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The Battle of the Bashi Channel 1947


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#1 simanton

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Posted 18 October 2017 - 10:04 AM

Fought at Tactical Solutions 2017, Spokane, WA.  AAR is in write-up, should post in the next few days.  Attached are the Operation Orders for both sides.

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#2 healey36

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Posted 23 October 2017 - 06:53 PM

First thing I needed to do was figure out where the Bashi Channel is. It sounded familiar and now I realize why...this is one of the areas China is pressing for territorial rights (top end of the Luzon Strait). The Battle of Bashi Channel 2022 sounds like an equally possible scenario.

 

Bashi Channel
 

Looking forward to the 1947 AAR.

 


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#3 simanton

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Posted 24 October 2017 - 02:28 PM

Here is the AAR, hope it is of interest.Attached File  AFTER ACTION REPORT BATTLE OF BASHI CHANNELmod.pdf   1.43MB   18 downloads

#4 simanton

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Posted 25 October 2017 - 06:52 PM

Exited. I think it really is attached this time.

#5 simanton

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Posted 25 October 2017 - 07:04 PM

Edited! Edited! Damn spell correct! I

#6 healey36

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Posted 27 October 2017 - 10:41 AM

Great AAR...appreciate the photo's recapping the action whilst demonstrating the floating-table concept. Also nice to see 1200/1250-scale gear on the table...makes me wish I'd hung onto all of that Superior stuff from so many years ago.

 

It would seem that the Americans made good use of the largely ineffective early, long-range IJN gunnery to advance, exchange and then eventually effect their escape. I have participated in few WWII actions and certainly none with such comprehensive use of spotter-aircraft. One might expect that this would seriously compound the technical complexity of the game but you guys seemed to have waded through that well. Certainly an aspect I've not contemplated but worth exploring.

 

It's always fun to get the never-builts onto the table, and here we get a taste of the USN's Alaska-class and the IJN's Ishikari-class run through their paces a bit. Sometimes it's worth considering whether they were upscale versions of heavy cruisers or downscale versions of BB's. Regardless, they are superior in nearly every way as compared to Fisher's Hood or his Renown-class BC's. The lines of Ishikari are clearly reminiscent of Yamato:

 

Ishikari

 

Thankfully we (USN) never had to deal with that.

 

Whenever I put together these types of hypothetical scenarios I try to envision the circumstances that could get you there. In this case it's hard to imagine. Having just finished reading Stille's Philippine Sea book and knowing Leyte Gulf lay ahead. This would require a drastic roll-back of events to contemplate the Ishikari's surviving to 1947, or for that matter ever having been built.

 

Still, great for a day's fun. Thanks again for the write-up.

 

Healey



#7 simanton

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Posted 27 October 2017 - 11:49 PM

Glad you liked it!  You might also enjoy the other AARs I have posted here.

 

My scenarios tend to start with looking over the collection (1000+, started collecting 1/1200 - 1/1250 back in 1969) while asking myself "What needs to get into a fight?"  And then applying Handwavium to tweak history and make it happen.  If you look at the old AARs, you will see Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo facing off with Moreno and Rivadavia, Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein trading shells with the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, Lemnos, Kilkis and Georgios Averoff  fighting Italians, G3 battlecruisers battling Amagis while Hermes and Argus exchange strikes with Hosho and her never-built sister Shokaku.  I am amazed that no one had given me a "Boo, Hiss!" over the composition of the American cruiser division at Bashi Channel!  To me, the first rule of gaming is Have Fun!

 

Spotters?  In GQII, they enhance chances of a straddle, so why not use them?  I deliberately limited the number available to keep things simple (Mogami launching all 18 of her potential aircraft might have cluttered things a bit...), and yes, it was interesting the watch them used and misused.  I do love "never-builts" and ships which "never had a chance."  United States in this game is a double "never built."  I converted that model back in 1976 to represent what the class might have looked like at the end of WWII.  Now it has finally had a battle!  ("What needs to get into a fight?")

 

Hope to run another one at Tactical Solutions 2018, and maybe something in the interim.

 

Thanks!

 

John






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