Solo Campaign Scenario 2: 'Torpedoes Away!' Game Report

 

Turn 1 and 2

The first two turns of the game involved the two Chilean torpedo gunboats stealthily steaming into the anchorage in search of the ARA San Martin, the Argentinians having chosen the long Eastern table edge as their deployment zone. After entering from the South West corner of the table, the gunboat flotilla commander in the Almirate Lynch, picked the closest marker and moved  into spotting range to investigate, closely followed by the Almirante Condell.

Turn 3

As both torpedo gunboats steamed into spotting range, a d6 was rolled for the lookouts on the Almirante Lynch, with a roll of 6 meaning the ARA San Martin was right in front of them. With torpedo tubes already trained to starboard, both of the gunboats launched their attack, a total of four torpedoes speeding toward the armoured cruiser, which was unable to reply according to the rules and scenario briefing. The Almirante Lynch scored a single hit, which only resulted in 1 point of underwater hull damage but started a flood that added another 2 points, while the Almirante Condell also scored a hit, adding two more points of damage but having no other effect. 

Turn 4

Before the startled crew of the ARA San Martin could swing into action, the two Chilean gunboats now swung round to cross the stern of the armoured cruiser, effectively preventing her from using her secondary batteries to shell the attackers. This still allowed the two torpedo boats to use their forward and aft deck guns to pop away at the cruiser at medium range, the Almirante Lynch hitting the superstructure but failing to penetrate the armour. The crew of the ARA San Martin did manage to stop the flooding, however, which prevented any additional, ongoing damage points 

Turn 5

To achieve their objective the Chileans had to inflict at least another 5 points of damage, despite being under the guns of a far superior enemy warship at close range, with little chance of survival if they failed to strike home with their remaining torpedoes. Both gunboats now reversed course to sweep past the starboard  side of the ARA San Martin, in order to give their port torpedo tubes a line of fire to the target. In Tsushima, gunnery and torpedo attacks are not simultaneous, but I wanted to give the gunboats a fighting chance. 

I decided that as the ARA San Martin was a sitting duck, I would made the gunnery and torpedo phase simultaneous for this attack. I resolved the torpedo attacks to start with, the Almirante Lynch missing with both of her tin fish, but the Almirante Condell striking with a natural 10. This caused 7 points of damage with a spectacular critical hit roll of 18 causing immediate catastrophic flooding! The ARA San Martin had her bottom blown out by an internal explosion of some sort, I reasoned to myself, and would sink within two turns, but not before she blasted her attackers with her starboard secondary batteries.

The ARA San Martin split her fire between the two torpedo gunboats, opening up with her 6'' guns at short range, three aimed at the Almirante Lynch and two at the Almirante Condell. I ignored the modifiers for night firing, as she was illuminating the targets with her searchlights, so the gun crews needed a 6+ to hit. The Almirante Lynch was hit twice and literally blown out of the water with 8 points of damage, a critical engine room hit and a blazing fire, while the Almirante Condell took a single hit that caused 4 points of damage plus an additional one from a critical roll, effectively causing her to sink as well.

Turn 6

With the ARA San Martin now flooding and about to go down at her anchorage, the Almirante Lynch no more than burning flotsam and the Almirante Condell slipping below the waves as a shattered hulk, I decided it was the end of the game. 

This had been a decisive blow by the Chileans against a superior Argentinian warship, at the cost of two relatively expendable torpedo gunboats. I decided that this was a tactical draw for both sides but a clear strategic victory for the Chileans, who had now neutralised a significant naval asset and potential threat. 

If I had given the gunners on the ARA San Martin the drop on the torpedo gunboats, then it would have been an Argentinian win, albeit with the armoured cruiser now damaged and unable to take a role in further actions. The end result would still have been a Chilean strategic blow to the Argentinian naval campaign, so fair enough I think?

Some thoughts...

The rules worked well for this level of game, sort of pre-dreadnought coastal forces, but I can't help noticing that they are designed more for fast play, fleet level actions so lack the detail and depth that would really be needed for this sort of scenario. I like the Tsushima rules, with a few reservations as previously noted, but they are not the end of my search for a set of rules that I can use for small-scale pre-dreadnought actions involving half a dozen ships a side or fewer, which is pretty much what you have to play with for 'What If' South American naval games of the period.