I've had a change of mind with the Cruel Seas project and, after I complete the VP boat and M Class minesweeper, will move onto finishing the French MTB's that I assembled and started painting last year. These will form the 23rd MTB flotilla in early 1944, as originally planned, and will enable me to actually play some scenarios against the 5th S-Boot Flotilla once they're finished. As we are unlikely to be back at the club in the next few months, this will give me the chance to get some games under my belt to learn the rules. I can also experiment with Narrow Seas as a rules alternative, which is something I'm really looking forward to trying out too. It all sounds suspiciously like an actual plan!
Hi Jim, I'm surprised that, as a fellow TFL exponent, you aren't playing Coastal Patrol (the TFL Summer Special 2011), which is a quick and not-too-technical set of rules for this genre of naval wargaming. I'm currently making up opposing forces for a low-level skirmish using the Cruel Seas starter set with some Fairmiles to beef up the Andrew (or those S-Boats are just too difficult). I think that this is about as "crowded" as you can get in 1:300, or it just starts to look like a traffic jam in an overcrowded marina! CP are best described as "beer and pretzels" and in some respects are the equivalent to "What A Tanker" in being an antidote to those 20th Century armoured warfare rules where you have to measure the angle of hit, the exact thickness of the armour (in microns), assess the atmospheric conditions, check if the gunner had one or two Wheatabix, and factor in the day of the week, just to open a turret hatch. Just had two very good games of it as part of Virtual Lard 4, and looking forward to a D-Day-related game at VL5 later this month.
ReplyDeleteYes, I did think about using Coastal Patrol originally but never got round to it, choosing Schnellrules for Scnellboote instead for a similar style of game. I should go back and have another look.
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