7 replies to this topic

[healey36]

Well, with a fair bit of disappointment, we failed to get our GQIII Rösselsprung scenario on the table...just too many other commitments that jammed the holiday schedule. We've rescheduled the "official" play for March or April, but intend a bit of playtesting, possibly a play-through prior.

We have, however, played through the "base" game, ATO's "Arctic Disaster", a boardgame I'd helped play-test way back when it was in development. The idea was to play the operation out on the board, then shift to the table with any tactical clash of naval units using the GQIII ruleset.

Preliminary operational play tracked pretty close to the historical line, although the chronology was a bit off due to some orders given by First Sea Lord Pound. A number of poor decisions were made, primarily with PQ-17's course and speed. Suffice it to say that the convoy's speed was too slow and its course too close to the Norwegian coast, allowing the U-boats to assemble quickly in a favorable position. It also resulted in a longer exposure to air attacks which, similar to the play-test sessions years ago, proved devastating. Once word came that a German surface attack seemed imminent, the scatter order was given.

With the scatter order, the cover force was dispatched to deal with suspected German surface raiders. No sooner than the course to the southeast had been planned, the cover force came under air attack in the late afternoon. A number of Heinkel 115's broke through the screen and past the "cap", dropping torpedoes intended for HMS Victorious. Thankfully all missed. However, July days are long in this part of the Arctic, and a few hours later a second attack materialized, this by a few Heinkel 111 torpedo bombers. Once past the ineffective Fairey Fulmar interceptors, one Heinkel was shot down by AA, the others descending onto the deck concentrating on Victorious. Five torpedoes in the water, a few hull boxes, quickly reducing her max speed by two-thirds and giving her a list sufficient to prevent launching/recovering aircraft. Tovey split his force, detaching a couple of heavy cruisers and a large number of destroyers to escort the wounded carrier south-westward, then directed Duke of York, Washington, along with six destroyers to continue on to find and engage the enemy.

Somewhere to the south-southwest, Tirpitz, Hipper, and six destroyers plowed ahead. According to their latest intel, continuing at their current speed and heading should put them on the tail of the convoy early the next day. A Luftwaffe report from a Heinkel 59 search aircraft had the cover force a considerable distance behind the convoy and slinking off to the west. The risk seemed low, so no order to breakoff was issued.

AAR to follow.

[simanton]

Sounds great so far!  I look forward to the AAR!

[healey36]

Drafted a couple of log sheets (attached). I had to cobble something together for the early class of German torpedo boats using Taylor's German Warships of World War II as a reference. The speed drop associated with the first hull-box is precipitous; purely my laziness.

Attached Files

•  Rossolsprung.jpg   110.64KB   1 downloads
•  Rossolsprung b.jpg   114.24KB   0 downloads

[healey36]

First play ended poorly for the Allies. While we used the weather rules and the associated randomization, conditions remained remarkably calm and clear throughout. At 1300 the group was spotted through thin cloud-cover by a German recon aircraft. Soon after (1454) they were visited by a number of Heinkel torpedo bombers, all of which were either knocked down or driven off by AA fire. Forty-two minutes later a second, larger group appeared, this a bunch of Ju-88A bombers. AA fire was a bit less accurate this time, with a number reaching proximity of the BBs. All of the drops were misses with the exception of one, a 750lb hit on DoY's forecastle:

 

 

Resulted in a shower of teak splinters and a bulkhead hit that flooded three boxes before it was gotten under control. Down by the bow and her max speed reduced to 19kt max, the decision was made to break off the effort and turn west. No further air attacks materialized (thankfully).

 

The good news was that the report of Allied heavies in the area ahead had the German commander chicken out and order a return to base. So I guess a victory of sorts for the Allies.

 

Gonna try this again, but with some harsher weather conditions presumed (or maybe some long-range air cover from somewhere). 

[Peter M. Skaar]

It sounds like a very interesting game, Healey.

[Mark Hinds]

Drafted a couple of log sheets (attached). I had to cobble something together for the early class of German torpedo boats using Taylor's German Warships of World War II as a reference. The speed drop associated with the first hull-box is precipitous; purely my laziness.

Haven't visited this site for a while, so pardon me if this was covered previously...  Did you make these GQ3 SDSs yourself, and if so, with what software?  One of the reasons I have stuck with GQ1-2 instead of GQ3 is that I can easily custom-make SDSs for the former, allowing me to group those needed on a single sheet.  

[healey36]

Haven't visited this site for a while, so pardon me if this was covered previously... Did you make these GQ3 SDSs yourself, and if so, with what software? One of the reasons I have stuck with GQ1-2 instead of GQ3 is that I can easily custom-make SDSs for the former, allowing me to group those needed on a single sheet.

Hi Mark - I use ODGW's pennants graphics with some other home-made graphics (all in Excel), mounted on Litko plywood bases. I can email you an example Excel sheet...pm me your email address.

Paul R.

P. S. Or maybe you’re asking about the log sheets? What's an SDS?

[healey36]

Hi Mark - I use ODGW's pennants graphics with some other home-made graphics (all in Excel), mounted on Litko plywood bases. I can email you an example Excel sheet...pm me your email address.

Paul R.

P. S. Or maybe you’re asking about the log sheets? What's an SDS?

FYI - The scenario log sheets are developed from scans of the ships' logs included with GQIII. A bit of copy, cut, and paste using MS Paint, with some editing for ship names. In some cases, we developed new sheet configurations for ships not included in the books, similarly using Paint. Not too tough really. I think there's also a "make your own log sheet" Excel application in the GQ download files.