Finally getting Martin Bourne's 'Shipwreck' rules to the table, with a short, yet cracking game, with Soviet Sovremenny and Kynda cruiser/destroyers vs US Arleigh Burke and Kidd class guided missile destroyers.
All minis are old Davco 1:3000.
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| A pre-planned, radar-directed launch, of Soviet Pipe-Cleaners |
Now I tried a test play or two, and reasoned that if the Soviets could get a bearing on the US ships, their heavy missiles could do significant damage - the problem in the bigger game was that the Soviets had great trouble actually detecting the US ships before they had launched Harpoons (which are pretty devastating).
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| HA! The yanks have pipe-cleaners too!!! |
Turn sequence is very subtle - and I made early mistakes assuming that there is one round of combat in the combat phase before moving to next turn - actually this can go on for as long as missiles are in the air and shots are fired - my confusion perhaps stemming from me seeing on p.16 that 'guns' had six rounds of combat, when actually it's explained on p.7. An ongoing combat 'phase' actually makes the game move along seamlessly (and makes it very brutal if you miss a detection or two).
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There is also a plethora of modern (80s) naval info for the
uninitiated in the rulebook - right down to how missile radars basically
work. I am sure much of this is supplanted by now, but it was all very
interesting. These rules are from 1999 but still worth supporting. |
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| Guided Missile Cruisers - Harpoons aplenty. Painting courtesy of 'contrast paints from the evil empire'. I know, I know, I hate giving them money too - but I hate painting more! |
Game sequence is:
- Movement - 3" until contact made then 5" (though with a long combat phase, this can be decisive)
- Ship repairs (sometimes you don't get to do this - especially if whacked by multiple harpoons!!!)
- Detection - set active or inactive radars - again , be careful what you wish for...
- Combat Turn - phases...'continues until no more missiles/aircraft making attacks' - and there is a neat sequence for what attacks when...
- Request Air Support.
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| Lovely ship stats - with weapon loads, AA and Anti ship, arcs of fire - which can be more important than you think, outlines for damage control and helicopter data...all available on the 'wargames vault' download site |
Ranges also play a big part in terms of detection, as do helicopters - the eyes of the fleet, especially so here where the US player managed to get the drop on the Sovs, seeing them early, and launching early when info got through (it would appear by the rules that helicopters, bar one, don't get data-link).
- Very Short - 4 miles - or 4" at 1" to 1 nautical mile
- Short - 4-12
- Medium 12 -25
- Long 25-85
- V Long 85-150 (the harpoon's big advantage)
- Extreme 150+
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| US ships launch Sea Kings |
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| The extra US chopper gains some advantage with radar spots on the Russian task-force, despite attempts to shoot them down |
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| The Soviet helicopter? Not so lucky... |
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| Missile launch. We used a radar 'on' counter in the detection phase, turned to show status after placing, to eliminate the need for notes per ship |
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| That's a lot of ordnance flying toward them, even as the Soviets have real trouble detecting anything yet, they'll know soon enough |
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| "uhhh Komrade Keptain...I think vee hev a problehm!" |
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| Sovremenny goes down fast |
An extremely nice game when you get the hang of it - very suggestive of
both the difficulties with detection, and potential for destruction with modern naval.
Excellent!
