Tow, Tow, Tow the Boat INWARD 2019 Game Report

I played the INWARD 2019 game this afternoon and it was great fun, with some real seat of your pants moments. In the end the French managed to tow the Onondaga under the guns of the shore battery, albeit with damage to the monitor and the Mogador. The Royal Navy lost HMS Rapid to a massive close range blast from the Onondaga's twin turrets but not before HMS Pallas had rammed the monitor amidships, albeit to little effect.

Turn 1

The French won the scouting roll, so the British phased first throughout the game. In Turn 1 both sides advanced to full speed and moved toward each other, the French passing the tow roll and spending 3AP on turret repairs.

Turn 2

Low AP rolls for both sides limited the action to more full speed movement, a 2AP roll for turret repair but no firing, as both sides were out of range. 

Turn 3

The French aced their AP roll enabling them the fully repair the Onondaga's turrets and accelerate to full towing speed, again passing the tow break roll, while the Royal Navy turned 30 degrees to port and moved at full speed on an interception course. The range was rapidly closing but still too far for any firing.

Turn 4

It all began to kick off in Turn 4, with HMS Pallas and HMS Rapid moving at full speed into range of the French ships. The French fired first, with the Mogador targeting HMS Pallas, resulting in a Damaged result and an ineffective Critical Hit. In the return fire HMS Pallas, with the supporting fire of HMS Rapid, managed to inflict a Silenced result on Mogador.

However, in the French phase, this was repaired to Damaged, before the Mogador successfully passed yet another tow roll to pull the Onondaga into closer range, repairing her turrets at the same time. In the subsequent fire segment, HMS Rapid narrowly missed the Onondaga but the monitor's concentrated return fire blasted HMS Pallas, with a second Damaged result doubling up to Silence the ironclad ram.

Turn 5

The Royal Navy commander was now determined to close with the French, ordering repairs to HMS Pallas and full steam ahead to cut off their escape route. The Onondaga responded with another blast of her turret guns, Silencing the Pallas yet again, while the return fire of HMS Rapid failed to score a hit.

In the French phase, yet another successful tow roll (!), pulled the monitor further ahead with a turn to starboard to out manoeuvre the British. In reply, HMS Rapid failed to score a hit on the Onondaga, which blasted the sloop at close range to Silence her, leaving both of the Royal Navy ships unable to fire in the next turn. With only 6'' to go before they could reach the safety of the coastal batteries, it looked like the French were going to make it after all.

Turn 6

The battle reached a climax in Turn 6, as the Royal Navy made a last ditch attempt to knock out the Mogador before she could tow the Onondaga to safe waters. Unfortunately, both sides were hampered by low AP rolls, so were forced to decelerate to cruise speed.

In the Royal Navy phase, the total of 4 AP was used to effect repairs, bringing both ships up to Damaged condition. The Onondaga fired on HMS Pallas and knocked her back down to Silenced straight away but HMS Rapid, with fire support from HMS Pallas, managed to Silence the Mogador in return (I had to do some head scratching at this point about damage results, but more about that later).

In the French phase, the two ships nudged forward at basic speed, not wanting to risk a failed tow roll, but got away with it as HMS Rapid failed to hit the monitor in the fire phase. Not wanting to be unsporting, the Onondaga then failed dismally to hit HMS Pallas, despite being only yards apart and having both turrets levelled at the ironclad!

Turn 7

At this stage in the game, it was only a matter of a few inches before the French would get away and, with a hopeless AP roll of 2, the Royal Navy was running out of options. The Royal Navy squadron commander signalled HMS Rapid to break away to cut off the French escape route yet again, while at the same time ordering HMS Pallas to ram the Onondaga amidships with a 15 degree turn to starboard bringing her onto a collision course.

The Onondaga blasted HMS Pallas on the way in but she struck her target slap bang in the port side nonetheless. Unfortunately, but quite realistically given her faulty design and low speed, the resulting damage to Onondaga by the ironclad ram was relatively ineffective, resulting in only a meagre Damaged impact, making little difference to the Onondaga's chances.

In the French phase of the turn, it was time to finish things for good, with yet another successful tow roll (!) pulling the Onondaga away from the impact and clear of HMS Pallas. In a last ditch attempt to slow the French escape, HMS Rapid fired an ineffective broadside on the Onondaga, only to be blown out of the water by the return fire of her heavy turret guns (the Onondaga scoring a total AF of 7 against a DF of just 1)!

As the Shattered HMS Rapid slowly sank below the waves, HMS Pallas limped away, with steam pouring from her severed lines and her guns knocked out of action. The retreat of the Royal Navy left the French ships to limp into the bay, finally reaching the protection of the shore batteries.

A well deserved victory for the French, who had some very lucky dice rolls when towing, with a disappointing defeat for the Royal Navy despite its best efforts and some decisive 'do or die' actions. I think that it's definitely worth a replay and, if I do run it again, it could go either way. I need to work out some of the ambiguous Damage Results and perhaps make it harder for the French to repair the Onondaga, but otherwise the scenario worked really well.

If the Royal Navy could have forced the tow to break, I think it would have been much harder for the French to get away. In addition, if the French could not move at 4'' but at the normal 2'' rate, then they would really struggle to get across the table. Perhaps making it harder for the Onondaga to make it's gunnery repairs or having them roll for break downs once they are fixed might also even things out a bit more?  I may make a few tweaks as a result but it's a good game as it is and well worth another go!

Vive la France!