As promised, here is a brief after action report on the play test game of David Manley's Schnell Rules for Schnellboote! that I played during the week. This was an early war encounter in the North Sea between a convoy escort detachment of a Fairmile B M/L and Round Table class trawler and a rotte of S26 class E Boats, probing the convoy defences in search of a weak point (the S Boats were actually S9 class models but I don't think that made a big difference to the scenario, as the factors are pretty much the same).
I set the game length at ten turns, after which the approach of dawn would mean withdrawal for the Kriegsmarine, but it lasted to turn five before I decided on a mutual withdrawal. This took about an hour of time to play out, which seemed about right for a fast play set of rules. I used the turn circles rather than turn templates but added a compulsory forward move before a turn could be taken, based on the rules for the latter. The map above shows the initial deployments.
Turn 1
In Turn 1 the S Boats spotted the dummy trawler, while the dummy British M/L and trawler 'spotted' the real S Boats, although this was by a process of elimination as dummies can't spot real targets, only other dummies. This meant that no actual counters were removed from the German side, only the dummy British trawler being eliminated from the game.
In the initiative phase both sides moved forward at a crawl, with the British advancing very slowly by 10cm and the Germans by 15cm in a straight line. There was no firing as no real targets had been spotted and the range was too great for most of the gun mounts to fire or to actually have a chance of hitting anything.
Turn 2
In Turn 2, the German S Boats attempted to spot the British M/L dummy, which was revealed to be a fake target and removed from the game. This meant that the Germans now knew the real location, if not the specific identity of the British M/L and trawler. The British attempted to spot the 'real' S Boats but both the M/L and trawler were out of spotting range.
The initiative was won by the Germans who passed it over to the British. The trawler and M/L increased speed to slow and continued their advance toward the S Boats. The German also increased speed to medium but decided to split into two rotte, with the dummy counters turning to starboard and the 'real' S Boats moving straight ahead.
There was no firing again due to the range and visibility.
Turn 3
In Turn 3 it started to kick off. The 'real' S Boats both attempted to spot the British and both achieved a successful identification, forcing the M/L and trawler to 'de-cloak'. The British also successfully spotted the real S Boats, so I decided to remove the dummy ones from the game at this point. They really should have stayed on table but I didn't think this was necessary as I was playing solo.
In the initiative phase, the British chose to move first advancing the trawler forward at maximum speed, while forcing the S Boats to move first in the small craft phase.
The first S Boat performed an S shaped turn to bring its port side firing arc to bear on the advancing trawler. The second S Boat continued forward then moved in an a wider S shaped starboard turn, aiming to line up its bow torpedo tubes on the starboard flank of the trawler. The M/L moved last, accelerating to medium speed and lining up on the first S Boat with it's forward guns.
In the firing phase, the M/L discovered that it's 2pdr forward gun was out of range of the first S Boat, so was unable to cause any damage. The trawler, however, scored a direct hit on the first S Boat with its bow mounted 12pdr gun (I used the factors for an 'up to 3'' gun for this) causing heavy damage and knocking out both torpedo mountings. It also lost a level of speed but did not catch fire.
In the return fire on the trawler, the first S Boat also scored a direct hit with it's twin and single mounted 20mm cannon. This knocked out the 12pdr mount and slowed the trawler down to a maximum very slow speed but again caused no fire to break out. The second S Boat also attempted to open fire on the trawler but was out of range.
Turn 4
In Turn 3 the British won the initiative and forced the Germans to move first, although the British trawler had to move before them due to its larger size. With both torpedo tubes out of action, the damaged S Boat decided to retreat at maximum speed, turning to starboard and accelerating away from the battle. However, the second S Boat now moved into a flanking position to fire it's torpedoes at the British trawler, which had advanced forward and turned two points to port. The British M/L increased speed to medium and turned to port before advancing in pursuit of the retreating S Boat.
This led to a very narrow miss between the trawler and the M/L, largely due to the wide turning circle of the former and the over enthusiasm of the latter. In the end, the two RN craft scraped past each other in the darkness, no doubt causing a few heated words over the W/T and some rather nasty scratches on the paintwork. There are no rules for collisions, accidental or otherwise, in Schnellboote! so I may have a go at working some out based on the rules in Bulldogs Away!
In the firing phase, the damaged S Boat was also out of range and rapidly disappearing into the mist, so the M/L tried to bring its bow mounted 2pdr into action, only to find it was out of range too. The trawler opened up with its starboard 20mm at the second S Boat but missed due to a low D20 roll and the modifiers for a small target. The second S Boat held its fire as it now had a cunning plan!
The turn ended with an attempted torpedo launch by the now perfectly positioned second S Boat. Unfortunately, this turned out to be just inside the minimum range for a torpedo attack, leaving no time for the weapons to arm and run their course! This was not a good day for the crew of S34! In frustration, they decided to withdraw to fight another day, leaving the trawler to lick it's wounds and hopefully drawing the M/L away from the damaged S Boat.
Turn 5
In Turn 5 the British won the initiative and moved first, with the trawler advancing forward and turning two points to starboard again. The S Boats were forced to move next, so the damaged one accelerated to fast speed in the direction of Holland, while the other S Boat also accelerated but in the opposite direction to draw away the M/L. The M/L obliged by pulling a tight turn to port away from the damaged S Boat and onto an interception course with the decoy.
In the firing phase, the trawler opened up with its aft 20mm Oerliken on the second S Boat as it sped past but missed as it was moving too fast. The S Boat fired back with its twin 20mm cannon but also missed, as it was itself moving too fast despite the target being the size of a barn door. The M/L opened fire with everything it had at the same S Boat but failed to hit despite rolling a 17, as the modifiers cut it down to an ineffective 8, which was not enough at that range.
The game ended at this point, as both sides decided it was time to withdraw.
The Results
I decided this was a draw. The British trawler and first S Boat were both heavily damaged, with the torpedo tubes knocked out on the latter making it impossible to attack the convoy. The trawler had lost it's forward gun, which also severely limited its ability to defend the convoy and itself. The M/L and second S Boat were undamaged but, with dawn approaching and fuel running low, neither could afford to carry on the fight, especially as the convoy still needed protection.
The Rules
I really enjoyed this game and found the rules easy and quick to use. There were only a couple of points that I needed to work out and for which I had to make up my mind, using the rules and common sense as a guide:
1. I measured firing range from the relevant mounting to the centre point of the target.
2. I wasn't sure about the rules for multiple gun mounts (firing per mount?)
3. I need to work out some basic rules for collisions.
4. I don't think dummies 'disappear' once all the real targets have been identified.
Other than that, it was all plain sailing and a lot of fun! I'll have a crack at another game at some point soon but really need to paint up some coastal merchant ships before I can run a proper convoy attack scenario. In the meantime, I'll have a go at those rules for collisions and rams!
Thanks to David for writing such neat set of rules and making them free to download too!
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