rotate the battle wagons on
exercises to include the weekends and Battleship Division One which was on
maneuvers at the time of the attack is now on patrol hunting for the enemy.
Immediately following news of the attack
Admiral Halsey in command of the USS Enterprise carrier group sought out the
IJN strike force, but this time he found them and in a daring twilight strike
Scouting 6 managed to score hits on a IJN flat top causing significant damage
and leaving it ablaze. Night has fallen and in the early morning hours of
December 8th Battleship Division One makes contact with the wounded carrier and
her escorts limping along under the cover of dark.
Now you can play the role of Admiral Kidd
aboard the USS Arizona and hope to deal a critical blow to your newly declared
enemy or Admiral Nagumo and attempt to safely withdraw and escort your wounded
carrier through the night until your planes can again rule the skies when
daylight breaks.
Kirishima |
CV Hiryu: CMD 8, Hull 40, Speed 3, Fire burning
BB Hiei: CMD 8
BB Kirishima: CMD8
CA: Tone: CMD 8
CA Chikuma CMD 8
DD Tanikaze CMD 8
DD Urakaze: CMD 8
DD Isokaze: CMD 8
DD Hamakaze: CMD 8
DD AKEBONO: CMD 8
DD Ushio: CMD 8
BB NAGATO: CMD 9
USS Nevada |
BB USS Arizona: CMD 8
BB USS Nevada: CMD 7
BB USS Oklahoma: CMD 7
CA USS SanFransico: CMD 7
CL Raliegh: CMD 7
DD Cummings: CMD 7
DD Selfridge: CMD 7
DD Phelps: CMD 7
DD Tucker: CMD 7
Set Up:
IJN: Hiryu is placed in the center of the
battle area and 60” from the USN deployment edge with two DD within 2” The
remainder of the IJN fleet is deployed within 12” of Hiryu.
USN: Deploys all ships in a box 24” wide
and 24” from the edge centered on the short side of the battle surface.
Scenario Special Rules:
As Hiryu is on fire she is immediately
spotted by the USN ships. Any IJN ships
directly between Hiryu and a USN ship are also spotted as they are silhouetted.
Otherwise, IJN ships are not spotted until they fire or a USN ship is within
48” and successfully targets them with Radar.
Hiryu cannot be engaged if there is another IJN ship at shorter range
that has fired.
USN Objective is to sink Hiryu
IJN Objective is to successfully retreat
Hiryu from the opposite edge of the battle area.
USN must break contact and retreat after
12 turns due to impending
Optional Rules in affect:
Acceleration
The basic rules allow
ships to stop and start at will. In reality, it took some time to make changes
in speed. Under this rule, ships may only change their speed a limited amount
depending on which move step they are assigned to.
Move Step
|
Max Speed Change/Turn
|
Battleship
|
1
|
Cruiser
|
2
|
Destroyer
|
3
|
For
example, a cruiser that used 5
movement points last turn may move between 3 and 7 movement points this turn (assuming it has enough
movement points). Ships that are currently moving faster than their maximum speed due to battle damage sustained automatically lose 1 point of speed each turn until they are within their maximum. As long as the ship has any
movement points remaining, movement orders may
be given to the damaged ship to slow its movement more quickly, if desired.
Crossing the 'T'
Warship armor belts
and torpedo defenses are less effective against shells and torpedoes striking
from the front or rear of the ship. Whenever the firing ship is in the forward
or aft arc of the target ship, the firing ship gains +1 to penetration rolls on
successful shell and torpedo hits. However, the narrower aspect of the ship and
greater rate of closure (or departure) the target is a more difficult target to
hit.
All shooting (gunfire
or torpedo) takes a +1 penalty to the target number when attacking from the
forward or aft arc of the target ship.
Laying Smoke
Destroyers and light cruisers have the option of laying
smoke
during their move. In order to lay smoke, write SM in front of the ship’s movement orders for the turn. Indicate smoke
has been laid by placing smoke markers behind the ship as it moves. You will need two different colors of smoke markers. Place one marker of each color at the stern of the ship before it starts its move, then place one marker of each color at the stern of the ship after its move is completed. Fill
in the gap between the two markers following the ship's line of movement with several markers of each color. The markers don’t have to be edge to edge, but the line of the smoke trail must be clearly discernible in both colors of smoke marker.
During the pick up smoke markers step of the end phase, pick up all smoke markers of one color. Alternate the color that is picked up each turn. In this way, each turn you will pick up half the smoke markers of the current turn, plus the remaining smoke markers that were not picked up the prior turn.
Line of sight cannot be drawn through ay line of smoke markers. Gunfire and torpedo
attacks are not possible through smoke.
Nationality Bonuses:
USN:
Magnetic Exploders – During the early war period (1939– 1942), when
rolling to hit with torpedoes from any source (ship, sub, aircraft), all odd to hit rolls on the dice are treated as misses. Thus, against a target number of 7, a die roll of 9 still counts as a
miss.
If the roll would normally
provide a chance for a
follow-up attack (see Torpedo Resolution in Chapter 3 – Shooting), the player is still entitled to make the follow-up attack.
Advanced Radar – U.S. radar was sufficiently advanced to allow for completely blind fire. U.S. ships with fire control type RDR are able to make gunfire attacks through smoke and have
a 40” target limit (instead of 20”) during night battles.
IJN:
Night
Fighting Skills – Ships with fire control type JPN receive a – 1
bonus to the target number needed to hit during night battles. This applies to
both gunfire and torpedo attacks.
Powerful
Torpedoes – Japanese 24” torpedoes receive a +1 bonus to
torpedo penetration rolls.
Night
Battles
When the engagement
occurs at night, the following restrictions are in place:
• Visibility
is limited to 20”. Without a special
nationality bonus rule that grants an exception, no ship may be targeted
outside this range.
• Range
modifiers for all attacks are doubled. Attacks at short range receive a +1
modifier.
• Ships
on fire may be targeted normally and shooting at them is treated in all
respects
as if the night battles rules were not in
effect
Unreliable Radar
Radar technology
during World War 2 was primitive in design and frequently operated by
inexperienced users. When using this
rule, proceed through the shooting steps as normal. However, before any ship
equipped with fire control type RDR shoots its main battery, make a command
check for that ship modified by its crew rating. If the command check is
failed, the ship is treated as though it had fire control type STD for that
turn.
When radar is being
used to blind fire during night battles or through lines of smoke, a failed
command check means that the declared targets are no longer valid. Any fire
declared against targets that are no longer valid is forfeited. The attacker has lost track of the enemy on
his radar plot, and checks his fire until he can verify the target.
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