WWII Coastal Forces, Torpedoes and Tides, 1/600 scale 

A new set of Coastal Forces rules have just come out, and Nick was given the task of reviewing them. He’d been given a Beta Playtest copy, but by the time we got round to staging the game the rules had already come out. So, one Thursday night in late March Nick, Chris and I set about trying them out. In fact we had two try-out games – the first using Nick’s 1/1250 scale boats, and the second one two weeks later using my 1/600-scale ones! In the first game, played on 26 March we opted for the beginner’s scenario – three sleek  but small British Power Boat (BPB) 70-foot motor gun boats (MGBs), versus two larger German S-boats (or E-boats if you prefer). We were still very much finding our feet, and more or less learning the rules as we went along. Still, we found the system very intuitive, and for the most part we picked it up fairly quickly. In these games, fought at night, the boats were represented by ‘blinds’ – card markers which we moved around until the boat was spotted. Apologies for the poor focus – My camera seemed to struggle that evening. Still, you can see that these boats have a decent degree of detail, despite being the size of a pinkie fingernail. I zoomed in too quickly, and found myself unmasked and shot up by Nick’s two E-boats. Nick was more circumspect – or cautious – and kept his distance before closing the range. He then managed to shoot up one of the E-boats, leaving it battered, dead in the water but not sinking. Now, if I could only patch up my boat and join him, we stood a chance of winning. Alas it wasn’t to be – I failed an ‘All at Sea’ test and had to slink back to Dover, and Nick wisely decided to leave the Germans alone, to tow their damaged boat into Calais. So, in our first outing the Germans won on points as it were, but it was a close-run thing, with both sides damaging their opponent. We also began to get a firm grip of the rules. We took a week off – I had an AGM to go to – but a fortnight later, on 9 April we put to sea again , this time using my 1/600 Coastal Forces kit. This time we felt more ambitious, and so I ran a German attack on a British coastal convoy. In this game we increased the number of ‘blinds’, so they included several ‘dummies’. So, spotting became much more important. Nick and I had two E-boats apiece, and crept towards the slow-moving convoy, spotting as we went. In Torpedoes and Tides you roll to see how many actions you get – which you can only use for moving or spotting if you’re a ‘blind’. It worked well, and soon Nick uncovered a nice juicy 1,500-ton collier, the MV Orinoco.Nick’s boat S-56 took aim and launched two torpedoes at it – and they both missed! He’d got pretty close to the convoy by this stage, and came under fire from two Fairmile B motor launches (MLs) guarding the Orinoco. In the fast-moving firefight that followed S-56 took an engine hit that left it limping along. He tried getting away behind my E-boats, which had cut across the head of the convoy to attack it from the other side. Instead he was rammed by ML-114, and then, having being left dead in the water, S-56  was sliced in two by the bows of the Orinoco! Still, Nick had one more E-boat in play, why my two E-boats had worked their way around the convoy, and were now ready to attack. Still, there was a problem. The Isles class armed trawler HMS Copinsay appeared behind the Orinoco and began targeting the closest of my E-boats. the S-55. So, rather than target the merchant ship I decided to attack the Copinsay. I launched a perfect two torpedo spread – which missed completely! So, out of our four E-boats, Nick’s S-56 was sunk and my S-55 (pictured below) was out of torpedoes. I carried reloads, but there was no time for that in the middle of a firefight! My second E-boat S-25 was poorly-placed to use its torpedoes, so all our hopes rested with Nick’s second boat, the S-33.It had been creeping towards the stern of the convoy, and passed a spotting test, which revealed the convoy’s other merchantman, the 2,500 stamp streamer SS Wellington. [Yes, all my merchant ships are named after Wombles]. So, Nick went for it – launching another perfect two-torpedo spread – and missed!So – three perfect firing or near-perfect situations, and all three attacks missed – six torpedoes wasted! At that point we decided to call it a night. Chris’ stalwart defence of the convoy had paid off – he’d sunk an E-boat and driven off three others. Clearly before Nick and I play again we’ll have to practice our die rolling!

Tags: Torpedoes and Tides