We gathered at Miniature Market Rock Hill this week for our Semi Regular Retirees game bringing back a game of Nimitz WWII Naval Rules for a look. Scenario was the Battle of Sirte in the Mediterranean Sea with the Royal Navy escorting a four ship convoy to Malta with desperately needed supplies.
Our commanders were for team Italy, James (Cruisers & Destroyers) and Andrew (Battleship and Destroyers) vs Team UK, Steve (Cruisers and Destroyers) and Burt visiting us from Minnesota (Cargo ships and Destroyer Escorts).
While Nimitz does not include rules for smoke screens this battle was one in which the Royal Navy heavily depended on the use of smoke to survive and historically win the affair. In an attempt to reflect the use of smoke a few house rules for this scenario were included. Keeping it simple smoke was allowed to trail any warship making smoke by 6 inches, blocking line of sight (LOS) beyond it. Ships that did make smoke were legitimate targets from the front and sides but the firing party would suffer an additional 1 Difficulty to their calculations. Ships making smoke could fire, but suffered the same 1 Difficulty penalty.
US ship models standing in for the British as IJN ship models pinch hit for the Italian Navy today.
Pat looks on while Steve once again lands a number of hits with his dice rolling. The Royal Navy Cruiser line about mid table made the decision to move forward to engage the Italian Cruiser force which proved to be a slippery customer and turned to out maneuver the British.
The MV Michael Randant (Green 1) leading the column of the cargo ships with its “T” capped by the Heavy Cruiser Zara (Red 1). Things did not go very well for the merchant vessels at this point.
Near the end of the game with the cargo ships attacked from both bow and stern, as Andrew’s Destroyers completed their encircling moves, they were soon to join Davy Jones Locker in a victory for the Italian Navy.
Thanks to the players for joining in the game and offering their thoughts on both the scenario and the smoke rules which we tried out today. Thanks also to Miniature Market Rock Hill for their continued support.
